Prologue of Ochrid
Special Commemorations
13-19. The Sunday of the Holy Fathers.
According to the Typikon of the Great Church, if the 13th is a Sunday, we commemorate the holy and God-bearing Fathers of the Fourth Œcumenical Synod at Chalcedon. If the 13th is not a Sunday, the service is celebrated on the first Sunday following the 13th, but not later than the 19th of July.
According to the Typikon of St. Savvas, when it is the 16th of July, if it should fall on Wednesday or earlier, we celebrate the service to the holy and God-bearing Fathers of the first Six Œcumenical Synods on the preceding Sunday. If the 16th falls on a Thursday or later, the service is commemorated on the following Sunday.
Commemoration of the First Six Ecumenical Councils.
The ecumenical councils (synods) are the greatest duels between Orthodoxy and the heretics. Today, the Church commemorates the first six councils together:
The First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325, at which 318 fathers were present. It is commemorated on May 29th and on the 7th Sunday after Pascha. This council refuted the Arian heresy against God the Son.
The Second Council in Constantinople in 381, was attended by 150 fathers. It is commemorated on May 22nd. This council refuted the heresy of Macedonius against God the Holy Spirit.
The Third Council was in Ephesus in 431, with 200 fathers. It is commemorated on September 9th. This council refuted the Nestorian heresy against the Mother of God.
The Fourth Council was in Chalcedon in 451, with 630 fathers present. It is commemorated on July 16th. This council refuted the Monophysite heresy.
The Fifth Council was in Constantinople in 553, with 160 fathers, and is commemorated on July 25th. This council refuted the heresy of Origen.
The Sixth Council was in Constantinople in 691, with 170 fathers. It is commemorated on January 23rd. This council refuted the Monothelite heresy.
The Seventh Ecumenical Council, held in 787 with 367 fathers present, is not commemorated on this occasion, but on its own on October 11th. This council refuted the iconoclast heresy.
At these councils, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, all heresies were condemned and the Orthodox Faith defined and confirmed for all time.
The commemoration of our venerable Fathers whose incorrupt relics rest in the Near Caves of Kiev.
If the 22nd of September should occur on a Saturday, we commemorate our venerable Fathers whose incorrupt relics rest in the Near Caves of Kiev. If the 22nd does not occur on a Saturday, this feast shall be commemorated on the Saturday following the 22nd of September.
The Synaxis of all the Saints of the Kiev Near Caves.
The blessed work of asceticism begun by Anthony, the lover of labor and man of God, grew throughout the ages as a fruitful olive tree. The numerous saints, who shone like stars in these caves of Anthony’s, are each commemorated on his special day. Today, the whole assembly of them is commemorated and invoked by the faithful for aid.
Commemoration of the Seventh Ecumenical Council.
This Council was held in 787 in Nicaea. in the reign of the
devout Empress Irene and her son Constantine, and in the time of Patriarch Tarasius. This Council
finally upheld the veneration of icons, expounding it from Holy Scripture, the witness of the
holy fathers and the examples of miracles in connection with the holy icons. Among other examples
cited, the Cypriot bishop, Constantine, brought forward this one: A herdsman from the city of
Constantia, driving his flock out to pasture one day, saw an icon of the Mother of God adorned
with flowers by the devout. ‘Why give so much honour to a rock?’, said the herdsman,
obviously brought up in iconoclasm, and threw his iron stave at the icon, damaging the right eye
of the Mother of God. As soon as he had left that spot, he stumbled over the same stave and put
out his own right eye. Returning blinded to the city, he cried out tearfully that it was a
punishment from the Mother of God.
This Council also decided that the relics of the martyrs be placed in the antimins.* Three hundred and sixty-seven fathers took part in the Council. May the Lord have mercy on us and save us by their prayers.
*Antimins: A cloth containing relics of the saints that is spread on the Holy Table for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy—Tr.
The Sunday After the Nativity of Christ: The commemoration of the holy and Righteous Joseph the Betrothed, David the King, and Iakovos the brother of the Lord.
Holy and Righteous Joseph, King David and Iakovos the Lord’s Brother.
They
are commemorated on the Sunday after the Nativity of Christ. One can learn all about King David,
the son of Jesse, from the Book of Kings, and for holy Iakovos see October 23rd. Righteous Joseph
is so named in the Gospel (Matt. 1:19), and for this, God entrusted the most holy Virgin to his
protection and gave him great honor in the economy of human salvation. Although Joseph was of the
royal lineage of David, he himself was a simple carpenter in Nazareth. He took the most holy
Virgin from the temple into his home at the age of eighty, and entered into rest at the age of a
hundred and ten.
Pascalion — Movable Calendar
Tuesday of the Renewal Week
Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene
Archimandrite Raphael,
Abbot of the Theotokos Monastery, and Hierodeacon Nicholas, settled on Lesvos (Mytilene) after
the Fall of the City. In 1463, Muslims attacked on Great Friday. Archimandrite Raphael was pulled
and tugged by his hair and beard along the rock-strewn ground. He was struck with clubs, spears,
lances, and swords, while his hands were tied behind his back. He was stabbed all over and cast
down paralyzed. His tongue was severed, and he was then suspended upside down from a large walnut
tree, repeatedly beaten and whipped for 24 hours. He was cut down from the tree and stripped of
his clothing from the waist up. After being positioned on his knees, five savage Muslims took up
a saw and began cutting away his lower jaw. Nearly unconscious, he had his head placed on a
square icon, where they struck him thrice on his mouth, extracting his lower jaw, thus separating
his head from his body on Bright Tuesday, then the 9th of April.
Deacon Nicholas, bound to a smaller walnut tree, witnessed these
terrifying scenes. He, too, was stabbed, but he did not die immediately. It was only after his
terror-stricken tender heart had borne the startling sight of his wounds and the punishments of
the others, that he suffered cardiac arrest.
Twelve-year-old Irene was seized and had boiling water poured into
her mouth. One of her delicate hands was severed, the limb being tossed before the parents. The
stump of her arm was bleeding profusely, as they chopped away one of her little feet. The lass
was then pushed down into an earthen jar, where she was burned alive after being doused with
flammable liquids and torching her bodice. As she stood trapped in the flaming cask, she lifted
up her eyes heavenward and called upon Christ, commending her soul into the hands of the Lord.
In 1959 and in the early 1960’s miraculous visions of the
martyrs were granted to the islanders. The recovery of their relics has been the occasion of
countless miracles and pilgrimages.
Menaion — Fixed Calendar
January 14th – Civil Calendar
January 1st – Church Calendar
1. The Circumcision of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.
On the eighth day after His birth, the divine Child was taken to
the temple and duly circumcised according to the Jewish law that had been observed from the time
of Abraham. At this time He was given the name Jesus, the name announced to the most holy Virgin
by the Archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:31).
The Baptism of the New Covenant was prefigured in the Circumcision of the Old Covenant. The Lord’s Circumcision shows that He took true human flesh upon Himself, not its semblance as heretics later taught of Him. The Lord was truly circumcised, desiring thus to fulfill all the law, which He Himself had given through our forefathers and the prophets. Fulfilling all the ordinances of the law, He superseded them by Baptism in His Church, for, as the apostle declares: “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Gal. 6:15). (In the Church Calendar, this feast of the Lord has neither forefeast nor after-feast.)
2. St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea.
St. Basil was born in the reign of the Emperor
Constantine, in about 330. While still unbaptized, he spent fifteen years in Athens studying
philosophy, rhetoric, astronomy and other contemporary secular disciplines. Among his
fellow-students were Gregory the Theologian and Julian, later the apostate emperor. When already
of mature years, he was baptized in the Jordan together with his former tutor Evulios. He was
Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia for nearly ten years, and died at the age of fifty.
A great champion of Orthodoxy, a great torch of moral purity and zeal for the Faith, a great theological mind, a great builder and pillar of the Church of God, Basil fully deserved his title “the Great”. In the Office for his feast, he is referred to as a bee of the Church of Christ, bringing honey to the faithful but stinging those in heresy. Many of the writings of this father of the Church have survived—theological, apologetic, on asceticism and on the canons. There is also the Liturgy that bears his name. This Liturgy is celebrated ten times in the year: on January 1st, on the Eves of the Nativity of Christ and the Theophany, on every Sunday in the Great Fast with the exception of Palm Sunday, and on the Thursday and Saturday in Holy Week.
St. Basil departed this life peacefully on January 1st, 379, and entered into the kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Why must one obey the Church and not some man whose thinking is opposed to that of the Church, eminent or intellectually gifted though that man may be? Because the Church was founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and is guided by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Also because “the Church” signifies the community of the saints, an orchard of choice, fruit-bearing trees. If a man remains opposed to the community of the saints, that means that he is unholy. Why, therefore, listen to him? “The Church is an enclosure”, says the wise Chrysostom. “If you are within, the wolf cannot enter, but if you stray outside, the wild beasts will get you.... Do not wander from the Church; there is nothing more impregnable than the Church. She is your hope and your salvation. She is higher than the heavens, firmer than rock, wider than the world; she never grows old, but is forever renewing her youth.”
January 15th – Civil Calendar
January 2nd – Church Calendar
1. St. Sylvester, Bishop of Rome.
Born in Rome, he was skilled from his early years in secular learning and in Christian doctrine, and his life was always governed by the precepts of the Gospel. He made good use of the tuition of a priest, Timothy, whose death for the Faith he witnessed, and seeing the example of his teacher’s self-sacrifice, nourished himself in that same spirit for the rest of his life.
He became Bishop of Rome at the age of thirty, and reformed certain Christian customs; abolishing, for example, the Saturday fast that had up to that time been the rule among some Christians, and decreeing that only Great Saturday and those Saturdays that fall within fasting seasons should be so observed.
By his prayers and miracles, he was instrumental in the conversion and Baptism of the Emperor Constantine and his mother, Helena, and assisted Queen Helena in the finding of the Holy Cross. He governed the Church for twenty years, and finishing with honor his earthly life, entered into the heavenly kingdom in the year 335.
2. Our Holy Father Seraphim of Sarov.
 He was one of the greatest Russian ascetics and
wonder-workers, with profound spiritual discernment. Born in 1759, he departed this life in
1833. He was distinguished by great humility. Being praised by all the world, he referred
to himself as “humble Seraphim”.
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3. St. Theodota.
The mother of the holy brothers Kosmas and Damian, the Unmercenaries and Wonder-workers, she lived a life pleasing to God, and brought up her sons to do the same.
4. Our Holy Father Ammon of Tabennisi.
He was a great ascetic of the fifth century and had charge of the Tabennisiot monastery in Upper Egypt, with about 3,000 monks living in asceticism under his direction. He had the blessed gifts of wonder-working and spiritual discernment. When one of his monks asked him for counsel, he said to him in reply: ‘Be as a transgressor in prison and ask repeatedly, as he would: “When will the Judge appear?” So thou also, ask thou this with fear.’
FOR CONSIDERATION
God looses ruin and debasement on man in his pride, when the latter thinks that his strength is eternally assured. When the wicked Roman governor Tarquinius had beheaded blessed Timothy, he summoned St. Sylvester and threatened him with death if he did not reveal the whereabouts of Timothy’s earthly possessions and if, furthermore, he did not immediately offer sacrifice to idols. The saint, gifted with foresight, answered fearlessly in the words of the Gospel: “Thou fool, thy soul shall be required of thee this night (Lk. 12:20), and that which thou art pleased to bring upon me (i.e. death) shall come upon thee!” The proud governor put Sylvester in chains and cast him into prison, with the intention of swiftly bringing about his death. Having done this, he sat down to his midday meal. As he ate, a fishbone stuck in his throat. From midday to midnight doctors strove to save his life, but all in vain. At midnight Tarquinius was deprived of his proud spirit in the greatest torment. And so the prophecy of St. Sylvester was fulfilled, as also the biblical words: “Pride goeth before destruction” (Prov. 16:18).
January 16th – Civil Calendar
January 3rd – Church Calendar
1 The Prophet Malachi.
He was chronologically the last of the prophets, born after the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon in 538 B.C. He was unusually fair of face. According to folk-tradition, he was named ‘the angel,’ perhaps because of his outward fairness, or because of his purity of spirit, or, again, perhaps, because of his companionship with an angel, with whom he often spoke face to face. At these times, others also heard its voice but were not worthy to look on its face. The young prophet spoke forth that which the angel revealed to him. He cried out against the ingratitude of Israel and the sins of the priests. Five hundred years before Christ, he clearly foretold the coming and work of St. John the Baptist (3:7). But he was chiefly the prophet of the Day of Judgment (4:1-3). He went to God young in years, and after him there was no prophet in Israel until John the Baptist.
2. The Holy Martyr Gordios.
Born in Caesarea of Cappadocia, he was an officer in the Roman army under the Emperor Licinius. At the outbreak of a terrible persecution, he left the army and his former rank and went into the Sinai desert. Alone on Mount Horeb, Gordios spent his time in prayer and in pondering the mysteries of heaven and earth. In particular he pondered on vanity and on the worthlessness of all for which people struggle and strive so on earth. He came finally to the desire to die and so move into that life that is without transience or corruptibility. With this desire, he went down into a town where pagan games were held. He presented himself to the governor as a Christian. The governor attempted in vain to turn him from the Faith with flattery and threats. Gordios remained unyielding and firm as diamond, saying: “It would obviously be an act of the greatest folly to trade this brief life for eternal torment and spiritual peril.” Condemned to death, he hastened joyfully to the place of execution, speaking with the executioners on the way of the wonderful and sweet knowledge of Christ. With the name of Christ on his lips, he delivered his youthful body to the sword and his righteous soul to God in the year 320.
3. St. Geneviéve.
 Protectress of Paris, she became worthy of the kingdom of God
by fasting, prayer and works of mercy. She entered into rest on January 3rd, 512, at the
age of 89.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
God hearkens to the prayer of a righteous man. This is clearly seen in the lives of Moses and Elias and of many righteous men and prophets of the Old Testament, as also from the lives of the apostles and saints. When St. Genevieve was living the monastic life in Paris, Attila and his savage Huns laid siege to the city. Fear and horror took hold of all the inhabitants, who were in hourly expectation of its occupation by the enemy. St. Genevieve then called on the people to fast and pray, that the calamity might be averted. Many men and women responded to the saint’s call, and began to fast and to pray. Genevieve herself kept the strictest fast and made the most fervent prayer to God. After a very short time, the enemy withdrew from Paris, without any obvious reason, and went to some other place. That which cannot be accomplished by the swords of many sinners, the prayer of one righteous person can perform.
January 17th – Civil Calendar
January 4th – Church Calendar
1. The Assembly of the Seventy Apostles.
In addition to the twelve great apostles, the Lord chose besides seventy other, lesser apostles, and sent them to preach to the Jews. He sent them out two by two before His face, to each town and place, saying: “Behold, I send you as sheep among wolves” (Lk. 10:1-5). But as Judas, one of the Twelve, fell away from the Lord, so some among these Seventy withdrew from Him, not with the intention of betraying Him but from human weakness and lack of faith (Jn. 6:66). And as Judas’ place was filled from among the other apostles, so the places of these were filled with others chosen. These apostles labored in the same way as the twelve great apostles; they were the assistants of the Twelve in the spreading and strengthening of the Church of God in the world. They suffered much torture and malice, from men and from demons, but their firm faith and burning love for the risen Lord made them conquerors of the world and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.
2. St. Evstathius (Jevstatije), Archbishop of Serbia.
Born in the diocese of Budim (Budimlje), of God-fearing parents, he became a monk as a young man in Zeta, then moved on to greater asceticism at Hilandar. In time he became abbot of Hilandar, was then chosen to be Bishop of Zeta, and after some time had elapsed, to be Archbishop of Serbia. He was a man of great virtue and led Christ’s flock with zeal and love. He entered peacefully into rest at a great age in 1279, exclaiming as death drew near: “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” His relics are preserved in the crypt of the church at Peć.
3. The Eunuch of Queen Candace.
The Apostle Philip baptized this negro eunuch (Acts 8:26-40). After his Baptism, the eunuch returned home and began to teach about Christ. He was the first apostle of the Faith among the negroes of Ethiopia. He died a martyr and was counted worthy of the kingdom of God.
4. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Onuphrius of Hilandar.
He was possessed of great anger towards his parents in his youth, and declared to the Turks that he wished to become one of them. He immediately repented of these words, went to Hilandar and there became a monk. Tormented by his conscience, he determined on martyrdom. So, with the blessing of his spiritual father, he went to Trnovo and presented himself to the Turkish authorities, stating that he was a Christian and mocking Mohammed, as a result of which he was slain on January 4th, 1818, at the age of 32. The body of this spiritual hero was lost, as the Turks threw it into the sea.
FOR CONSIDERATION
How do we reply to those who say that there is no room in our logic for Christ the worker of miracles? Answer simply: Place yourself within His. In His logic are contained all eternity and all transient goodness, so you could, if you wished, find a place therein for yourself. If you cannot fit a barrel into a thimble, you can fit a thimble into a barrel. Clement of Alexandria says: ‘Philosophers are as children until they become mature in Christ...’ for the truth is never contained only in the processes of rational thought. Christ came to make men new, and so also to make new the logic of men. He is our Logos and our logic. Thus we must direct our minds in accordance with His, not He with ours. He is the corrective of our minds. The sun does not adjust itself to our clocks, but they to the sun.
January 18th – Civil Calendar
January 5th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Theopemptos and the Holy Martyr Theonas.
When the Emperor Diocletian gave orders for the persecution of Christians, Theopemptos, Bishop of Nikomedia, was the first to suffer for Christ. He was brought before the emperor, who threatened him with death if he did not deny Christ. To that threat, the courageous bishop replied: ‘It is written: “Fear not those who are able to kill the body”. You, O king, have power over my body. Do with it whatever you will!’ He was cruelly beaten and starved, and tortured in many ways. Finally the emperor called in a magician, Theonas, to trick the man of God in some way with magic. Theonas dissolved a very strong poison in water and gave it to Theopemptos to drink. Theopemptos made the sign of the Cross over the cup and drank the poison. Theonas, seeing that it had no effect on Theopemptos, turned to the emperor and cried out: ‘I too am a Christian, and worship the Crucified!’ They were both condemned to death; Theopemptos was slain with the sword and Theonas buried alive in the year 298. They suffered with honor and became citizens of the kingdom of Christ.
2. The Holy Prophet Micah the First (or Michaeas).
 Micah was a contemporary of the Prophet Elias (9th century
B.C.), and prophesied evil to King Ahab, who was killed in battle against the Syrians (III
Kings 22:8; II Chron. 18:7). He prophesied entirely orally, writing nothing down. There was
another Micah, in the eighth century, who prophesied the birth of the Lord in Bethlehem
(Mic. 5:2) and wrote one of the prophetic books.
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3. Our Holy Mother Syncletike (Syncletica).
 A native of Macedonia and educated in Alexandria, she
was a rich young woman of standing. She had many suitors, but refused them all and fled
from her parents’ home to a monastery. In the greatest self-denial, in vigils and
prayer, she lived to the age of eighty. Her counsels to the nuns have always been regarded
as true spiritual pearls, the wisdom she attained coming not from reading but through
suffering and pain, through constant meditation and spiritual converse with the divine
world. Her soul entered into that higher world in the year 350. Among other counsels, St.
Syncletike taught: ‘Do not abandon a fast in time of sickness, for lo, those who do
not fast fall into the same sicknesses.’ Also: ‘Treasure, when discovered, is
quickly seized upon; so virtue, when it is made public, is quickly eclipsed and
lost.’
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4. Our Holy Mother Apollinaria.
She was the elder daughter of Anthemios, the regent during the minority of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger, his second-born daughter being insane. She refused to marry, being in her heart betrothed to Christ. Going off into the Egyptian desert, wearing man’s dress and using the man’s name Dorotheos, she entered a men’s monastery where she lived in asceticism, lifting up her soul constantly to God and burning with love towards His whole creation.
It was suggested to Anthemios the Regent that he send his remaining, insane, daughter to the hermit, that prayers might be read over her. And so, by God’s providence, it came to pass that Apollinaria healed her insane sister by the power of prayer.
As soon as she died, the secret became known—that she had been a woman, not a man. The manly courage of this holy virgin has remained as an example and stimulus throughout the ages to all who take thought for their salvation. She entered into rest in the year 470.
FOR CONSIDERATION
It is fruit, fruit and fruit alone that the Lord seeks from man, that living tree. Good fruit is a God-loving heart, but bad fruit is a heart filled with self-love. All other things that a man has and enjoys—status, power, honor, health, wealth, learning—these are no more than the leaves of the tree. “Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matt. 3:10). Even non-Christian peoples rate good works above fine words. So much the more must it be the rule among the followers of Christ. At a certain gathering of Athenians, at which envoys from Sparta were present, one old man was going from bench to bench, trying to find somewhere to sit down. The Athenians mocked at him, and no one gave him his seat. When the elder drew near to the Spartans, they all leapt to their feet and offered him their places. Seeing this, the Athenians expressed their gratitude to the Spartans in well-rounded phrases. To this the Spartans replied: ‘The Athenians know what is good, but do not do it.’ He who does good is like a tree that bears good fruit for its owner. And the well-spring of goodness in man is a good, God-loving heart.
January 19th – Civil Calendar
January 6th – Church Calendar
1. The Theophany.
When the Lord Jesus had lived for thirty years from His birth in the flesh,
He began His teaching and saving work. He marked this very beginning of the beginning by His
Baptism in the Jordan. St. Kyril of Jerusalem says: ‘The beginning of the world—water; the
beginning of the Gospel—the Jordan.’ At the Baptism of the Lord in the water, that mystery
was revealed to the world that was predicted in the Old Testament—the mystery of the Holy Trinity
of God. The Father revealed Himself to the sense of hearing, the Spirit to the sense of sight and
the Son, further beyond these, to the sense of touch. The Father gave His testimony of the Son,
the Son was baptized in the waters and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, hovered over the
waters. And when John the Baptist bore witness of Christ and said: ‘Behold the Lamb of God
Who taketh away the sin of the world’ (Jn. 1:29), and when he immersed the Lord in the
Jordan and baptized Him, there were thus revealed both the mission of Christ in the world and the
path of our salvation. That is to say: Christ takes upon Himself the sin of the whole human race.
He dies under it (the immersion) and rises again (the coming up out of the water), and we must
die to the old, sinful man and rise again, cleansed, renewed and reborn. Here is the Savior and
here is the way of salvation. The Feast of the Theophany is also called the Feast of Lights. The
word “Theophany” means “the revelation of God”.
FOR CONSIDERATION
In some periods the fables of heretics vexed the Church of God, but now she is vexed by the fables of unbelievers. By endurance in the Faith, by diligent prayer, by witness and even by martyrdom—only by these things will this new vexation be brought to naught. And the Church of God, the vessel of the truth of God, will triumph in the end, for the enemy will lose his weapons (Ps. 9:6). He who falls into heresy wanders through a dry desert, forsaking the one, true God. Separated from God, he seeks water in the arid wastes and moves into an uninhabited and thirsty land. The same can be said today of many who, studying hypotheses and theories, are guided by figments of their own imagination and not by the truth of God.
January 20th – Civil Calendar
January 7th – Church Calendar
1. St. John the Baptist.
John’s greatest role during his life was enacted on the day of
the Theophany, and because of this the Church has, from the earliest times, dedicated the day
following that feast to his memory. This day is also connected with an event involving the hand
of the Forerunner. The Evangelist Luke desired to take John’s body from Sebaste, where the
great prophet had been beheaded by Herod, to Antioch, his own birthplace. He succeeded, though,
in acquiring and taking only one hand, which was kept in Antioch till the tenth century. It was
then moved to Constantinople, whence it disappeared during the Turkish occupation.
St. John is commemorated several times during the year, but his greatest feast is on this day, January 7th. Among the Gospel-figures surrounding the Savior, the person of John the Baptist holds a very special place, by the manner of his birth in this world and of his earthly life, by his role of baptizer of men to repentance and his Baptism of the Messiah, and lastly, by the tragic manner of his departure from this world. He was of such moral purity that he indeed deserved the name ‘angel’*, as he was named in the Scriptures, rather than being thought of as just a mortal man. St. John differs from all the other prophets in that he had the joy of showing forth to the world the One Whom he had foretold.
About the hand of St. John: it is related that each year, on his feast day, the archbishop would bring it out before the people. Sometimes the hand appeared open, and sometimes clenched. In the first case it indicated that it would be a fertile year, and in the second that it would be a year of famine.
* The word ‘messenger’ is, in Greek, ‘angelos’. See Malachi 3:1; Matt. 11:10. —Tr.
2. The Holy New-Martyr Athanasius.
This martyr of Christ was a poor and simple man, but was rich in faith and in wisdom through the Spirit of God. On one occasion he was inadvertently involved in a quarrel with a Turk. The Turk was educated and adroit with words, but Athanasius strove with all his might to present and uphold the truth of the Christian Faith and its superiority over Islam. They then parted. On the following day, Athanasius was summoned to trial, and found the Turk standing there as his accuser. When the judge called on Athanasius to repudiate his faith and embrace Islam, as he had given the impression of declaring to his companion of the previous day, Athanasius cried out: ‘I would die a thousand deaths before I would deny the Faith of Christ!’ He was therefore condemned to death and beheaded in the year 1700. His body was buried in the Church of St. Paraskeve in Smyrna, the city of his execution.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘The whole man is not outwardly visible,’ says St Basil the Great. As one house is like another, so it is with the external appearance of a man. But a house receives honor from him who inhabits it, as likewise does a man from the spirit within him. It is easily apparent to bodily sight that the house is not the householder, but only the place where the householder lives; but it is only clear to spiritual sight that the body is not the man but only the dwelling his soul inhabits.
January 21st – Civil Calendar
January 8th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Julian and Vasilissa.
They were both of rich and noble families, and though married, agreed to live in celibacy as brother and sister. They gave their goods to the poor and embraced the monastic state; Julian founding a men’s monastery of about 10,000 monks and Vasilissa one for about a thousand nuns. When a violent persecution of Christians was launched under Diocletian, Vasilissa besought God that none of her nuns should suffer torture nor repudiate the Orthodox Faith. The Lord hearkened to the petition of His worthy servant, and during the next six months, took all the nuns to Himself, one by one, and finally their abbess Vasilissa. Before her own death, Vasilissa had a vision of her sisters in the other world. They were all bathed in light and were rejoicing like the angels. They appealed to their spiritual mother to join them as quickly as possible.
Julian’s monastery was burned by fire, and Julian was inhumanely tortured, being killed only after the most horrible sufferings. The Lord inspired and strengthened him in his torments and he endured them with heroism, keeping faith and glorifying the name of Christ. Together with Julian were beheaded the son and wife of the persecutor Marcian, Celsus and Maronilla, who, seeing Julian’s heroic and patient sufferings, were themselves converted to Christianity. Also martyred with him were twenty Roman soldiers, seven brothers from that locality, a priest named Anthony and a man called Anastasius whom Julian, at the time of his own martyrdom, raised from the dead by his prayers. They all suffered with honor for Christ and became citizens of the kingdom of heaven in about the year 313.
2. Our Holy Father George the Chozebite.
He lived the ascetic life in the seventh century in the Chozebite community on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, where our holy Father John the Chozebite first lived as a monk.
3. St. Domnica.
A pagan, she came from Carthage in the reign of the Emperor Theodosios to Patriarch Makarios, accompanied by four girls who were likewise ignorant of God. He baptized them and blessed them to live as nuns. St. Domnica devoted herself to asceticism with whole-hearted zeal, and did not falter in that zeal right up to the time of her death at a great age. She entered into rest in about the year 474. By the illumination of the Holy Spirit, she was able to predict the future and perform miracles through prayer.
4. St. Gregory, Bishop of Ochrid.
A pious teacher and pastor of Christ’s flock, he entered into rest in the year 1012. On an inscription in the Church of Hagia Sophia in Ochrid, he is called ‘Gregory the Wise’.
FOR CONSIDERATION
On a tablet in the Church of St. Sophia are inscribed the words: ‘Wash your sins, not just your face.’ Whoever entered this church read this inscription and remembered that the Christian Faith demands moral purity—purity of soul, heart and mind. For the whole spirit of man is concentrated in his heart, as the Lord said: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart.’ The most complete outward purity is of no help whatever in the attaining of the kingdom of heaven. Oh, when will we learn to give as much attention to washing ourselves from sin as we devote daily to the washing of our faces? God will then see into our hearts as in a mirror.
January 22nd – Civil Calendar
January 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Polyefktos (Polyeuctus).
The Armenian town of Melitene was
soaked in Christian blood, as was all the land of Armenia. The first blood shed for Christ in
that town was that of St. Polyefktos, spilled in about the year 259, during the reign of
Valerian. There were in the town two friends who were officers: Nearchos and Polyefktos, the
former baptized and the latter unbaptized. When a decree went out from the emperor that all
Christians were to be killed, Nearchos prepared himself for death, though with great sorrow at
not having brought his friend Polyefktos to the true Faith. When Polyefktos became aware of
Nearchos’ sorrow, he promised to become a believer. On the following day, he related to
Nearchos a dream that he had: the Lord Himself had appeared to him in light, stripped his old
clothing from him, clothed him in new and shining raiment and set him upon the saddle of a winged
horse. After relating this dream, Polyefktos went off to the town, tore up the royal decree on
the persecution of Christians and smashed many statues of idols. He was tortured and condemned to
death. On the way to the place of execution, he caught sight of Nearchos in the crowd and called
joyfully to him: ‘O Nearchos, farewell, and remember the pact between us!’ And St.
Nearchos later ended a martyr for Christ in the fire. His feast is on April 22nd.
2. Our Holy Father Efstratios.
A native of Tarsus, he was a great ascetic and man of prayer. During seventy-five years of monastic life, he never lay on his left side to sleep, but always on his right. In church, he repeated to himself throughout the service: ‘Lord, have mercy’. He died at the age of 95.
3. St. Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow.
Born on February 11th, 1507, he was standing one day in church, while still a young man, when he heard the priest read from the Gospel the words: “No man can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24). He was filled with awe at these words, as though they were said to him alone, and was enlightened in that same moment. He went off to the monastery of Solovetsky (Solovki), where, after a long and hard novitiate, he received the monastic schema. In time he became abbot, and resplendent as the sun in holiness, became known throughout the land of Russia. Because of this, Tsar Ivan the Formidable, a great ally of the saint, translated him to the vacant See of Moscow as metropolitan in 1566. But soon the Judaizer sect and the nobles plotted against the new metropolitan, slandering him and succeeding in having him deposed and imprisoned at Tver. When Tsar Ivan later began to investigate the lawfulness of this deposition, the Judaizer conspirators, desiring to silence Philip, murdered him in the monastery of his exile on December 23rd, 1569.
After some years, the body of the saint was found to be whole and incorrupt, and giving off a very beautiful fragrance. It was transferred to the monastery of Solovetsky.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The Orthodox Church, in teaching men perfect love, at the same time teaches them perfect obedience, from which flow both order and harmony among the faithful. The bishops owe obedience to the Lord, the priests to the bishops and the faithful to the one and the other. St. Ignatius writes about this: “It is your duty to obey without hypocrisy; he who would deceive his visible bishop would scorn also the Invisible.... I beg you, take care to fulfill all in the unity of God, under the guidance of your bishops, who occupy the place of God, and the priests, who constitute the assembly of the apostles,...not thinking that whatever may seem to you to be right, that should you do on your own, in isolation.”
[The Orthodox have always accepted this, but when the bishop preaches anything other than true Orthodoxy, the faithful are admonished by the testimony of the apostles, who were contemporaries of St. Ignatius, that they must not be obedient to disobedience. The faithful have, in such instances, ousted the bishop and replaced him with one who is Orthodox.]
January 23rd – Civil Calendar
January 10th – Church Calendar
1. St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa.
The brother of St. Basil the Great, he was at first a married
priest, but when his wife, the blessed Theosevia, died, he was chosen and consecrated as Bishop
of Nyssa. He was distinguished by great secular learning and spiritual experience, and was a
great preacher, a translator of the Scriptures and a theologian. As a result of his opposition to
the Arians, they did everything in their power to crush him, regarding him as their chief enemy.
They were so successful in this that, in the reign of the Emperor Valens, their confederate, they
managed to depose him from his episcopal seat and drive him into exile. This was in 376. The holy
father spent several years in patient exile, enduring poverty and humiliation. In 381, he took
part in the Second Ecumenical Council, and it is thought that he formulated the final part of the
Creed concerning the Holy Spirit. Finally, finishing his life at a great age in about the year
395, he entered into the kingdom of God and has been commemorated through all succeeding ages as
a great light in the Church.
2. Our Holy Father Ammon of Egypt.
He was an Egyptian ascetic. At the age of fourteen, he strove and prayed to God to kill all anger in him. He achieved such perfection of goodness that he was no longer aware of the existence of evil in the world. He was an outstanding expert in the Scriptures, and entered into rest at the beginning of the fifth century.
3. St. Marcian.
He was born in Rome, but lived as a priest in Constantinople to the end of his life, during the greater part of the reign of Marcian and Pulcheria. The inheritor of great wealth from his parents, he spent it unstintingly on two objects: the building or restoring of churches, and charity to the poor. He built two new churches in Constantinople dedicated to St. Anastasia and St. Irene and famed as beautiful and holy places. When asked why he spent so much of his wealth on churches, he replied, “If I had a daughter and was giving her in marriage to some nobleman, would I not expend much gold to adorn her as a worthy bride? Here, I am adorning the Church, the Bride of Christ.” This great man, while being so generous to the churches and the poor, was very hard towards himself, following the evangelical counsel: “Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content” (I Tim. 6:8). It was written of him: “He was utterly in God and God in him”, and he went to God, full of years and good works, in the year 471.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Vanity in dress has a particularly free reign in our day. He who has nothing else of which to be proud takes pride in his attire. He who might have something else, of more value than dress, in which to take pride, does not in fact do so. As gold is not found lying on the surface of the ground, so the spiritual worth of a man does not appear on the outside. There is a story of how a famous philosopher, on seeing a young man flaunting his attire, moved up to him and whispered in his ear: “You know, my boy, the ram got there first, with a fleece like that, but he’s still just a ram!” To be a Christian and take pride in one’s apparel is more foolish than to be a king and take pride in the dust beneath one’s feet. While St. Arsenius wore golden clothing in the royal palace, he never received the title ‘the Great’. He received it when he unhesitatingly gave himself to the service of God and clothed himself in tatters.
January 24th – Civil Calendar
January 11th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Theodosios the Great.
The first founder and organizer of cenobitic
monasticism, he was born of devout parents in Cappadocia, in the village of Mogarisses. As a
young man, he visited St. Simeon the Stylite, who blessed him and predicted for him great
spiritual glory. Theodosios set out in search of a place in which to found a monastery. He took
with him a censer containing cold charcoal and incense. At the place where the charcoal suddenly
ignited of itself, he stopped, settled down and began to lead a life of asceticism. There very
quickly gathered round him many monks of different nationalities and with different languages. He
therefore built a church for each language group, so that services were conducted and God praised
at the same moment in Greek, Armenian, Georgian and so forth. But on a day when they were to
receive holy Communion, all the brethren gathered in the great church, where the service was
conducted in Greek. The refectory was common to all; they held all possessions in common, labored
in common, endured in common and often hungered in common. Theodosios was a sublime example to
all the monks; an example in work, in prayer, in fasting, in vigils and in all the Christian
virtues. And God endowed him with the gifts of wonder-working, to heal the sick, to be present
and help from a distance, to tame wild beasts, to predict the future and to increase bread and
wheat. Prayer was on his lips day and night. He entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in the
year 529, at the age of 105.
2. Blessed Michael of Klops.
A fool for Christ, a Russian of princely family, he made himself a fool in order to hide his virtues from the world and escape the praise of men, and he thus received praise from God. He died in the year 1453 in the monastery of Klops near Novgorod, where his relics are preserved.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A man who is open to a bribe cannot be a Christian. The Orthodox fathers of the Church were never open either to bribes or intimidation. Bribery in things of the Faith is equivalent to Judas’ betrayal of Christ for money; such bribery is a characteristic only of certain heretics. When the Emperor Anastasios (491-518) fell into the Eftychian heresy, he rebelled against the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council and attempted to revoke them. In order to win the chief leaders of the Church to his side, he began sending them various gifts. St. Theodosios was the first in renown in Palestine, and to him the emperor sent thirty liters of gold, ostensibly for the needs of his monastery. Theodosios realized immediately that the emperor meant this as a bribe, and acted with very great wisdom. He would not keep the money for the monastery, although it was in great need, nor return it to the emperor for him to work more evil with it against Orthodoxy, so he instantly distributed all the gold to the poor in the emperor’s name, that this act of charity might strengthen his prayers for the emperor’s repentance and return to the true path.
January 25th – Civil Calendar
January 12th – Church Calendar
1. St. Sava, Archbishop of Serbia.
The son of Stefan Nemanja, the great Serbian national
leader, he was born in 1169. As a young man he yearned for the spiritual life. This led him to
flee to the Holy Mountain, where he became a monk and with rare zeal followed all the ascetic
practices. Nemanja followed his son’s example and himself went to the Holy Mountain, where
he lived and ended his days as the monk Simeon. Sava obtained the independence of the Serbian
Church from the emperor and the patriarch and became its first archbishop. He, together with his
father, built the monastery of Hilandar and many other monasteries, churches and schools
throughout the land of Serbia. He traveled to the Holy Land on two occasions, on pilgrimage to
the holy places. He made peace among his brothers, who were in conflict over their rights, and
also between the Serbs and their neighbors. In creating the Serbian Church, he created the
Serbian state and Serbian culture along with it. He brought peace to all the Balkan peoples,
working for the good of all, for which he was venerated and loved by all on the Balkan peninsula.
He gave a Christian soul to the people of Serbia, which survived the fall of the Serbian state.
He died in Trnovo in the reign of King Asen, being taken ill after the divine Liturgy on the
Feast of the Theophany in 1236. King Vladislav took his body to Mileševa, whence Sinan
Pasha, the impious Moslem, removed it, burning it at Vračar in Belgrade on April 27th,
1595.
2. The Holy Martyr Tatiana of Rome.
She was a Christian of an eminent family and a deaconess in the Church. After the death of the Emperor Heliogabalus, the Emperor Alexander came to the throne in Rome. His mother, Julia Mammaea, was a Christian, but the emperor himself was unsure and hesitant about his faith; an uncertainty that was clearly expressed by his keeping statues of both Christ and Apollo, of both Abraham and Orpheus, in his palace. His chief advisors took it into their own hands to persecute the Christians without his orders.
When the virgin Tatiana was led to martyrdom, she prayed for her executioners. And lo, their eyes were opened and they saw four angels around the martyr. Seeing this, eight of them were converted to Christ, for which they were tortured and killed. St. Tatiana’s martyrdom was long-drawn-out: she was flogged, parts of her flesh were cut off, she was sawn with an iron saw, and then, all disfigured and bleeding, was flung that evening into prison to be brought out on the following day for further torture. But God sent His angel to the prison to give her courage and heal her wounds. Tatiana, therefore, appeared before her torturers each morning in perfect health. She was thrown to a lion, but the lion became tame before her and did her no harm. Her hair was shorn—from an idea that occurred to their godless minds that some sorcery, some magical strength, might be hidden in it. Finally she was led out, together with her father, and the two were beheaded. In such manner this heroic maiden finished her earthly life in about the year 225, and was crowned with an immortal crown of glory. She had the weak body of a woman, but a manly and valiant spirit.
3. The Holy Martyr Peter Apselamus.
A native of Eleftheropolis in Palestine, he suffered as a youth for the Christian Faith in the year 311 under the Emperor Maximian. After terrible tortures, he was condemned to death. Hearing the sentence pronounced, he cried out with great joy: ‘My one desire is to die for my God!’ He was crucified, like his Lord, and gave up his spirit on the cross.
4. The Icon of the Mother of God, “Milk-Giver”.
This is the name given to the icon of the Mother of God that St. Sava of Serbia brought from the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified near Jerusalem and placed in his hermitage at Karyes on the Holy Mountain. In that way a prophecy, made 800 years previously by St. Sava the Sanctified, was fulfilled—that one day a Serbian priest called Sava would come and would be given the icon and his staff. When Sava of Serbia visited the community of St. Sava the Sanctified, the monks called to mind the prophecy of their founder and gave the icon and the staff to Sava. The icon was placed at the right-hand side of the Beautiful Gates in the hermitage, and the staff in a cell which received the name ‘Pateritsa’*, also situated at Karyes.
* Pateritsa—The name used for a bishop’s staff, the father’s rod. —Tr.
5. Our Holy Mother Theodora
A famous nun and instructress of nuns from Alexandria, this holy woman said: ‘As cold and snow are necessary to a tree for it to bear fruit, so are trials and temptations to our life.’ She entered peacefully into rest at the beginning of the fifth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
There is no greater honor or calling on earth than to be a Christian. When the judge-torturer Severus asked the young Peter Apselamus: ‘Of what family are you?’ Peter replied: ‘I am a Christian.’ The judge questioned him further: ‘Of what rank are you?’ To this he replied: ‘There is no higher or finer rank than that of a Christian.’ Saint John of Kronstadt writes: ‘The whole world is as thistledown in comparison with the soul of a Christian man.’ A Christian is an earthen vessel into which are poured godly strength and light. If that vessel be placed on a king’s golden throne or tucked away in some lightless beggar’s hovel, its worth is thereby neither magnified nor diminished. Does not gold have the same worth, whether wrapped in a silk scarf or a cabbage leaf?
January 26th – Civil Calendar
January 13th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Hermylos and Stratonikos.
The Emperor Licinius launched a violent persecution against the Christians. St. Hermylos, a Christian and a deacon in one of the churches, was arrested and condemned to death. When he was told that he was being taken out to martyrdom, he rejoiced greatly. The emperor threatened him in vain; Hermylos openly confessed his faith in Christ, and in reply to the emperor’s threats, said: “The Lord is a helper to me, and I will not fear what man shall do to me” (Ps. 117:6). After harsh torture, Hermylos was flung into prison. But the jailer was one Stratonikos, a secret Christian who was filled with whole-hearted compassion for Hermylos’ sufferings. When he, too, appeared before the emperor as a Christian, Licinius ordered that they both be thrown into the Danube. So Hermylos and Stratonikos were bound together in one net and cast into the river. After three days the river threw their bodies onto the bank, and fellow-Christians took them and buried them a little ways outside Belgrade. These glorious martyrs suffered for Christ and entered into glory in the year 315.
2. St. Jacob, Bishop of Nisibis.
In summer in an open field and in winter in a cave, St. Jacob lived as a hermit. On one occasion he went down into the city of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, to look into the faith and life of the Christians, and was there elected by the people as their bishop. He took part in the First Ecumenical Council in 325 and defended Orthodoxy against the Arians.
It happened at one time that the pagan Persian army attacked Nisibis. St. Jacob went out onto the ramparts with the banner-icon from the church, himself raising it aloft and walking round the ramparts fearless of the arrows the enemy was aiming at him. Walking thus, the saint prayed to God to save the city and the faithful in it by sending flies and mosquitoes on the Persians, thus driving them away from the city walls. He did not, we see, seek the destruction of the enemy. He sought some sort of catastrophe, some quite small occurrence, that would overcome them and remove them from the vicinity. God heard the prayer of His chosen one and sent a plague of flies and mosquitoes on the Persians, driving them away and saving the city of Nisibis. St. Jacob lived long and with honor, and died peacefully in great old age in the year 350.
3. St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers.
An ardent fighter against Arianism in the West, he suffered greatly for his choice of Orthodoxy. Of his writings on many subjects, the most important are those on the Holy Trinity. He entered into rest in the Lord in the year 367.
4. Our Holy Father Maximus of Kapsokalyvia.
Maximus lived in the fourteenth century following the ascetic life as a monk on the Holy Mountain according to his own particular way. He pretended to be slightly crazed and constantly changed his abode. He built huts of boughs, and then burned them down in rapid succession. He thus earned himself the name ‘of Kapsokalyvia,’ that is, ‘of the burnt huts’. He was regarded as a fool until St. Gregory the Sinaite came to the Holy Mountain and perceived in Maximus a unique ascetic, a wonder-worker with the gift of prayer and an ‘angel in the flesh’. He went to the Lord in the year 1320.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Good deeds in silence are worth far more than good deeds with show, and incomparably more than the cleverest show without good deeds. From St. Nicholas of Myra not one single word has been preserved, but his deeds have remained. Without any show, he came by night on three occasions to the house of a poor man and threw a purse of gold through the window.
An old man in the hermitage at Myra fell ill and longed to eat a little fresh bread (for the bread eaten there by the monks had been dried in the sun and kept for many months). Hearing this, one of the monks went out without a word and traveled a long way to the town, whence he brought fresh bread for the aged sufferer. The elder, learning of the labor of the monk who brought it, would not eat the bread, saying: ‘This is the blood of my brother’ (i.e. my brother has brought it to me with great difficulty). Then the other monks begged the elder to eat it, saying to him that he must not reject the sacrifice of his brother. What ostentation and what words concerning brotherly love could replace this simple and silent act of brotherly love?
January 27th – Civil Calendar
January 14th – Church Calendar
1. St. Nina, the Enlightener of Georgia.
Hearing of the Georgian people, the maiden Nina
desired from her early years to travel to Georgia and baptize the Georgians. The Mother of God
appeared to her and promised her that she would take her to that land. When the Lord opened the
path to her, the young Nina indeed went to Georgia, where she very quickly gained the love of the
people. She baptized Mirian, King of Georgia, his wife Nana and their son Bakar, who then
zealously aided Nina in her missionary efforts. Nina traveled throughout Georgia in the course of
her life, and succeeded in bringing all the people to the Christian Faith—and this during a time
of fearful persecution of Christians by the Emperor Diocletian. She rested from her many labors
and entered into peace in the Lord in the year 335. Her grave is in a church in Samtavro. She
performed many miracles both during her lifetime and after her death.
2. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs of Sinai and Raithu.
These holy fathers were killed by the Saracens; those of Sinai in the fourth century, and the others in the fifth.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If the dogma of faith seems at times to you to be tough food, you must first try to fulfill Christian moral dogma, and then the understanding of the dogma of faith will be revealed to you. The inquisitive examination of high things, without the effort to rectify one’s life, is of no use whatever. At one time, a group of Egyptian monks was considering Melchisedek, and being unable to come to any clarity about the mysterious personality of this ancient king and high priest, they invited Abba Copres to their place of assembly and questioned him concerning Melchisedek. Hearing this, Copres smote himself on the mouth three times and said: ‘Woe to you, Copres! You have set aside that which God ordained for you to do, and you investigate that which God does not require of you.’ The monks were filled with shame, and dispersed. St. Chrysostom writes: ‘If we hold true dogma and give no thought to our conduct, we shall find this of no use; and also if we give thought to our conduct and neglect true dogma, we shall receive nothing useful to our salvation. If we wish to be delivered from Gehenna and obtain the kingdom, we must be adorned from both sides: with both true faith and uprightness of life.’
January 28th – Civil Calendar
January 15th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Paul of Thebes.
Born of wealthy parents in Lower Thebes in Egypt in the
reign of the Emperor Decius, he and a sister of his together inherited all their parents’
property. But his brother-in-law, an idol-worshipper, plotted to seize Paul’s half of the
inheritance. He therefore threatened Paul that he would betray him to the authorities as a
Christian if he did not hand over his share of the property. This misfortune, coupled with the
examples of self-sacrifice by the Christian martyrs that Paul saw with his own eyes, induced him
to give his half of the property to his sister and go off into the desert, where he lived in
asceticism until his death. The spiritual heights attained by this giant of a monk are testified
to by no less a person than St. Anthony the Great, who once visited Paul and saw how the wild
animals and birds of the air ministered to him. Returning from this visit, Anthony said to his
monks: ‘Woe is me, my children, a sinful and false monk, who am a monk in name only. I have
seen Elias, I have seen John in the desert, and I have seen Paul—in Paradise!’ St. Paul
lived 113 years, and entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in the year 342.
2. Our Holy Father John (The Hut-Dweller).
He was born in
Constantinople in the early part of the 5th century, and was the only child of rich and eminent
parents. Drawn by inclination to the spiritual life, the young John fled with a monk to a
monastery in Asia Minor. He spent six years in this monastery in the greatest restraint, prayer
and obedience to the superior. Then the devil attacked him with the temptation to leave the
monastery and return to his parents, to live with them as a nobleman. He indeed returned to his
parents’ home, but dressed as a beggar. He saw his parents, but not wishing to reveal
himself to them as their son, remained as a beggar in their courtyard, living off the crumbs that
the servants threw to him and enduring much ridicule from all. He lived thus for three years,
praying to God that He would save the souls of his father and mother. When he fell ill and felt
death approaching, he revealed himself to his parents. They recognized him by a precious
Gospel-book which they had given him in childhood and which he had kept with him as his sole
possession. And so this young man, albeit so rich, saved his soul and those of his parents,
overcame the devil, and entered into rest in the Lord in about the year 450.
3. Our Holy Father Gabriel of Lesnov.
A Slav and a friend of St. Prochorus of Pchinja and St. John of Rila, he lived a life of asceticism in the 10th century at Kratov on the mountain of Lesnov, where he built a church to the Archangel Michael. He was a wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death. The present beautiful church in this place was built by King Dušan’s commander-in-chief, Jovan Oliver. St. Gabriel entered into rest in the Lord at the end of the tenth century.
4. The Holy Martyr Pansophios.
The son of the Alexandrian proconsul, Nilus, he laid aside worldly honor and riches as a young man and embraced the monastic state. He lived in great asceticism for 27 years, lifting up his soul to the higher world. In the reign of Decius, he was dragged before the judge, where he was flogged for the name of Christ until, under great torture, he delivered his soul to God.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Never think that God does not hear you when you pray to Him. He hears our thoughts as we hear one another’s voices and words. And if He does not act at once in response to your prayer, that is either because your prayer was unworthy, or you were seeking something that would be dangerous for you, or, again, because He, by His wisdom and providence, delays the fulfilling of your request until the right moment. Saint John of Kronstadt writes: ‘As we are able to communicate quickly by means of the electric telegraph with people far away from us, so, through a living faith, as through such a telegraph, we are quickly in contact with God, the angels and the saints. Send your requests to God and the saints by the telegraph of faith, and you will immediately get an answer.’ And again, in another place: ‘God and His created souls and spirits, the living and the dead, are thinking beings, and thought is swift and somehow omnipresent. Think about them with your whole heart, and they will be present with you. God will ever be with you, and by His gift and power, the others will be also.’
January 29th – Civil Calendar
January 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Veneration of the Chains of the Holy Apostle Peter.
 Today we commemorate the
chains with which Peter was shackled by the lawless Herod and which, when an angel appeared
to him in prison, fell from him (Acts 12:7). The faithful kept these chains, both in memory
of the great apostle and also because of their healing power, for many of the sick were
healed by touching them (as with the towel of the Apostle Paul: Acts 19:12). The Patriarch
of Jerusalem, St. Juvenal, made a gift of these chains to the Empress Evdokia, the exiled
wife of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger. She divided them in half, sending one half to
the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople and the other to her daughter, the
Empress Eudoxia, wife of Valentian of Rome. This Eudoxia built the Church of St. Peter and
placed these chains in it, together with those in which Peter was shackled before his death
under the Emperor Nero.
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2. The Holy Martyrs Speusippus, Eleusippus, Meleusippus and their grandmother Leonilla.
They suffered for Christ in Cappadocia in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180). The three brothers were triplets. At first only Leonilla was a Christian, while her grandsons were pagans. After much exhortation on the part of the pious Leonilla and a local priest, the three brothers were baptized. Being baptized, they began with youthful fervor to witness to their faith, and in their zeal went out and smashed all the idols in the area. Accused and brought before the judge, they acknowledged their action and openly confessed their faith in Christ. The judge threw them into prison, then summoned their grandmother and directed her to go to the prison and counsel her grandsons to deny Christ and worship idols. Leonilla went off without a word to the prison, but instead of advising her grandsons to deny the true Faith, she set about encouraging them not to give up, but to persevere to the end in all their sufferings and die for Christ. When the judge examined them again and saw their yet stronger steadfastness in the Faith, he condemned them to death. All three were first hanged on one tree, where they hung ‘like the strings of a lute,’ and after that flogged and then finally burned. A woman, Jovilla, stirred by the courage of these martyrs, cried out: ‘I too am a Christian!’ They immediately seized her and beheaded her with a sword, together with the aged Leonilla.
3. Our Holy Father, the New-martyr Damaskenos of Gabrovo.
He lived in asceticism at Hilandar, where he became abbot. When he sought a debt due to the monastery from some Turks, they persuaded a Moslem woman to go into the house where Damaskenos lived. The Turks then came and found the woman, and dragged Damaskenos off before the judge. He was given the alternative: hanging or conversion to Islam, to which he replied decisively: ‘It would be foolishness were I for temporal life to buy eternal peril.’ He was hanged in 1771 in Svishtov. So Damaskenos sacrificed his life to save his soul. But his murderers immediately met God’s punishment. They got into a boat to cross the Danube, but suddenly a storm capsized them and they drowned.
4. Our Holy Father Romil.
Born in Vidin, he was a disciple of St. Gregory the Sinaite, and lived the ascetic life in several monasteries. St. Romil entered into rest at Ravanica in Serbia in about 1375.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Nothing breaks human pride so well as the habit of obedience to one’s elders. In ancient Sparta, obedience was regarded as a great virtue. A tale is told of a Spartan soldier in battle, hurrying to engage the enemy. Just as he drew his sword to cut down his adversary, the trumpet sounded for the end of the battle and he resheathed his sword. When someone who had seen this asked him why he had not run the enemy through, he replied: ‘It is better to obey the commander than to kill the enemy.’ Christian obedience is different from this Spartan obedience in that it is voluntary and has as its goal the salvation of the soul; that is, it exists not in order to safeguard an earthly kingdom but for the attaining of the kingdom of heaven. St. John Kolovos began his ascetic life with an elder in the Thebaid. The elder, in order to teach his disciple obedience, planted a dead tree in the earth and told him to water it every day. John watered the dead wood assiduously for three years, and then it suddenly turned green and bore fruit. This is the fruit of willing obedience. The Lord Himself was obedient to death on the Cross (Phil. 2:8).
January 30th – Civil Calendar
January 17th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Anthony the Great.
He was an Egyptian, born about 250 in a village called
Quemen-el-Arons near Herakleopolis. After the death of his rich and noble parents, he shared his
inherited possessions with his sister, who was still in her minority, made sure that she was
cared for, gave away his half of the inheritance to the poor, and at the age of twenty,
consecrated himself to the life of asceticism that he had desired from childhood. At first he
lived near his own village but then, in order to escape the disturbance of men, went off into the
desert, on the shores of the Red Sea, where he spent twenty years as a hermit in company with no
one but God, in unceasing prayer, pondering and contemplation, patiently undergoing inexpressible
demonic temptations. His fame spread through the whole world and around him gathered many
disciples whom he, by word and example, placed on the path of salvation. In eighty-five years of
ascetic life, he went only twice to Alexandria: the first time to seek martyrdom during a time of
persecution of the Church, and the second at the invitation of St. Athanasius, to refute the
Arians’ slanderous allegations that he too was a follower of the Arian heresy. He departed
this life at the age of 105, leaving behind a whole army of disciples and followers. And although
Anthony was unlettered, he was as a counselor and teacher one of the most learned men of his age,
as also was St. Athanasius the Great. When some Hellenic philosophers tried to test him with
literary learning, Anthony shamed them with the question: ‘Which is older, the
understanding or the book? And which of these is the source of the other?’ The shamed
philosophers dispersed, for they saw that they had only book-learning without understanding,
while Anthony had understanding. Here was a man who had attained perfection insofar as man is
able on earth. Here was an educator of educators and teacher of teachers, who for a whole
eighty-five years perfected himself, and only thus was able to perfect many others. Full of years
and great works, Anthony entered into rest in the Lord in the year 356.
2. The Holy Emperor Theodosios the Great.
This famous emperor, a zealot for the Faith, ruled from 379 to 395. Constantine the Great forbade the persecution of Christians. Theodosios the Great went a stage further: he forbade sacrifice to idols in the area under his administration. He played a considerable part in the establishing and spread of the Christian Faith in the world.
3. The Holy Martyr George the New of Ioannina.
He was an Albanian, born in the village of Churkli of very poor parents who were farm-laborers. Made a target by the Turks for conversion to Islam, he remained steadfast in the Christian Faith, for which he was hanged in Ioannina on January 17th, 1838. A great wonder-worker and healer, he is still active today.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Anthony teaches: ‘Learn to desire humility, for that will cover all your sins. All sin is hateful to God, but the most hateful of all is pride of heart. Do not consider yourself learned or wise, or all your toil will be lost and your ship will arrive empty at the shore.... If you have great power, threaten no man with death; know that according to nature you also are subject to death and that each soul takes off its body as its final clothing.’
In Byzantium there was a strange and instructive custom at the coronation of the emperor in Hagia Sophia. This was that, when the patriarch placed the crown on the emperor’s head, he at the same time placed in his hand a silk purse filled with grave-dust, that the emperor might be mindful of his death, flee all pride and be humble.
January 31st – Civil Calendar
January 18th – Church Calendar
1. St. Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria.
Born in Alexandria in 296, he had from
childhood an inclination to the spiritual life. He was a deacon with Archbishop Alexander and
accompanied him to Nicaea, to the First Ecumenical Council in 325. At this council, Athanasius
became famed for his learning, his devotion and his zeal for Orthodoxy, and contributed very
greatly to the containing of the Arian heresy and the strengthening of Orthodoxy. After the death
of Alexander, Athanasius was chosen as Archbishop of Alexandria. He remained in his
archiepiscopal calling for more than forty years, although he was not on the archiepiscopal
throne the whole time. He was persecuted by heretics through almost the whole of his life,
particularly by the Emperors Constantius, Julian and Valens, by Bishop Evsevios (Eusebius) of
Nikomedia and many others, and by the heretic Arius and his followers. He was forced to hide from
his persecutors in a well, a grave, private houses and the deserts. Twice he was forced to flee
to Rome. Only just before his death did he have a peaceful period as a good shepherd with his
flock, which truly loved him. There are few saints who have been so callously slandered and so
criminally persecuted as St. Athanasius. But his great soul endured all with patience for the
love of Christ and at last emerged victorious from all these terrible and lengthy struggles. He
often went to St. Anthony for advice and moral support, revering him as his spiritual father. He
suffered greatly for the truth, until the Lord gave him rest in His kingdom as His faithful
servant in the year 373.
2. St. Maxim, Archbishop of Wallachia.
Son of the Serbian despot Stefan the Blind and his wife Angelina, he received the monastic schema in the monastery of Manasija. Having pressure put on him by the Turks, he fled into the mountainous part of Romania, where he was consecrated to the vacant archiepiscopal see of Wallachia. He reconciled the disputing military commanders Radul and Bogdan and averted war between them. He returned to Krušedol in his last years, founded a monastery there, and after great spiritual endeavor, entered into rest on January 18th, 1546. His incorrupt and wonder-working relics lie even to this day in that monastery.
FOR CONSIDERATION
To the question, why did the Son of God reveal Himself to the world as man and not in the shape of some other creature, the wise Saint Athanasius replied thus: ‘If they ask why He did not reveal Himself in the form of some greater creature: for example, the sun, the moon or stars, or as flame or space, but as man, let them know that the Lord did not come simply to reveal Himself but to heal and teach those that suffer. For simply to reveal Himself and make His spectators marvel would mean to come as a show. Coming as a healer and teacher, He had not only to come, but to come in such a way that the revelation should be bearable to the wretched men whom He had come to serve. No single creature has been in error in the eyes of God save man alone; neither the sun nor the moon nor the sky, the stars nor water nor space has been unfaithful to its state, but on the contrary, knowing their Creator and their King—the Logos—they all live as they were created. Only human beings have turned themselves from good and changed that truth which belongs to God into deceit, as they transferred the knowledge of Him to devils and idols. What is there, therefore, unlikely in the Logos’ (the Son of God’s) revealing Himself as man in order to save mankind?’ Indeed, we ask the unbelievers of our generation: ‘In what form would you wish God to reveal Himself, if not as man?’
February 1st – Civil Calendar
January 19th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Makarios the Great.
He was an Egyptian and one of the contemporaries of St. Anthony the Great. His father was a priest. He married in obedience to his parents’ wishes, but his wife died very soon and he went off into the desert of Sketis, where he spent sixty years in toil and struggle, both physical and spiritual, for the kingdom of heaven. When he was asked why he was so thin, both when he ate and when he fasted, he replied: ‘From fear of God!’ He succeeded so greatly in purifying his mind from evil thoughts and his heart from evil desires that God endowed him with abundant wonder-working gifts, such that he even raised the dead from the grave. His humility made men and demons marvel. A demon once said to him: ‘There is only one thing in which I cannot excel you: that is not in fasting, for I never eat, nor in vigils, for I never sleep.’ ‘Then what is it?’ asked Makarios. ‘Your humility,’ replied the demon. Makarios often said to his disciple, Paphnutios: ‘Condemn no man, and you will be saved.’ He lived for ninety years. Before his death, St. Anthony and St. Pachomios appeared to him from the other world and told him that he would die in nine days’ time. And so it came to pass. Cherubim also appeared to him before his death and revealed the heavenly, blessed world to him in a vision, praised his labors and virtues and told him that they had been sent to take his soul to the heavenly kingdom. He entered into rest in the year 390.
2. Our Holy Father Makarios of Alexandria.
Born in Alexandria, he was at first a fruit-vendor. He was only baptized at the age of forty, and immediately went off to seek the ascetic life. He was a disciple of St. Anthony, together with Makarios the Great, and was the abbot of the monastery of the Cells beyond Nitria. He was somewhat younger than St. Makarios the Great. He was tormented by diabolical temptations, particularly the temptation to lust for power, but humbling himself by the most rigorous of labors and by unceasing prayer, he lifted his mind up constantly to God. One of the brethren once saw him carrying a full basket of sand uphill and emptying it. The astonished brother asked him why he was doing that. Makarios replied: ‘I am wearing out him who wears me out’ (that is, the devil). He entered into rest in the year 393, being nearly a hundred years old.
3. St. Arsenios, Bishop of Corfu.
He put the Service of the Blessing of Oil together in its present form, and entered into rest in the year 959. His relics are preserved in the Cathedral in Corfu.
4. St. Mark, Archbishop of Ephesus.
 Famous for his courageous defense of Orthodoxy at
the Council of Florence in the face of the emperor and the pope, he entered peacefully into
rest in the year 1445. On his deathbed, he begged his disciple, George, later the famous
Patriarch Gennadios, to keep himself from the snare of the West and to defend Orthodoxy.
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5. Blessed Theodore, the Fool for Christ of Novgorod.
Before his death he ran through the streets, crying to each and all: ‘Farewell, I’m going on a long journey!’ He died in 1392.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The examples that we find in the holy fathers of the meek enduring violence are given to us to marvel at. Returning once on the path to his cell, Makarios the Great saw a robber carrying his things out of it and loading them onto a donkey. Makarios said nothing to him, and even helped him to get everything loaded, saying to himself: ‘We brought nothing into this world’ (I Tim. 6:7). Another elder, when robbers had taken everything from his cell, looked around and saw that they had left a bundle of money, which had been lying hidden somewhere, so he quickly took up this bundle, called to the robbers and gave it to them. Again, a third elder, finding thieves in the act of plundering his cell, called to them: ‘Hurry, hurry, don’t let the brothers find you, or they’ll stop me fulfilling Christ’s command: “From him who taketh away your things, cease demanding them back” (Lk: 6:30).
February 2nd – Civil Calendar
January 20th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Efthymios the Great.
He was born in the Armenian town of Melitene near the
River Euphrates in 377, the only son of noble and eminent parents. His mother, Dionysia, had
prayed for a child, and had a heavenly vision concerning his birth. He lived in asceticism from
his youth, at first in the vicinity of his town, but then, after a visit to Jerusalem at the age
of 29, in the Wilderness of Pharan, between Jerusalem and Jericho. He filled his days and nights
with prayer and meditation, contemplation and physical toil. Many disciples gathered round him,
such as Kyriakos the Hermit, Sava the Sanctified, Theoktistos and others. He was, by God’s
gift, a great worker of wonders: he drove out demons, healed grave illnesses, brought forth water
in the desert, multiplied bread and prophesied. He taught his monks the love of hardship, saying:
‘If you eat bread that comes not from your own labors, that means that you eat the labor of
another’. When one of the younger brethren desired to fast more than others, he forbade him
and ordered him to come to the common table, so that he should not become proud through his
too-great fasting. He also said that it is not good for a monk to move from place to place, for,
he said: ‘A tree that is frequently transplanted does not bear fruit.’ Whoever
desires to do good can do it in the place where he is. On love, he said: ‘As salt is to
bread, so is love to the other virtues.’ He went off into the desert in the first week of
the Great Fast and remained there in silence and meditation on God until before Pascha. During
his lifetime, a great monastery grew up near his cave, which was for centuries as full of monks
as a hive of bees. His last command was that there should be loving hospitality to guests in the
monastery, and that its gate should never be closed. He entered into rest at the age of 97.
Patriarch Anastasios of Jerusalem was at his funeral. The patriarch waited the entire day while a
great mass of people gave the saint the last kiss, and only in the evening was he able to finish
the funeral. On the seventh day after his death, Efthymios appeared to his disciple, Domitian, in
light and joy. St. Efthymios was a true ‘son of light’. He entered into rest in the
year 473.
2. The Holy Martyrs Innas, Nirras and Pinnas.
They are thought to be the first Slav martyrs recorded in history and they lived to a great age in Scythia, being disciples of the holy Apostle Andrew. They suffered for the Faith near Varna at the hands of their pagan neighbors from the other side of the Danube. Bound and left on the ice, they froze to death and entered into rest in the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The saints of the Church were compassionate towards human weakness and fiercely unyielding and unsubmissive with regard to the confession of the truths of the Faith. St. Nicholas of Myra struck Arius with his hand at the First Ecumenical Council. St. Anthony left his desert and went to Alexandria publicly to denounce Arius. St. Efthymios, under great pressure from the Empress Evdokia and the false Patriarch Theodosios, and being unable further to fight with arguments, left his monastery and hid in the desert, an example followed by monks thereafter. Efthymios remained in the desert until the false patriarch had been dethroned and Orthodoxy confirmed. And when agitation was spread in Jerusalem in the emperor’s name against the Fourth Ecumenical Council which had taken place in Chalcedon, and when the entire population was going in terror of the heretics, then St. Theodosios the Great, already burdened with years, came as the fearless soldier of Christ he was to Jerusalem, went into one of the great churches, mounted the steps, and gesticulating with his arms, said to the people: ‘If a man does not revere the Four Ecumenical Councils as he does the Four Gospels, let him be anathema (accursed)!’ All his hearers were deeply impressed by these words, and none of the heretics dared speak against him.
February 3rd – Civil Calendar
January 21st – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Maximus the Confessor.
By birth a citizen of Constantinople and at first a
high-ranking courtier at the court of the Emperor Herakleios, he then became a monk and the abbot
of a monastery not far from the capital. He was the greatest defender of Orthodoxy against the
Monothelite heresy, which developed from the heresy of Eftyches. That is to say: as Eftyches
asserted that there is in Christ only one nature, so the Monothelites asserted that there is in
Him only one will. Maximus resisted this assertion and found himself in opposition to both the
emperor and the patriarch. But he was unafraid, and persevered to the end in proving that there
are in the Lord two wills and also two natures. By his efforts, one council in Carthage and one
in Rome stood firm, and both these councils anathematized the Monothelite teaching.
Maximus’ sufferings for Orthodoxy cannot be described: he was tortured by hierarchs, spat
upon by the mass of the people, beaten by soldiers, persecuted, imprisoned; until finally, with
his tongue cut out and one hand cut off, he was condemned to exile for life in Skhimaris, where
he gave his soul into God’s hands in the year 662. Even with his tongue cut out, he was,
through God’s grace, able to speak even more clearly in defense of the Faith.
2. Blessed Maximus the Greek.
He was born in Greece, whence he was called to the court of the Russian Tsar Vasily Ivanovitch as Imperial librarian and translator. He labored much and also suffered much for the truth. He spent a long time in prison, where he wrote the well-known Canon to the Holy Spirit which is still used in church, and entered into rest in the Lord in the year 1556.
3. The Holy Martyr Neophytos.
Nicaean by birth, he was even in childhood a worker of great wonders by the grace of God. He brought forth water from rocks and raised his dead mother to life. Led by a white dove to Mount Olympus, he chased a lion out of its cave and himself settled there. He was martyred for Christ in Nicaea under Diocletian at the age of fifteen, refusing to deny Christ in any way. After beatings and imprisonment, he was thrown into fire, but God preserved him alive. Then he was put before a hungry lion, but the lion fawned around him. The saint recognized this lion as the same one in whose cave he had lived in asceticism, so he pardoned it and ordered it to return to the cave. Then Neophytos was run through with a spear and his soul went to the courts of the Lord.
4. The Holy Martyr Agnes.
 As a girl of thirteen, she was thrown into the fire for her
faith in Christ, then beheaded with the sword. She showed great wonder-working power, both
in her lifetime and after her death. She suffered in the reign of Diocletian, in the year
305.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
The Christian Faith uniquely in the world has one fixed and unchanging scale of values. St. John Chrysostom speaks clearly about this: ‘There are,’ he says, ‘three kinds of category; the first are good and can never be evil; for example, wisdom, mercy and so forth; the second are evil and can never be good; for example, debauchery, inhumanity, cruelty. The third are sometimes the one and sometimes the other, according to the disposition of those who make use of them.’ And, with this explanation by that godly teacher, one sees how riches and poverty, freedom and slavery, power and sickness and death itself fall into this neutral category, which are in themselves neither good nor evil, but are the one or the other according to the disposition of men and the use men make of them. For example, if riches were good and poverty were evil, then all the rich would be good and all the poor would be evil. However, we are daily convinced that, as there are good and evil rich people, so there are good and evil poor people. This can also be noted in relation to the healthy and the sick, the free and the enslaved, the fed and the hungry, those in power and those in subjection. Even death is not evil, for ‘the martyrs became through death the happiest of all’.
February 4th – Civil Calendar
January 22nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Timothy.
One of the Seventy, he was born in Lystra of Lykaonia
of a Greek father and a Jewish mother. His mother and grandmother were praised by the Apostle
Paul for their sincere faith (2 Tim. 1:4-5). He met the great apostle for the first time in
Lystra, and was the only witness of Paul’s healing of the man lame from birth. Later,
Timothy was an almost constant travelling companion of Paul’s, visiting Achaia, Macedonia,
Italy and Spain with him. A great zealot for the Faith, a superb preacher and of a gentle spirit,
Timothy contributed greatly to the spreading and establishing of the Christian Faith. St. Paul
called him his own son in the faith (I Tim. 1:2). After Paul’s martyrdom, Timothy had St.
John the Evangelist as his teacher. But when the Emperor Domitian exiled John from Ephesus to the
island of Patmos, Timothy remained in Ephesus as bishop. At the time of an idolatrous feast
called Katagogium, pagans wearing masks, resentful of the Christians, made a merciless attack on
St. Timothy and killed him, in about the year 93. His honored relics were later taken to
Constantinople and buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles by the graves of St. Luke the
Evangelist and St. Andrew the First-Called.
2. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Anastasius.
He was a Persian by birth, with the pagan name of Magundat. When the Emperor Herakleios waged war against the Persians, Magundat deserted to the Christians and went to Jerusalem. There he was baptized and given the name Anastasius. It was not enough for him to be baptized; he also became a monk in order to give himself entirely to the service of God. Among other ascetic practices, he very early read the lives of the holy martyrs, and reading this, wetted the book with his tears, greatly yearning for martyrdom himself. The Lord finally crowned him with the wreath of martyrdom. He lay long in prison and was horribly tortured until King Chozroes condemned him to death. After this condemnation, Anastasius was drowned, then taken out of the water and beheaded by the executioner, who sent his head to the king. Anastasius suffered on January 22nd, 628, in the town of Bethsaloe near Nineveh.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The Orthodox Church possesses an inexhaustible treasure in the evidence of life after death. To note one example among many, one which at the same time witnesses that the spirit of man lives after bodily death and that voluntary obedience brings blessed immortality: when St. Theodosios the Great had founded a monastery, he had at first only seven monks. To establish them well in remembrance of death, he ordered them to dig a grave. When the grave was ready, Theodosios stood over it, gathered the seven of them together and said: ‘Well, my children; the grave is now ready! Is there among you one who is ready for death, to be buried in this grave?’ One of them, a priest called Basil, fell to his knees and besought Theodosios’ blessing to die. Theodosios ordered that the memorial services be held for Basil on the third, ninth and fortieth day, as is the custom for the departed. When the fortieth memorial was finished, Basil, in full health, lay down and died. And he was buried in the new grave. On the fortieth day after his burial, Basil appeared in the morning among the brethren in church and sang with them. At first only Theodosios saw him, but he prayed to God that He would open the eyes of the others. Then all the brethren looked and saw Basil among them. One of the brethren, Letius, joyfully spread his arms wide, intending to embrace Basil, but the latter disappeared. Basil’s voice was heard: ‘Save yourselves, my fathers and brethren, save yourselves!’
February 5th – Civil Calendar
January 23rd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Clement, Bishop of Ankyra.
He was born in 258 in the town of Ankyra of a pagan father and a Christian mother. His devout mother, Ephrosyne, prophesied a martyr’s death for her son, and left this world when Clement was twelve years old. Her friend Sophia took Clement into her own home as her son and saw that he was brought up a Christian. Clement became so famed for his virtuous life that he was chosen as bishop of Ankyra at the age of twenty. He acquired a mature wisdom in his early years, and harnessed and conquered his body by great restraint. He ate only bread and vegetables, and never anything slaughtered or with blood. In the reign of Diocletian, he was tortured as terribly ‘as anyone has ever been since the foundation of the world’. He spent twenty-eight years under torture and imprisonment. Eleven different torturers tormented him. One time when they were smiting him on the face, spitting on him and breaking his teeth, he cried out to Domentian the torturer: ‘You are doing me honor, O Domentian, not torturing me; for the mouth of my Lord Jesus Christ was struck in like manner, and His cheeks slapped; and lo, I, unworthy as I am, am now made worthy of this!’ When he was brought before the Emperor Diocletian in Rome, the emperor placed on one side various instruments of torture, and on the other side gifts—medals, clothing, money—whatever the emperor was able to bestow, and then told Clement to choose. Christ’s martyr, with a scornful glance at all the emperor’s gifts, chose the instruments of torture. And he was terribly tortured; piece by piece the flesh was flayed from his body until the bones showed white beneath. He was healed of these wounds, and was finally beheaded by a soldier in 312, while he was presiding at the Liturgy as bishop in the church in Ankyra. St. Clement’s miracles are without number.
2. Commemoration of the Sixth Ecumenical Council.
Held in Constantinople in 680-681 and 692, this council condemned the Monothelite heresy, which held the erroneous teaching that there is in Christ only a divine will and not a human one. In addition to that, it made some rulings concerning the order and discipline of the clergy.
3. St. Paulinus the Merciful.
He was first a Roman senator and then Bishop of Nola. Following the example of his friend, St. Ambrose, he received Baptism, after which he withdrew to the Spanish Pyrenees, where he lived a life of asceticism. But, as no light can be hidden, so St. Paulinus was found and chosen as Bishop of Nola. He was a good and merciful shepherd, and entered peacefully into rest in the year 431. His relics are preserved in the Church of St. Bartholomew in Rome.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Compassion has always been a characteristic of a true pastor of Christ’s flock. In his sermons, St. John Chrysostom stressed and praised nothing more strongly than compassion. St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, bewailed every day in which he was not given the opportunity to show mercy to someone. St. Paulinus was deservedly called the Merciful, for he was truly merciful in the fullest Christian meaning of the word. One time, when the Vandals were looting Nola, they also took many people into slavery. A certain widow, whose only son the Vandal prince, Rig, had carried away into slavery, came to her bishop, and in tears, sought money of him to buy her son back. Having nothing, the bishop dressed himself in the garments of a poor man and told the widow to take him before the prince and exchange him for her son. The prince returned her son to her and took Paulinus off to Africa, where he served as the prince’s gardener until he was freed by the providence of God and returned to Nola with the rest of the slaves.
February 6th – Civil Calendar
January 24th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother Xenia.
Born in Rome, she was the only daughter of a famous senator. Drawn by
the love of Christ, she refused to marry as her parents desired. In order to escape this, she
fled from her home with two of her slaves and came to the island of Kos, to a place called
Mylassa, where she started a community for virgins, remaining there in asceticism till her death.
Though she was a woman, she had a man’s perseverance in fasting, prayer and vigils. She
often spent entire nights standing in prayer, was dressed more poorly than her sisters, and when
she ate she often put ashes from the censer on her bread. At the hour of her death (in 450), a
wonderful sign appeared over the monastery: a wreath of stars encircling a cross more resplendent
than the sun. Many of the sick were healed by her relics. Her two slave girls followed the
example of their abbess in all things, and when they died, they were buried, by their wish, at
the feet of blessed Xenia.
2. The Holy Martyr Babylas.
A Sicilian priest who suffered for Christ with two of his disciples in the third century.
3. Our Holy Father Makedonios.
He was a Syrian hermit. Only in old age did he feed himself with baked bread. Before that, he ate only barley grain soaked in water. He finished his earthly course in the year 418.
4. Our Holy Father Phylon, Bishop of Cyprus.
When St. Epiphanios was called to Rome to support his sister, the Empress Honoria, by his prayers he chose Phylon to be bishop. Phylon wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch and the Song of Songs. He entered peacefully into rest in the fifth century.
5. Our Holy Father Dionysius of Olympus, the Wonder-worker.
He lived the ascetic life on Olympus. He received the monastic tonsure on the Holy Mountain, where he later became abbot of Philotheou. Before the end of his life, he withdrew again to the solitude of Olympus, where he entered into rest in the 16th century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
In our day, we often hear parents say that they want to insure the lives of their children. To this end they make such great efforts, amass riches (often illicit riches), educate their children for that vocation which brings the surest physical security and material help. And so-called Christians do the same. They do this because their concept of real life and real security of life is faulty. But this is how a true Christian prepares his son for real life: At her death, blessed Ephrosyne said to her son, Clement of Ankyra: ‘Do me honor, my son, and stand for Christ as a man, and confess Him with strength and steadfastness. I hope, dear heart, that the crown of martyrdom will soon flower upon you, to the salvation of many.... Fear neither threats nor the sword, nor wounds nor fire. Nothing can separate you from Christ. But look into the heavens and await thence the great and eternal and rich reward of God. Fear God’s majesty, fear His judgment, tremble before His all-seeing Eye, for those who deny Him will suffer the unquenched fire and the ever vigilant worm. May this be my reward from you, my sweet son, for the pain of giving you birth and for the care of your upbringing that I may be known as the mother of a martyr. The blood that you received from me do not spare, but shed it, that it too may give me honor. Give your body to martyrdom, that I may rejoice at that before the Lord, as though I myself alone suffered for Him.’
February 7th – Civil Calendar
January 25th – Church Calendar
1. St. Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople.
Born in Nazianzus of a Greek
father (who later became a Christian and a bishop) and a Christian mother, he studied in Athens
before his Baptism with St. Basil the Great and Julian the Apostate. He often foretold to Julian
that he would be an apostate and a persecutor of the Church, and so it came to pass. Gregory was
especially influenced by his mother, Nonna. He was baptized when he had completed his studies.
St. Basil consecrated him bishop of Sasima, and Emperor Theodosios called him to the vacant
archiepiscopal throne of Constantinople. His works were manifold, the best-known being his
theological writings, for which he received the title ‘the Theologian’. He is
particularly famed for the depth of his Sermons on the Holy Trinity. He also wrote against the
heretic Macedonius, who taught wrongly that the Spirit was a creature of God, and against
Apollinarius who taught that Christ did not have a human soul but that His divinity was in place
of His soul. He also wrote against the Emperor Julian the Apostate, his one time school-fellow.
In the year 381, when a quarrel broke out in the council concerning his election as archbishop,
he withdrew himself, declaring: ‘Those who deprive us of the (archiepiscopal) throne cannot
deprive us of God.’ He then left Constantinople and went to Nazianzus, remaining there in
retirement, prayer and the writing of instructive books until his death. And, although he was in
weak health all his life due to the ceaseless attacks of the heretics, he lived to the age of
seventy. His relics were later taken to Rome, and his head to the Cathedral of the Dormition in
Moscow. He was, and remains, a great and wonderful light of the Orthodox Church, as much for the
meekness and purity of his character as for the unsurpassable depth of his mind. He entered into
rest in the Lord in the year 389.
2. Our Holy Father Publius.
A senator at first, Publius came to know the light of Christ, left his honors and gave his goods to the poor and himself to the ascetic life in the vicinity of his town, Zeugma, on the Euphrates. He founded two communities and entered into rest in the Lord in the year 380.
3. Our Holy Father Mares.
He was distinguished by external beauty and a sweet singing voice. He retired from the world and lived in a hut for thirty-seven years in fasting and prayer and in cleansing his heart from thoughts. He entered into rest in the Lord as an elderly man of ninety in the year 430.
4. The Holy Martyr Felicitas and her seven sons.
She, together with her seven sons, was condemned to death for her Christian Faith in 164, in the reign of the Emperor Antoninus. She begged God only that she should not be killed before her sons, so that she might be able to encourage them in their torture and death not to deny Christ. And so it came to pass, by the providence of God. This mother joyfully bade her sons farewell one after the other, until she had seen all seven executed. Then she also, with thanksgiving to God, embraced a martyr’s death. They all suffered in Rome, where their relics are preserved.
FOR CONSIDERATION
They deceive themselves who self-confidently assert that they know men well and that no one can deceive them. Who, but the one God Who knows the secrets of the heart, can guess what kind of spiritual being any man is? Even the great saints were mistaken in people. For example: St. Basil for a long time considered a hypocritical heretic to be a holy man, and defended him against his many attackers until he was in the end, in bitter disappointment, convinced of the other’s deceit. St. Gregory the Theologian baptized a philosopher called Maximus and loved him so greatly that he shared his house and table with him. But this Maximus was as wicked and cunning as a snake, and after a while he managed by intrigues and bribes to be accepted by the citizens of Constantinople as patriarch in place of St. Gregory. When, after many intrigues, this trial was removed, Gregory was upbraided for having kept his greatest enemy at his side. ‘We are not to blame,’ replied the saint, ‘if we cannot see through a man’s wickedness. God alone knows man’s inner secrets. And we are told by the commandments to open our hearts with fatherly love to anyone who approaches us.’ The good, kindly man cannot easily comprehend the wickedness of the wicked man.
February 8th – Civil Calendar
January 26th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Xenophon and our Mother Maria, and their sons John and Arkadios.
They were rich and respected citizens of Constantinople. Xenophon and Maria lived godly lives, and made every effort to give their sons a Christian upbringing. When the boys were grown, their parents sent them to Beirut to study, but a storm capsized their ship. By God’s providence, both John and Arkadios were somehow saved and thrown onto the shore by the waves; in two separate places, however, so that each thought the other had perished. Out of grief for each other, they became monks in two different monasteries. After two years of mourning, their parents traveled to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places. There, helped by the insight of a holy man, the brothers were first united with each other and then with their parents. Out of gratitude to God, Xenophon and Maria gave away all their goods to the poor and both embraced the monastic state. This touching story of these four holy souls demonstrates clearly how the Lord guides most wonderfully the destinies of those who believe in Him; how He looses on them trials and sorrows, that they may later, yet more greatly strengthened in their faith, experience the greater joy. They lived and died in the fifth century.
2. Our Holy Father Simeon the Ancient.
A friend and companion of St. Palladios, he lived in asceticism in a cave from his early youth right up to his death. He founded two monasteries and entered into rest in the Lord in the year 390. He was named ‘the Ancient’ by St. Simeon the Stylite, who lived somewhat later.
3. St. David, King of Georgia (1089-1130).
He restored and strengthened Georgia as a country. He was a great zealot for the Christian Faith. He built many new churches throughout Georgia, and restored ancient ones. He is regarded as the regenerator of Orthodoxy in Georgia.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The greatest blessing any country can have is that of good and holy men living within it. Compared with this blessing, all other blessings are as nothing. Devout Christian kings regarded holy people in their lands as the greatest blessing from God. The holy Emperor Constantine the Great said: ‘We bless the Lord Jesus Christ that there exists in my day three glorious saints: the blessed Abba Anthony, Abba Elenius and Abba Efchius.’ Before the Battle of Kulikovo, a battle significant for Russia, the devout Prince Dimitri of the Don went off with his chief advisors and commanders to the forest of Radonezh to seek St. Sergius and beg his prayers. And although the prince prepared his armies for the war of liberation from the Tartars, he placed greater confidence in the prayers of one holy man than in a vast army and many weapons.
February 9th – Civil Calendar
January 27th – Church Calendar
1. St. John Chrysostom, the Golden Mouth of Orthodoxy.
The Church celebrates the memory of this saint on November 13th and
January 30th, but on this day is celebrated the translation of his honored relics from the
Armenian village of Comana, where he died in exile in 407, to Constantinople where earlier, as
patriarch, he had governed the Church. Thirty years after his death, Patriarch Proklos made a
speech in memory of his spiritual father and mentor, and by this speech so roused the love of the
people and the emperor, Theodosios the Younger, towards the great saint that they all wanted the
relics of St. Chrysostom to be translated to Constantinople. It is related that the coffin
containing the relics could not be shifted from its place until the emperor had written a letter
to St. Chrysostom, begging his forgiveness (for Theodosios’ mother, Evdoxia, was guilty of
having persecuted the saint) and appealing to him to return to Constantinople, his former
residence. When this repentant letter was placed on the coffin, the latter became light in
weight. Before the translation, many of the sick, on touching the coffin, were healed. When the
relics arrived at the capital, the emperor again begged forgiveness over them in his
mother’s name, as though it were she herself speaking: ‘While I lived in this
temporal life, I acted in malice towards thee; but now that thou livest in eternal life, be thou
of help to my soul. My glory passes and there is nought to help me; help me, father, in thy
glory; help me before I come to be condemned before the judgment of Christ.’ When the saint
was carried into the Church of the Holy Apostles and placed on the patriarchal throne, the
assembled throng heard these words from his mouth: ‘Peace be unto all!’ The
translation of the relics of St. John Chrysostom was carried out in the year 438.
2. Our Holy Father Titus of the Kiev Caves.
He was at first a soldier, but receiving a wound in the head in battle, he retired from the world to the monastery of the Caves in Kiev, there to be healed and to receive the monastic schema. He spent his time in ceaseless mourning over his former sins. Before his death he was shown by a heavenly vision that all his sins had been forgiven. His relics lie in the caves of Theodosius.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Fasting is a great thing, but love is greater. If it is by fasting that devils are driven out, passions tamed, the body calmed, the spirit steadied, it is by love that God makes His abode with men. The Lord Himself emphasized fasting as necessary, but proclaimed love as the greatest commandment. In the first half of last century, Jeladin Bey, a Turk, ruled over Ochrid. He was a rebel against the sultan and an independent governor. At that time the Church was ruled by Metropolitan Kalinik. Jeladin and Kalinik, although of different faiths, were very good friends and often visited each other. It happened that Jeladin Bey condemned twenty-five Christians to death by hanging, and the execution was to take place on Great Friday. The metropolitan, deeply distressed by this event, went to Jeladin and besought him to mitigate the sentence. While they were talking, the hour of the midday meal arrived, and the bey invited the metropolitan to eat with him. A dish of lamb had been prepared for the meal. The metropolitan excused himself, as the fast (of the monastic rule, as well as of Holy Friday) prevented him from remaining to eat, and prepared to leave. The bey was angered and said to him: ‘Choose; either you eat with me and free twenty-five people from hanging, or you refrain and they hang.’ The metropolitan crossed himself and sat down to lunch, and Jeladin freed the people from the death sentence.
February 10th – Civil Calendar
January 28th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Ephraim the Syrian.
Born in Syria of poor parents in the reign of the
Emperor Constantine the Great, his early youth was spent somewhat tempestuously, but he suddenly
underwent a spiritual crisis and began to burn with love for the Lord Jesus. He was a disciple of
St. Jacob of Nisibis (Jan. 13th). By the great grace of God, wisdom flowed from his tongue like a
stream of honey and from his eyes tears flowed unceasingly; so much so, that his eyelashes fell
out. Loving work like a bee, Ephraim was constantly either writing books or teaching the monks in
the monastery or the people in the city of Edessa, or was giving himself to prayer and
contemplation. His books are numerous; his prayers are beautiful. The best-known of the latter is
the prayer in the Great Fast: ‘O Lord and Master of my life...’ When they wished to
take him by force and make him bishop, he feigned madness and began to run through the city of
Edessa, trailing his garments along behind him. Seeing him mad, they left him in peace. He was a
contemporary and friend of St. Basil the Great. St. Ephraim was especially the apostle of
repentance. Even today his writings soften many hearts, strengthen them against sin and turn them
back to Christ. He entered into rest at a great age in 373.
2. Our Holy Father Isaac the Syrian.
 Born in Nineveh, he began at an early age to live
the ascetic life in the monastery of Mar-Matthew near Nineveh. When he became known for his
holy life and miracles, he was chosen as bishop of Nineveh and forced to accept this state.
But after only five months he left his episcopate and fled secretly to the desert monastery
of Rabban-Shapur. He was the author of many works, of which about a hundred homilies on the
spiritual life and asceticism, written mainly from his own experience, have come down to
us. He was without equal as a writer and guide in the spiritual life. He entered into rest
at a great age at the end of the seventh century.
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3. Our Holy Father Palladios.
He was a Syrian hermit, a great ascetic and wonder-worker. One morning the corpse of a rich man whom brigands had killed and robbed was found lying outside his cell. Palladios was tried for this crime, and in order to clear up the difficulty, prayed to God and by his prayers raised up the dead man. He entered into rest during the fourth century.
4. Our Holy Father Ephraim of the Kiev Caves.
St. Ephraim instituted the Feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Nicholas to Bari on May 9th. He departed this life in 1096.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The saints’ freedom from envy is a wonderful phenomenon. The saints not only did not allow envy to conquer their hearts, but exerted themselves greatly to ensure that their friends be exalted and they themselves debased. When St. Hilarion of Palestine once visited St. Anthony in Egypt, St. Anthony exclaimed: ‘Welcome, O morning star!’ To this, St. Hilarion replied: ‘And greetings to thee, thou pillar of light that supports the universe.’ When St. Makarios was praised as a monk, the saint replied: ‘Forgive me, my brethren! I am not a monk, but I have seen those who are.’ When some people told St. Sisoës that he was the equal of St. Anthony in perfection, he replied: ‘Were I to have but one single thought such as Anthony’s, I would be all of flame.’
February 11th – Civil Calendar
January 29th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Ignatius.
 The chief feast of St. Ignatius is on December 20th. Today
we celebrate the translation of his relics from Rome, where he suffered martyrdom, to
Antioch, where he had been archbishop. When St. Ignatius was summoned to Rome to answer for
his faith before the Emperor Trajan (98-117) a number of citizens from Antioch accompanied
him on this long journey, prompted by their great love for their chief pastor. The saint of
God, in no wise willing to deny the Faith of Christ and scorning all the flattery and
promises of the emperor, was condemned to death and thrown into the Great Circus before the
wild beasts. They tore him to pieces and he gave his soul to God. Then his companions
collected his bare bones, took them to Antioch and buried them. When the Persians occupied
Antioch in the sixth century, the relics of St. Ignatius were again taken from Antioch to
Rome.
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2. The Holy Martyrs Romanos, Iakovos, Philotheos, Hyperechios, Abibos, Julian and Paregorios.
They all suffered for Christ in Samosata in the time of the Emperor Maximilian, in the year 297. Philotheos and Hyperechios were aristocrats, and the others were young men of respected families. The pagans killed them in a terrible way: by hammering nails into the head of each of them. They suffered with honor and entered into eternal joy.
3. Our Holy Father Laurence (Lavrenty) of the Kiev Caves.
He voluntarily chose the solitary life like the earlier recluses Isaac and Nikita, guarding himself from the diabolic deception which the other two experienced at the beginning. By great restraint, prayer and meditation, he attained a high level of perfection. He discovered from a frightened demon that, of the 118 monks in the Monastery of the Caves, there were thirty who had received the gift from God of power over evil spirits. He went to God in the year 1194.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The more a man progresses in spiritual understanding and purity of heart, the deeper, it seems to him, is the valley in which he finds himself and the higher the peak to which he is aspiring. One spiritual giant, lying on his death bed, heard that he was being praised for his great asceticism. He burst into tears, saying: ‘My children, I have not begun in the spiritual life.’ When St. Ignatius was lying shackled in prison, he wrote to the Ephesians: ‘I do not command you as though I had some standing. Although I am in chains for the name of Jesus Christ, I am not yet perfected in Him. I am only beginning to be a disciple, and I speak to you as fellow-pupils of my teachers.’
February 12th – Civil Calendar
January 30th – Church Calendar
1. The Three Great Hierarchs: Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom.
Each has his personal feast day in the month of January; Basil on the 1st, Gregory
on the 25th and Chrysostom on the 27th. The common feast we celebrate today was instituted in the
11th century, in the time of the Emperor Alexios Komnenos. At one time there was a dispute among
the people about who was the greatest of the three. Some gave St. Basil the pre-eminence for his
purity and courage; others St. Gregory for the unfathomable depth and height of his theological
mind; others still St. Chrysostom for the wonderful beauty of his speech and the clarity of his
presentation of the Faith. So the first were called Basilians, the second Gregorians and the
third Johannites. But, by the providence of God, this dispute was resolved to the benefit of the
Church and the yet greater glory of the three saints. The Bishop of Efchaita, John (June 14th),
had a vision in his sleep, in which each of these saints appeared to him in great glory and
indescribable beauty, and then all three together. They then said to him: ‘We are one in
God, as you see, and there is no dispute among us;...neither is there among us a first or a
second.’ The saints also advised Bishop John to compile a common feast for them and to set
aside for them a day of common commemoration. The quarrel was settled as indicated by the
wonderful vision, January 30th being set aside for the common commemoration of the three
hierarchs. The Greeks regard this feast not only as a Church festival, but as their greatest
national and scholastic holiday.
2. The Hieromartyr Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome.
He suffered for the Faith in the time of Claudius. When, in Rome, the virgin Chrysa was being martyred for Christ, St. Hippolytus stood up for her before her torturers and denounced them. Because of this protest, he was brought to trial and condemned to death after prolonged torture. They bound his hands and feet and cast him into the sea. Twenty other martyrs suffered with him and Chrysa in about 236.
3. The Holy Martyr Theophilus the New.
As commander-in-chief under the Emperor Constantine and Empress Irene, he was enslaved by the Hagarenes and held four years in prison. When he withstood all the Moslems’ insistence that he repudiate the Christian Faith, he was beheaded with the sword in the year 784, and went to the Lord.
4. St. Peter, King of Bulgaria.
He was the son of Simeon, and a great admirer of St. John of Rila. He made the Bulgarian Church independent of Constantinople and defended Orthodoxy in Bulgaria against the Bogomils. He died in 967 at the age of 56, after an unsuccessful war against the Hungarians and Russians.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Here is an example of how kings seek counsel of the saints, of how saints flee from vanity and riches, and how they counsel kings. The Orthodox King Peter of Bulgaria set off with his retinue to the mountain of Rila, urged by the irresistible desire to see St. John of Rila and benefit from his instruction. The king sent men on ahead, to let the saint know. But the saint would not agree to see the king. The saddened king sent other men with some food, a fair amount of gold and the request that the saint would commit to writing some advice for him. St. John received the food and returned the gold, refusing to touch it, and replied to the king: ‘If you desire the heavenly kingdom, be merciful as is your heavenly Father. Do not give yourself to injustice and be not greedy; be meek, quiet, accessible to all. Do not listen to praise from your nobles. May your royal purple shine with all the virtues. Let the remembrance of death never leave your soul. Humble yourself before the feet of Mother Church; bow your head before her greatest saints, so that the King of kings, seeing your devotion, may give you such blessings as have never entered into the heart of man.’ Receiving this letter, the king kissed it, and later referred to it frequently.
February 13th – Civil Calendar
January 31st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Unmercenaries and Wonder-workers Cyrus and John.
These compassionate and wonderful saints
were not blood brothers, but were brothers in spirit. Cyrus (Kyros) lived at first in Alexandria,
and working as a doctor, healed people by the power of Christ together with medicine for the
body. Discovering that illness came upon people mainly through sin, he always told them to
cleanse their souls from sin by repentance and prayer, that they might be restored and
strengthened in body. When Diocletian began his persecution of Christians, Cyrus went off to
Arabia, where he received the monastic schema. But, as he had become known in Alexandria, so he
became known also in Arabia, and people went to him for help. John, hearing of him and being at
that time a Roman officer in Edessa, came to Arabia to see Cyrus. On seeing each other, they
loved each other as brothers and remained together to live in asceticism. At that time, a
Christian woman called Athanasia was tortured together with her three daughters in the town of
Canopus. Cyrus and John heard of this and came to Canopus to encourage the mother and daughters
not to fall back from the Faith. And, grateful indeed for the counsel of these saints, Athanasia
endured all the tortures, and with her daughters, was slain for Christ. The daughters were:
Theoctista, age 15; Theodota, age 13; and Evdokia, age 11. Then the torturers took Cyrus and
John, and after torture and imprisonment, slew them with the sword in the year 311. These holy
martyrs performed innumerable miracles, both during their lives and after their death. Their
relics were translated to Rome in the time of the Emperor Arkadios. They are invoked for help
especially for the sleepless and for the blessing of water and food.
2. The Holy Martyr Tryphaena.
She voluntarily and courageously underwent harsh torture for Christ. Then, because she would not repudiate her faith, a mad ox was released which gored and killed her. This came to pass in the first century. She is invoked to help mothers who are unable to nurse their babies.
3. Our Holy Father Nikita of the Kiev Caves.
As a monk, in disobedience to his abbot, he went off and lived as a recluse in a solitary cell. For his disobedience, God sent great temptations upon him. Once when Nikita was at prayer, the devil appeared to him as an angel of light and said to him: ‘Do not pray any more, but rather read books, and I will pray in your place.’ Nikita obeyed, stopped praying and began to read books. He read only the Old Testament and was totally unable to open the New, being prevented by some diabolical strength. He also prophesied with the help of the devil—about crimes, kidnappings, fires and other evil works which were known to the devil and thence made known to him. The holy fathers of the monastery finally realized that Nikita had fallen into demonic delusion and began to pray for him. Nikita returned to himself, realized the abyss into which he had fallen, repented bitterly of his disobedience and pride and directed himself onto the right path. After long penance and many tears, God forgave him and gave him the gift of wonder-working. He entered into rest in 1108.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Although the holy fathers praised monasticism as the angelic state, and although many of the greatest saints spent their lives and achieved perfection in the silent and lifeless desert, nevertheless the Orthodox Church does not recommend monasticism to all the faithful. ‘Neither will all those in the desert be saved, nor all those in the world be lost,’ said one saint. To one city-dweller who, without any inclination to monasticism, had made up his mind to go to a monastery, St. Niphon said: ‘My son, a man is neither saved nor lost by the place he is in, but is saved or lost by his deeds. Neither a holy place nor a holy state is of use to him who does not fulfill the commandments of the Lord. Saul lived in regal luxury and perished. David lived in like luxury and received the wreath. Lot lived among the lawless Sodomites and was saved. Judas was among the apostles and went to hell. Whoever says that it is impossible to be saved with a wife and children is a deceiver. Abraham had a wife and children and three hundred and eighteen servants, and also much gold and silver, and he was called the friend of God! Many servants of the Church have been saved, and many lovers of the desert; many aristocrats, and many soldiers; many craftsmen, and many farm laborers. Be devout towards God [by loving the truth of Orthodoxy] and loving towards men, and you will be saved.’
February 14th – Civil Calendar
February 1st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Tryphon.
He was born in the village of Lampsacus in Phrygia of
poor parents. He kept geese as a child, and he had from childhood great grace from God; healing
both people and animals and driving out evil spirits. At that time the Emperor Gordian (238-44)
came to the throne in Rome. He had a mad daughter, the source of great distress to her father.
Doctors could do nothing to help her, but the evil spirit in the girl broke silence and said that
no one but Tryphon could cast it out. After many other Tryphons in the empire had failed, this
young Tryphon was sent for, by the providence of God. He was taken to Rome, where he healed the
emperor’s daughter. The emperor heaped gifts on him, which Tryphon gave away to the poor
before returning home. This holy youth remained in his village, tending the geese and praying to
God.
When Decius, who was violently opposed to the Christian Faith, became emperor, Tryphon was interrogated and cruelly tortured for Christ. But he endured all his sufferings with great joy, saying: ‘Oh, when shall I become worthy, through fire and torture, to make an end for the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and God?’ No torture was able to harm him, and the torturers finally condemned him to be beheaded. At the moment of his death, Tryphon commended his soul to his Creator, in the year 250.
2. The Holy Martyrs Perpetua, Felicitas and Satyrus, and others with them.
They were all thrown into prison for their Christian Faith in the time of Emperor Septimus Severus. St. Perpetua was of a noble family, and she encouraged all the other captives in the prison to be fearless in their suffering for Christ. Perpetua saw in a dream a ladder stretching from earth to heaven, all thickly set with sharp knives, swords, stakes, hooks, nails and other deadly implements. A terrible serpent lay at its foot. She saw Satyrus run first up the ladder to the top without injury, and call thence to her: ‘Perpetua! I’m waiting for you. Come on, but mind the serpent!’ Encouraged by this, Perpetua stood on the serpent’s head, as if on the first rung, then in her turn hastened to the top. When she reached it, she saw the beautiful court of heaven and rejoiced with great joy. When she recounted her dream to the other captives, they all interpreted it as meaning that death would soon come to them, and to Satyrus first—which quickly came to be. Satyrus was killed first, then Perpetua, then the rest in order. As lambs butchered for Christ, the Lamb of God, they received from Christ the eternal reward in the kingdom of light. They all suffered for Christ between 202 and 203.
3. Our Holy Father Peter of Galatia.
He left his parents’ home for the sake of Christ at the age of seven, and hid himself in the desert. There he became so perfect through fasting and prayer that he was able to perform many miracles by the power of the Spirit of God. He entered into the eternal kingdom of Christ in about 429 at the age of 99.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Tryphon prayed before his death: ‘O Lord, God of gods and King of kings, the holiest of all that is holy, I thank Thee that Thou hast made me worthy to finish the spiritual struggle without faltering. And now I pray Thee, let me not fall into the hands of the invisible demon, lest he drag me down into the pit of destruction. But may Thy holy angel lead me to Thy beauteous habitation and teach me to become an heir of the kingdom that I so greatly desire. Receive my soul, and hearken to the prayers of all who will bring Thee offerings in memory of me: look Thou upon them from Thy holy habitation, give Thou them abundant and enduring gifts. For Thou art a good and merciful Giver of gifts, forever and ever. Amen.’ Because St. Tryphon had suffered in Nicaea and many miraculous healings were performed by his relics, the citizens of Nicaea wanted to bury him in their cemetery. But the saint appeared to someone in a vision and expressed his desire to be taken home to his own village, Lampsacus, where he had formerly tended the geese, and to be buried there.
February 15th – Civil Calendar
February 2nd – Church Calendar
1. The Meeting of the Lord.
On the fortieth day after His birth, the most
holy Virgin brought her divine Son to the temple in Jerusalem, to consecrate Him to the Lord and
to purify herself according to the law (Lev. 12:2-7, Exod. 12:2). And though neither the one nor
the other was necessary, nevertheless the Lawgiver would not in any way transgress the law which
He had given through His servant and prophet Moses. At that time Zacharias, the father of St.
John the Baptist, was serving his turn as high priest in the temple. He stood the Virgin Mary in
the place for maidens, not that for married women. On this occasion, there were two very special
people present: the elder Simeon, and Anna the daughter of Phanuel. Simeon took his Messiah up in
his arms and said: ‘Now lettest Thy slave depart in peace, O Master, according to Thy word;
for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.’ Simeon also spoke the following words of the Christ
Child: ‘Behold, this One is set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel.’ Then
Anna, who had from her youth served God in the temple in fasting and prayer, and who herself
recognized the Messiah, praised the Lord and made known to the inhabitants of Jerusalem the
coming of the awaited One. But the Pharisees, present in the temple and seeing and hearing all
that passed, and being vexed with Zacharias for having stood the Virgin Mary in the place for
virgins, made this known to King Herod. Believing this to be the new King of Whom the
star-followers from the East had spoken, Herod quickly sent to have Jesus killed. But in the
meantime, the holy travelers had already escaped from the city and set out for Egypt under the
direction of an angel of God. This day has been celebrated from the very earliest times, but its
solemn celebration dates from 544, in the time of Emperor Justinian.
2. The Holy New-Martyr Jordan.
Born in Trebizond, he was a coppersmith by profession. For his open defense of the Christian Faith and his denunciation of the falsehood of Islam, he suffered at the hands of the Turks at Galata in Constantinople in 1650. A monk, Gabriel, a reader in the great church in Constantinople, suffered in the same way in 1676.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Speaking of the spread of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, St. John Chrysostom says: ‘As beautiful and prolific fruit-trees, when planted in the earth, quickly attain a great height and ripen and bear fruit; so with this day.’ So also with the day of the Meeting of the Lord. This day was commemorated among Christians from the beginning, but its solemn celebration began in the time of the great Emperor Justinian. At that time, Constantinople and its surroundings were struck by an epidemic, with five thousand or more people dying every day. At the same time there was a terrible earthquake in Antioch. Seeing the powerlessness of men to avert these catastrophes, the emperor and the patriarch together decided to call for fasting and prayer throughout the whole empire. On the day of the Meeting itself, they arranged processions through the towns and villages to implore the Lord to have mercy on His people. And the Lord did have mercy, the epidemic and the earthquake ceasing instantly. This happened in the year 544. As a result, the Meeting came to be celebrated as a great feast of the Lord. Trees sprout at this time and begin the process of bringing forth their abundant fruit.
February 16th – Civil Calendar
February 3rd – Church Calendar
1. St. Simeon the God-Receiver.
This Simeon was chosen, in the time of the
Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.), as one of the famous Seventy to whom was
committed the task of translating the Old Testament from the Hebrew into Greek. Simeon worked
conscientiously, but when translating the Prophet Isaias, he came to the prophecy: ‘Behold,
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son’. He was puzzled and took a knife to scratch out
the word ‘virgin’ and substitute ‘young woman,’ and thus translate it
into Greek. But at that moment an angel of God appeared to him and held him back from his
intention, explaining to him that the prophecy was true and rightly-expressed. And to confirm its
veracity, the messenger from God said that he, Simeon, by the will of God, would not die until he
had seen the Messiah born of a virgin. The righteous Simeon rejoiced at these heavenly tidings,
left the prophecy unchanged and thanked God that He had found him worthy to live to see the
Promised One. When the Christ Child was brought to the temple in Jerusalem by the Virgin Mary,
the Spirit of God revealed this to Simeon, who was now a very old man with snow-white hair. He
went quickly to the temple and found there both the Virgin and the Child, bathed in a light that
shone round their heads like a halo. The joyful elder took Christ in his arms and prayed to God
to let him leave this world: ‘Now lettest Thy slave depart in peace, O Master, according to
Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.’ Thither came also Anna the prophetess,
the daughter of Phanuel, who recognized the Messiah and made Him known to the people. Anna was
then 84 years old. Soon after that, St. Simeon departed this life. This righteous elder is
venerated as the protector of young children.
2. The Holy Martyrs Adrian and Evoulos (Eubulus).
These two holy souls came from their home town, Baneas, in Caesarea of Cappadocia, to visit imprisoned Christians and to uphold and encourage them. They themselves were taken and condemned to death. Adrian was slain with the sword and Evoulos was thrown to the wild beasts in the year 309. Thus with no trace of lament for this life, they entered with joy and honor into eternal life.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The great heavenly glory attained by St. Simeon, who held the holy Savior in his arms, is clearly attested in this incident taken from the life of St. Peter the Athonite (June 12th). As a military commander, Peter was taken captive in some battle, bound and cast into prison in the town of Samara on the banks of the Euphrates. Lying long in prison, Peter begged St. Nicholas with tears to pray to God for him, that he might be freed from prison, vowing that he would consecrate himself wholly to God. St. Nicholas appeared to him in a dream and said that he had prayed for him, but that God was delaying his deliverance because he, Peter, had earlier made a similar vow and had not fulfilled it. St. Nicholas then advised him to pray to St. Simeon, ‘who has great power before God, and stands near His throne with the most holy Mother of God and St. John the Forerunner’. Peter followed this advice and began to pray to St. Simeon. St. Nicholas appeared to him again—this time with St. Simeon—in a vision, not a dream. Peter saw Simeon, wonderful in appearance with light streaming from his countenance. He was clad in the robes of a priest of the Old Covenant and bore a golden scepter in his hand. St. Simeon said to Peter: ‘Do you wish to fulfill your vow and become a monk?’ Peter replied: ‘Yes, lord, with the help of God.’ Then Simeon touched Peter’s fetters lightly with his scepter and they melted as if made of wax. And he opened the door of the prison and led Peter out.
February 17th – Civil Calendar
February 4th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Isidore of Pelusium.
He was an Egyptian, the son of eminent parents and a kinsman of the Patriarchs of Alexandria Theophilus and Kyril. Completing his secular studies, he renounced his riches and worldly standing and gave himself wholly to the spiritual life for the love of Christ. He was a great and ardent interpreter and defender of the Orthodox Faith. The historian Nikephoros states that St. Isidore wrote more than 10,000 letters to various people in which he reprimanded one, advised another, consoled a third, instructed a fourth. ‘It is more important to be proficient in good works than in golden-tongued preaching,’ he writes in one letter. In another, he says: ‘If a man wishes his virtues to appear great, let him regard them as small and then they will be truly shown to be great.’ The first and fundamental rule for Isidore was: first do and then teach, after the example of the Lord Jesus. At a time when St. John Chrysostom was undergoing persecution and the whole world was divided into two camps, one for and one against this great pillar of Orthodoxy, St. Isidore stood on the side of Chrysostom. He wrote to Patriarch Theophilus, saying what a great light St. Chrysostom was in the Church and begging that the hatred of him should cease. He lived long and labored greatly, glorifying Christ the Lord in his life and his writings, and entered into the kingdom of Christ in about 450.
2. Our Holy Father Nicholas the Confessor.
This saint was from the island of Crete. He went to Constantinople to visit his kinsman Theodore, abbot of the Studite monastery, and remained there to become a monk. As a monk, Nicholas followed all the ascetic practices that are prescribed for the soul’s salvation. During a persecution of the Church on the part of Leo the Armenian, Theodore and Nicholas were harshly tortured, humiliated, beaten with bull-whips and finally thrown into prison, where they spent three years. After the death of St. Theodore, Nicholas became abbot of the Studium. Even during his lifetime, God blessed him with the power to work miracles. He healed Evdokia the wife of the Emperor Basil, and Helen the wife of the patrician Manuel. To Theophilus Melisenus, a distinguished nobleman who had lost several children, he prophesied, in blessing his newborn daughter, that she would live and be fruitful, a prophecy that was later fulfilled to the joy of her parents. On the very day of his death, he called the monks together and asked them what they lacked. ‘Wheat,’ they replied. Then the dying man said: ‘He Who sustained Israel in the wilderness will send you abundant wheat in three days.’ And indeed, a boat full of grain, sent by the Emperor Basil, arrived below the monastery on the third day. Nicholas entered into the heavenly kingdom on February 4th, 868, at the age of 75.
3. The Holy New-Martyr Joseph.
He was born in Aleppo. When the Turks pressured him to embrace Islam, Joseph not only refused, but began to denounce the falsehood of Islam and to extol the Christian Faith. For this he was tortured and beheaded in 1686.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Isidore of Pelusium interprets certain words from holy Scripture: ‘Of two grinding grain, the one shall be taken and the other left’ (Matt. 24:41), to mean that many will give themselves to the spiritual life, but with very different dispositions; one sincerely and steadily, another slackly and conceitedly. The first will be taken into the kingdom of God, and the second left. What is the meaning of the Lord’s prayer about the Cup? Why did the Lord beg that the cup of suffering should pass from Him (Matt. 26:42)? It means that no one should seek danger, but that, when it comes, a Christian must accept and endure it courageously.
On the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25), St. Isidore says: ‘They all kept their virginity, but had no other virtues, such as that of compassion. Virginity by itself is not sufficient for entry into the kingdom of God. Virginity is of no use if the virgin is filled with pride and self seeking.’
February 18th – Civil Calendar
February 5th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Agatha.
This glorious virgin and martyr for Christ was born in the
Sicilian town of Palermo of noble and prosperous parents. When Emperor Decius launched a
persecution of Christians, St. Agatha was arrested and brought to judgement before Quintian, the
judge. He saw Agatha’s beauty and desired her for his wife. When he suggested this to her,
she replied that she was the bride of Christ and could not be faithless to her Betrothed. The
judge condemned her to cruel torture: Agatha was flogged, mocked, bound to a tree and beaten till
the blood flowed. After that, the judge again urged her to deny Christ and so escape further
torture, to which Christ’s bride replied: ‘These tortures are of great help to me. As
wheat cannot come to the granary until it is cleansed of its chaff, so my soul cannot enter
Paradise unless my body has first been broken by torture.’ Then the torturer ordered that
her breasts be cut off, and that she then be thrown into prison. The holy Apostle Peter appeared
to her in the prison and restored her to physical wholeness and health. She was once again taken
out for torture and again cast back into prison, where she gave her soul to God in the town of
Catania in the year 251. After her death, her torturer, Quintian, set out to appropriate her
lands; but on the way, the horses became maddened under him and his soldiers. They were savaged
on the face, thrown onto the ground and trampled to death. Thus God’s punishment came
swiftly upon him for his ferocious crime against St. Agatha.
2. The Holy Martyr Theodula.
She suffered for Christ in the time of Diocletian, the impious Roman emperor. During her tortures, Theodula brought one of her torturers, Helladius, to his senses and to the Christian Faith. When Helladius openly confessed his faith in Christ, he was beheaded. Theodula showed great courage at her trial, for which the judge considered her witless. To this, she retorted: ‘It is you who are witless, for you forget the one true God and bow down to lifeless stones.’ The judge put her to cruel torture, which Theodula endured with heroism, making her torturers marvel and bringing them to Christ. Among these were two eminent citizens, Makarius and Evagrius. With these two and many others, Theodula was thrown into a red-hot furnace, where they all finished this life with honor and were made worthy of the kingdom of Christ.
3. St. Polyefktos, Patriarch of Constantinople.
For his great mind, his zeal for the Faith and his power of oratory, he was called a second Chrysostom. The Russian Princess Olga came to Constantinople in the time of Patriarch Polyefktos and Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, and was baptized there in 957. The patriarch baptized her, and the emperor stood godfather. St. Polyefktos prophesied: ‘Blessed art thou among Russian women, for thou hast desired the light and cast away darkness; the sons of Russia will bless thee to the last generation.’ From being a simple monk, Polyefktos was raised to the patriarchate in 946, and remained on the patriarchal throne until his death in 970.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The great Abba Ischyrion was asked by his monks: ‘What have we accomplished?’ ‘We have fulfilled the commandments of God,’ replied Ischyrion. ‘And what will those who come after us accomplish?’ ‘They will accomplish what we have accomplished, but only half as much as we.’ ‘And those after them?’ ‘Those in the last days will have no monastic training, but such assaults and temptations will come upon them that they will, through these trials, be revealed in the kingdom of God as greater than us and than our fathers.’
February 19th – Civil Calendar
February 6th – Church Calendar
1. St. Boukolos (Bucolus), Bishop of Smyrna.
He was a disciple of St. John the Theologian, who consecrated him bishop of the city of Smyrna. There were few baptized Christians in Smyrna, and St. Boukolos shone like a lamp in the pagan darkness. He was adorned with all the virtues, especially gentleness and meekness. Before his death, Boukolos named the famous Polycarp as his successor in the episcopate. Then he peacefully departed this life and went to the Lord.
2. The Holy Martyr Fausta.
Suffering for Christ in the reign of the Emperor Maximian (between 305 and 311), she made her torturers marvel by her heroism and brought them to the Christian Faith. These were the eighty-year-old pagan priest Evilasius, and Maximus the Eparch. When the judge threatened Fausta with even harsher tortures, she asked him to have a picture of her made, showing her enduring all the tortures with which he was threatening her. When it was ready and shown to her, holy Fausta said: ‘As this picture feels no torture, so my body does not feel the torture of your punishments, for my soul is established in the Lord.’ The judge cast her into a cauldron of boiling water, where this thirteen-year-old girl departed this life with prayer on her lips, and went to Paradise.
3. The Holy Martyr Dorothea.
She was an eminent and beautiful maiden from Caesarea in Cappadocia. The administrator of the district, Saprikios, gave Dorothea into the care of two pagan sisters, Christina and Kallista, to turn her from Christ. But it happened the other way around: Dorothea succeeded in bringing both sisters to the Christian Faith. Saprikios in fury ordered that the sisters be tied together back to back, cast into a vat of pitch and then set alight. He then condemned Dorothea to death. She listened to the sentence with joy and cried out: ‘I thank Thee, O Christ, Thou Lover of souls, that Thou callest me to Thy Paradise and leadest me to Thy most holy court!’ A nobleman, Theophilus, who was present laughed at these words and called out to Dorothea: ‘Here, you bride of Christ; send me apples and wild roses from your Bridegroom’s paradise!’ ‘Yes; I’ll do that!’ the martyr replied. When Dorothea was at the place of execution, a handsome youth suddenly appeared with three marvelous apples and three red wild roses. This was an angel from God, and it was winter-time. At Dorothea’s bidding, the angel took them to Theophilus and said: ‘Here is what you asked for.’ When Theophilus received the message and saw the gift, he was very much afraid. Everything within him turned topsy-turvy, and he rejected paganism and became a Christian. He was tortured and killed for Christ, and his soul quickly followed Dorothea’s to the Lord’s Paradise.
4. St. Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople.
 A great light in the Church, he was a
kinsman of the emperor and grandson of the famous Patriarch Tarasios. He was reputed to be
the wisest and most intelligent person in the empire, and was an instructor of many in
Constantinople on subjects that ranged from secular science to the most sublime types of
theology. He was a forceful protector of the Church from the power-seeking of the pope and
other Roman perverters of the Faith. He passed through all the ranks from layman to
patriarch in six days, being made patriarch on the Nativity of Christ in 858. He departed
this life in the Lord in about 895.
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5. Our Holy Fathers Barsanuphius and John.
Great ascetics from Gaza, gifted with insight and wonder-working power, they left us a well-known book of answers to various questions on the spiritual life. They lived in the sixth century.
6. The Holy Martyrs Martha and Mary and their brother Lycarion.
All three were crucified for Christ, then stabbed to death with a lance.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Barsanuphius, who spent fifty years shut in his cell forbidding himself the sight of a single man, attained through the grace of God gifts of discernment and clairvoyance. Here are some of the thoughts from his book Answers: ‘Every thought that is not preceded by the silence of humility does not originate in God. All that happens with confusion and bustle is of the devil.’ ‘When you pray, and God is slow to hear you, He does this for your good, to help you learn patience.’ ‘Visible robbers are the servants of invisible robbers in the thoughts.’ ‘The Lord Jesus Christ endured all things and finally ascended onto the holy Cross, which brought about the death of the body and the passions, and a holy and perfect rest.’ ‘The Lord desires you to reverence every man more greatly than yourself.’ When the elder was asked if he would use the services of a paid advocate in a dispute in which the monastery was engaged, he replied: ‘If you buy the advocacy of men, God will not be your advocate (lawyer).’
February 20th – Civil Calendar
February 7th – Church Calendar
1. St. Parthenios, Bishop of Lampsacus.
He was the son of a deacon from the city of Melitopolis. He knew the words of the Gospel by heart from his early youth, and strove to fulfill them. Settling beside a lake, he caught fish, sold them and shared the proceeds with the poor. By God’s providence, he was chosen as bishop of Lampsacus. He cleansed the city of paganism, closed the temples dedicated to idol-worship, built many churches and strengthened the faithful. He healed all manner of sickness through prayer, and was especially powerful over spirits. At one time when he was about to drive the evil spirit out of a madman, the evil spirit begged him not to. ‘I will give you another man, into whom you can enter and in whom you can dwell,’ Parthenios told him. ‘And who is that man?’ ‘I am he,’ replied the saint, ‘Come and make your abode in me’. Hearing this, the evil spirit fled as though burned by fire, crying out: ‘How can I enter into the house of God?’ St. Parthenios lived long and showed in his deeds the greatness of his love for God and man. He entered into the eternal peace of Christ in the 4th century.
2. Our Holy Father Luke of Hellas.
Luke was born in Castorius. Even as a child, he had no desire to taste meat, and spent the whole of his life with purity and prayer. One day he went to sow his field with wheat. On the way, he gave the greater part of the wheat to a poor man and the lesser part, which remained to him, he sowed. God provided that, from this small amount of seed, there came a greater harvest than had previously come from the whole amount. After that, Luke ran away from his mother and entered a monastery. His widowed mother prayed ardently to God to reveal to her where her son was to be found, and God heard her prayer. The abbot of that monastery dreamed three times in succession that a woman was vehemently accusing him of having taken her only son. The abbot then ordered Luke to return at once to his mother. Luke went and saw his mother, but once again left her, this time for good. He labored on a mountain called ‘John’s Mountain’. He prayed at night and worked in the gardens and fields by day, not for himself but for the poor and the visitors, himself living only on barley bread. He was endowed by God with wonder-working gifts, and entered peacefully into rest in the year 946. From time to time, myrrh flowed from his relics.
3. Our Holy Mother Mastridia.
She lived a life of great asceticism in Jerusalem. A young man who saw her began to pester her, so to save them both from sin she took some soaked beans in a basket and went off into the desert. There she spent seventeen years, during which time, by the power of God, the beans did not come to an end nor her clothing wear out. She entered peacefully into rest in about 580.
4. The Thousand and Three Martyrs of Nikomedia
They suffered in the reign of Diocletian.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Take on yourself some penance for the sin of others. If you have condemned or punished another, take some penance on yourself. Suffer a little, voluntarily, for the sins of sinners. That is pleasing to God. The saints knew this mystery when they condemned themselves for the sins of others. Even non-Christian peoples have some grasp of this. In China, for instance, there is the following custom: when the executioner beheads a criminal condemned to death, he goes to the judge and reports that the sentence has been carried out. The judge gives him a silver piece for killing the criminal, and orders that he receive forty strokes of the lash for killing a man. The Christian saints had a profound understanding of the mystery of sin and the unrighteousness of man. Each human sin had for them a history as long as that stretching back from us to Adam.
February 21st – Civil Calendar
February 8th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates.
There are martyrdoms that are
more than costly. The costliness of a martyrdom depends on the greatness of the good things of
this world that a Christian gives up, receiving suffering in its place; and it depends also on
the greatness of the suffering which he endures for the sake of Christ. St. Theodore, a Roman
commander in the army of the Emperor Licinius and governor of the city of Heraklea, scorned his
youth, his good looks, his military status and the goodwill of the emperor; and in place of all
this received terrible tortures for the sake of Christ. Firstly Theodore was flogged, receiving
600 lashes on the back and 500 on the stomach; then he was crucified and pierced through with
arrows. Finally he was slain with the sword. Why all this? Because St. Theodore loved Christ more
than anything else in the world. He scorned the foolish idol-worship of the superstitious
emperor, shattered the silver and gold idols, giving the pieces to the poor, brought many to the
Christian Faith and urged the emperor himself to reject idolatry and believe in the one God.
During the whole of his torture, Theodore repeated unceasingly: ‘Glory to Thee, my God,
glory to Thee!’ He suffered on February 8th, 319, at three o’clock in the afternoon,
and entered into the kingdom of Christ. He is regarded as the protector of soldiers, who turn to
him for help. His wonder-working relics were taken from Efchaita to Constantinople and buried in
the Church at Vlachernai.
2. The Holy Prophet Zacharias (Zechariah).
 The eleventh of the Minor Prophets, he worked together
with the Prophet Haggai to persuade Prince Zerubbabel to restore the temple in Jerusalem.
He prophesied the solemn entry of Christ into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of an ass, and
Judas’ betrayal for thirty pieces of silver: ‘They weighed for my price thirty
pieces of silver,’ and the forsaking of Christ by His apostles at the time of His
Passion: ‘Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.’ He entered into
rest in the second year of the reign of Darius Hystapes, in about 520 B.C.
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3. St. Sava the Second, Archbishop of Serbia.
He was the son of King Stefan the First-Crowned and nephew of St. Sava the First. Before becoming a monk, he was called Predislav. Following the example of his great uncle, he became a monk and gave himself zealously to the ascetic life. Chosen to be Archbishop of Serbia after St. Arsenius, and taking the name Sava II, he governed the Church with great devotion and love. He entered into rest in 1268, and his relics lie in the monastery at Peć.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Seraphim of Sarov writes on despair: ‘As the Lord works for our salvation, so the devil, that killer of men, works to lead man into despair.’ Judas the betrayer was little of soul and untested in battle, and therefore the devil, seeing him in despair, attacked him and forced him to suicide. But Peter, the firm rock, when he fell into great sin in the testing time of battle, did not despair nor lose the presence of the Spirit, but wept bitterly from a full heart, and the devil seeing this, fled from him as from a flaming fire. And, my brethren, St. Antiochus teaches that when despair descends upon us, we must not surrender to it, but strengthened and protected by our holy Faith, say resolutely to the wicked spirit: ‘What hast thou to do with us, thou who hast fallen away from God, thou fugitive from heaven and slave of wickedness? Thou darest in no wise do us harm, for Christ the Son of God has dominion over us and over all. But thou, O thou murderer, get thee away from us! Strengthened by His precious Cross, we trample upon thy serpent head!’
February 22nd – Civil Calendar
February 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Nikephoros.
The life of this holy martyr demonstrates clearly how God casts down pride and crowns humility and brotherly love with glory. There lived in Antioch two intimate friends, the learned priest Saprikios and the ordinary, simple townsman Nikephoros. Their friendship somehow turned into a terrible mutual hatred. Nikephoros, who feared God, tried many times to establish peace with the priest, but the latter would not respond. When a persecution of Christians broke out, the priest Saprikios was condemned to death and brought to the place of execution. Nikephoros stood in great distress in the path Saprikios was to take, begging him to forgive him before dying, and to part in peace. ‘I pray thee, thou martyr of Christ,’ said Nikephoros, ‘forgive me if I have in any way sinned against thee.’ Saprikios would not turn to his adversary, but calmly and proudly moved on to death. But, seeing the hardness of the priest’s heart, God would not have him receive the gift of martyrdom and the crowning with the wreath, and secretly withdrew His blessing. At the last moment, Saprikios denied Christ before the executioner and declared that he would worship idols. Hatred had blinded him to such an extent! Nikephoros entreated Saprikios not to deny Christ: ‘Oh, my beloved brother, do not do this! Do not deny our Lord Jesus Christ and lose the heavenly crown!’ But all in vain; Saprikios was unmoved. Then Nikephoros cried out to the executioners: I too am a Christian; kill me in Saprikios’ place!’ The executioners reported this to the judge, who ordered them to let Saprikios go and to kill Nikephoros in his place. Nikephoros joyfully laid his head on the block and was beheaded. And thus he was made worthy of the kingdom and crowned with the eternal wreath of glory. This came to pass in 260, in the reign of the Emperor Gallienus.
2. The Hieromartyr Peter of Damascus.
This saint is considered by some to have lived in the eighth century, and by others in the twelfth. This difference of opinion arises from there having been two Peters Damascene. The one about whom we are speaking was a great ascetic. Utterly selfless, he had not one single book of his own, but borrowed them to read. And he read untiringly, gathering wisdom as a bee does honey. He was at some time bishop in Damascus, but spoke out so strongly against Islam and the Manichean heresy that the Arabs cut out his tongue and sent him into exile deep in Arabia. But God gave him the power of speech, so that there in exile he preached the Gospel and brought many to the Christian Faith. He wrote and left to his descendants a precious book on the spiritual life. He died a confessor and a martyr, and entered into the kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Peter of Damascus writes thus of the general and the particular gifts of God: ‘The general gifts are the four elements, and all that come from them, all the wonderful and terrible works of God revealed in the holy Scriptures. But the particular gifts are those which God gives to a man individually; be it wealth for acts of mercy, or poverty for patience with thanksgiving; be it power for right judgement and the strengthening of virtue, or subjugation and slavery for the swift salvation of the soul; be it health for the helping of the infirm or weakness for the crown of patience; be it understanding and skill in gathering wealth for the sake of the virtues, or feebleness and clumsiness for submissive humility. All these, and though they may seem in contrast to one another, they are all, as they are apportioned, very good.’ He says in conclusion that we owe God gratitude for all His gifts, and must bear all infirmities and tribulations with patience and hope, for all that God gives us or brings upon us is for our salvation.
February 23rd – Civil Calendar
February 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Haralambos (Charalampus).
This great saint was a priest in Magnesia, and suffered for
Christ at the age of 113. When a violent persecution broke out under Emperor Septimus Severus,
the aged Haralambos did not hide from his persecutors, but freely and openly preached the
Christian Faith. He endured all tortures as though not in the body, and when they flayed the
living flesh from him, the godly saint said to the emperor’s soldiers: ‘Thank you, my
brethren, for scraping off the old body and renewing my soul for new and eternal life.’ He
performed many wonders and brought many to the Faith. Even the emperor’s daughter, Gallina,
repudiated the paganism of her father and became a Christian. Condemned to death and led to the
place of execution, St. Haralambos raised his arms to heaven and prayed for all men, that God
would give them bodily health and salvation of soul, and that He would grant them the fruits of
the earth in abundance: ‘Lord, Thou knowest that men are flesh and blood; forgive them
their sins and pour out Thy blessing on all.’ After praying thus, the saintly elder gave
his soul to God before the executioner had laid his sword to his neck. He suffered in 202.
Gallina took his body and buried it.
2. Our Holy Father Prochorus the Orach-Eater.
A wonder-worker of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev, he was named the Orach-eater because the whole time he lived in the monastery he never tasted bread, but fed himself on orach prepared according to his own particular method as a sort of bread. When he gave someone some of this bread with his blessing, it was as sweet as honey, but if anyone stole some, it was as bitter as wormwood.
Once, when there was a dearth of salt in Russia, Prochorus distributed ashes to the people for salt. The ashes that he distributed with his blessing became salt; however, ashes that anyone took for himself remained ordinary ashes. Prince Svyatopolk ordered that all the ashes from Prochorus’ cell be brought to the court without his permission, let alone his blessing. When the ashes were brought there, it was obvious to everyone that they were ashes and not salt. Then Prochorus told all the people who came to him for salt to go to the prince’s court, and when the prince threw the ashes away, to take them and use them as salt. This they did, and the ashes again became salt. The prince himself, learning of this, was filled with a deep respect and love for him. When Prochorus died in 1107, Prince Svyatopolk placed him with his own hands in a grave near the great Russian Saints Anthony and Theodosius.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Many of the great infirmities to which man is subject have their origin, known or unknown, in his past. The origins of these great infirmities, such as madness for example, are none other than violations of the moral law of God. While St. Haralambos was undergoing martyrdom, the royal torturer learned of his wonder-working power and ordered that a madman be brought before him, to find out if Haralambos could heal him. The devil had tormented this man for 35 years, driving him into the deserts and mountains and casting him into mires and abysses. When this madman drew near to Haralambos, the demon smelled the fragrance of the holy man and cried out: ‘I beg thee, O servant of God, do not torment me before the time, but order me and I will come out; and if thou desirest, I will tell thee how I entered into the man.’ And the saint ordered him to speak. The demon said: ‘This man desired to rob his neighbor, and thought within himself: “If I don’t first kill the man, I shall not be able to take all his goods.” So he went and killed his neighbor. Catching him in such an act. I entered into him and have been residing here these 35 years.’ Hearing this, the saint of God ordered the demon to come out of the man at once and leave him in peace, and the man was healed and became calm.
February 24th – Civil Calendar
February 11th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Vlasios (Blaise), Bishop of Sebaste.
Born in Cappadocia, Vlasios was meek and God-fearing from early childhood. He was chosen for his virtues as bishop of Sebaste, and was a great spiritual and moral light in that pagan town. During a period of violent persecution of Christians, Vlasios encouraged his flock and visited the martyrs in prison, among whom was the famous Efstratios.
When the city of Sebaste was left entirely denuded of Christians—some killed and others fled—Vlasios, by then an old man, retired to the mountain of Argeos and lived there in a cave. Ferocious wild beasts, recognizing a holy man, came to him and he gently tamed them. But the persecutors found the saint in that hidden spot and took him for trial. On the way there, Vlasios healed a boy who had a bone stuck in his throat, and at the petition of a poor widow, made the wolf that had taken her pig return it to her. The benighted judges tortured him, flogging him terribly. By his steadfastness in the Christian Faith, Vlasios brought many unbelievers to the Faith. Seven women and two children were thrown into prison with him; the women were slain first, then Vlasios and the two children. He suffered and was glorified in 316.
Vlasios’ prayers are sought for the health and well-being of domestic animals and for protection from wild beasts. In the West, he is also invoked against sore throats.
2. The Holy Martyr George of Kratovo.
George was a Bulgarian from the town of Kratovo. As a young man, George was a goldsmith; and in his heart and soul a faithful and devout Christian. As soon as he reached the age of eighteen, the Turks tried to convert him to Islam, but George remained as firm as a diamond in the Faith. The Turks then tortured him with many harsh tortures and finally burned him alive at the stake. He suffered for the Christian Faith on February 11th, 1515, in Sofia in the time of Sultan Selim, and was glorified with unfading glory in heaven.
3. St. Theodora.
A Greek empress, she was the wife of the wicked Emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast. After the death of Theophilus, Theodora reigned with her son, Michael III, and the veneration of icons was immediately restored at the Council of Constantinople in 842. This was the occasion of the institution of the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which is celebrated to this day on the first Sunday in the Great Fast. This holy woman who gave such service to the Church gave her soul to God on February 11th, 867. By the wonderful providence of God, it was at this time of total triumph of Orthodoxy over all heresies that Saints Kyril and Methodius were sent as missionaries to the Slav peoples.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Matter is not, of itself, evil, as certain Christian heretics (for example, the Manicheans) and some philosophers have asserted. Not only is it not evil; it is not the sole spreader of evil, for the spirit does this just as much as matter does. Every material thing is weighed down and inhibited by the soul of man, but it is not evil. Matter is corruptible, weak and helpless in comparison with the immortal spirit, but it is not itself evil. If it were evil, how could the Lord Jesus have instituted the holy Communion from bread and wine, and how could bread and wine be called His body and blood? If matter were in itself evil, how could people be baptized in water? How could the Apostle Iakovos have ordained that the sick be anointed with oil? How could blessed water stay fresh and have miraculous powers? How could the Cross have power? How could Christ’s robe have borne the healing power of the Savior, from which the woman with the issue of blood was healed? How could the relics of the saints and how could icons have such wonder-working gifts, and such good from the kingdom of blessings befriend man? How, further, could good come to man through evil? No; matter is in no way evil in itself.
February 25th – Civil Calendar
February 12th – Church Calendar
1. St. Meletius, Archbishop of Antioch.
This great and holy man was an outstanding interpreter
and defender of Orthodoxy. The whole of his life was devoted to the fight against the Arian
heresy, which did not recognize the Son of God and blasphemed against the Holy Trinity.
Originally living in Armenia, he was appointed to shepherd the Church of Antioch. In that place,
the struggle between the Orthodox and the heretics was so bitter that the first time St. Meletius
preached to the people in church on the divine Trinity in unity, the deacon, a heretic, ran up to
the bishop and shut his mouth with his hand. Being unable to preach with words, Meletius preached
by signs. Thus, he raised his arms on high, opened three fingers to their fullest extent and
showed them to the people, then closed his hand and raised the one fist. He was three times
removed from his archiepiscopal throne by the heretics, and driven off into Armenia. He took part
in the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, where the Emperor Theodosios showed him especially great
honor. At that council, God showed a mystery through His archbishop. When Meletius was
propounding the doctrine of the Holy Trinity to the Arians, he first raised three fingers,
separated one by one, then brought them together; and at that moment lightning flashed from his
hand before the gaze of all present. At that council, Meletius established Gregory the Theologian
in the seat of Constantinople. While the council was still in session, St. Meletius finished his
earthly course in Constantinople. His relics were taken to Antioch.
2. St. Alexis (Alexei), Metropolitan of Moscow.
St. Alexis was a great hierarch of the Russian Church during a difficult period of Cossack warfare with the Russian people. Once in childhood he went bird hunting, and then went to sleep. In a dream he heard a voice that said, ‘Alexis, why rush around so fruitlessly? I will teach you to catch men!’ He became a monk at the age of twenty, and in time became Metropolitan of Moscow. He twice went among the Cossack Horde: once to sooth the wrath of Verdevir Khan against the Russian people, and the second time at the invitation of Amurat Khan, to cure his wife’s blindness. This woman had been blind for three years, but she was healed and her vision restored when Alexis prayed and anointed her with holy water. After a life of great endeavor and fruitfulness, Alexis entered into rest in 1378 at the age of 85, and went to the court of the Lord.
3. Our Holy Mother Mary (Marius).
Mary was a woman with great courage. After the death of her mother, her father desired to become a monk. Mary would not be separated from him, so they decided to go together to a men’s monastery—Mary with short hair and in man’s raiment as a youth. Her father died, and Mary became a monk and received the name Marius. There was an inn near the monastery, and the innkeeper’s daughter fell in love with the pious monk Marius. After pursuing him without success, she accused Marius of unlawful relations with her, because she had known some other man and borne him a son. Mary did not defend herself and was driven forth with scorn from the monastery. With the strange child in her care, she lived for three years in a grove belonging to the monastery, enduring hunger and hatred, and every sort of hardship and privation. As a result of all this, the innkeeper’s daughter became deranged. A little later, Mary died. Immediately after her death it was discovered that the ‘Monk Marius’ was a woman. As soon as the innkeeper’s daughter touched the relics of St. Mary, she was healed of her insanity and confessed her terrible sin. St. Mary entered into rest and went to eternal joy in 508.
4. St. Anthony, Patriarch of Constantinople.
A man of great compassion, he was at first an ascetic and then patriarch in the time of Emperor Leo the Wise (889-912). He professed his father a monk and built a monastery over the relics of St. Callia.
5. St. Callia.
Callia was generous to the poor from pure Christian compassion, both as a young girl and later as a married woman. Her husband was rich, but he was a hard man. Returning on one occasion from his work, he found that his wife had given away all his wealth to the poor. He thereupon killed her. But God glorified this compassionate soul, in that her relics healed many of the sick. Convinced by this of her sanctity, the holy Patriarch Anthony built a monastery over her relics.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. John Chrysostom quotes the following example from the life of St. Meletius, demonstrating the true nobility of this great hierarch: Meletius was unjustly exiled from Antioch. When the governor got into the coach, seated the saint beside him and then began to drive hurriedly through the square, the citizens rushed from all sides with pebbles, which fell like hail on the governor’s head, the people being loath to part with their archbishop, and being ready to part with life rather than with this saint. But what did the blessed man do? Seeing the stones flying, he covered the governor’s head with his cloak. He thus shamed his enemy by his great meekness and gave his followers a lesson in the goodness we must show to those who insult us; how it is not enough just to do them no evil, but to use our strength to protect them from those dangers that threaten them. On Meletius’ outward appearance, St. Chrysostom writes further: ‘It was truly the greatest delight to see his holy face, and not only when he taught or spoke; when people only looked at him he brought virtue to the soul of the beholder.’
February 26th – Civil Calendar
February 13th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Simeon the Myrrh-Streamer.
Stefan Nemanja, the great ruler of the Serbian people, unifier of the Serbian lands, creator of an independent Serbian government, defender of Orthodoxy, driver-out of heresy, was first baptized in the Latin Church when he was a child, but later received a real Baptism and became a member of the Orthodox Church. In its organization, Serbia was at first dependent on Greece, but later shook off this dependence and became completely autonomous. When he had strengthened the state and the Orthodox Church within the state, he then, following the example of his son Sava, received the monastic schema at the monastery of Studenica in 1195, being given the name Simeon. His wife Anna also received the monastic schema and the name Anastasia, and retired to a women’s monastery. After two years’ monasticism at Studenica, Simeon went to the Holy Mountain. There, he stayed at first in the monastery of Vatopedi together with Sava. Father and son spent days and nights in prayer. There they built six chapels: to the Savior, the Unmercenaries, St. George, St. Theodore, the Forerunner and St. Nicholas. They bought the ruins of Hilandar and built a beautiful monastery, in which Simeon lived only eight months before his death. When he was at his last breath, Sava, according to his wish, placed him on a simple rush mat. With his eyes fixed on the icon of the Mother of God with the Savior, the blessed elder pronounced these words: ‘Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.’ And he went to the Lord, on February 13th, 1200.
2. Our Holy Father Martinian.
The life of this saint is wonderful beyond measure and is worth reading in full. What did he not endure to fulfill the law of God? At the age of eighteen, he went off into a mountain in Cappadocia called ‘the Ark’ and there spent 25 years in fasting, vigils and prayer, and struggling with manifold temptations. When a woman came to tempt him and he saw that he would fall into sin with her, he leapt barefoot into the fire and stood in it until the pain brought forth tears from his eyes and he had killed all lust within himself. When other temptations arose, he fled to a lonely rock in the sea and lived there. When, though, in a shipwreck, a woman swam to the rock, he leapt into the sea. But a dolphin took him upon its back and brought him, by God’s providence, to the shore. He then decided to make nowhere his permanent home but to travel incessantly. Thus he passed through 164 towns in two years, exhorting and advising the people. He finally arrived in Athens, where he died in 422.
3. Saints Zoe and Photine.
Zoe (Zoa) at first tempted St. Martinian to immorality, but when she saw this hermit leap into the fire to kill all lust in himself, she repented bitterly, went to a monastery in Bethlehem and lived there in heroic asceticism as a hermit and anchorite. Repenting of all her sins, she received the gift of wonder-working from the Lord. St. Photine (Photinia) was thrown by the sea onto the island where St. Martinian was living in solitude. Martinian immediately left the island, but Photine remained there to the end of her days in fasting and prayer.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The great Stefan Nemanja, whose authoritative word was unreservedly heeded by all, at whom peoples and kings trembled, became a monk and served the monks of the Holy Mountain as a model example of meekness, humility, goodness and prayer. And his death was the death of a truly godly man and spiritual guide. He took to his bed on February 7th, called St. Sava to him, placed his hands on him and blessed him, saying: ‘My beloved child, light of my eyes, comfort and guardian of my old age, the time for us to part has come; the Lord is letting me go forth in peace. But do not grieve, my child, for our parting; this is common to all. Here we part; but we shall meet again hereafter, where there is no more parting.’ On February 12th St. Simeon told Sava to dress him in his burial habit, spread rushes for him on the ground, put a stone for his head and thus lay him there. Then he called together all the monks and asked their forgiveness. At dawn on the 13th, while the monks were singing the morning office in the church, their voices reaching the dying man’s cell, St. Simeon’s face lit up once more and he gave his soul to God.
February 27th – Civil Calendar
February 14th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Auxentius (Afxentios).
A very distinguished administrator in Constantinople among the officials and courtiers of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger, he was set aflame by the love of Christ. Auxentius became a monk and remained only a short time in Constantinople. When men began to praise him, he fled and settled on a mountain near Chalcedon that later became known as Auxentius’ mountain. He could not realize his desire to remain there permanently, hidden from men, as some shepherds found him and made his whereabouts known. They began to bring the sick to him to be healed, and he healed many of them. He restored sight to the blind and cleansed lepers, anointing them with oil. He also raised up the palsied and freed many who had been possessed by demons. All this was cause for wonder, but his humility was more wonderful. When he was asked to pray for the healing of someone, he excused himself with the words: ‘I also am a sinful man.’ But, constrained by many requests, he approached the healing in the following way: either he called all present to pray with him for the sick person, or he first stirred up the faith of the people and told them that God would give according to their faith, or he said over the head of the sick person: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ heals you.’ He did this that the wonder worked should not be attributed to him but to almighty God. He took part in the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon and powerfully defended Orthodoxy against the Eftychian and Nestorian heresies. He lived to a great age; then, in 470, God took his youthful soul to Himself and left his aged body on the earth from which it was made.
2. Our Holy Father Isaac the Recluse, of the Kiev Caves.
Isaac was a contemporary of Saints Anthony and Theodosius. He came to the monastery as a rich merchant, but forsook everything, giving all his goods to the poor, and gave himself to the strictest asceticism in a walled-in cell. Only St. Anthony gave him a blessed loaf through the window every other day. Deluded by demons, who appeared to him as angels of light, he worshipped them, and then Satan himself, believing that he was Christ. As a result of this he became ill and lay two years in sickness, after which he was healed and became a cautious and experienced ascetic, receiving in the end abundant blessings. He entered into rest in 1090.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Why do people leave one place and move to another? Mainly because they hope to be happier in the other place. And, from the point of view of earthly life and contentment, places can indeed be different, better or worse. He who has no hope of a better life after death seeks a better sensual pasture in this life. But if you look into the hearts of the people who have settled themselves in the so-called ‘best places’ on this terrestrial sphere, you will perceive discontent, sorrow and despair. They have not found what they were looking for. They fed to satiation everywhere, and in the end, still hungry, looked into the eyes of death.
But look at the Christian saints! They chose the least verdant places, ‘dry, impassable and waterless,’ lonely and terrible places that attracted the least attention and that no one would wish to possess. They regarded all places on earth as equally without value, but chose these places solely in order to draw nearer in mind and spirit to their eternal home. And if one were to look into their hearts, one would perceive joy and contentment.
February 28th – Civil Calendar
February 15th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Onesimus.
One of the Seventy, he was a slave of Philemon, a rich and
distinguished citizen of Colossae in Phrygia. He offended his master, Philemon, in some way and
fled to Rome, where he heard the Gospel from the Apostle Paul and was baptized. By this time,
Paul had also brought Philemon to the true Faith, and he reconciled the two of them, Philemon and
Onesimus, master and slave, writing a special epistle to Philemon—one of the most moving writings
to be found in the New Testament: ‘I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten
in my bonds.... Perhaps he departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever, not
now as a servant, but above a servant; a brother beloved.’ Deeply moved by this letter,
Philemon received Onesimus as a brother, indeed, and gave him his freedom. Onesimus was later
made bishop and received the see of Ephesus after the death of the Apostle Timothy. This is
recorded in the epistles of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer. At the time of the persecution under
Trajan, Onesimus, by then an old man, was arrested and taken to Rome. There he testified before
the judge, Tertylus, was imprisoned and finally slain. A wealthy woman took his body, placed it
in a silver coffin and buried it in the year 109.
2. Our Holy Father Evsevios.
A Syrian hermit, he lived at first under the guidance of holy men, but later went into the solitude of the desert. He fed himself entirely on vegetable foods, never even tasting fruit, and spent all his time in prayer in the open air, enduring all weathers. He lived to the age of 95 and entered into rest in the Lord in 440.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Peace of soul is precious to all men. With those who have acquired peace of soul, the body can be in constant motion, occupation or pain, but their souls, cleaving to God, remain always in unshakable peace. St. Seraphim of Sarov teaches: ‘We must endeavor by every means to keep peace of soul. Do not be troubled by the insults of men. It is necessary at all costs to restrain oneself from anger, and by watchfulness over oneself to keep the mind and heart from vain movement.... For the guarding of peace of soul, it is also necessary to flee from judging others. By non-judgement and silence, peace of soul is preserved. When a man attains to such a state, he receives divine revelation. For a man to be able to keep himself from judging others, he must be vigilant over himself; he must not dare to receive vain thoughts from another, and must be as one dead before all that is of this world. We must tirelessly keep our hearts from vain thoughts and impressions (Prov. 4:23). By constant watchfulness over the heart, a purity of heart is born in which God is seen, according to the words of eternal truth: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).’
March 1st – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
February 29th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Twelve Holy Martyrs who suffered in the reign of the Emperor Diocletian.
The first of these, Pamphilos, was priest in the church at Caesarea in Palestine; a learned and devout man, he corrected the mistakes of various copiers in the text of the New Testament. He himself copied this saving Book and gave it to any who desired it. The second was a deacon, Valens (Valentine), old in years and white with wisdom. He was a great expert in the holy Scriptures, knowing them by heart. The third was Paul, a respected and eminent man, who had on a previous occasion been cast into the fire for the sake of Christ. With them were five Egyptians, brothers both in blood and soul, who were returning to their native land from serving a sentence in the mines of Cilicia. As they reached the gate of the town of Caesarea they said that they were Christians, and were therefore brought to trial. When asked their names, they replied: ‘We have cast away the pagan names given us by our mother, and are called Elias, Isaias, Jeremias, Samuel and Daniel.’ When asked where they were from, they replied: ‘From Jerusalem that is above.’ They were all beheaded, and a young man called Porphyrios, who had searched for their bodies to give them burial, suffered soon afterwards. Him they burned. An officer, Seleucus, who had come up to the martyrs and embraced them before the sword descended on their heads, was also burned, and an old man, Theodulus, a servant of the Roman judge, who had embraced one of the martyrs while they were under escort. Lastly Julian, who had kissed the dead bodies of the martyrs and honored them, followed them in death. So they exchanged the small for the great, the tawdry for the precious and death for immortality, and went to the Lord in 308.
2. St. Maruthas.
Bishop of the town of Tagrith in Mesopotamia, he was famed for his faith and goodness. Maruthas calmed the wrath of the Persian King Yazdgird (Yezdegeherd) against the Christians, begged from him the relics of the 400 martyrs in Persia and founded a town, Martyropolis, where he placed these holy relics. He finished his earthly course in this town in 422 and went to the Lord.
3. St. Flavian.
He was Patriarch of Constantinople after St. Proklos, in 446, and was a contemporary of Pope Leo. He battled firmly against Eftyches and Dioscoros, but did not live to see the triumph of Orthodoxy at the Fourth Council, for, before that, he was so mercilessly thrashed and trampled on at a heretical council in Ephesus that he died there. He was a faithful soldier of Christ and a courageous defender and confessor of the Orthodox Faith. He entered into rest in 449.
4. Our Holy Father the Martyr Romanos.
Romanos was a simple and illiterate villager from Karpenesion. Learning of the heroism and the glory of the martyrs of Christ, the young Romanos yearned for martyrdom himself. He went to Thessalonica, where he began to extol the Christian Faith in the streets, and to call Mohammed a writer of fables. The Turks tortured him terribly, then handed him over to a galley-captain. Christians rescued him from the galley and sent him to the Holy Mountain, where Romanos became a monk under the famous Elder Akakios. But he still yearned for martyrdom for the sake of Christ. With the blessing of his elder, he went to Constantinople, pretended to be a fool and began to lead a dog about the streets. When asked why, Romanos replied that he fed that dog as Christians fed Turks. The Turks threw him into a dry well, where he lived without bread for forty days. They then took him out and executed him. Light streamed from his body for three days, after which an Englishman took it to England. But a monk soaked a towel in his blood, and that towel is kept to this day in the monastery of Docheiariou. This glorious soldier of Christ suffered in 1694.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Only with the greatest struggle and sacrifice is the chaff of heresy separated from the wheat of Orthodox truth. Heretics have always made use of the lowest means and the meanest people in the undermining of Orthodoxy. Archimandrite Eftyches of Constantinople and Patriarch Dioscoros of Alexandria, who held the heretical teaching that in Christ there are not two natures—a divine and a human—but one, had for their friend at the imperial court the base eunuch Chrysaphios. The Empress Evdokia was secretly allied with them. Patriarch Flavian fearlessly defended Orthodoxy like a lion, being helped in this by the emperor’s sister, St. Pulcheria. The eunuch produced the foulest slanders against Patriarch Flavian for the Emperor Theodosios, in order to make the emperor drive him from his throne and replace him with the heretic Eftyches. When neither he nor others succeeded, the heretics decided to kill Flavian. At a pirate council in Ephesus, they so beat and ill-treated him that on the third day St. Flavian gave his soul to God. And what happened in the end? At the Fourth Ecumenical Council, Eftyches and Dioscoros were anathematized. The eunuch, driven from court in shame, lost his life. The Empress Evdokia was exiled from Constantinople to Palestine. Flavian and Pulcheria were proclaimed saints and the Orthodox Faith was triumphantly confirmed.
March 2nd – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 1st – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 17th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Theodore the Tyro.
‘Tyro’
means ‘Recruit’. No sooner had St. Theodore entered the Marmarite regiment of the
army in the town of Amaseia than a persecution of Christians broke out under the Emperors
Maximian and Maximinus. Theodore did not attempt to conceal that he was a Christian, and was
brought to trial and imprisoned in a prison that was then locked and sealed. The wicked judge
intended him to die of hunger, but the Lord Christ Himself appeared to Theodore in the prison and
encouraged His martyr with these words: ‘Fear not, Theodore; I am with thee. Take no more
earthly food and drink, for thou shalt be in the other life, eternal and unending, with Me in
heaven.’ Then a multitude of angels appeared in the prison, and the whole place shone with
light. The warders on duty saw the angels in white apparel and were filled with fear. Then St.
Theodore was taken out, tortured and condemned to death. He was thrown into fire, and gave his
soul to the most high God. He suffered in 306.
2. Our Holy Fathers Theodosius (Teodosy) the Bulgarian and Roman his pupil.
As a monk, Theodosius settled not far from the town of Trnovo, where he founded a community which became known as ‘Theodosius’ after him. He was prominent in the council in Bulgaria against the Bogomils in 1360. Upholding the Orthodox Faith at that council, he put the Bogomils to shame by his reasoning. He finished his earthly course in Constantinople in 1362. His disciple, Roman, continued in asceticism in Theodosius’ community until his death.
3. St. Mariamna (Maria).
The sister of the apostle Philip, she traveled with her brother, and with him preached the Gospel in Hierapolis and in other places. After Philip had died a martyr’s death, Mariamna continued her missionary work in Lykaonia, where she died.
FOR CONSIDERATION
He is an artist who draws out and carves the shapes of living creatures from rough and formless stone. He is an artist who weaves many-colored carpets from the wool of sheep. He is an artist who builds a magnificent palace of clay bricks. But what artist in the world can equal Christ the Artist—Who makes the illiterate into wise men, fishermen into apostles, turns old men into heroes and the dissolute into saints? But everything must be given into the hand of the artist, that he may bring into being that which he is capable of creating. And all sorts of things are, in fact, committed to the hand of the artist. And men must be given into the hand of Christ, that He may draw out from them and build that which He alone knows and is able to create. Nineteen past centuries witness to us that all they who, far from standing against Christ the Artist, gave themselves to Him, were changed from brutish and ignorant beings into angelic sons of God.
March 3rd – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 2nd – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 18th – Church Calendar
1. St. Leo the Great, Pope of Rome.
Born in Italy of devout parents, he was
first archdeacon with Pope Sixtus the Third, then elected against his own will to the papal
throne after Sixtus’ death. When Attila drew near to Rome with his Huns and prepared to
ravage and burn the city, Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments, tamed the wrath of the
Hun leader and averted the fall of Rome. Attila was willing to be guided by Leo both because of
his holiness and because of a vision he had of the Apostles Peter and Paul, standing behind Leo
and threatening Attila with a flaming sword.
Leo not only saved Rome; he also contributed greatly to the safeguarding of Orthodoxy against the heresy of Eftyches and Dioscoros. This heresy consisted in the merging of the divine and human natures of Christ into one, and following from this, the denial of the existence of two wills in the Person of our Lord and Savior. This led to the summoning of the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon, at which St. Leo’s Epistle was read—a letter which St. Leo, after writing it, had placed on the tomb of St. Peter, and which St. Peter had corrected. As death drew near, he spent forty days in fasting and prayer by the tomb of the Apostle Peter, begging him to tell him if his sins were forgiven. The apostle appeared to him and assured him that they were, except for his sins in the ordaining of priests (from which it is seen how grave a sin it is to ordain an unworthy man). The saint fell to prayer again, until he was told that these also were wiped out. Then he gave his soul to the Lord in peace. St. Leo entered into rest in the year 461.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Grass is the most important thing in a meadow, as are grain in a field and vegetables in a market-garden. No one would boast of the fence of a meadow rather than its hay, or of the hut in a field rather than its crop, or the ditch in a market garden rather than its vegetables. Why do people boast of their country, or of the highways in that country, or its frontier ditches or the towns in it—or about anything else that has just about as much value as the fence of a meadow or the hut in a field or the ditch in a market garden when weighed against the main crop; that is, people? People do not exist for the sake of the country, but the country for their sake. Christ came to save, not the country, but the people. A country is valued by the goodness of its citizens. But of what use is a great country to evil men? They fill the field with brambles.
March 4th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 3rd – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 19th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostles Archippus, Philemon and Apphia.
Archippus was one of the Seventy. The Apostle Paul mentions him in his
Epistles to the Colossians (4:17) and to Philemon (Philem. 2), calling him his fellow-soldier in
the battle. The Christians’ gathering-place for prayer in the town of Colossae was in the
house of Philemon. The Apostle Paul, writing to Philemon, calls this ‘the Church in thy
house’. This was in the time when the apostles were consecrating their disciples to the
episcopate—some to permanent sees and others as missionaries, travelling to various places.
Philemon was one of these latter. Apphia, Philemon’s wife, remained to serve the
house-church with fasting. At the time of a feast of the pagan goddess Artemis, all the faithful
in Colossae were, as was their custom, gathered at prayer in the house of Philemon. The pagans
came to hear of this gathering, rushed in on them and seized all the Christians. They flogged
Archippus, Philemon and Apphia as their leaders, then buried them up to the waist in the ground
and stoned them. Philemon and Apphia died of this, but they took Archippus out of the hole barely
alive and left him for the children to play with. They took knives and stabbed him all over, and
thus this fellow-soldier of Paul’s in the battle made a good end of his earthly road.
2. Our Holy Father Dositheos.
Dositheos was a disciple of the famous Abba Dorotheos, who lived with Saints Seridos, John and Barsanuphius the Great. He was kinsman to a general and traveled to Jerusalem to see the holy places. While he was looking at an icon of the Dreadful Judgement in some church, a woman in purple robes came up and explained many things to him. Finally, at parting, she told him that, if he sought salvation, he must fast and not eat meat, and pray frequently to God. This was the most holy Mother of God. The heart of the young Dositheos was set afire and he desired the monastic life. Dorotheos received him as his cell-servant and commanded him utterly to forsake his own will and obey his spiritual father. He left him for several days to eat as much as he wanted, then after a certain time cut his food down to a quarter, and after a while to a quarter of that, until he became accustomed to living on the smallest amount of food, always telling him: ‘Eating is a habit, and one eats what one is used to eating.’ He was saved and glorified by total obedience. He remains forever as an example of monastic obedience and devotion to one’s spiritual father. This young saint lived early in the 6th century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Anthony teaches: ‘As a man comes forth naked from his mother’s womb, so the soul goes forth naked from the body. And one soul is pure and light, a second soiled by sin and a third blackened by many sins. If a body coming forth from an unhealthy womb cannot live, so also a soul; if it has not come to the knowledge of God through good conduct, it cannot be saved or be in communion with God. The organ of bodily vision is the eye; the organ of spiritual vision is the mind. As the body is blind without the eyes, so is the soul blind without a right mind and a right life.’
March 5th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 4th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 20th – Church Calendar
1. St. Leo, Bishop of Catania.
Beneath the Mount Etna volcano, in the town of Catania, St. Leo was a good shepherd and compassionate teacher of the people. He had great care for the sick and the poor, and both his zeal for the Faith and his compassion for the needy were great. There appeared one day in that town a magician called Heliodorus, who deluded the people with many illusions and greatly seduced the young. He once entered a church during a divine service and began his tricks. St. Leo came up to him, bound him with one end of his pallium and led him out to the marketplace. Since the emperor had ordered the execution of Heliodorus, a great fire was kindled. When it was burning fiercely, Leo stood among the flames, holding Heliodorus to prevent him from working any of his diabolical tricks. Heliodorus was completely burned up, but Leo remained alive and unharmed. All who had been taken in by Heliodorus, and who had regarded him as in some way divine, were put to shame by this. The compassionate and zealous Leo became known throughout the whole kingdom as a wonder-worker, helping people by his miracles. When he had finished his course, sometime in the 8th century, his soul went to the Lord and healing myrrh flowed from his relics.
2. The Hieromartyr Sadok.
Sadok was bishop in Persia after St. Simeon. One night St. Simeon appeared to him in a dream and said: ‘Yesterday, me; today, you!’ Sadok interpreted these words to his congregation as meaning: ‘Last year I suffered; this year you will.’ And indeed, in that year, King Sapor arrested him with many of his clergy and people and brought them to trial. He first ordered them to worship fire and the sun as divine. Sadok replied: ‘We are ready with all our hearts to die for our God, and will not worship fire or the sun.’ They were then tortured and condemned to be beheaded with the sword. Before execution, Sadok raised this prayer to God: ‘Wash us from our sins, O Lord, in our own blood,’—and Sadok gloriously gave his body to death and his soul to God immortal, together with his priests and his people. He suffered in 342 or 344.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Water is finer than earth; fire is finer than water; air is finer than fire; electricity is finer than air. But, in the spiritual world, both air and electricity are coarse elements. Electricity is very fine, but the voice is finer than electricity, thought is finer than the voice and the spirit is finer than thought. Air is fine, and carries the voice over a great distance. Electricity is fine, and carries light over a great distance. So also every act and word and thought of yours is carried to all parts of the spiritual kingdom. Oh, how terrible a thing it is to perform a sinful act, to speak a sinful word and to think a sinful thought! To what an immeasurable distance are waves raised on the spiritual sea! But do not examine distant minutiae that are beyond your ken. It is of the greatest importance to know and weigh how every act, word and thought of yours makes an inescapable impression on four sides: on God and the spiritual world, on nature, on other people and on your own soul. If you train yourself in this knowledge, you will reach a high level of saving vigilance.
March 6th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 5th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 21st – Church Calendar
1. St. Zacharias, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Persian King Chozroes attacked Jerusalem, ransacking the city, in the time of the Greek Emperor Herakleios, in 614. He took the Precious Cross off to Persia and enslaved an enormous number of Christians, including Patriarch Zacharias. The Jews supported the Persian king in his wickedness towards the Christians. It is recorded, among further malice on the part of the Jews, that they bought 90,000 Christian slaves from Chozroes and killed them all. The aged patriarch spent fourteen years in slavery. Many miracles were wrought in Persia by the Precious Cross, and the Persians exclaimed: ‘The Christian God has come to Persia!’ The Emperor Herakleios later compelled King Chozroes to return the Precious Cross to Jerusalem, together with the patriarch and the remaining slaves. The emperor himself carried the Cross into the holy city on his back. St. Zacharias spent his remaining days in peace, and went to the Lord in 632. Patriarch Modestos deputized for him on the patriarchal throne, and after him came St. Sophronios (see March 11th).
2. Our Holy Father Timothy.
A hermit in a place called Symbola on Asiatic Olympus, Timothy entered a monastery very young and spent his earthly life in fasting, prayer, vigils and unceasing toil right up to a great age. He remained pure and chaste throughout his life. God gives power over evil spirits to the pure and chaste, and this gift He gave to Timothy. Through careful watching over his soul, Timothy built within himself a glorious abode for the Holy Spirit. This holy man entered into rest in 795.
3. St. Efstathios (Eustathius), Archbishop of Antioch.
A great zealot for, and protector of, Orthodoxy, he was especially prominent at the First Ecumenical Council, where he disproved by erudite reasoning the teaching of the Arians. With the other holy fathers, Efstathios confessed the truth that Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, is equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit by divine essence. After the death of the Emperor Constantine, the Arians somehow again gained the ascendancy and began hotly to persecute Orthodoxy. St. Efstathios was deposed from his throne and exiled first to Thrace and then to Macedonia. He suffered much and long, until at last he gave his holy soul to God in about 345.
4. St. John III Scholastikos, Patriarch of Constantinople.
A lawyer, he was ordained priest and became patriarch in 565. He wrote canons which have been included in the Nomocanon*. In his day, the Cherubic Hymn and the prayer ‘Of Thy Mystical Supper’ were introduced into the Liturgy. He departed this life peacefully and gave his soul to God in 577.
* A compilation of canon and secular law compiled in Byzantium and adopted as the basic constitution of the Slav churches.—Tr.
FOR CONSIDERATION
What is divination? There are three types of belief: in blind chance, in dead things, and in the absolute power of the spirits of darkness. By divination, events are predicted, the powers of things differentiated and the spirits of darkness invoked. No other faith has so totally condemned and rejected divination as has Christianity. No faith but Christianity is free of and clean from divination. Other faiths are more or less divinatory, and some are utterly based on it. Divination means the submission of man to the lowest of creation and of the being of man, hence divination can be called belief in darkness. Therefore the Apostle Paul says: ‘refuse profane and old wives’ tales, and exercise thyself unto godliness’ (I Tim. 4:7).
Christianity is a faith of light in two senses: firstly in that it raises man above chance, above all other creatures and the spirits of darkness, and secondly, in that it submits man to the power of God the living, wise and almighty. The all-seeing God exists, and so blind chance does not. In spiritual union with this all-seeing and living God, man can be raised above all other creatures and made stronger than all the spirits of darkness.
March 7th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 6th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 22nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Maurice and the 70 soldiers with him.
There was a great persecution of Christians in the time of the Emperor Maximian. Maurice was in charge of the local army in the town of Apameia in Syria, and pagans reported him to the emperor as a Christian and a spreader of Christianity among the soldiers. The emperor himself came and took him for questioning. Seventy soldiers were brought before the emperor with Maurice, among them his son, Photinus. The emperor was unable to make the heroes waver either with flattery or with threats. To them, they replied: ‘O emperor, there is no fear in the wise and strong souls of those who love the Lord.’ When the emperor ordered that their military belts and clothing be stripped from them, they said: ‘Our God will clothe us with raiment and girdles that are incorrupting, and with eternal glory’. When the emperor rebuked them for holding in contempt the military status he had given them, they replied: ‘Thine honor is dishonorable, for thou hast forgotten God, Who gave thee this royal power.’ Then the emperor ordered that Maurice’s son be slain before his eyes, that he might thus intimidate the father and the others. But Maurice said: ‘Thou hast fulfilled our desire, O torturer, and sent Photinus the soldier of Christ on before us.’ Then the emperor sentenced them to a most inhuman death: he had them taken to a marshy place, stripped, bound to trees and smeared with honey, for the mosquitoes, wasps and hornets to eat. They gave their souls to God in terrible torment after ten days, and went to eternal rejoicing with the holy angels in heaven. Christians secretly took their bodies and buried them. These courageous soldiers of Christ suffered in about 305.
2. The Many Martyrs of Evgenios, near Constantinople.
In the time of the Emperor Arkadios, the relics of many Christian martyrs were excavated, among which were those of the Apostle Andronicus and his helper, Junia (Rom. 16:7). These relics were discovered by a revelation from God to a cleric, Nicholas Calligraphos. ‘God alone knows their names, and He has written them in the Book of Life in heaven.’ Emperor Andronikos the First built a fine church over the relics of his namesake in the 12th century.
3. Our Holy Fathers Thalassios and Limnaeos.
Syrian hermits, one of their special ascetic practices was of silence. After the death of St. Thalassios in 440, Limnaeos joined St. Maron and lived with him on a mountaintop beneath the open sky.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Anthony teaches about ceaseless abiding with God: ‘Let your soul be with God at all times, and your body be as some statue on earth. Stand always straight before the face of God. Have the fear of God always before your eyes, as also the remembrance of death and withdrawal from all worldly things. Die daily, that you may live; for he who fears God will live forever. Be always alert, that you fall not into laziness and idleness. Hate all that is of this world and flee from self, for otherwise it will separate you from God. Hate all that brings harm to your soul. Do not depart from God for the sake of transient things. Do not take the example of him that is weaker than you, but that of him who is more perfect. Be attentive to the example of those who have loved the Lord with all their hearts and performed good works. Above all, pour forth constant prayer and give God grateful thanks for all that happens to you. Fulfil all that is commanded, and you will receive the inheritance which the “eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man” (I Cor. 2:9).’
March 8th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 7th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 23rd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna.
This great, apostolic man was born a pagan. St. John the Theologian brought him to the Christian Faith and baptized him. Polycarp was left an orphan in early childhood and a noble widow, Kallista, after a vision in a dream, took him in, rearing and educating him as her own son. Polycarp was God-fearing and compassionate from his early years. He made great efforts to emulate the life of St. Boukolos, the then Bishop of Smyrna, and of the Holy Apostles John and Paul, whom he had met and heard. St. Boukolos ordained him priest, and at the time of his death, proclaimed him his heir in Smyrna. The apostolic bishops, who had gathered for Boukolos’ funeral, consecrated Polycarp bishop. From the very beginning he was endued with the power of wonder-working. He cast out the evil spirit from a servant of a prince and put out a great conflagration in Smyrna by his prayers. Seeing these things, many pagans regarded him as one of the gods. He brought rain in a drought, healed sickness, had the gifts of insight and prophecy, and so forth. He suffered in the time of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Three days before his death, he prophesied: ‘In three days I shall be consumed by fire for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ!’ When, on the third day, the soldiers arrested him and took him for trial, he cried out: ‘May this be the will of the Lord my God!’ When the judge urged him to deny Christ and recognize the Roman gods, Polycarp said: ‘I cannot exchange the better for the worse.’ The Jews especially hated Polycarp and endeavored to have him burned. When they placed him, bound, on the pyre, he prayed long to God. He was very old and grey, and he shone like an angel of God. All the people saw how the flames licked around him but did not touch him. Frightened by such a phenomenon, the pagan judge ordered the executioner to stab him with a lance through the flames. When this was done, a vast flow of blood gushed out and extinguished the whole fire, and his body remained whole and unburned. At the Jews’ persuasion, the judge ordered that Polycarp’s dead body be burned according to the Greek custom, and so they dishonorably burned dead him whom they had failed to burn alive. St. Polycarp suffered in the year 167, on Holy Saturday.
2. Our Holy Father Damian.
A monk of the monastery of Esphigmenou on the Holy Mountain, he was a contemporary and friend of the great Kosmas of Zographou. He lived in asceticism on the mountain of Samareia, between Esphigmenou and Hilandar, and entered peacefully into rest in 1280. A wonderful, fresh aroma arose from his grave for forty days after his death.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Polycarp writes the following to the Philippians of a priest, Valentine, who had fallen into the sin of avarice and had embezzled some of the church’s funds: ‘I am greatly distressed about Valentine, who was at one time a priest with us, that he has so forgotten the gifts of his calling. And therefore I pray you, keep yourselves from love of money and be pure and righteous. Restrain yourselves from every vice. He who cannot restrain himself cannot teach others restraint. He who gives himself to avarice defiles himself in idolatry and is counted as a pagan. Who is not aware of God’s judgement? And do we not know that “the saints will judge the world” (1 Cor. 6:2), as Paul teaches? I have noticed nothing like this among you, neither have I heard of it—in you, among whom blessed Paul labored and of whom he speaks with praise at the beginning of his Epistle (to the Philippians). He praised you among all the churches, when we did not yet know Him (i.e. Polycarp and the inhabitants of Smyrna). And therefore I am very greatly distressed, my brethren, about Valentine and his wife. May God grant them true repentance. But be ye wise in this, and “count them not as enemies” (II Thess. 3:15), but endeavor to correct them as suffering and prodigal members, that your whole body may be healthy. Treating them thus, you will yourselves be further built up.’ Thus the saints dealt with sinners: cautiously and beneficently. Cautiously, that others might be preserved from like sin; beneficently, that the sinner might be corrected and saved.
March 9th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 8th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 24th – Church Calendar
1. The Finding of the Head of St. John the Baptist.
The great and glorious Forerunner was beheaded at the wish and request
of the wicked Herodias, wife of Herod. When John had been beheaded, Herodias ordered that his
head should not be buried with his body, for she feared that the terrible prophet would somehow
rise from the dead. So she took his head and buried it in some hidden and unworthy place, deep in
the earth. Her lady-in-waiting was Joanna the wife of Chuza, a courtier of Herod’s. This
good and God-fearing Joanna could not bear that the head of the godly man should remain in an
unworthy place, so she disinterred it secretly, took it to Jerusalem and buried it on the Mount
of Olives. Not knowing about all this, King Herod, when he heard about Christ and His great
miracles, was afraid and said: ‘It is John, whom I beheaded; he is risen from the
dead!’ (Mk. 6:16). After a considerable time, an eminent government official came to
believe in Christ, left his position in the world and became a monk. Under the name Innocent, he
settled on the Mount of Olives, in precisely the place where the Baptist’s head had been
buried. Deciding to build himself a cell, he dug deep and found an earthen pot containing a head
which, it was revealed to him secretly, was that of the Baptist. He venerated it and re-buried it
in the same place. By God’s providence, that wonder-working head went from hand to hand,
disappearing into the darkness of forgetfulness and then being once more revealed, until it was
finally taken to Constantinople in the middle of the 9th century, in the time of Patriarch
Ignatius and the God-fearing Empress Theodora, mother of Michael and wife of Theophilus. Many
miracles were performed by the head of the Forerunner. It is important and interesting to note
that, while he was alive, John did not work a single miracle (Jn. 10:41), but to his relics was
given the blessed power of working miracles.
2. Our Holy Father Erasmus.
A monk of the Caves in Kiev, he inherited great wealth from his parents and spent it all on the beautifying of churches, especially on gold and silver covers for icons. When he had impoverished himself and left himself with nothing, he was despised by everyone. The devil suggested to him that he had squandered his goods in vain in using them for the beautifying of churches instead of giving them to the poor. Erasmus surrendered to this temptation and believed it, as a result of which he came to despise himself, fell into despair and began to live aimlessly and lawlessly. When the time of his death approached, the brothers gathered round him and began to speak of his sins, for he would not consider them for himself. But he suddenly sat up in bed and said: ‘My fathers and brethren, you have spoken thus and so, that I am a sinner and unrepentant, but lo, St. Anthony and St. Theodosius have appeared to me, and the most holy Mother of God, and have told me that the Lord has given me further time for repentance.’ The Mother of God also said these encouraging words to him: ‘The poor you have with you in every place, but my churches you have not.’ And he lived three days longer and repented and fell asleep in the Lord. This teaches us that zeal for the Church and for her beautification is a work pleasing to God. St. Erasmus entered into rest in 1160.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Those who let us do as we like are neither good teachers nor good friends. Blessed John Moschus writes about one eminent woman of senatorial family, who visited the Holy Land: ‘Arriving at Caesarea, she planned to remain there, and applied to the bishop with this request: “Find me a young woman to teach me the fear of God”. The bishop introduced her to a humble girl. After some time, he met this woman and asked her: “How is the girl that I introduced to you?” “She is all right”, replied the woman, “but she has been of little help to my soul because she lets me have my own way. It is because she is humble, but I need her to grumble at me and not let me do as I please”. The bishop found her someone else, a girl with a fairly rough character who grumbled at her, called her an ignorant rich woman and so forth. After some time, the bishop again asked the woman: “And how does this young woman get on with you?” “She is truly helpful to my soul”, replied the woman of senatorial family—and she thus became very humble.’ (‘The Spiritual Meadow’).
March 10th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 9th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 25th – Church Calendar
1. St. Tarasios, Patriarch of Constantinople.
His predecessor, Patriarch Paul, secretly left the patriarchal throne, retired to a monastery and received the Great Habit. This was during the reign of Irene and Constantine. By Paul’s advice, Tarasios, a senator and advisor to the emperor, was chosen as patriarch in 784. He quickly passed through all the stages of ordination and became patriarch. A man of great physical stature and great zeal for Orthodoxy, Tarasios accepted this undesired state in order to help in the struggle of Orthodoxy against heresy, especially that of Iconoclasm. He was responsible for the summoning of the Seventh Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 787, where the iconoclasts were condemned and the veneration of the holy icons was restored and confirmed. Tarasios was very compassionate to the poor and indigent, building them shelters and feeding them, but he was decisive with those in power in the defense of faith and morals. When the Emperor Constantine VI divorced his lawful wife, Maria, and took a kinswoman to live with him, seeking the patriarch’s blessing to remarry, Tarasios not only withheld his blessing, but first counseled and then reproached him, and finally excommunicated him. As death approached, those round him saw him answering the demons: ‘I am not guilty of that sin, nor of that one,’ until he was incapable of speech. He then began defending himself with his arms, driving them away from him. As he breathed his last, his face shone as with the light of the sun. This truly great hierarch entered into rest in 806. He had governed the Church for 22 years and four months.
2. Our Holy Father Paphnutios of Kephala.
This saint was a contemporary of St. Anthony the Great. It is said of him that he wore the same habit for eighty years. St. Anthony valued him highly and said to all that he was a true ascetic, able to heal and to save souls.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A Christian is like a betrothed girl. As a betrothed girl thinks constantly of her betrothed, so the Christian thinks of Christ. And if the betrothed is far away from her sight, it doesn’t matter; the girl behaves as though he were always there with her. She thinks about him, sings about him, speaks of him, dreams about him, prepares gifts for him. And the same goes for a Christian’s behavior towards Christ. As a betrothed girl knows that she must first leave the house of her birth to meet with and be one with her betrothed, so the Christian knows that he cannot be completely one with Christ until death separates him from the body; that is, from the material home in which his soul dwelt and grew from his birth.
March 11th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 10th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 26th – Church Calendar
1. St. Porphyrios, Bishop of Gaza.
This great bishop and pastor was born in Thessalonica of wealthy parents. He spent his youth to the age of 25 in his hometown, then left his parents’ home and worldly life and went off into the Egyptian desert. Under the guidance of an experienced spiritual father, the young Porphyrios became a monk and remained for five years. He then paid a visit to the Holy Land in company with his friend, the monk Mark. He lived another five years in asceticism in a cave near Jerusalem. But then his legs became weak and he was no longer able to walk. But he was always able, crawling on his knees, to be present at Divine Service. One night the Lord Himself appeared to him in a vision and healed him of the weakness in his legs, and he became completely well. When he was chosen as bishop of Gaza, Porphyrios accepted this obligation with a heavy heart. He found only 280 Christians in Gaza; the rest of the inhabitants being fanatical idol-worshippers. Only by his great faith and patience did Porphyrios succeed in bringing the people of Gaza to the Christian Faith. He had to travel in person to Constantinople, to the Emperor Arkadios and the patriarch, John Chrysostom, to beg for help in the unequal struggle against the idolaters. Seeking support, he received it. The temples of the idol-worshippers were closed, the idols demolished and a fine church built with thirty marble pillars. There was special help forthcoming from the Empress Evdoxia. Porphyrios lived long enough to see the whole city brought to the Christian Faith, but only after great toil, suffering and tearful prayer on his part. He entered peacefully into rest in 421. He was a wonder-worker during his lifetime and after his death. His relics are preserved in Gaza to this day.
2. The Holy Martyr John Calpha.
This saint was born in Galata in Constantinople. He was an architect by profession. He offended the Turks by his wholehearted confession of the Christian Faith, and they tried to force him to become a Muslim. ‘I shall never deny my sweet Jesus Christ,’ replied John heroically, ‘I believe in Him, serve Him and confess Him.’ After harsh torture, the Turks beheaded him in Constantinople on February 26th, 1575. He suffered with honor for his beloved Christ and went to the courts of the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. John Chrysostom writes thus against those who make a tumult in church and leave it before the end of the service: ‘Some draw near (to holy Communion), not with trembling but with commotion, crowding one another, quarrelling, shouting, grumbling, jostling their neighbors, full of disorder. I have myself often spoken of this, and shall not give up speaking. You know the good order that prevails at the pagan Olympic Games, when the Master of Ceremonies goes round the stadium with a wreath on his head, clad in long robes and with a staff in his hand, and the crier calls for quiet and order. Is it not scandalous that there, where the devil holds sway, there should be such quietness, and where Christ invites men to Himself, there should be great tumult? Silence in the stadium and shouting in church! Quietness on the sea but a storm in the harbor! When you are invited to dinner, you do not presume to leave the table before the other, even if you have finished first; but here, until the terrible Mysteries of Christ are completed, while divine service is still in progress, do you leave in the middle and go away? How can that be forgiven? How can it be put right?’ (From a Homily on the Theophany).
March 12th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 11th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 27th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Prokopios of Decapolis.
This saint came from Decapolis by the Sea of Galilee. In youth, he gave himself to the monastic life and passed through all those prescribed labors that purify the heart and uplift the soul to God. When a persecution on the part of the wicked Emperor Leo the Isaurian broke out over icons, Prokopios stood up and defended icons, showing that their veneration is not idolatry, for Christians know that to prostrate themselves before icons is not to prostrate before dead matter, but before the living saints depicted on the icons. Prokopios was bestially tortured, imprisoned, beaten and flogged with iron flails. When the wicked emperor was murdered, being already a lost soul, the icons were returned to the churches and Prokopios returned to his monastery, where he spent his remaining days in peace. In old age, he entered into God’s kingdom, where he beheld with joy the living angels and saints whose images were on the honored icons on earth. He departed this life peacefully in the 9th century.
2. Our Holy Father Thalelaios (Thaleleus), a Syrian hermit.
He was at first in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified, but then settled in a pagan graveyard, famed for the appearing of evil spirits and bogies. To conquer his terror by faith in God, Thalelaios settled in that graveyard and lived there for many years, enduring much from the fallen spirits both day and night. By his great faith and love towards God, he was endowed by Him with the gift of working wonders, and did much good for the sick and suffering. He died in about 460.
3. Our Holy Father Titus of the Kiev Caves.
Titus was a priest and had a sincere love for a deacon, Evagrius, as brother for brother. But, though such was their love at first, it later became a mutual malice and hatred, sown by the devil. They hated each other so much that, when one of them used the censer in church, the other turned and went outside. Titus tried many times to make peace with his adversary, but in vain. Titus became ill, and all thought that he was dying. He begged that Evagrius be brought to him, that they might forgive each other. Evagrius was brought by force to Titus’ bedside, but he fled away, saying that he would not forgive Titus, either in this world or the next. As he said this, he fell to the ground and breathed his last. But Titus rose from his bed healed, and revealed how the demons had flown around him until he forgave Evagrius, and when he had done so, the demons had fled and attacked Evagrius, with angels of God surrounding himself. He died in 1190.
4. Our Holy Father Stephen.
He was first an official at the court of the Emperor Maurice, but then left his courtly service, and urged by the love of Christ, built an almshouse for the elderly in Constantinople. He died peacefully in 614.
5. The Holy Martyr Julian the Gout-Sufferer.
Because of his gout, he was unable either to stand or to walk. He was brought to trial in Alexandria on a stretcher for his faith in Christ and burned alive on a pyre, along with his pupil Chronyon, in the time of the Emperor Decius.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Whenever we are outside the grace of God, we are outside ourselves, and compared with our grace-endowed nature, we are in no better state than a madman compared with a healthy man. Only a grace-endowed man is a natural man; that is, a man of genuine nature, in whom the grace of God rules and reigns. St. Simeon the New Theologian says: ‘A lamp, even if it is filled with oil and has a wick, remains completely dark if it is not lit. So the soul, with regard to its adornment with all the virtues; if it has not the light and grace of the Holy Spirit, it is quenched and dark’ (Homily 59). As the great apostle says, ‘by the grace of God, I am what I am’ (I Cor. 15:10). To be without grace means to be estranged from God, and thus estranged from the reality of our own being. Our being, our personality, strengthens its reality and receives its fullness only in closeness to God. Thus sinners are those who are sick, lost in insubstantial shadows, without reality and without understanding.
March 13th – Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year
March 12th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 28th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Proterios.
This saint was a priest in Alexandria at the time that the patriarch there was the heretic Dioscoros, one of the founders of the Monophysite heresy which holds that in Christ there are not two natures but one. At that time, Marcian and Pulcheria were on the imperial throne. Proterios, a holy and devout man, stood up against Dioscoros, as a result of which he endured much misery. Then the Fourth Ecumenical Council was summoned at Chalcedon, at which the Monophysite heresy was condemned. Dioscoros was cast down from the patriarchal throne and sent into exile, and in his place the Orthodox Proterios was chosen. He governed the Church with zeal and love, a true follower of Christ. But the followers of Dioscoros did not stop creating confusion in Alexandria. In the face of such bloody chaos, Proterios left the town with the intention of going away for a time, but the Prophet Isaias appeared to him on the road and said: ‘Return to the town; I am waiting to take you.’ Proterios returned and went into the church. Hearing of this, the insolent heretics rushed into the church, seized the Patriarch and stabbed him. About six of the faithful perished along with Proterios. Thus this wonderful pastor of Christ’s flock received the crown of martyrdom for the truth of Orthodoxy in 457.
2. St. Basil the Confessor.
A friend, contemporary, and pupil of St. Prokopios of Decapolis, Basil faithfully followed his teacher both in peace and in persecution. They endured much from the iconoclasts. When the latter were defeated, by God’s providence, Basil returned to his monastery together with Prokopios, where he lived for a long time in fasting and prayer, and where he died in the year 747.
3. The Hieromartyr Nestor, Bishop of Magydos.
Nestor was distinguished by great meekness. In the time of Decius, he was taken for trial and harshly tortured for Christ. At the time of his death, he saw in a vision a lamb prepared for sacrifice, which he interpreted as a sign of his own imminent sacrifice. He was tortured by the Eparch Publius and finally crucified in Perga in the year 250.
4. Blessed Nicholas, the Fool for Christ of Pskov.
He lived as a fool in the town of Pskov in the time of Tsar Ivan IV, and entered into rest on February 28th, 1576.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A rare fearlessness is a characteristic of fools for Christ. Blessed Nicholas ran through the streets of Pskov, pretending madness, rebuking people for their secret sins and foretelling what would happen to them. When Tsar Ivan the Formidable entered Pskov, the whole town was in fear of the tsar. Bread and salt were set before each house for a welcome to the tsar, but the people were not in evidence. When the governor of the city brought the tsar in front of the church to the tray of bread and salt, the tsar pushed away the tray. Then Blessed Nicholas appeared before the tsar in a long shirt girded with a cord, riding on a hobby-stick like a child and shouting: ‘Little Ivan, little Ivan! Eat the bread and salt, and not men’s blood!’ The soldiers hurried to seize him, but he ran off and hid himself. The devout tsar, learning about this blessed man, who and what he was, visited him in his tiny room. It was the first week of the Great Fast. Hearing that the tsar was coming to visit him, Nicholas, wishing to teach the tsar to be more merciful, found a piece of raw meat, and when the tsar entered his cell, Nicholas bowed and offered the meat to the tsar. ‘Eat, little Ivan, eat!’ The tsar answered him with anger: ‘I am a Christian, and do not eat meat in the Fast.’ Then the man of God retorted: ‘You do that and worse; you feed on men’s flesh and blood, forgetting not only the Fast but God as well.’ This lecture entered deeply into the heart of Tsar Ivan, and he left that place reflecting on the saint’s words.
March 13th – Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 29th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father John Cassian.
This great spiritual guide was born
in Rome of eminent parents. In his youth he studied the secular disciplines, especially
philosophy and astronomy. After that, he gave himself entirely to the study of holy Scripture. He
moved from the good to the better, and desiring higher and higher steps to perfection, Cassian
left Rome for the East, to learn more and attain this greater perfection. He went to Bethlehem,
then lingered in Egypt, at Nitria, among outstanding spiritual athletes from whom he learned to
exercise himself in all the virtues. In Constantinople, he became a pupil of St. John Chrysostom
and was ordained by him to the diaconate. He finally returned to the West and settled near
Marseilles, there founding two monasteries, one for monks and one for nuns. At the request of the
monks, Cassian wrote many books, among which the ones on the lovers of the spiritual life are
especially helpful: ‘Eight books on the struggle against the eight chief passions’
(The Institutes). His book against the Nestorian heresy (On the Incarnation of the Lord), which
he wrote at the request of Archdeacon (later Pope) Leo, is very important. He served the Lord
faithfully and enriched many by his wisdom, then entered into eternal rest in 435. St.
Cassian’s relics are preserved to this day in Marseilles.
2. Our Holy Father Barsanuphius.
Born a pagan in Palestine, he was baptized at the age of eighteen and immediately became a monk, receiving the name John. When his virtuous life became known, he was chosen as Archbishop of Damascus, but did not stay long in that position. Yearning after a solitary spiritual asceticism, he secretly left Damascus and went to the desert of Nitria. There he presented himself as the monk Barsanuphius, and was immediately given the obedience of water-carrier to the monastery. The one-time archbishop joyfully received this obedience. By his learned discourses, his meekness and his zeal, he quickly became a model example to all the monks. Only at the time of his death was it revealed to the monks who Barsanuphius was. And so this saint used his own example as a lesson to the proud and to lovers of power, and as a comfort to the humble and meek. He entered peacefully into rest and went to the Lord in the year 457.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. John Cassian writes thus on the struggle with a spirit of lust: ‘The struggle with a spirit of lust is a fierce struggle, longer than others, a daily struggle, and only a small number of people come to total victory. This struggle begins with the first ripe growth and does not finish until all the other passions have been mastered. In this struggle, it is necessary to use two weapons. For the achievement of a perfect and pure chastity, bodily fasting is not enough (though it is of the utmost necessity). On top of that, compunction of soul and unremitting prayer against that most unclean spirit; then, constant study of the Scriptures together with prudent works, physical labor and hand-work. These things keep the heart from unchastity and bring it back to itself. Above all, deep and true humility is needed, without which one will never attain victory over any passion. Victory over this passion is a freeing for the perfect purifying of the heart, from which, according to the words of the Lord, flow forth poison and grave ills: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,...adulteries, fornications” and so forth (Matt. 15:19). One must have patience and constant humility of heart, and keep oneself carefully during each day from anger and other passions. For as far as the fire of anger penetrates into us, so afterwards there penetrate more easily the live coals of lust.’ It is interesting that many other spiritual guides link causally the passion of anger and the passion of unchaste lust, from which it follows that those prone to anger are the most prone to lust.
March 14th – Civil Calendar
March 1st – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Evdokia (Eudocia).
Living in Heliopolis, a city of Phoenicia, during the reign of Trajan, she was at first a great harlot, then a penitent, a nun and finally a martyr. She gained great wealth from her harlotry. The reversal of her life was brought about unintentionally through the providence of God by an elderly monk, Germanos. Coming to Heliopolis in the course of his work, Germanos stayed at the house of a Christian woman whose home abutted onto Evdokia’s. When at night he began, as was his monastic custom, to read the Psalter and a book on the Dreadful Judgement, Evdokia heard him and stood listening attentively to his every word until the end. Fear and dread took such hold on her that she remained awake until daybreak. As soon as it was dawn, she sent a servant to beg that monk to come to her. Germanos came and they began a long conversation on that which the old monk had been reading the previous night, and especially on faith and salvation. The result of these discussions was that Evdokia asked the local bishop to baptize her. After her Baptism, she gave all her goods to the church to be distributed to the poor, dismissed her servants and slaves, and retired to a women’s monastery. She so devoted herself to the monastic life—to obedience, patience, vigils, prayer and fasting—that after thirteen months she was chosen as abbess. She lived fifty-six years in the monastery and was worthy in the eyes of God to be given the gift of raising the dead. When a persecution of Christians arose under the governor, Vincent, holy Evdokia was beheaded. Here is a wonderful example of how a vessel of uncleanness can be purified, sanctified and filled with a precious, heavenly fragrance by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
2. Our Holy Father Agapios.
A novice with an elder near the monastery of Vatopedi, he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave in Magnesia. After twelve years he was miraculously freed and returned to Vatopedi by the aid of the most holy Mother of God. He baptized his former owner and became his confessor. Spending the rest of his life in asceticism at Vatopedi, he departed this life peacefully in the Lord.
3. The Holy Martyr Antonina.
Born in Nicaea, she was arrested and harshly tortured for the Christian Faith. She was finally sewn into a sack and thrown into a lake in 302, but God saved her soul and glorified her forever among the angels in heaven and among the faithful on earth.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Faithfulness and obedience to the will of God must adorn the life of every Christian. God glorifies the faithful and obedient, as is seen in the life of St. Agapios. This saint was captured by pirates as a young man, taken off to Asia and sold to an Arab. Agapios spent twelve whole years with this Arab, silent and obedient, and for twelve whole years he prayed to the most holy Mother of God to free him from slavery. One night the Mother of God appeared to him and told him to get up and go off without fear to his elder. Agapios got up and came to the Holy Mountain, to his elder. When the latter saw Agapios he was sorrowful, thinking that Agapios had escaped by himself from his owner, and he said to him: ‘My child, you have deceived your master, but you can in no wise deceive God. On the day of the Dreadful Judgement, you will have to answer for the money with which your owner bought you to serve him. So go back and serve your owner faithfully.’ Agapios, faithful and obedient, went back at once to Asia, presented himself to his owner and recounted to him all that had happened. The Arab, hearing all this, marveled at the virtuous Christians and desired to see Agapios’ elder. He took two of his sons with him to the Holy Mountain. There he and his sons were baptized, and all three became monks and remained till their death in asceticism, first under the guidance of Agapios’ elder and then under that of Agapios himself. And so the one-time harsh owner became the obedient disciple of his former slave, the faithful Agapios, himself obedient to the will of God.
March 15th – Civil Calendar
March 2nd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Theodotus, Bishop of Cyrenia on the island of Cyprus.
He was chosen for his wisdom and virtue as bishop, and governed the Church of God with love and zeal. When a persecution of Christians arose in the time of the wicked Emperor Licinius, this man of God was taken before the judge and put to various tortures. When the torturer, Sabinus, urged him to deny Christ and worship pagan idols, Theodotus replied: ‘If you knew the goodness of my God, Who, it is my hope, will by these brief tortures make me worthy of eternal life, you would wish to suffer for Him as I do!’ They hammered nails into his body, and he thanked God; then, believing that the end was near, he counseled and instructed the Christians that were around him. But, by the providence of God, there came at that moment an order from the Emperor Constantine to free all Christians who had been brought to trial for the sake of Christ. Then this saint also was freed, returned thus tortured to his see in Cyrenia and lived for a further two years. He then entered into rest in the Lord Whom he had served faithfully and for Whom he had suffered greatly. He finished his earthly course in 302, and went to the courts of the Lord.
2. The Holy Martyr Troadios.
He suffered for Christ as a young man. Gregory of Neocaesarea saw him in a vision courageously enduring torture for Christ until he was murdered. And he saw his soul parting with joy from the body and hastening to heaven. St. Troadios suffered and was glorified in the 3rd century.
3. The Four Hundred and Forty Martyrs of Lombardy in Italy.
Massacred in about 579, their deaths are recorded by St. Gregory the Dialogist. Forty of them were beheaded in one place and four hundred in another, all because they refused to eat food offered to idols, and the four hundred also because they refused to follow the custom of the Lombard pagans of dancing around a goat’s head that had been brought to the demons for sacrifice.
4. Our Holy Father Agathon, a great Egyptian ascetic of the 5th century.
He was a contemporary of St. Makarios and a disciple of St. Lot. His care was to fulfill all the commandments of God. One of the brethren expressed his liking for a knife with which he had been cutting willow wands for baskets. The saint joyfully offered the knife to the brother as a gift. St. Agathon also said: ‘I would be content to be able to take on myself the body of a leper, and give him mine.’ Is that not perfect love? (In the Greek Calendar, he is commemorated on Jan. 8th).
5. The Holy Martyr Euthalia.
This holy Euthalia was a Sicilian maiden who had a mother with the same name and a brother named Sermilianus. They were all pagans. The elder Euthalia became ill of an issue of blood. The holy martyrs Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyprinus (May 10th) appeared to her in a dream and told her that she would be healed only if she were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Euthalia believed in Christ, was baptized, and was healed. Seeing this miracle, her daughter was also baptized. Sermilianus began to mock his mother and sister for their Christian Faith, then to threaten them. The mother fled from the house in fear. Then the brother began to persecute his sister. But she was unafraid, for Christ was dearer to her than her brother, and she said to Sermilianus: ‘I am a Christian, and have no fear of death.’ The wicked brother sent a servant to her to violate her, but when the servant assaulted St. Euthalia, he was stricken blind. The evil brother saw that wonder, but his heart remained obdurate. Like Cain, he hurried after his sister, grabbed hold of her and cut off her head. Thus was the holy virgin Euthalia crowned with a wreath of eternal glory. And thus in this example were fulfilled the words of Christ that He was bringing a sword among men which would divide those of one blood but not those of one faith (Matt. 10:34-35).
FOR CONSIDERATION
If anyone loses his faith in God, he is given folly in its place. And of all forms of folly, it is difficult to find one greater than this: that someone who calls himself a Christian should go and glean miserable proofs of God and of eternal life from other faiths and philosophies. He who does not get gold from a rich man is not likely to have it from a poor one. The revelation of eternal life, the firm proofs, the demonstration, the real phenomenon of the spiritual world—all this is not just the laying of the foundation of the Christian Faith, but the building of the walls and floors, the decoration and all the furnishings, the roof and domes of the magnificent edifice of the Christian Faith. A ray from the spiritual world shines through every word of the Gospels, not to mention the wonderful happenings, both evangelical and post-evangelical, through the whole two-thousand-year history of the Church. Christianity has opened wide the gate of the other world. It is revelation, God’s revelation.
March 16th – Civil Calendar
March 3rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Eftropios, Kleonikos and Vasiliskos.
They were comrades of St. Theodore the Tyro. When glorious Theodore gloriously laid down his life, they remained behind in prison. They were not condemned for a long time because of the courage of the imperial governor of the town of Amaseia. When a new governor arrived, more inhuman than his predecessor, he ordered these three to be brought before him. All three were young men; Eftropios (Eutropius) and Kleonikos (Cleonicus) were brothers and Vasiliskos (Basiliscus) a kinsman of Theodore’s. But all three were, through their brotherly love, as blood-brothers. And they therefore said to the governor: ‘As the Holy Trinity is indivisible, so are we indivisible in faith and inseparable in love.’ All flattery on the governor’s part was in vain, as were all his efforts to bribe Eftropios. He first invited him to dine with him, which Eftropios refused with a quotation from the Psalms: ‘Blessed is the man who walked not in the counsel of the ungodly,’ after which he offered him vast wealth—150 liters of silver—which Eftropios likewise refused, reminding the governor that Judas lost his soul for silver. After all these attempts, followed by interrogation and torture, the first two were condemned to be crucified, for which they gave thanks to Christ that He had counted them worthy to die the death He had died; and the third, Vasiliskos, was beheaded. They all entered into the kingdom of joy, where their commander, Theodore, was waiting for them, glorified before Christ the Lord and Victor. They suffered with honor in 308.
2. St. Piama of Egypt.
For the sake of Christ she refused to marry, and gave herself to asceticism in her mother’s house. She took only a little food every other day, and spent her time in prayer and meditation, being gifted with insight. She departed this life peacefully, commending her soul to the Lord, in about the year 377.
3. An Unknown Girl in Alexandria.
She was from a wealthy house, having a good father who suffered much and had a difficult death, and an evil mother who had an easy life, died in peace and was buried with honor. In uncertainty whether to live by the example of her father or her mother, this maiden had a vision in which the state of her father and of her mother were shown to her. She saw her father in the kingdom of God, and her mother in darkness and torment. This determined her to devote her whole life to God, and like her father, follow the commandments of God without regard to any opposition or misfortune that she might have to endure. And she followed the commandments of God to the end, with His help, and was made worthy of the kingdom of heaven, in which she was reunited with her beloved father.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Speaking on a human level, Christ raised Himself to primacy in the Church, the world and human history by obedience. No one can be a good superior who has not gone through the school of obedience. Adam lost his power and primacy over the animals and the natural elements in the hour when he showed himself disobedient to God. ‘Obedience begets obedience; if a man listens to God, then God listens to him,’ said Abba Moses. However, it is obvious that God listens to man more than man does to God, when one counts up how many times a day people sin against the commandments of God. The fact that the immortal God listens to us corruptible beings more than we do to Him should fill with shame anyone with any conscience remaining. When St. Eftropios was martyred with his two friends, he prayed to God: ‘Come to our aid, as Thou camest to the aid of Thy servant Theodore!’ At that, the earth quaked and the obedient Lord revealed Himself with the angels and St. Theodore. And the Lord said to the sufferers: ‘During the time of your torture, I stood before your faces, witnessing your endurance. Your names will be written in the Book of Life.’
March 17th – Civil Calendar
March 4th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Gerasimos (Gerasim).
This well-known saint first
learned asceticism in the Egyptian Thebaid, but then went to the Jordan and there founded a
community of about seventy monks which remains to this day. He formulated a particular rule for
his monastery: the monks spent five days a week in their cells weaving baskets and mats; they
were allowed no heat in their cells; five days they ate only a little dry bread and a few dates;
the monks had to leave their cells open, even when they went out, so that anyone could, if he
wanted something, take it from another’s cell. On Saturdays and Sundays they gathered in
the monastery church, ate together boiled vegetables, and took a little wine in God’s
praise. Then each monk brought and placed before the feet of the abbot the work he had done in
the preceding five days. Each monk had only one garment. St. Gerasimos was an example to all. In
the Great Fast he ate nothing but what he received in holy Communion. He once saw a lion which
was roaring with pain, having a thorn in its paw. Gerasimos came near to it, crossed himself and
pulled the thorn out. The lion was so tame that it followed the elder to the monastery and
remained there until the latter’s death. When the elder died, the lion also succumbed to
illness after him and died. St. Gerasimos was present at the Fourth Council in Chalcedon in 451,
in the time of Marcian and Pulcheria, and though he at first inclined a little towards the
Monophysite heresy of Eftyches and Dioscoros, he was at that council a great champion of
Orthodoxy, having been turned from heresy by St. Efthymios. Of Gerasimos’ disciples, the
best-known is St. Kyriakos the Solitary. St. Gerasimos entered into rest and into the eternal joy
of his Lord in 475.
2. The Holy Martyrs Paul and Juliana.
Brother and sister from Ptolemais in Phoenicia, they were cruelly tortured for Christ under the Emperor Aurelian and were finally beheaded. Many miracles attended their martyrdom and many of the pagans, seeing them, were brought to the Faith. Several of them were beheaded in 273 and received martyrs’ wreaths.
3. St. Iakovos the Faster.
He lived in the sixth century. He was so perfected in godliness that he was able to heal the gravest illnesses by his prayers. But the enemy of the human race brought a heavy temptation on him. There was once sent to him a woman who had been corrupted by some mockers. She pretended to weep before him, but enticed him to sin. Seeing that he would fall into sin, Iakovos put his left hand into the fire and held it there until it was completely burned. Seeing this, the woman was filled with fear and horror, repented and reformed her life. But on a second occasion he did not resist and fell with a young girl whom her parents had brought to him to be healed of her madness. He indeed healed her, but then sinned with her, and in order to conceal the sin, killed her and threw her into a river. As always, the path from lust to murder was not very long. Iakovos spent ten years after that as a penitent, living in a grave. He learned after that that God had forgiven him, because, when he at one time prayed for rain in a time of great drought from which both men and cattle were suffering, it fell. Here is an example, similar to that of David, of how wicked the evil demon is; how, by the permission of God, the greatest spiritual giants can topple, and how again, by sincere repentance, God in His compassion will forgive the greatest sins and does not punish those who punish themselves.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If human philosophy can content a man, why did the philosophers Justin and Origen become Christians? Why did Basil and Chrysostom and Gregory, who had in Athens studied Hellenic philosophy in its fullness, receive Baptism? And St. Clement of Rome, who was very rich and very learned? And St. Catherine, who was of the royal house and learned in all the secular knowledge of Egypt? And Ioasaph, the heir of India, who was versed in the whole of Indian philosophy? And so many, many others who first sought an explanation for the enigmas of the world and light for their souls in philosophy, and then drew near to the Church and came to worship Christ the Lord.
March 18th – Civil Calendar
March 5th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Conon of Isauria.
Conon was instructed in the Christian Faith and baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity by the Archangel Michael himself, and he was accompanied by this archangel of God right up to his death. He was so enlightened and fortified by grace of the Holy Spirit that his heart was kept from all things earthly and clave to the spiritual and heavenly. When his parents forced him to marry, he, on the first evening, took a candle and put it under a vessel, then asked his bride: ‘Which is better, light or darkness?’ She answered: ‘Light,’ and he then began to speak to her of the Christian Faith, and of the spiritual life as better and finer than the physical. He succeeded in bringing first her and then his parents to the Christian Faith, and he and his wife lived as brother and sister. His wife and parents soon died, and he withdrew himself entirely from the world and gave himself to prayer, fasting and pondering on God. He performed great wonders, which brought many to Christianity. Among other wonders, evil spirits were forced to serve him. During a persecution he was arrested and tortured, and stabbed all over with knives. The sick anointed themselves with his blood and were healed. He lived for two further years in his own town, and went to the Lord. This wonderful saint lived and suffered in the second century.
2. The Holy Martyr Conon the Gardener.
From Nazareth, he was mild and virtuous, and pleasing to God in all things. During the persecution under Decius he was tortured for Christ, but he remained firm in the Faith and sharply denounced the judges for their folly. With nails through his legs, this good and virtuous saint was bound behind the prince’s chariot and was dragged on and on, until he was utterly spent. Then he made his last prayer to God and gave his soul into His keeping, in 251.
3. Our Holy Father Hesychios the Faster.
He was born near Bursa in the eighth century, but withdrew to a mountain called the hill of Maion, a place with an evil reputation for diabolical apparitions. He built himself a hut there, and a church dedicated to St. Andrew, and also made himself a garden which he cultivated in order to live by his own toil. Miracles were worked through his prayers. He foretold that there would be a women’s monastery in that place after his death. A month before he died, he foretold the day and hour of his death, and at midnight on the day foretold, people saw his hut illumined with an unusual light, and when they came to it, they found him dead. He was buried in the church of St. Andrew, but later Theophylact, the bishop of Amaseia, took him to the town of Amaseia. He departed this life peacefully and went to the kingdom of his God in 790. (In the Greek Synaxarion, he is commemorated on March 6th.)
4. Our Holy Father Mark the Ascetic.
 An ascetic and
wonder-worker, he was made a monk at the age of forty by his teacher, St. John Chrysostom.
Mark spent sixty more years in the Nitrian desert in fasting, prayer and the writing of
instructive books. He knew the whole of the holy Scriptures by heart. He was very merciful,
and wept for the distress of any one of God’s creatures. He was once weeping for the
blind whelp of a hyena when the whelp received its sight. In gratitude, the mother hyena
brought him a sheepskin, and the saint forbade the hyena in the future to slaughter the
sheep of poor people. He received communion at the hands of an angel. His homilies on the
spiritual law, on repentance, on sobriety and so forth fall into the first rank of
ecclesiastical literature; the great Patriarch Photius himself held them in high esteem.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
Why do some people, well-educated, baptized as Christians, fall away from Christianity into philosophy and learned theories, alleging them to be something truer than Christianity? For two main reasons: either from an utterly superficial knowledge of Christianity, or from sin. A superficial knowledge of Christ rejects Him, and sin flees from Christ like a felon from judgement. Superficial and guilty Christians have often become as bitter enemies of Christianity as are pagans. To the superficial and the guilty it is more comfortable to bathe in the shallow pool of human thought than in the dangerous depths of Christ. Those who sincerely set themselves to follow Christ are constantly invited by Christ to a greater and greater depth, as He once said to the Apostle Peter: ‘Launch out into the deep.’ St. Mark the Ascetic writes that one understands the law of God insofar as one fulfills His commandments. ‘Ignorance urges a man to speak against that which is helpful, and insolence breeds vice.’
March 19th – Civil Calendar
March 6th – Church Calendar
1. The Forty-two Holy Martyrs of Ammoria.
These were all generals
under the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus. When the emperor lost the struggle against the Saracens
around the town of Ammoria, the Saracens took the town and enslaved many Christians, with these
generals among them. The remaining Christians they either killed or sold into slavery, but threw
these generals into prison, where they remained for seven years. Moslem leaders came many times,
urging them to accept the Mohammedan faith, but the generals refused to do so. When the Saracens
told the generals that Mohammed was a true prophet and Christ was not, the generals asked them:
‘If two men were to quarrel about a field, with one saying: “It’s mine!”
and the other saying: “No; it’s mine!” and one had many witnesses that it was
his field and the other had not a single witness but himself, what would you say? Whose field was
it?’ The Saracens replied: ‘His, of course, who had the many witnesses.’
‘You have judged right,’ the generals answered them. ‘So it is with Christ and
Mohammed. Christ has many witnesses: the ancient prophets, whom you also recognize, from Moses to
John the Baptist, witnessed to Him; but Mohammed only witnesses to himself that he is a prophet,
and has no other witness.’ The Saracens were confounded, but attempted then to defend their
faith thus: ‘That our faith is better than Christianity is seen in this: that God has given
us victory over you, that He gives us the best lands on earth and an empire much greater than the
Christian.’ To this the generals replied: ‘If that were so, then the idol-worship of
Egypt and Babylon, and of Greece and Rome, and the fire-worship of Persia, would have been true
faiths, for at some time each of these peoples has conquered others and governed them. It is
obvious that your victory and power and wealth do not prove the truth of your faith. We know that
God sometimes gives victory to Christians, and sometimes leaves them in torture and suffering to
correct them and bring them to repentance and cleansing from sin.’ After seven years they
were beheaded, in 845. Their bodies were cast into the Euphrates, but they floated to the other
bank where Christians collected them and gave them burial.
2. Blessed Job.
He was born in Moscow in 1635, and was drawn to the Church by the beauty of the singing and of the services. He became the confessor of Tsar Peter, but because of some slander, withdrew to the monastery of Solovetsk where he lived in strict asceticism. He entered into rest in the Lord in 1720, at the age of 85. As his death drew near, he cried out: ‘Blessed is the God of our fathers!—and as He is thus, I have no fear, but go from the world with joy!’
3. The Holy Martyrs Conon, Father and Son.
The father was already an old man, and the son a youth of seventeen, when they were sawn in half for their faith in Christ, and were glorified in the Church on earth and in heaven. They suffered with honor in 275.
FOR CONSIDERATION
While you are on earth, regard yourself as a guest of the Host, that is, of Christ. If you are at table, He honors you thus. If you breathe the air, you breathe His air. If you bathe, you bathe in His water. If you travel, you travel around His earth. If you accumulate goods, you accumulate what is His; if you squander them, you squander what is His. If you are influential, you are so by His permission. If you are in company with others, you are with His other guests. If you are in the countryside, you are in His garden. If you are alone, He is present. If you set off anywhere, He sees you. If you do anything, He has it in mind. He is the most careful Host Whose guest you have ever been. And be, in your turn, careful towards Him. A good host merits a good guest. These are all simple words, but they speak a great truth to you. All the saints knew this truth, and ordered their lives accordingly. Therefore the immortal Host rewarded them with eternal life in heaven and with glory on earth.
March 20th – Civil Calendar
March 7th – Church Calendar
1. The Seven Hieromartyrs of Cherson.
Their names were Basil, Ephraim, Eugene, Elpidius, Agathodorus, Aetherius and Capito. These seven hieromartyrs were all bishops in Cherson at different times, and all suffered from unbelievers, either Jews or Greeks from Scythia. (Only Aetherius died peacefully.) They had all gone to that savage land as missionaries, sent by the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the light of the Gospel there. They were all tortured and suffered for the sake of their Lord. Basil raised the son of a prince of Cherson to life, which embittered the Jews and they brought charges against him. He was bound by the feet and dragged through the streets of the town until he gave up the spirit. Ephraim was beheaded. Eugene, Elpidius and Agathorodus were beaten with rods and stones until they gave their souls into God’s hands. Aetherius lived in the time of Constantine the Great, and so he governed the Church in freedom and peace, built a great church in Cherson and died peacefully. When the last of them, Capito, was sent as bishop, the savage Scythians sought a sign of him, that they might believe. And they suggested to him that he go into a burning furnace, and if he were not burned up, they would believe. With fervent prayer and hope in God, Capito put on his episcopal pallium, and crossing himself, entered the burning furnace, holding his heart and thoughts directed towards God. He stood in the flames for about an hour, and came out untouched, with no scorch-mark either on his body or his clothing. Then all cried out: ‘There is one God, the great and powerful God of the Christians, Who keeps His servant safe in the burning furnace!’ and the whole town and surroundings were baptized. Many spoke of this wonder at the Council of Nicaea (325), and all glorified God and praised the firm faith of St. Capito. But Scythian unbelievers caught Capito by the River Dnieper and drowned him. They all suffered around the beginning of the fourth century.
2. Our Holy Father Emilianus.
He was born in Rome, and committed many grave sins in his youth. When he came to his senses and turned from his sin, he trembled at the thought of the judgement of God. He went to a monastery and there, by fasting, vigils and obedience, subdued and withered his body. He was a model of asceticism to his brethren. Often at night he went out of the monastery to a neighboring cave to pray. Not knowing where he went, the abbot of the monastery followed him in secret one night. And the abbot saw Emilianus standing in prayer with awe and tears. All at once a heavenly light, brighter than the sun, illumined that hill, and focussed on the cave and on Emilianus. And a voice was heard from heaven: ‘Emilianus, thy sins are forgiven thee!’ The abbot was amazed and fled back to the monastery. On the following day he revealed all that he had seen and heard the preceding night. And Emilianus was greatly honored among the brethren, and lived long and entered into rest in the Lord.
Author’s Note: Under this date in the Greek Great Synaxarion, St. Laurence, founder of the monastery of Phaneromene on the island of Salamis is commemorated. He lived in Megara as a married man with two sons, and was righteous and devout. The holy Mother of God appeared to him in a dream and commanded him to go to the island of Salamis and to restore a church in a certain place. He went and found ruins there, and built a new church. There he became a monk and departed this life on March 7th, 1770. Many miracles were wrought over the relics of St. Laurence in that monastery.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A thick rope is composed of thin strands of hemp. One thin strand cannot hold you bound nor strangle you, for you will easily, with the lightest touch, break it and free yourself. But if a thick rope binds you, you will stay bound, and it will strangle you. You cannot easily break it and free yourself of it. As a thick rope is made from thin, weak strands, so men’s passions are made up of smaller initial sins. The small, initial sins a man can still break and free himself of. But sin on sin, repeated, the weave becomes thicker and thicker until it becomes a passion, which masters a man as only it can do. You can neither cut it out easily nor cast it away from you nor be divorced from it. Oh, when will men guard themselves from these first sins? Then they would not have so much difficulty in freeing themselves from the passions. ‘To cut out the root of the passions is as difficult as cutting off one’s fingers,’ said one Athonite monk. To free himself from sinful passions, St. Emilianus was helped by pondering on death, and of course, by the grace of God, without which it is impossible for one to be freed from such passions. To think frequently of the closeness of death, to repent and to beg God’s almighty Grace; these three things save a man from slavery to the passions. St. Sisoës was asked how long it takes to uproot a passion. The saint replied: ‘As soon as a passion springs up in you, uproot it immediately!’
March 21st – Civil Calendar
March 8th – Church Calendar
1. St. Theophylact, Bishop of Nikomedia.
When the emperor’s chief counselor, Tarasios, was, while still a layman, chosen as Patriarch of Constantinople, many were then given the monastic schema by him. These were laymen, friends and admirers of Tarasios, among whom was Theophylact. Tarasios sent him as bishop to Nikomedia. As a bishop, he was a good pastor to his flock and showed a rare compassion towards the poor and wretched. After the death of St. Tarasios, Nikephoros succeeded to the patriarchal throne in Constantinople, and shortly after that, Leo the Armenian came to the imperial throne. The latter was an iconoclast, and as such, stirred up a veritable storm in the Church of Christ. Although the iconoclast heresy had been proscribed by the Seventh Ecumenical Council, this emperor restored it and tried to displace Orthodoxy. St. Theophylact withstood the emperor to his face, and when the latter would not retract, said to him: ‘O king, great destruction will come upon you, and you will not find anyone to deliver you from it.’ For speaking thus St. Theophylact was, at the emperor’s command, deposed from his seat and sent into exile, where he spent thirty years enduring many difficulties and insults and where he finally gave his soul to the Lord in about 845.
2. The Hieromartyr Theodoretus.
The Emperor Constantine built a cathedral in Antioch, and adorned it with great beauty. The people named this church ‘the golden church,’ because of the exterior and interior gold-work and because of the amount of gold and silver plate in the church. The emperor also gave this church vast lands for the support of the clergy, whose number was considerable. The custodian of these vessels and all the precious things in the church was the priest Theodoretus, a man of great faith and rare devotion. When Julian the Apostate came to the throne, he denied Christ although he was baptized, and launched a persecution of Christians. His uncle, also called Julian, came to Antioch and plundered the golden church, brought Theodoretus, as the treasurer, to trial and put pressure on him to deny Christ. Theodoretus not only refused to deny Christ, but he also scolded the Emperor Julian for having fallen back from the true Faith and turned back to idol-worship as a dog to vomit. When the evil judge, out of capriciousness, urinated in the golden church, Theodoretus prophesied a terrible death for him, which soon overtook him. Theodoretus was beheaded with an axe for the sake of Christ, and the judge, Julian, felt pains in his abdomen from the time he had urinated in the church. His whole abdomen was rotted by worms and he vomited up his apostate soul in the most terrible torments. Also Felix, an assistant of his, in fulfillment of Theodoretus’ prophecy, died of a hemorrhage from the mouth immediately after the righteous man had been beheaded. St. Theodoretus was beheaded in 362 and went to the glorious kingdom of Christ the King.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Have more confidence in God than in your mother; confess everything to Him, and He will not betray you; receive all His commandments as good, and He will not deceive you. For insofar as you have confidence in God, so far will you be cautious towards your enemies, towards the world, the flesh and the devil. St. Ephraim the Syrian expressed all this better: ‘In receiving God’s commandments, have simplicity, but in the rejection of hostile plots, have cunning (the dove and the serpent).’
March 22nd – Civil Calendar
March 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste.
These were all soldiers in the Roman army, but believed
firmly in the Lord Jesus. When a persecution arose in the time of Licinius, they were all taken
for trial before the commander, who threatened to strip them of their military status. To this
one of them, St. Candidus, replied: ‘Do not take only our military status, but also our
bodies; nothing is dearer or of greater honor to us than Christ our God.’ Then the
commander ordered his servants to stone the holy martyrs to death. But when the servants threw
the stones at the Christians, the stones turned back and fell on them themselves, causing them
grievous injuries. One stone fell on the commander’s face and smashed his teeth.
The torturers then stripped and bound the holy martyrs, and forced them onto the ice of a frozen lake; setting a watch all around it to prevent any of them escaping. The weather was bitterly cold. To make the torture worse, the pagans built and lit a bathhouse by the lake, in the sight of the freezing sufferers, with the idea that some of them might deny Christ and acknowledge the idols of Rome. In fact, one of them did abjure, came out of the water and went into the bathhouse. As soon as he entered the bath, the hapless one gave up his soul, probably due to the shock. So, he lost both the heavenly life and his earthly life.
After this, one of the sentries on the shore beheld forty crowns come down from heaven in great light. When the sentry beheld one of the crowns separate from the rest, this soldier, beholding this wonder and filled with holy zeal, removed his military clothing, deserted his company, confessed Christ, and joined the holy martyrs on the ice. Therefore, their number remained forty, and the fortieth crown reunited itself with the others. As each soldier reposed to the Lord, one of the wreathes would descend upon his head.
After the martyrs’ repose, the commander of the pagan troops ordered his soldiers to take up the martyrs’ bodies and burn them. When the pagans burned the bodies, their relics melted into one big mass. As the forty were united as one in their earthly life, so their relics became one in death. They remain united in heaven for eternity.
2. Our Holy Father Philoromos the Confessor.
He lived in asceticism in Galatia in the fourth century. It is said of him that he was so perfected in all the virtues that he was more like an angel than a man. He was especially praised for his patience. He was persecuted by the Emperor Julian the Apostate and suffered greatly for Christ, but after the death of that wicked persecutor of Christ, he lived in peace and was of help to many, entering into rest at the age of eighty.
3. St. Caesarios.
The brother of St. Gregory the Theologian, who died in 369, St. Caesarios was a theological writer. Among other things, he gave a painstaking answer to the question: How long did Adam and Eve spend in Paradise before the Fall? Some had put that time at six hours, some at twenty-four hours and some at three days. St. Caesarios’ estimate was that they were there for forty days. Because of that, he says, the Lord Christ fasted for forty days in the wilderness, and was for that length of time tempted of the devil. For, while the old Adam was not able to withstand the devil’s temptation in the abundance of Paradise, the New Adam withstood him as a true knight in hunger and thirst in the wilderness.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Hide your spiritual goods, and do not reveal them without necessity. See how people hide their material goods, and how, when they are compelled to say how much they have, they always conceal the greater part and reveal only the lesser. Only very few people want to reveal all that they have, and an even smaller number pretend to have more than they really have (and these the world regards as frivolous and mindless). This shows you how you must conceal your spiritual goods; that is, your virtues and your good works, your fasts and your vigils and prayers. Why do the wise children of this world not reveal their material goods? For two reasons: that rascals should not hear of them, and that they should not arouse the envy of malicious men. There can be rascals and the envious also with regard to spiritual goods. These are malicious spirits. As soon as you reveal them, they will take care to lessen or squander them. It is true that, as soon as you reveal them without need (let us say, from vanity, in order to receive praise), they snatch them and squander them. And you, who were rich in spiritual goods, imperceptibly lose them and suddenly find yourselves wretched. Many spiritually rich men, saints, made themselves as fools in the sight of the world, in order to hide their great wisdom and power from the sight of men. Abba Isaias writes: ‘Good works are pleasing to the Lord, if they are performed in secret.’ And St. Nilus of Sinai says: ‘The hidden skin of the body is white, but the skin that shows is burnt and black. So it is with our hidden and our visible spiritual works.’
March 23rd – Civil Calendar
March 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Codratus (Kodratos) of Corinth, and others with him.
In a time of persecution of Christians, many of the faithful fled to the mountains and caves, as did Codratus’ mother. She was pregnant at the time, and gave birth to Codratus in a forest, dying almost at once. He was kept safe and fed by the providence of God and his guardian angel. Codratus grew up in solitude with nature. He Who gave manna from heaven to the Israelites in the wilderness released a sweet dew from a cloud onto the mouth of the child Codratus. When he was twelve years old, he went down to the town, and there some good people took a fancy to him and educated him. He studied medicine and then began to heal the sick, using both natural medicines, and more importantly, the spiritual power and prayer which had been with him from childhood. When a new persecution arose under Decius, Codratus was taken for trial and thrown into prison. Five of his friends stood beside him and confessed the name of Christ. They were: Cyprian, Dionysius, Anectus, Paul and Crescens. They were all dragged through the streets and struck with sticks and stones by the unbelievers, especially by the children, until they arrived at the scaffold. Here the martyrs prayed to God and were beheaded with the sword. A spring of water gushed out onto the earth at the spot, which to this day is called by Codratus’ name and commemorates the heroic death for Christ of the holy six. They suffered with honor for the truth in Corinth in the year 250, in the time of the Emperor Decius and his governor Jason.
2. The Holy Martyr Codratus of Nikomedia.
He was a rich nobleman and also a convinced and baptized Christian. In a time of persecution, when Valerian shut up many Christians in jail, Codratus bribed the warder and went into the prison to bring the captives food and uphold them in their faith. When they were brought before the judge and questioned about their names, place of origin and status, they were silent. Then Codratus appeared behind them and shouted at the top of his voice: ‘By name, we are Christians; servants of Jesus Christ the Lord by office and birth, and our city and place of origin is heaven.’ After this declaration he was brought to trial, and after long and harsh torture was beheaded along with the others.
3. Our Holy Mother Anastasia.
A patrician, she was a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Emperor Justinian. When she was widowed, and saw that the Empress Theodora could not abide her, she suddenly disappeared from Constantinople and took herself off to the Egyptian desert. A famous spiritual guide, Abba Daniel, tonsured her and presented her as the castrated monk Anastasius, by her wish, so that she might, as a woman under a man’s name, more easily evade the imperial searchers. Anastasia shut herself in a narrow cell, where she spent 28 years and where she entered into rest in the year 563. Before her death, the elder Daniel saw her face shining like the sun.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A tale by the elder Barlaam to Ioasaph: There was once a great and famous king; and it came to pass, when he was riding on a day in his golden chariot, with his royal guard, that there met him two men, clad in filthy rags, with fallen-in-faces, and pale as death. Now the king knew that it was by buffetings of the body and by the sweats of the monastic life that they had thus wasted their miserable flesh. So, seeing them, he leapt anon from his chariot, fell on the ground, and did obeisance. Then, rising, he embraced and greeted them tenderly. But his noblemen and counsellors took offence thereat, deeming that their sovereign had disgraced his kingly honor.... Then the king ordered four wooden caskets to be made. Two of these he covered over all with gold, and placing dead men’s moldering bones therein, secured them with golden clasps. The other two he smeared over with pitch and tar, but filled them with costly stones and precious pearls, and all manner of aromatic sweet perfume. The king set the four caskets before his noblemen, that they might appraise the value of these and those. Then he ordered the golden chests to be opened. And when they were thrown open, they gave out a loathsome smell and presented a hideous sight. Said the king, ‘Here is a figure of those who are clothed in glory and honor, and make great display of power and majesty, but within is the stink of dead men’s bones and works of iniquity.’ Next, he commanded the pitched and tarred caskets also to be opened, and delighted the company with the beauty and sweet savor of their stores. And he said unto them, ‘Know ye to whom these are like? They are like those lowly men, clad in vile apparel, whose outward form alone ye beheld, and deemed it outrageous that I bowed down to do them obeisance. But through the eyes of my mind I perceived the value and exceeding beauty of their souls, and was glorified by their touch, and I counted them more honorable than any chaplet or royal purple.’ Thus he shamed his courtiers, and taught them not to be deceived by outward appearances, but to give heed to the things of the soul.
March 24th – Civil Calendar
March 11th – Church Calendar
1. St. Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
He was born in Damascus of eminent parents. Having acquired worldly wisdom, he was not content with this, and began also to acquire pure, spiritual wisdom. In the monastery of St. Theodosios he found himself with the monk John Moschus, whom he took as his teacher; then, together with him, set out to visit the monasteries and ascetics of Egypt. Their motto was to glean more spiritual wisdom each day. They wrote down all that they discovered, and later published it in two books entitled ‘The Spiritual Meadow’. They later went to Rome, where Moschus died, leaving Sophronios with the pledge to take him either to Sinai or to the Monastery of St. Theodosios. Sophronios fulfilled the desire of his teacher and took his body to the monastery. After that he was delayed in Jerusalem, which by that time had been freed from the Persians. He witnessed the return of the Precious Cross from Persia, which the Emperor Herakleios carried into the holy city on his back. The old patriarch, Zacharias, who also returned from slavery, did not live long, and when he went to the other world, was followed first by Modestus, who died in 634, and then by blessed Sophronios. He governed the Church with outstanding wisdom and zeal for four years, standing in defence of Orthodoxy against the Monothelite heresy, which he condemned at his council in Jerusalem before it was condemned at the Sixth Ecumenical Council. He wrote the life of St. Mary of Egypt, compiled the rite of the Great Blessing of Water and introduced various new hymns and songs into different services. When the Arabian Caliph Omar captured Jerusalem, Sophronios begged him to spare the Christians, which Omar hypocritically promised. When Omar quickly began to plunder and ill-treat the Christians in Jerusalem, Sophronios, with many lamentations, begged God to take him from among the living upon earth, that he should not see the desecration of the holy places. And God heard his prayer, and took him to Himself in His heavenly courts in 644.
2. The Holy Martyr Pionius.
A priest of Smyrna, he suffered there in the time of Decius’ persecution. They condemned him to be crucified, which was a great joy to him. And as soon as the soldiers assembled the cross and laid it on the ground, Pionius laid himself on it and stretched out his arms, calling to the soldiers to put the nails into his hands. The cross was inserted into the ground upside down, and a fire lit under the martyr’s head. There were many bystanders. Pionius closed his eyes and prayed to God within himself. The flames could not succeed in igniting even his hair, and when the fire had at last gone out and everyone thought that he was dead, Pionius opened his eyes and cried out joyfully: ‘O Lord, receive my spirit!’ and breathed his last. This saint wrote the life of St. Polycarp of Smyrna, together with whom he now makes merry in the kingdom of Christ. He suffered and was glorified in 250.
3. Our Holy Father George the Sinaite.
Abbot of Mount Sinai, he was a great ascetic and a righteous man. On Pascha night an angel of God carried him to Jerusalem for the service, and took him back the same day to Sinai. He entered peacefully into rest in the 6th century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘No good thing can be brought to completion by our own efforts, but by the power and will of God. However, God demands effort on our part to conform to His will.’ These are the words of Saints Barsanuphius and John. Few words, but much said in them. We must work at the cultivating and preparing of every good thing, and if some good germinates and grows and bears fruit, that is by God’s power and will. We plough the furrows and God sows, if He will. He can do all things if He wills. And He wills all that conforms to the highest wisdom and wholeness; that is, to His dispensation in the salvation of men. The interpretation of the Lord’s words: ‘Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves’ (Matt. 10:16), writes St. John Chrysostom, is that the Lord gave this commandment to His disciples ‘that they should themselves, as far as they could, co-operate, that it should be seen not only as the work of grace, and that they should not think that wreaths of glory are won for nothing.’ And so both our effort and God’s blessed power are indispensable to our salvation.
March 25th – Civil Calendar
March 12th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Theophanes the Confessor.
Named ‘the Sygrian’ from his birthplace, Sygriane, he was a kinsman of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741) and his son Kopronymos (741-775). He had enormous wealth and lived in great splendor. But all this lost its value for Theophanes when he enthroned Christ the Lord in his soul. Then he was hindered by a marriage which he was obliged to make. He succeeded, though, in persuading his bride that they should live as brother and sister in chastity, and as soon as his parents died, his wife went to one monastery and he to another. His monastery was in the Syrian mountains in the Kyzikos region. The splendid and wealthy Theophanes lived for some time in the monastery as the poorest wretch, and all marvelled at the great change in him. Then, because he had become so known for his firm faith, abstinence and wisdom, he was invited to the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 787, at which the veneration of icons was upheld. Because of his great purity and chastity, God gave him the gift of wonder-working and he was able to heal all manner of illness, especially mania and madness. He prayed to God for all the sick and distressed and helped them by his prayers. Only when he himself fell ill and was sick for a long time did he refuse to pray for his own healing but endured it with thanksgiving. When another iconoclast period arose under the wicked Emperor Leo the Armenian, Theophanes was taken to Constantinople and thrown into prison, where he spent two years in discomfort, pain and humiliation. The emperor then sent him into exile on the island of Samothrace, an exile which he had foreseen in his spirit and foretold to the prison warders. When he arrived on Samothrace, he lived for only twenty-three days, then went to his Lord and Creator to receive the deserved wreath of glory.
2. Our Holy Father Simeon the New Theologian.
 This
great and godly father of the Church was born in Galatia in Paphlagonia and educated in
Constantinople, where he entered the imperial service. He left all for Christ and took
himself off to a monastery, living in asceticism under the guidance of an elder, Simeon. He
then became abbot of the monastery of St. Mamas, and finally a hermit. He was the greatest
theologian since St. Gregory the Theologian. His writings, illumined with the grace he
carried in his heart, are a true theological revelation. He entered into rest in 1022,
leaving wonder-working relics.
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3. St. Gregory the Dialogist, Pope of Rome.
Son of the senator Gordianus, he himself became a senator and
governor of the city of Rome, but as soon as his father died, he gave himself to the spiritual
life. Out of his great wealth, he built six monasteries in Sicily and a seventh in Rome itself,
being tonsured in this last, which he dedicated to the Apostle Andrew. His mother, Sylvia, also
received the monastic schema in a women’s monastery. After the death of Pope Pelagius,
Gregory was chosen as pope. He fled from this honor and power and hid himself in the mountains
and ravines, but God showed people where to find him by making a fiery column, reaching from
earth to heaven, appear at the place where Gregory was hiding. He had a rare compassion, using
all his income for the housing of the poor and on hospitality. He frequently brought the poor in
and fed them from his own table. He occupied himself with the writing of instructive books.
‘The Dialogist,’ or ‘the one who converses’ was the name he was known by,
having written a book entitled ‘The Dialogues’ in which he brought to light the
virtues and miracles of the Italian saints. He also compiled the service of the Presanctified
Gifts that is used during the Great Fast. His archdeacon, Peter, often saw a dove hovering over
his head when he was writing. He went to the Lord in 604.
FOR CONSIDERATION
No one, not the Lord God Himself, takes pleasure in instructing the proud. No one cares for giving instruction to him who asserts that he knows everything. ‘Secrets will be revealed to the meek,’ says the wise Sirach (3:19). And David says that God ‘keeps the meek in truth and teaches the meek His ways’ (Ps. 24:9). The proud man wants to teach everyone and not be taught by anyone himself; but the meek man wants to teach no one but desires constantly to be instructed by someone, no matter whom. An empty ear of grain lifts its head high up over all the field, but a full ear has a drooping head!
O proud man, if only your guardian angel would some time pull back the curtain from your eyes and disclose to you the endless vista of all that you do not know! You would kneel before every man before whom you have vaunted your pride and whom you have despised, and would cry with tears: ‘Forgive me, forgive me! I know nothing!’ To the humble and devout it is often given to know the hour of their death, but death comes unexpectedly to the proud. St. Gregory the Dialogist tells of a humble bishop, Carpus, who celebrated the Liturgy every day, to whom One from the other world appeared and said: ‘Go on doing what you are doing, and serve Me while your legs will stand and your hands function. And on the day of the dormition of the Mother of God, come to Me, and I will give you your reward in My heavenly kingdom, together with all those who have prayed at these services.’ After a year, on the Feast of the Dormition, Bishop Carpus celebrated the divine Liturgy, bade farewell to his clergy and gave his spirit to God. And his face shone with the light of the sun.
March 26th – Civil Calendar
March 13th – Church Calendar
1. St. Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople. (c. 758-829).
He governed the holy
Church with wisdom and zeal as the greatest arch-pastor of Constantinople. When Leo the Armenian
made his stand against icons, Nikephoros opposed the Emperor; first counselling him and then
denouncing him. For this the accursed emperor exiled him to the island of Prokonnesos. There was
a monastery on that island, which Nikephoros himself had built in honor of St. Theodore. And this
confessor of the Orthodox Faith spent thirteen years there, then died and went to the Lord in
827. Then all the iconoclast emperors perished, and Michael, with his mother Theodora, came to
the imperial throne in 842, and Methodius became patriarch. Then, in 846, the relics of St.
Nikephoros were translated from Prokonnesos to Constantinople and placed first in the Church of
Hagia Sophia, from which he had been driven in his lifetime, and then in the Church of the Holy
Apostles. The main commemoration of this great hierarch is on June 2nd, but on March 13th is
commemorated the finding and translation of his incorrupt relics. St. Nikephoros was driven from
Constantinople on March 13th, and on March 13th, nineteen years later, his relics were brought
back to his patriarchal seat.
2. The Holy Martyr Christina of Persia.
She was harshly tortured in Persia in the 4th century for her unfaltering confession of the Christian Faith. The torturers whipped her so terribly that she died from exhaustion. Her soul parted from her martyred body and went to dwell in the eternal joy of Christ her King and Lord.
3. The Hieromartyr Publius.
This priest and martyr was successor in the episcopate in Athens to the famous Dionysius the Areopagite. As bishop, he was tortured by unbelievers and beheaded in the 2nd century. For a brief time of torture he inherited eternal life.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Great Christians are those who have great love for Christ. Oh, how truly great Christians our God-bearing fathers and the martyrs were! In our time, it is difficult for many to imagine this. Here is what one of those saints, St. Simeon the New Theologian, confessed in his monastery before all the monks. Speaking from his experience, how it bore out the truth of the Lord’s words: ‘My yoke is easy and My burden is light,’ he said: ‘Believe me, when I have fled to God my Savior, I have not encountered anything hard or unbearable.... I had a great and unbearable sadness only because I couldn’t find a sufficient means of dying for the love of Christ.’ Are not such souls like flames shut in earthen vessels? Flames are always upright and directed towards heaven. Just take off the lid, and the flame will leap up higher.
March 27th – Civil Calendar
March 14th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Benedict.
Born in Nursia, Italy in 480, of rich and eminent parents, he did
not persevere long with his schooling, for he realized himself that he could, through
book-learning, lose ‘the great understanding of my soul’. And he left school
‘an untaught sage and an understanding ignoramus’. He fled to a monastery where a
monk, Romanus, gave him the habit, after which he withdrew to a craggy mountain, where he lived
for more than three years in a cave in great struggles with his soul. Romanus brought him bread
and dropped it over the wall of the crag on a rope to the mouth of the cave. When he became known
in the neighborhood, he, to flee the praise of men, moved away from that cave. He was very brutal
with himself. Once, when an impure rage of fleshly lust fell on him, he stripped bare and rolled
among nettles and thorns until he had driven out of himself every thought of a woman. God endowed
him with many spiritual gifts: insight, healing and the driving out of evil spirits, the raising
of the dead and the ability to appear to others from a distance in a dream or vision. He once
discerned that he had been given a glass of poisoned wine. He made the sign of the Cross over the
glass and it broke into pieces. He founded twelve monasteries, each having twelve monks at first.
He later compiled the ‘Benedictine’ rule, which is a model of Orthodox monasticism
for his day. On the sixth day before his death he commanded that his grave, already prepared as
the saint had foreseen that his end was near, should be opened. He gathered all the monks
together, gave them counsel and gave his soul to the Lord Whom he had faithfully served in
poverty and purity. His sister, Scholastica, lived in a women’s monastery, where, guided by
her brother and herself practising great asceticism, she came to great spiritual perfection. When
St. Benedict set his soul free, two monks, one on the road and one at prayer in a distant cell,
had at the same moment the same vision: a path from earth to heaven, curtained with precious
cloth and illuminated at the sides by ranks of people. At the top of that path stood a man of
indescribable beauty and light, who told them that the path was prepared for Benedict, the
beloved of God. After that vision, the two brethren discovered that their beloved abbot had gone
from this world. He died peacefully in about 550 and went to the eternal kingdom of Christ the
King.
2. St. Efschemos (Euschemon), Bishop of Lampsacus.
He underwent persecution and imprisonment in a period of iconoclasm, entering into rest in the time of the Emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast (829-842).
3. St. Theognostus (Feognost), Metropolitan of Kiev.
He was Greek by birth and the successor of St. Peter of Kiev. He suffered greatly from the Cossack hordes from Dzinibek, being slanderously denounced to the Cossack ruler by his own Russian people for paying no tribute to the ruler for his position. When the ruler summoned him and questioned him about this, he replied: ‘Christ our God bought His Church from the unbelievers with His precious body. For what do we now pay tribute to unbelievers?’ At last he managed somehow to free himself and return home. He governed the Church for twenty-five years and entered into rest in the Lord in 1353.
FOR CONSIDERATION
It would be hard to find a better example of how we must not be lazy and leave prayer and work until the next day than that which is given us by St. Ephraim the Syrian: ‘Once a brother was inspired (by the devil) to think: “Today I’ll give myself a rest, and tomorrow I’ll keep vigil.” But he answered the thought thus: “Who knows; maybe I shan’t get up tomorrow either—so I’d better get up today.” So also, before he began work, he was inspired with this thought: “Let me give myself a rest today, and I’ll start work tomorrow.” He again replied: “No; I’ll start work today, and the Lord will look after tomorrow.” And St. Anthony teaches: ‘As each day dawns, plan your life as though it were your last on earth, and keep yourself from sin.’
March 28th – Civil Calendar
March 15th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Agapius and the seven with him: Publius, Timolaus, Romulus, Alexander, Alexander, Dionysius and Dionysius.
They all suffered in Palestinian Caesarea at the hand of Urban, the governor, in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. All of them, apart from Agapius, were very young men and were not yet Christians. They had never been baptized with water, but their Baptism was of blood. One day these seven were watching how the Christians were being tortured: one in fire, another on the gallows, a third before wild beasts, and when they saw with what patience the Christians endured all these tortures, they were inflamed with zeal for Christ, bound their own hands behind their backs, and thus bound, came before Urban saying: ‘We, too, are Christians!’ Urban’s flattery and threats were in vain. Agapius, a prominent inhabitant of that city who had previously suffered somewhat for Christ, joined them, and they were inspired with an even greater faith in and love for the Lord. They were all beheaded in 303, and went to the courts of the King of heaven.
2. The Holy Martyr Alexander.
He was from the town of Side in Pamphylia. The Emperor Aurelian’s governor asked him who and what he was, to which Alexander replied that he was a pastor of the flock of Christ. ‘And where is this flock of Christ?’ further enquired the evil and suspicious governor. Alexander replied: ‘Over the whole world live the people whom Christ the Lord created. Among whom those who believe in Him are His sheep, but those who have fallen away from their Creator, who are enslaved to creation and the work of men’s hands, to dead idols, such as you, are strangers to His flock, and at the Dreadful Judgement of God will be put on the left with the goats.’ The wicked judge first commanded that he be whipped with iron flails and then thrown into a burning furnace. But the fire could in no way harm him. Then he was flayed and after that thrown to the wild beasts. But the beasts would not touch him. At last the governor ordered that he be beheaded. But as soon as the judge pronounced the sentence, an evil spirit took hold of him and made him rabid. He was led howling to his gods, the idols, but on the way the evil spirit wrested his wicked soul from him. St. Alexander suffered between 270 and 275. (In the Greek Calendar, St. Alexander is commemorated on March 14th).
3. The Holy Martyr Nikandros.
He was an Egyptian. His skin was first flayed from him and then he was beheaded for his faith in Christ. His crime was that, as a doctor, he had helped the Christian martyrs and buried their bodies. He suffered with honor in the year 302.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Love for anyone or anything, even for oneself, can at times cool off and completely disappear in a man, and even turn to hatred. But a man’s love towards God, once received and confirmed, does not easily grow cold unless the man loses his mind. In the first case he lessens or erases his love either because of a change in himself or because of a change in the object of his love. In the second case, a man can lessen his love towards God only and solely because of a change in himself, and not in any way because of a change in God. St. Isaac the Syrian said all this more beautifully and clearly: ‘There is a love that is like a stream after rain, that stops very quickly after the rain stops. But there is a love that is like a spring spouting forth from the earth, which never stops. The first is human love, and the second divine love.’ And St. Simeon the New Theologian speaks of this divine love thus: ‘O holy love, thou art the crown of the law; thou conquerest me, thou warmest me, thou inflamest me with immeasurable love for God and for my brethren.... God formed man from love, from love He endured all His life-giving suffering, to deliver man from the throes of hell and to lead him to heaven. From love, the apostles finished their course. From love the martyrs poured out their blood, only in order not to lose Christ.’
March 29th – Civil Calendar
March 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Aristobulus, one of the Seventy.
 He was the brother of the Apostle Barnabas and
was born in Cyprus. He was a follower of the Apostle Paul, who mentions him in his Epistle
to the Romans (16:10). When the great Apostle Paul created many bishops for different parts
of the world, he made this Aristobulus bishop of Britain (i.e. England). In Britain there
was a wild people, pagan and wicked, and Aristobulus endured among them unmentionable
torments, misfortunes and malice. They smote him without mercy, dragged him through the
streets, mocked him and jeered at him. But in the end this holy man came to success by the
power of the grace of God. He enlightened the people, baptized them in the name of Christ
the Lord, built churches, ordained priests and deacons and finally died there in peace and
went to the kingdom of the Lord Whom he had served so faithfully. (In the Greek Calendar,
St. Aristobulus is commemorated on March 15th).
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2. The Holy Martyr Sabinas.
An Egyptian from the city of Hermopolis, he was the administrator of that city. In the time of a persecution of Christians he went off into a mountain with many other Christians and shut himself in a hut, where he spent the time in fasting and prayer. But a poor man who had brought him food and for whom Sabinas had done much betrayed him; as Judas did Christ, so this poor man for money (for two pieces of gold) betrayed his benefactor. Sabinas, with six others, was taken by soldiers, bound and brought to judgement. After harsh torture, he was thrown into the River Nile, where he gave his spirit to God in 287.
3. The Hieromartyrs Trophimos and Thallos.
Brothers by birth from Syria, they publicly and freely preached Christ and denounced the folly of the Greeks and Romans. The infuriated pagans decided to stone them to death, but when they threw the stones at these two brothers, the stones turned back upon the throwers and the brothers remained uninjured. After this they were both crucified. From their crosses the brothers instructed and encouraged the Christians, who were standing nearby in great distress. After much suffering, they gave their spirits to the Lord to Whom they had remained faithful to the end. They suffered with honor in the year 300, in the town of Bofor.
Author’s Note: In the Greek Calendar, Our Holy Father Christodoulos is also commemorated. He lived in asceticism on the island of Patmos and built a monastery there in honor of St. John the Theologian. He entered into rest in 1111. Many miracles have been wrought over his relics.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If we fulfill the law of God in our thoughts, we will find it easy to fulfill it in our actions. That is: if we are not at fault in our thinking, we shall not be at fault in our actions. Or, to develop this further, if our hearts are fixed on God, our tongues and hands and feet and our whole being will be in harmony with Him. Prepare your heart for God, consecrate it to God and worship Him; fulfill the law of God in it, enkindle the love of God in it and unite it with God. The rest will all follow and be conformed to the heart. It is not he who holds the spoke of the wheel that drives the wheel, but he who holds its axis. The heart is the axis of our being. Speaking of the commandments of God, our holy father Hesychios says: ‘If you make yourself fulfill them in thought, you will rarely find it necessary to toil over the fulfilling of them in action.’ That is, if we set our hearts, like an axis, on God, the wheels will easily go with the axis and draw the whole man after the heart. ‘Thy law is within my heart’ (Ps. 40:8), says the wise David.
March 30th – Civil Calendar
March 17th – Church Calendar
1. St. Alexis, the Man of God.
Varied are the paths along which God leads those who desire to
be pleasing to Him and fulfill His law. In the time of the Emperor Honorius (393-423), there
lived in Rome a high imperial dignitary, Ephemianus, who was very eminent and very rich. Both he
and his wife, Agalais, lived lives pleasing to God. Although he was rich, Ephemianus sat down to
table only once a day, at sunset. They had an only son, Alexis, who, when he was grown up, was
compelled to marry. But on the night of the wedding, he left not only his wife but also his
father, took ship and went to the town of Edessa in Mesopotamia, where the wonderful Face of the
Lord Himself (the Holy Napkin), sent to King Abgar, was kept. Having venerated this Face, Alexis
dressed himself in simple clothing and lived for seventeen years as a poor man in that town,
constantly praying to God in the porch of the church of the Mother of God. When he became known
as a holy man, he shunned the praise of men and so went off and took a ship that was going to
Laodicea. By the providence of God, the ship went off course and took him right to Rome.
Regarding this as a cross from God, Alexis decided to go to his father’s house and there,
unknown, continue his life of self-denial. His father did not recognize him, but from charity
allowed him to live in his courtyard in a little shack. There, Alexis spent seventeen further
years, living only on bread and water. Molested by the servants in many ways, he persevered to
the end. And when the end drew near, he wrote a few words on a single sheet of paper, held it in
his hand, lay down and breathed his last, on March 17th, 411. Then a voice was heard in the
Church of the Holy Apostles, saying to the emperor, who was present, and the patriarch:
‘Look for the Man of God.’ Shortly afterwards it was revealed that this Man of God
was in Ephemianus’ house. The emperor, the pope and their whole escort came to
Ephemianus’ house, and after lengthy questioning, discovered that the poor man was the Man
of God. When they went into his shack, they found him dead with his face shining like the sun.
His parents discovered from the paper that he was their son Alexis; and his bride, who had lived
for thirty-four years without him, discovered that this was her husband, and they were overcome
by immeasurable sorrow and grief. But then they were comforted, seeing how God had glorified His
chosen one. For, on touching his body, many of the sick were healed, and a sweet myrrh came forth
from it. He was buried in a coffin of marble and emerald. His head is preserved in the Church of
St. Laurus in the Peloponnese.
2. The Holy Martyr Marinus.
He was a soldier, and not only refused to offer sacrifice to idols, but took things sacrificed by others and trod them underfoot. For this he was tortured and beheaded in the third century. A senator, Asterius, clad in costly white raiment, was watching the sufferings of St. Marinus, and he became so fired with enthusiasm for the Faith of the Christ, Who gave such courage to His followers, that he took the body of the martyr onto his back, bore it away and buried it. Seeing this, the unbelievers killed him also as a Christian.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Why are we here on earth? To show our love for God, to learn to love God more than sin and to respond with our small love to the great love of God. God’s love is always great, and ours is always small. God has abundantly shown, and shows today, His love for man, both in Paradise and on earth. We are given this brief life on earth as a school and an examination, to be examined whether we want to respond with love to God’s great love or not. ‘Every day and every hour, proof is demanded of us of our love of God,’ says St. Isaac the Syrian. For God, every day and every hour, proves His love for us. Each day and hour we stand placed between God and sin, and we can either worship God with our love and be raised up among the angels, or make our choice for sin and find ourselves cast down into the darkness of hell. Alexis the Man of God loved God more than his parents, his wife or his wealth. He spent seventeen years as a poor man a long way from his home, and a further seventeen years as an unknown and despised wretch in his parents’ house; and all for the love of God. And the merciful God answered love with love: for these 34 years of suffering He gave Alexis eternal life and joy among His angels in heaven, and glory on earth.
March 31st – Civil Calendar
March 18th – Church Calendar
1. St. Kyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem.
Born in Jerusalem in the time of Constantine the
Great, he died in 386, in the time of Theodosios the Great. He was ordained priest in 346, and in
350 succeeded the blessed Patriarch Maximus on the patriarchal throne of Jerusalem. He was three
times deposed from his throne and sent into exile; until in the end, in the time of Theodosios,
he did not return but lived a further eight years in peace and gave his soul to the Lord. He had
two great struggles: one against the Arians, who became strong under Constantius,
Constantine’s son, and the other in the time of Julian the Apostate, with this renegade and
with the Jews. In a time of Arian domination, at Pentecost, the sign of the Cross, brighter than
the sun, appeared stretching over Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives and remained for several
days. A letter was sent to the Emperor Constans about this happening, which was seen by all
living in Jerusalem, and this served for the strengthening of Orthodoxy against the heretics. In
the time of the Apostate, another sign took place. In order to humiliate the Christians, Julian
arranged with the Jews for them to rebuild the Temple of Solomon. Kyril prayed to God that this
should not happen. And there was a terrible earthquake which destroyed all that had been
newly-built. The Jews began again, but again there was an earthquake, which destroyed not only
the new building but also the old stones that were still in place beneath the earth. And so the
words of the Lord came true: ‘Not one stone shall remain on another.’ Of this
saint’s many writings there has been kept his ‘Catecheses,’ a first-class work,
which sets out the Faith and practice of Orthodoxy to the present day. A rare arch-pastor and a
great ascetic, he was meek, humble, worn out by fasting and pale of face. After a life of great
labor and knightly battle for the Orthodox Faith, he entered peacefully into rest and went to the
eternal courts of the Lord.
2. St. Aninus the Wonder-worker.
Born in Chalcedon, he was little of stature, like Zaccheus, but great in spirit and faith. He denied himself to the world at the age of fifteen and settled near the River Euphrates in a little hut, where he repented for his sins and prayed to God, at first with his teacher Mayum and then, after Mayum’s death, alone. By the power of his prayers he filled an empty well with water, healed the sick of various pains and tamed wild beasts. There was a tamed lion with him as his servant. He had insight into distant happenings. When robbers attacked a stylite, Pionius, at some distance from him, and beat him up to such an extent that he decided to come down from his pillar and go to complain to the judges, St. Aninus saw his intention in his soul and sent him a letter by means of his lion, telling him to set aside his intention, to forgive his assaulters and to continue in his asceticism. He was inexpressibly generous. The bishop of Neocaesarea made a gift to him of a donkey, to ease his carrying of water from the river, but he gave this donkey to some poor man who had complained to him of his poverty. The bishop gave him a second donkey, but he gave that away, too. Then the bishop gave him a third donkey, not for his own but only to serve as a water-carrier, to be kept and returned. At the time of his death, he saw Moses, Aaron and Or coming to him and calling: ‘Aninus, the Lord is calling you. Get up and come with us.’ This he revealed to his disciples, and gave his spirit to the Lord Whom he had served so faithfully. He was 110 years old when he finished his earthly course.
FOR CONSIDERATION
There are malicious people who think that time has brought Christ glorification, and that in the first ages of Christianity the Lord was not thought of so highly as in later ages. There is nothing easier than to shatter this untruth. Here is how St. Kyril of Jerusalem writes of the Lord Christ: ‘This is He Who is and He Who was, coessential with the Father, only-begotten, only-enthroned, equal in power, almighty, without beginning, uncreated, unchangeable, indescribable, invisible, inexpressible, incomprehensible, immense, unthinkable, uncircumscribed. He is “the brightness of the glory of the Father” (Heb. 1:3). He is the Creator of the substance of all created things. He—the Light of light—shines from the bosom of the Father. He is the God of gods (Ps. 49:1), and God of God, Who gives us the knowledge of Himself. He is the Well of life (Ps. 35:10), flowing forth from the Father’s well of life. He is the River of God (Ps. 45:5; 64:10), which comes forth from the infinity of God but is not separated from Him. He is the treasury of the Father’s good gifts and endless blessings. He is the living Water (Jn. 4:14) that gives life to the world. He is the uncreated Ray that is begotten but not cut off from the primal Sun. He is God the Logos (Jn. 1:1), Who with one word brought all things from non-being into being.... This is He Who created us in the image of God, and has now made Himself man in our image; man, but at the same time God.’ And today, sixteen centuries after this confession of faith was written, the Orthodox Church holds the same faith, word for word and letter for letter.
April 1st – Civil Calendar
March 19th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria, and others with them.
Chrysanthus was the only son of a great noble, Polemon, who moved from Alexandria to Rome. As the son of rich parents, Chrysanthus studied all the secular disciplines, having the most learned men as his teachers. But worldly wisdom confused him, and he was left ignorant of the truth. And he grieved over this. But God, Who provides for each and all, assuaged the grief of the young Chrysanthus by putting copies of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles into his hands. The truth was revealed to him in the reading of these. But he wanted a teacher, and found one in the person of Carpophorus, a priest, who instructed and baptized him. But this did not please his father, who did all in his power to turn him back from the Christian Faith. Then, in no way succeeding, the wicked father tried to corrupt him by shutting him up alone with shameless girls, but Chrysanthus gained the victory over himself in that, and preserved his virginity. Then his father compelled him to marry the pagan Daria, but Chrysanthus persuaded Daria to receive the Christian Faith and to live with him as his sister although appearing to be married. When his father died, Chrysanthus began openly to confess Christ and to live as a Christian, both he and his whole house. In the time of the Emperor Numerian, both he and Daria were terribly tortured for their faith. The torturer Claudius himself, though, seeing the endurance of these martyrs and the wonders that were revealed at their martyrdom, embraced the Christian Faith with all his house. For this, Claudius was drowned, both his sons were beheaded and his wife died on the gallows with prayer on her lips. Daria showed such endurance under martyrdom that the pagans cried out: ‘Daria is a goddess!’ Finally it was decreed that Chrysanthus and Daria be buried in a deep pit and covered with stones. A church was later built on the site. Near this pit was a cave, in which some Christians at one time met together for prayer and communion in memory of the holy martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria. Discovering this, the pagans rolled a stone across the entrance to the cave, and thus by death drove those Christians from this world into that better world where Christ the Lord reigns in eternity. These glorious martyrs, Chrysanthus and Daria and the others with them, among whom are Diodorus the priest and Marianus the deacon, suffered for Christ in Rome in 283 and 284.
2. The Holy Martyr Pancharius.
Born in Villach in Austria, he was a high-ranking official at the courts of Diocletian and Maximian. He first denied Christ, but at the persuasion of his mother and sister, returned to the Christian Faith, for which he was martyred in 302.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘This mercy (God’s) that raises us up when we have sinned is greater than that which gave us being when we had no existence. Glory, O Lord, to Thine immeasurable mercy!’ So speaks St. Isaac the Syrian. He means here that God showed us greater mercy in saving us through Christ from the corruption of sin and death than when He created us out of nothing. And indeed it is so. Earthly parents show greater mercy to a dissolute and fallen son when they receive him again, forgive him everything, clean him and tidy him up, heal his hurts and make him their heir once more, than when they gave him birth. When the young Pancharius, surrounded by imperial honors, denied Christ, his mother wrote him a letter full of pain and grief: ‘You must not fear men,’ she wrote, ‘but you must fear the judgement of God. You should have confessed your faith in Christ before kings and princes, and not denied Him. Remember His words: “Whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father Who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:33)’. The son took his mother’s advice and was ashamed of himself, confessed his faith in Christ before the emperor and died a martyr’s death for Christ, to live eternally with Him. Thus his blessed mother brought about a new birth for her son, a spiritual birth more important than the first, physical birth.
April 2nd – Civil Calendar
March 20th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father John, and those martyred with him from the Community of St. Sava the Sanctified near Jerusalem.
This famous monastery, both visited by St. Sava of Serbia and endowed by various Serbian rulers, is still in existence today. Several times fallen to the savage Arabs, plundered and left empty, it has always been restored by the providence of God. In the time of the reign of Constantine and Irene it fell to the Arabs and was plundered. The monks would not flee, but took counsel together with their abbot, Thomas, saying: ‘We have fled from the world into this wilderness for the love of Christ; it would be shame to us now to flee from the wilderness from fear of men. If we are killed here, we shall be killed through love for Christ, for Whose sake we have come here to live.’ And, so deciding, they awaited unarmed the armed Arabs, as lambs before wolves. The Arabs killed some of them with arrows, and others they shut into the cave of St. Sava and lit a fire at the entrance to suffocate them in the smoke. And thus many of them died as martyrs for the sake of Christ and went to the kingdom of Him Whom they had loved and for the sake of Whose love they had perished. They suffered with honor before Pascha in 796, in the time of Patriarch Elias of Jerusalem. But a just punishment quickly fell on their savage destroyers. Returning to their tents, they began to quarrel, and in the ensuing battle killed each other off.
2. The Holy Martyr Photine.
This was that Samaritan woman who had the rare fortune to speak with the Lord
Christ Himself at Jacob’s Well in Sychar (Jn. 4). Coming to faith in the Lord, she then
came to belief in His Gospel, together with her two sons, Victor and Josiah, and five sisters who
were called Anatolia, Phota, Photida, Paraskeve and Kyriake. They went to Carthage in Africa. But
they were arrested and taken to Rome in the time of the Emperor Nero, and thrown into prison. By
the providence of God, Domnina, Nero’s daughter, came into contact with St. Photine and was
brought by her to the Christian Faith. After imprisonment, they all suffered for Christ. Photine,
who first encountered the light of truth by a well, was thrown into a well, where she died and
entered into the immortal kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
God does not punish sinners because it gives Him pleasure to annihilate man. If that had given Him pleasure, He would not have formed man out of nothing. But He punishes sinners for more important reasons, of which two are obvious to us. Firstly, that by punishment He may set the sinner aright and lead him onto the way of salvation, and secondly, that others may see and be fearful of sinning. St. Isaac thinks the same when he says: ‘A truly wise man is like God, for he punishes a man, not in order to be revenged for sin, but either to correct the man or to make others fearful.’ An undisciplined young man, who blasphemed against God and against his parents, suddenly went out of his mind. The whole town in which this young man lived saw this as God’s punishment, and was possessed by the fear of God. The young man was kept under restraint for three years. But his mother wept bitterly and prayed to God for her son. One year, on the Feast of the Holy Spirit, the mother took her mad son to the monastery of St. Basil at Ostrog. After prayers there, the mad boy was healed and came to himself. After that he repented and became an exemplary man and a true Christian.
April 3rd – Civil Calendar
March 21st – Church Calendar
1. St. Iakovos, Bishop and Confessor.
Neither his birthplace nor the place of his episcopate are known. It is known only that he fulfilled the law of Christ, living in strict asceticism, in fasting and prayer and that, in the time of Kopronymos, he endured much hardship and suffering at the hands of the iconoclasts: hunger, imprisonment and ridicule of every sort. He finally gave his soul to God, Whom he had faithfully served in this life. He lived and suffered in the eighth century.
2. Our Holy Father Cyril (Beryllus), Bishop of Catania in Sicily.
Born in Antioch and a pupil of the Apostle Peter, he governed Christ’s flock well. He had the gift of working wonders by prayer: for example, by his prayers he turned some bitter and undrinkable water—in a place where there was no other water in summer—into sweet, drinkable water. He entered peacefully into rest.
3. St. Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He lived in the reigns of the Emperors Maurice and Phokas, and in the time of Patriarch John the Faster and Patriarch Kyriakos. Singled out by St. John for his great devotion and zeal, he was made patriarchal vicar by that saint, and after the death of Kyriakos, was chosen as patriarch. In his time an unusual event occurred: once when there was a procession with crosses carried, they began to sway and to hit against each other. The people marvelled at this; and when the patriarch heard it attested, he asked Theodore the Sykeote, a famous ascetic and clairvoyant, to explain what it forebode. Theodore prayed to God and revealed to the patriarch that it indicated a great misfortune that would come on the Church and on the Greek state through internal religious and political discord. Christians would fight and would exterminate each other. And all this came quickly to pass. Thomas begged Theodore to pray to God for him, that God would take him before this happened. ‘Do you command me to come to you, or shall we meet in the other world before God?’ So wrote Theodore to the patriarch, indicating by this that both he and the patriarch would die soon. And that same day the patriarch fell ill and died, and St. Theodore died very soon after. St. Thomas died and went to the Lord in 610.
4. Our Holy Father Serapion.
A companion of St. Anthony the Great, he lived in the Nitrian desert, in charge of the monastery of Arsina which contained 11,000 monks. Palladius and Sozomen gave him the title ‘the Great’. He entered into rest in about 366. St. Serapion wrote: ‘Do not think that sickness is grave; only sin is grave.... Sickness leads us only to the tomb, but sin follows the sinner beyond it’.
FOR CONSIDERATION
You will hear the following justification for enrichment from many who seek it: When you are rich, you can do many good deeds! Do not believe them, for they delude both you and themselves. St. John Climacus knew well the most hidden motives of the human soul when he said: ‘Love of money begins with the assumption that it produces charity, and ends with hatred for the poor.’ This is confirmed in every lover of money, both the very rich and the less rich. People usually say: ‘If I had the money, I would do this and that good deed.’ Do not believe them. Let them not believe themselves. Let them look, as in a mirror, at those who have money and do not do this or that good deed. So would they be if they acquired money. The wise John says again: ‘Do not say that you must collect (money) for the poor, that you may attain to the kingdom of God through these alms. For the kingdom can be bought for two farthings. Indeed the widow in the Gospel did buy it for two farthings, but the rich man, before whose door Lazarus lay, was not able to buy it with all his wealth. If you have nothing to give to the wretched, pray to God that He will give to them, and by that you give alms and purchase the kingdom of heaven. When St. Basil the New prophesied to the empress, the wife of the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, that she would bear first a daughter and then a son, the empress offered him much gold. The saint refused it. But the empress swore in the name of the Holy Trinity that he should take it. Then St. Basil took three gold pieces and gave them to Theodore, his poor servant, saying: ‘We don’t want many of these thorns—they prick horribly!’
April 4th – Civil Calendar
March 22nd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Basil, Priest of Ankyra.
Under the Emperor Constantius there was much suffering at the hands of the Arians. At that time, Basil became known as a staunch defender of Orthodoxy and a true shepherd of his flock in Ankyra. When, after Constantius, Julian the Apostate came to the throne and began to persecute the Christians, Basil openly denounced this new wickedness and encouraged his people in the Faith. For this he was thrown into prison. When the Emperor Julian came to Ankyra, Basil was brought before him and he began to urge Basil to abandon the Christian Faith, promising him honors and wealth. Then Basil answered him: ‘I believe in my Christ, Whom you have denied and Who gave you this earthly kingdom, but He will shortly take this from you. How can you have no shame before the altar under which you were saved from death as an eight-year-old child when they sought to kill you? Therefore He will soon take this earthly kingdom from you, and your body shall not be buried when you have spewed forth your soul in bitter torments.’ Julian was furious and ordered that a strip of skin be torn from his body every day. And his torturers carried this out for seven days. When Basil was brought out again before the emperor, he tore a strip of his own flesh off and threw it into Julian’s face, shouting: ‘Take this and eat it, Julian, if such food is sweet to you, but Christ is life for me!’ This occurrence was noised in the town, and the emperor left Ankyra in secret out of shame and went to Antioch. And they continued to torture Basil with red-hot irons until he surrendered his soul to his Lord for Whom he had suffered so much. This was in the year 363.
2. St. Drosida.
The daughter of the Emperor Trajan, she was seized with five other women when they were gathering the bodies of the martyrs who had suffered for Christ by night, and was for this cruelly mutilated by the emperor. The five women were terribly tortured and at last thrown into molten copper, where they surrendered their souls to their Lord. But Drosida remained under strict imperial guard. However, she escaped from the court and after eight days she gave her soul into God’s hands.
3. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Efthymios (Euthymius).
He was born in the
village of Dimitsana in the Peloponnese. As a boy, he lived as a Christian, but later he went to
Romania and there gave himself over to great debauchery. In this debasement, the evil spirit led
him to embrace Islam. No sooner had he done so than he began to repent bitterly. He returned to
the Christian Faith and became a monk on the Holy Mountain. After several years spent in strict
fasting and prayer, he made up his mind to die for Christ. With the blessing of his spiritual
father, he went to Constantinople, where he somehow succeeded in gaining access to the grand
vizier. He began to make the sign of the Cross in front of him, to praise Christ and to denounce
Mohammed. After long-drawn-out torture, he was condemned to death and was slain on March 22nd,
1814, on Palm Sunday. Many miraculous healings of the sick were wrought through his relics. His
precious head is in the Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon on the Holy Mountain. Thus this
twenty-year-old youth first died to Christ and then died for Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Even in His agony on the Cross, the Lord Jesus did not condemn sinners, but held up before His Father forgiveness for their sins, saying: ‘they know not what they do!’ Let us judge no man, that we be not condemned. For no one is certain that he will not, before his death, commit that very sin for which he has condemned his brother. St. Anastasios of Sinai teaches: ‘If you see someone sinning, do not condemn him, for you do not know how he will finish his life. That thief crucified with Christ was a murderer, and Judas was an apostle of Christ’s, but the thief entered Paradise and Judas went to perdition. If you see someone sin, you do not know his good works. For many sin in public and repent in private, and we see their sin but do not know of their repentance. Therefore, my brethren, let us condemn no man, that we be not condemned.’
April 5th – Civil Calendar
March 23rd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Nikon.
Born in Naples of a pagan father and a Christian mother, he was an officer in the Roman army in Naples. He was not baptized, although his mother, unbeknown to his father, had instructed him in the Christian Faith. Once, when he was setting off with his company to war, his mother advised him that if he were in trouble, to make the sign of the Cross and call on Christ to help him. And so, when Nikon’s company was surrounded during the battle and close to final extermination, Nikon made the sign of the Cross and began to call upon Christ. At that moment he was filled with exceptional strength and rushed upon his opponents, killing some and putting the others to flight. Returning home, Nikon could not stop exclaiming in wonder: ‘Great is the God of the Christians!’ After he had brought joy to his mother with his report of the victory by the aid of Christ’s Cross, he set sail in secret for Asia, where the Bishop of Kyzikos, Theodosios, baptized him. After his Baptism, he shut himself up in a monastery and devoted himself to study and to asceticism. However, Bishop Theodosios had a vision before his death, in which he was told to consecrate Nikon as his successor. The aged Theodosios summoned Nikon immediately and ordained him deacon, and then priest and bishop. By divine providence Nikon came soon after this to Neapolis, where he found his mother still alive. On her death, he went to Sicily with nine disciples, one-time comrades in battle, and there devoted himself to preaching the Gospel. There was a terrible persecution of Christians at that time, and Prince Quintianus seized Nikon and his companions and gave them over to great torture. One hundred and ninety of his disciples and friends were slain. The torturer tied Nikon to the tails of horses, threw him from a high cliff into a ravine, beat him and flayed him, yet Nikon survived all these tortures. He was finally slain with the sword and his body was abandoned in a field for the birds to eat, but a shepherd boy, possessed by a raging evil spirit, fell on the dead body of Christ’s martyr, took hold of it, and was immediately healed. He spread the news about Nikon’s body, and Christians came and buried it. St. Nikon suffered and went to the Lord in the reign of the Emperor Decius.
2. Our Holy Father Nikhon of the Kiev Caves.
Nikhon was a friend of St. Anthony of the Caves and the spiritual father of our holy father Theodosius. After the tonsuring of the Boyar Varlaam and the eunuch Ephraim he was threatened by Prince Izyaslav, but the princess turned the prince’s anger to godly fear and holy Nikhon was left in peace. Desiring to beautify the Church with icons, Nikhon prayed for assistance, and through his prayers some Greek iconographers suddenly arrived in Kiev from Constantinople. St. Anthony and St. Theodosius had appeared to them in a vision and sent them to Nikhon in Kiev. He was glorified for his daring asceticism and his spiritual wisdom. He became abbot of the Monastery of the Caves against his will in old age, and went to the Lord in 1066. His incorrupt relics are preserved in the Kiev Caves.
3. The Holy Virgin-martyr Basil of Mangazeya, Protector Against Homosexuality.
St. Basil was born in 1587 in Yaroslavl,
and as a very small boy, he used to go to the church every time he could. He loved God’s
house and he wanted to be there more than any other place. Because his father, Theodore, was a
poor merchant and his family often had very little food, Basil agreed to become an apprentice for
a merchant in the faraway Siberian town of Mangazeya. The young Basil was a very good and careful
worker, and soon he was given a more responsible job in the company. Siberia was a very dangerous
place, full of wild animals, warlike native tribes, and lawless men. There were almost no women
in Siberia. Thus, some perverse men used to commit homosexual acts with young men and boys. Soon
after the saint had arrived in Mangazeya, his boss tried to entice the youth into homosexual
relations, first with flattery and bribes and finally with threats and punishments. Basil,
however, rejected the depraved man and continued to fast and pray and ask God to help him remain
pure. The boss hated Basil for his meek and humble personality and for his devout religious life.
Yet no matter how much he persecuted and mistreated the innocent lad, Basil continued to perform
all his duties faithfully and honestly.
During the Paschal Matins, thieves robbed the merchandise house in which Basil worked. Discovering the theft, the boss went to the governor and reported the theft, accusing Basil of the crime. Thus, on the day of Christ’s Bright Pascha, when the holy Church calls all people to peace and love, this innocent, God-fearing boy was betrayed by a false witness, just as Christ had been betrayed by false witnesses. The governor did not even investigate the charges but immediately sent officers to arrest St. Basil and drag him out of the church. The governor and Basil’s boss began to torture the boy in order to force a confession from him. In spite of all the fierce tortures, the blessed one would only reply meekly, “I am innocent.” The pain from the tortures became so unbearable that the youth fainted for a while. His meekness and patient endurance enraged the evil merchant even more, so he finally, in a demonic frenzy, struck the innocent virgin on the head with a heavy chain of keys. The righteous Basil fell to the floor, sighed heavily, and gave up his pure soul into the hands of the Lord, on the day of Christ’s radiant Pascha, 1600. He was thirteen years old.
In order to hide their foul crime, the governor and the passion-crazed merchant placed the body of the holy martyr into a rough coffin and lowered it into a nearby marsh, weighted down with stones. Fifty-two years later, God willed to reveal the glory of His holy virgin-martyr, and many wondrous events began to occur in the area around Mangazeya. Several pious people had dreams in which a beardless youth appeared to them, and many ill people were healed by this holy boy. A strange light was seen over the marsh and unseen voices were heard chanting nearby. Then, the coffin of this saint rose slowly to the top of the mud. A pious archer, Steven Shiryaev, noticed the coffin but did not approach it until St. Basil appeared to him in a dream and told him to open the coffin. Then the whole story of St. Basil’s martyrdom became known, and his relics, whole and incorrupt, were retrieved from the swamp. A chapel was built for the relics, and many people received healings through the prayers of the young martyr.
Author’s note: In the Greek Synaxarion and the Athonite Patrology, the New-Martyr Luke from Jedrene is commemorated on this day. He was taken to Constantinople by the Turks as a child and circumcised. He was greatly troubled in his conscience because of this, regarding his circumcision as the devil’s seal upon him, which he could destroy only by suffering martyrdom for Christ. He became a monk on the Holy Mountain and went with his elder, Vissarion, to Mytilene. There he was murdered by the Turks on March 23rd, 1802. Hanging in the air, the martyr’s body gave forth a fragrant myrrh.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Paphnutios prayed to God to reveal to him whom he (Paphnutios) resembled, and he heard a voice that said to him: ‘You are like a merchant seeking goodly pearls: get up, and don’t be lazy!’ But God could not say to all of us that we are like merchants seeking goodly pearls. For many of us do not seek pearls but bury ourselves under thicker and thicker layers of worthless dust. It is not only pearls that a fishing-net brings up from the bottom of the sea, but also mud and sand. An ignoramus grabs at the mud and sand as at the pearl. Only a merchant who can recognize a true pearl throws the net into the sea innumerable times, sifting out the mud and sand until he finds one seed pearl. Why did God compare Paphnutios to a merchant? Because Paphnutios had given all his goods and devoted all his efforts and his time in order somehow to find that one, true seed-pearl. That one pearl is a heart purified from passions and evil thoughts, and inflamed with love for God. Get up, man, and don’t be lazy! The day of your marketing is nearing its twilight.
April 6th – Civil Calendar
March 24th – Church Calendar
1. St. Artemon, Bishop of Seleukeia.
He was born and educated in Seleukeia. When the Apostle Paul came to that city, he saw Artemon, confirmed him yet more strongly in the Christian Faith and made him bishop of the city. Artemon guided Christ’s flock with love and zeal as a physician to the souls and bodies of his people, and entered into eternity in great old age.
2. Our Holy Father Iakovos the Confessor.
He suffered for the sake of the holy icons under the Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He was a monk and a brother of the Studite monastery. When the great Theodore of the Studion was sent into exile, Iakovos was given over to great tortures to force him to renounce the veneration of icons. But he remained steadfast and faithful to Orthodoxy to the end. They returned him to his monastery, beaten and tortured, when the evil Emperor Leo had made a bad end. He died of his grievous injuries there in the monastery, and entered into the company of the citizens of heaven.
3. The Hieromartyr Parthenios, Patriarch of Constantinople.
Born on the island of Mytilene, he was Bishop of Chios for a long time, and was later chosen as patriarch. But because of false allegations that he was working against the state, the Turks at first tried to force him to embrace Islam, and when he refused decisively, hanged him in 1657.
4. Commemoration of the Miracle at the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev.
Two friends, John and Sergius, swore brotherhood before the icon of the holy Mother of God in this monastery. John was a rich man with a five-year-old son, Zachariah. John fell ill, and at his death commended his son to the care of Sergius, and left in Sergius’ keeping a large sum of silver and gold for him to hand over to Zachariah when he had grown up. When Zachariah came of age, however, Sergius denied receiving anything from the deceased John. Then Zachariah said: ‘Let him swear before the same icon of the most holy Mother of God, in front of which he accepted brotherhood with my late father, that he received nothing from John, and then I will seek nothing more from him.’ Sergius agreed, but when he had sworn this and went up to kiss the icon, some force held him back and would not allow him to come near. Then, tormented all at once by a demon, he began to cry out: ‘Holy fathers Anthony and Theodosius, do not let this merciless angel destroy me!’ The demon had attacked him by God’s permission. He then told them of all the money which John had left. But when they opened the box, they found double the amount. Taking it, Zachariah gave it to the monastery and was himself tonsured as a monk. He lived a long time and was worthy of God’s great gifts, entering peacefully into eternity.
5. Our Holy Father Zacharias.
He was the son of Carion the Egyptian, who left wife and children to become a monk. The father took Zacharias with him, since his mother was unable to provide for him. Although younger than many of the elders in Sketis, he received greater gifts of grace than many of them. He felt as if his whole interior was aflame with the grace of God. Zacharias replied to the question of St. Makarios, ‘Who is a true monk?’ saying: ‘He who constantly restrains himself in order to fulfill God’s commandments.’ And to the question of Abba Moses: ‘What does it mean to be a monk?’ Zacharias took off his hat and trod it underfoot, saying: ‘If a man be not so broken, he cannot be a monk.’ He was a great light among the monks in the desert, and went to his peace in the Lord at an early age.
FOR CONSIDERATION
One time, Abba Daniel and Abba Ammon were journeying together. Abba Ammon asked: ‘When shall we come to a cell, father?’ (i.e. to be able to pray to God). Abba Daniel replied: ‘Who is depriving us of God right at this moment? God is in the cell and outside the cell—the same God.’ By this we are taught the uninterruptedness of prayer, meditation on God and pondering on His works in us and around us. A church building facilitates and strengthens prayer, as also withdrawal and solitude, in their way, facilitate and strengthen it. But he who does not want to pray will not be tied by either church or cell. Nor will he who has tasted the sweetness of prayer be able to separate either his nature or his journeyings from prayer.
April 7th – Civil Calendar
March 25th – Church Calendar
1. The Annunciation.
When the most holy Virgin had lived and served in the Temple at
Jerusalem for eleven years, and was by then fourteen years old when, that is, she was entering on
her fifteenth year—the priests informed her that, according to the law, she could no longer
remain in the Temple but must be betrothed and marry. But, to the great surprise of all the
priests, the most holy Virgin replied that she had dedicated herself to God and wished to remain
a maiden till death and enter into wedlock with no one. Then, by God’s providence and under
His inspiration, Zacharias, the high priest and father of the Forerunner, in consultation with
the other priests, chose twelve unmarried men from the tribe of David so that they might entrust
the Virgin Mary to one of them to preserve her virginity and care for her. She was thus entrusted
to Joseph, an old man from Nazareth and a kinsman of hers. In his house, the most holy Virgin
continued to live in the same manner as in the Temple, passing her time in the reading of the
sacred Scriptures, in prayer, in pondering on the works of God, in fasting and in handwork. She
scarcely ever left the house, nor took an interest in worldly matters or events. She generally
conversed very little with anyone, and never without a particular need. She was intimate only
with the two daughters of Joseph. But when the time prophesied by the Prophet Daniel had come and
when God was pleased to fulfill the promise made to Adam when He drove him out of Paradise, and
to the prophets, the mighty Archangel Gabriel appeared in the chamber of the most holy Virgin, at
the precise moment (as some priestly writers have related) that she was holding open on her lap
the book of the Prophet Isaias and pondering on his great prophecy: ‘Behold, the virgin
shall conceive and bear a son’. Gabriel appeared to her in angelic light and said to her:
‘Rejoice, thou who hast been shown grace, the Lord is with thee!’ and so forth, just
as is related in the Gospel of the divine Luke. With this angelic greeting and the descent of the
Holy Spirit, the salvation of mankind and the renewal of creation were set in motion. The
archangel turned the first page of the story of the New Testament with the word
‘Rejoice!’ to show by this the joy that the New Testament signifies for mankind and
for all things created. And therefore the Annunciation is looked upon as a joyous, as well as a
great, feast.
2. The Holy Martyrs Pelagia, Theodosia and Dula.
These three holy women suffered for the Lord. Pelagia and Theodosia were slain with the sword after imprisonment and torture, but St. Dula, a slave, suffered alone and died in the city of Nikomedia. God transplanted His three white roses, stained with the blood of martyrdom, into His heavenly garden.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Once they asked Abba Athanasius: ‘How can the Son be equal to the Father?’ And he replied: ‘Even as one has two eyes but one sight.’ An excellent answer. As well as this we might add: ‘Even as one has two ears but one hearing. And likewise for all three divine hypostases: there are three candles, but the same light.’
April 8th – Civil Calendar
March 26th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Archangel Gabriel.
The herald of the incarnation of the Son of God, he is one of the seven
great archangels who stand before the throne of God. The names of these seven are: Michael,
Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salathiel, Jegudiel and Barachiel (and to these is sometimes added an
eighth, Jeremiel). Each has his own particular service, but all are equal in honor. Archangel
Gabriel revealed to Zacharias the birth of the Forerunner, and said of himself: ‘I am
Gabriel that stand in the presence of God’ (Lk. 1:19). His name, Gabriel, signifies
‘man of God’. Speaking about the Annunciation, the holy fathers comment that an angel
with such a name was sent to signify Who He was, and of what nature He was, Who would be born of
the most pure Virgin. He would be the Man of God, the God-Man, the strong and mighty God. Others
have found that it was this same Gabriel who announced the conception of the Virgin Mary to
Joachim and Anna, and that it was he who taught Moses in the wilderness to write the Book of
Genesis. Why did God not send Michael? For the reason that Michael’s service is the
suppression of the enemies of God’s truth, while Gabriel’s is the annunciation of the
salvation of the human race.
2. The Hieromartyr Irenaeus, Bishop of Sirmium (Srem).
It is thought that he was a Slav, and was married and had children before becoming a bishop. He suffered for Christ in the time of Maximian, under Probus, the governor. His kinsmen stood around him during his frightful sufferings, beseeching him with tears to spare himself and them; in other words, to renounce Christ. But this glorious hieromartyr preferred the wounds he received for Christ to all the good things of this world. A certain gardener in Sirmium, Seren, also suffered at this time under Probus, and also one Afrius in Regia. Since Irenaeus would not renounce his faith, Probus commanded that he be thrown from a bridge into the River Sava, where this pastor of Christ’s flock died and took his place among the citizens of heaven. He suffered with honor in 304.
3. Our Holy Father Malchus, the disobedient monk.
Malchus was an agricultural worker in the neighborhood of Antioch, and from his youth his whole spirit was directed towards God. The Arabs took him for a slave, and while he was in slavery they forced him to take a negress to wife. However, he brought her to the Christian Faith and lived with her as a brother with his sister. They conspired together and escaped from slavery, but the Arabs nearly recaptured them. They hid in a cave in which they saw a lioness with her cubs, and were very greatly afraid. But God preserved them; the lioness did not harm them but killed an Arab who tried to enter the cave and seize the runaways. Reaching his home country, Malchus gave his wife to a women’s monastery and went himself to a men’s monastery. He lived for many years, exercising himself in asceticism, and took his place among the inhabitants of heaven in the fourth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
When a miracle occurs, may it cause you joy rather than embarrassment. God has put His finger there, sometimes to reward, sometimes to punish, sometimes to encourage His faithful people and sometimes to lead sinners into the way of salvation.
When you see a locomotive, or some other similar steam engine, you know that there is a driver hidden somewhere inside. And there is nothing strange, is there, in the driver’s making his presence known by putting his head out of the cab or waving his arm, fluttering his handkerchief, throwing something out or making some other sign? You know that none of these things interfere with the functioning of the locomotive or damage the smallest screw in it. Why, then, do the faithless say that God interferes with the functioning of earthly machines by His wonders? Because they are dull-witted. But the faithful rejoice at God’s signs like children who stand transfixed at the sight of a locomotive, who are delighted when the driver—a man like themselves—sticks out of the cab. Oh, what a delight it is to us when, out of this inarticulate universe that roars around us, someone like us pops up, and that someone a Being Who knows us and loves us. When a miracle occurs, know that One like us greets us and says: ‘Don’t be afraid; I am behind all this.’ St. Basil the New performed many miracles. He healed sicknesses by his prayers and read men’s destinies like an open book. Through the man pleasing to Him, as always, God demonstrated His love and power towards men, that the faithful might be the more strongly confirmed in their faith, and the faithless put to shame and brought to faith.
April 9th – Civil Calendar
March 27th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Matrona.
She was an orphan, and a servant in the house of a Jew in Thessalonica. The wife of this Jew constantly derided Matrona for her faith in Christ, and urged her to cast Christ aside and go to the synagogue. But the humble Matrona went about her work conscientiously, not replying to her mistress and secretly praying to Christ our God. On one occasion the Jewess discovered that Matrona had gone to church unbeknown to her, and demanded, in a great rage, to know why she had gone to the church and not the synagogue. ‘Because God is alive in the Christian Church, but He has departed from the synagogues of the Jews,’ replied Matrona. Enraged by such a courageous answer, the Jewess thrashed her and locked her in a dark chamber, and in addition to that had her bound. But the next day she found her unbound by the power of God and kneeling in prayer, praising God. Then she locked her up again for the second time until she died of hunger. Then that wicked woman took the body of the holy maiden and threw it to the ground from the top of her house. Christians took the body of the martyr and buried it. The bishop, Alexander, when he had learned of the many miracles worked by the holy martyr, built a church over her grave. As for the evil Jewess, she soon received her just reward, when, standing on the same spot from which she had thrown Matrona’s body, she slipped and fell onto the cobbled pavement and was smashed to pieces.
2. Our Holy Father John the Clairvoyant.
He was a carpenter until the age of twenty-five, when, urged on by an unquenchable desire for constant prayer, he took himself off into the desert, where he lived until his death; that is, until the age of ninety. He lived in the body as one without a body. He could look into the heart of every person who came near him and could discover his name, and his thoughts and desires. He foretold the outcome of the Emperor Theodosios’ battles to him; prophesied to nobles, to monks, to anyone at all who was in need, to uncover what was hidden from them in the darkness of future days. A certain prince asked him to receive his wife, who wished to see him. The holy man was not willing to satisfy empty curiosity, so he appeared in a dream to the prince’s wife, and she saw him just as he was. And when the woman described her dream to her husband, he affirmed that such was the appearance of the holy man. He taught every visitor about humility, which is the basic virtue, and always drew his examples from life. He taught how pride makes war against a man of exalted character and brings him to dust and to terrible sins. He endured great assaults from evil spirits. Once Satan appeared to him with a great crowd of demons in the form of shining angels. They pressed him to bow down before Satan, lying to him and telling him that it was Christ. But he answered with great wisdom: ‘Every day I bow down to Jesus Christ my King; if it were He, it would not be necessary for me to bow down to Him at this particular moment.’ After these words, the evil forces disappeared like smoke. He died peacefully, kneeling in prayer, at the age of ninety.
3. Our Holy Father Paphnutios.
He was a disciple of St. Anthony the Great. The holiness of his life brought many sinners (for example, St. Thaïs, Oct 8th) back to the path of repentance, for he was more like a bodiless angel than a carnal man. He entered into rest towards the end of the fourth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘He who thinks evil, in him is no cleanness,’ says St. Simeon the New Theologian, and adds: ‘For how can there be a clean heart in one who fouls it with unclean thoughts, as a mirror is darkened by dust?’ Do you see, then, the inaccessible height on which the Christian religion stands in relation to all other religions and worldly theories? He who contemplates evil has in some manner done evil, and is at fault before God and his own soul. It is an insult to God and a loss to self. To be Christian in the true sense means to make an enormous effort to cleanse our hearts and minds from evil thoughts. On what an effort it is, there is a vast amount of teaching (which in our day remains an almost entirely closed book, even to Christians) and a wealth of true experience on the part of holy men and women who have justified this teaching. To cleanse oneself from evil and impure thoughts, this root of all evil, was the goal of all the great ascetics, cave-dwellers and hesychasts.
April 10th – Civil Calendar
March 28th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Evstratius of the Kiev Caves.
He was very wealthy, but moved by the love of Christ, he gave away all his goods for His sake, entered the Monastery of the Caves and became a monk. When the Polovtsians conquered Kiev in 1097, they looted the monastery, slew many Christians and monks and gave Evstratius and other of the faithful as slaves to a certain Jew in the town of Khorsun. This Jew mocked the Christian Faith and tried to compel the Christians to convert to the Jewish faith. Seeing that they had no other alternative, they all decided to starve to death rather than deny the true Faith. Evstratius encouraged the Christians in this decision. They all perished from hunger, some after three days, some after four and some after seven days. Evstratius, accustomed to fasting, remained the only one alive, and survived fourteen days without food. Infuriated that he had lost the money he had paid for the slaves, the Jew took his revenge by having Evstratius nailed to a cross. But Evstratius gave thanks to God from the cross and predicted an imminent and vicious death for the Jew. Possessed by a furious anger, the Jew stabbed him with a spear. And thus the holy man of God gave his soul to his Savior. They cast his body into the sea, but it rose to the surface and many were the great miracles performed over it. Soon after this, the Byzantine emperor commanded that the Jews in Khorsun be punished for their wickedness towards the Christians, and the torturer of the Christians was hanged on a tree and received the wages of Judas.
2. Our Holy Father Hilarion the New, the Confessor.
He was abbot of the monastery of Pelekete near the Hellespont, and was irradiated like the sun with the spirit of God. He healed sicknesses among the people and drove out evil spirits. In the reign of Leo the Isaurian, the Iconoclast persecution began and this man of God suffered during it. He was exiled with his forty monks to a place near Ephesus, died there in prison in 754 and entered into the kingdom of Christ.
3. Our Holy Father Hesychios of Jerusalem.
A priest and a profound theologian, he was a disciple of St. Gregory the Theologian and a contemporary of St. Efthymios the Great. He entered peacefully into rest in about 451.
4. The Holy Martyr Boyan.
A prince of Bulgaria, he was the son of Krutogan and grandson of Grubosh. He confessed the Christian Faith while his brother, Milomir, remained a heathen. He was slain for the true Faith at the command of his brother in 827.
5. The Miraculous Experience of Taxiotis, a Soldier of Carthage.
He spent his entire life in grievous sins, but finally repented, left his military service and adopted a way of life pleasing to God. Once when he had gone with his wife to their property close to the city, he fell into adultery with the wife of his workman, and immediately after this a snake bit him and he died. He lay dead for six hours, and after that he arose, and on the fourth day, broke his silence and related how he had seen the torments of hell for sinning and how he was about to be punished for his adultery. He had fallen into the dark dwelling of the demons, but was then led out by an angel who vouched for him, and had returned to the body to repent of his last sin. He lived in penitence for forty days, going from church to church and striking his head against the doors and thresholds. Weeping incessantly, he spoke of the terrible torments in which sinners lived in that world, and implored people not to sin and to repent of sins already committed. On the fortieth day he went with joy to the kingdom of the merciful God.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Speaking of a handsome young man of twenty, George by name, who, having beauty and youth and living in the midst of the vanity of this world, knew the way of salvation and devoted himself to the pursuit of spiritual wisdom, St. Simeon the New Theologian concludes with these words: ‘Do you understand how youth does not hinder, nor age help, a man’s understanding and his fear of God?’ How did youth hinder John the Apostle in coming to faith in Christ the Lord, and how did age help the Jewish elders when they were blind in their minds, and in their blindness, condemned the Son of God to death? In no way. Their youth in no way hinders the young people of our own day from giving their faith and love to Christ, Who created them from love. And their age in no way helps the elders of our day if their hearts are closed to Christ by evil. A young or an old body is nothing other than the new or old clothing of the soul. The one or the other garment is able to cover a healthy or a sick soul. But our goal is a soul that is healthy and clean.
April 11th – Civil Calendar
March 29th – Church Calendar
1. St. Mark the Confessor, Bishop of Arethusa in Syria.
St. Gregory the Theologian and Blessed Theodoretus have given us an account of his sufferings. According to these accounts, Mark destroyed some pagan temples and brought many to the Christian Faith during the reign of the Emperor Constantine. But when the Emperor Julian came to the throne and quickly became an apostate from the Faith, some of the inhabitants of Arethusa renounced Christ and lapsed into paganism. They rose up against Mark because he had demolished the temple and demanded that he either rebuild it or pay them a very large sum of money. As Mark refused to do either, he was flogged and flayed and dragged through the streets. They then cut off his ears with strong, fine threads, stripped him naked, smeared him with honey and left him bound to a tree in the summer heat for the wasps, mosquitoes and hornets to eat. The martyr of Christ endured all this without complaint. He was quite old, and his face shone like an angel of the Lord. The pagans lowered the price of their temple again and again, finally demanding a quite insignificant amount which Mark could easily have given. But he refused to give even a single coin for that purpose. His endurance made a great impression on the citizens, and they began to admire him for it and to feel sorry for him, and gradually reduced the price of their temple to nothing just to allow him to remain alive. Finally, they let him go free, and one by one, all came to him to receive instruction and become Christians again. A deacon, Kyril, also suffered at this time for a similar cause in Heliopolis at the foot of Mount Lebanon. He had broken some idols at the time of the liberation of Christianity and was cruelly tortured under Julian for this. The pagans were so enraged with him that, after they had killed him, they tore out his teeth and ripped open his stomach. Many others suffered on the same day as St. Kyril. The evil pagans cut their bodies into small pieces, coated them with barley and fed them to the pigs. But retribution came swiftly upon them; all their teeth fell out and their mouths emitted an unbearable stench.
2. Our Holy Father John the Hermit.
He was the son of Juliana, a Christian woman of Armenia. While still a child, he left his mother and ran off to the desert. He was utterly aflame with love for Christ the Lord. In the beginning he entrusted himself to the guidance of a spiritual father, Pharmutios, who was so pleasing to God that an angel brought him bread every day. John later left him and withdrew into solitude. He let himself down into a dry well and lived there for a full ten years in fasting, prayer and vigils. St. Pharmutios used to bring him some of the angel’s bread, for the angel of God did not wish to bring bread to the young John in person, lest he grow proud through this, so he sent it through Pharmutios, his spiritual father. After ten years of arduous asceticism in this well, St. John went to the Lord and his relics revealed wonder-working power. He lived and was glorified by God and men in the 4th century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The spiritists of our time accept every appearance from the spiritual world as sent by God and immediately boast that it has been ‘revealed’ to them. I was myself acquainted with an eighty-year-old monk who was respected by everyone as a great spiritual guide. When I asked him if he had ever seen any being from the spiritual world in his lifetime, he answered me: ‘No, never; and praise be to God for His mercy!’ Seeing my astonishment at this, he said: ‘I have constantly prayed to God that nothing should ever appear to me, lest I fall into illusion and accept a devil disguised as an angel. And, until now, God has heard my prayer.’ One noted example serves to show how humble and cautious were the elders in this respect: A devil clothed in angelic light appeared to a certain brother and declared to him: ‘I am the archangel Gabriel, who has been sent to you.’ The brother replied to this greeting: ‘You must have been sent to someone else: I’m not worthy to see angels,’ and the devil instantly became invisible and disappeared.
April 12th – Civil Calendar
March 30th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father John Climacus (of the Ladder).
The author of the famous
‘Ladder,’ he came from an unknown place to Mount Sinai as a sixteen-year-old boy and
remained there, first as a novice, then as a hermit and finally as abbot of Sinai, until he died
at the age of eighty, in about 649. His biographer, the monk Daniel, says of him: ‘He
brought his body up to Mount Sinai, but his spirit he brought to the Mount of Heaven’. He
spent nineteen years in obedience to his spiritual father, Martyrios. Anastasios of Mount Sinai,
who saw John once as a young man, foretold that he would be abbot of Mount Sinai. After the death
of his spiritual father, John took himself off to a cave, where he lived for twenty years in
strict asceticism. His disciple, Moses, fell asleep one day in the cool shade of a huge rock.
John was at prayer in his cell, and perceiving that his disciple was in danger, began to pray for
him. Moses came up to him later, fell to his knees and began to thank him for saving him from
certain death. And he related how he had heard John calling him in his sleep and had jumped up at
the very moment that a rock fell. Had he not jumped out of the way, the rock would certainly have
killed him. At the importunate urging of the brethren, John accepted the abbacy, and guided their
souls to salvation with loving zeal. He once heard a monk reproach him for being too verbose. He
was not in the least angered, but was silent for an entire year, not uttering a single word until
the brethren begged him to speak. He then began to instruct them with the wisdom with which God
had endowed him. Once 600 pilgrims came to Mount Sinai. At supper they all noticed an agile young
man dressed as a Jew who was serving at table and giving orders to the other servants, taking
charge of everything. Suddenly, he disappeared. While everyone was pondering this and asking
questions among themselves, John said: ‘Do not bother to look for him; that was the prophet
Moses serving you in his own home.’ During the time that he was silent in his cave, John
wrote many instructive books, of which the most famous, ‘The Ladder,’ is much read to
this day. It describes the way to raise the soul to God as if on a ladder. Before his death, John
appointed his own brother, George, to the abbacy, but George began to grieve greatly at the
approaching parting with John. Then John said that, if he were found worthy to stand close to God
in the next world, he would pray that George be taken up to heaven in the same year. And so it
came to pass. After ten months, George also fell asleep and departed to take his place among
heaven’s citizens alongside his brother John.
2. Commemoration of an Uncondemning Monk.
This monk died joyfully because he had never in his life condemned anyone. He was lazy, careless, disinclined to prayer, but throughout his entire life he had never judged anyone. And when he lay dying, he was full of joy. The brethren asked him how he could die so joyfully with all his sins, and he replied: ‘I have just seen the angels, and they showed me a page with all my many sins. I said to them: “The Lord said: ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged.’ I have never judged anyone and I hope in the mercy of God, that He will not judge me.” And the angels tore up the sheet of paper.’ Hearing this, the monks wondered at it and learned from it.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If the humbling of oneself before men is needful that one might be exalted before God, and temporal toil is the prerequisite of immortal life, what does it matter if some shake their heads and laugh at your self-abasement? John the Hesychast was ten years bishop on Ascalon, after which time he realized that worldly honors were hindering him, so he disguised himself as a simple monk and went to the Monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified. He was given the task of collecting and carrying wood and cooking lentils for the workmen. When he was discovered there also, he shut himself in his cell and lived there for forty-seven years on cabbage. You see how the fathers fled earthly honors. Yet, how many people in our day engage in a foolhardy struggle for them, squandering their souls for the sake of dust and ashes.
April 13th – Civil Calendar
March 31st – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Hypatios, Bishop of Gangra.
Born in Cilicia, he was bishop in the town of Gangra. At the First Ecumenical Council, he was lauded on all sides for his devout life and miracles. The Emperor Constantius ordered a bust of Hypatios to be made in the saint’s lifetime, and he kept this bust in his palace as a weapon against every adverse power. Returning once from Constantinople, Hypatios was attacked in a gorge by a heretic, Novatian, and was pushed off the road into the mud. On top of that, a woman of that company threw a rock at his head, and the saint thus finished his earthly course. But this woman suddenly went insane, and taking the same rock, began to strike herself with it. When they brought her to the grave of St. Hypatios and prayed for her, she was healed by Hypatios’ compassionate spirit and spent the rest of her life in repentance and prayer. St. Hypatios suffered and went to the eternal kingdom of Christ our God in 326.
2. St. Jonah (Iona), Metropolitan of Moscow.
He was born in the province of Kostmor, becoming a monk at the age of twelve and as such living in the Simonov monastery near Moscow. He became Bishop of Ryazan in the time of Metropolitan Photius, and when Photius died, Jonah was chosen as metropolitan and sent to Constantinople for consecration and confirmation. But, at the same time, a man called Isidore, a Bulgarian by birth, outwitted Jonah, arrived in Constantinople before him and was consecrated as the Metropolitan for Russia. Jonah returned to his seat at Ryazan. But the malicious Isidore ended his reign as metropolitan in an evil way. He went to the Council of Florence, and only returned to Moscow three years later. He was condemned as an apostate from Orthodoxy and exiled. It is not known where he died. Jonah, the good and wise pastor, came to the Metropolitical throne. He was a great wonder-worker, a clairvoyant and a spiritual guide. When the Hagarenes besieged Moscow, Jonah sent them packing by his prayers. In old age, he desired to experience such illness that he would suffer greatly, and would by his sufferings be completely purified before his departure to the other world. At his prayer, God gave him wounds in his feet, which were foreseen in a vision by a priest, Iakov. The saint died of these wounds and went to join the citizens of heaven on March 31st, 1461. Many miracles were performed through his relics. A dumb man, John, was brought to the saint’s relics. John kissed Jonah’s hand, and as he related afterwards, the hand grabbed hold of his tongue and he felt a sharp pain. When it let his tongue go, he went back to his friends—and spoke as if he had never been dumb.
3. The Hieromartyr Audas, Bishop of the City of Suza.
He was beheaded for Christ in 418 in Persia by King Yazdgird. His deacon, St. Benjamin, was released by the torturers on condition that he preach the Gospel no more. He observed this condition for a time, but his heart could not bear it and he began again to spread the truth of Christ among the people. For this he was arrested and killed in 421, three years after St. Audas.
4. Our Holy Father Apollonius.
A famous Egyptian hermit, he renounced the world at the age of fifteen and withdrew to a mountain, where he lived for forty years eating only wild plants. After that, he founded a monastery in which he had 500 monks. He entered peacefully into rest in 395.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. John of the Ladder says. ‘He who is inwardly proud of his own tears and condemns in his own mind those who do not weep, is like a man who begs weapons from the king against the enemy and kills himself with them.’ If your heart has been softened either by repentance before God or by learning the boundless love of God towards you, do not be proud towards those whose hearts are still hard. Remember how long your heart was hard. Seven brothers were ill in one hospital. One recovered from his illness and got up, and hastened to serve his other brothers with brotherly love, to speed their recovery. Be like this brother. Reckon all men as your brothers, and sick brothers at that. And if you come to feel that God has given something healthier to you than to them, know that that is given through mercy, that, as a healthy man, you may serve your frailer brethren. Who could take pride in that—as if health were all your own doing rather than God’s? As if a stagnant pool could clear of itself, and not be cleared by some spring, deeper and purer.
April 14th – Civil Calendar
April 1st – Church Calendar
1. St. Mary of Egypt.
The recorder of the life of this wonderful saint was St. Sophronios,
Patriarch of Jerusalem. A hieromonk, the elder Zosimas, had gone off at one time during the Great
Fast a twenty-days’ walk into the wilderness across the Jordan. He suddenly caught sight of
a human being with a withered and naked body and with hair as white as snow, who fled in its
nakedness from Zosimas’ sight. The elder ran a long way, until this figure stopped at a
stream and called: ‘Father Zosimas, forgive me for the Lord’s sake. I cannot turn
round to you, for I am a naked woman.’ Then Zosimas threw her his outer cloak, and she
wrapped herself in it and turned round to him. The elder was amazed at hearing his name from the
lips of this unknown woman. After considerable pressure on his part, she told him her life-story.
She had been born in Egypt, and from the age of twelve had lived a life enjoying the pleasures of
the flesh whenever she could, spending seventeen years in this way of life in Alexandria. Urged
by the lustful fire of the flesh, she one day got into a ship that was sailing for Jerusalem.
Arriving at the holy city, she made to go into the church to venerate the Precious Cross during
the Elevation of the Holy Cross, but some unseen power prevented her from entering. In great
fear, she turned to an icon of the Mother of God that was in the entrance, and begged her to let
her go in and venerate the Cross, confessing her sin and impurity and promising that she would
then go wherever the Panagia led her. She was then allowed to enter the church. After venerating
the Cross, she went out again to the entrance, and standing in front of the icon, thanked the
Mother of God. Then she heard a voice: ‘If you cross the Jordan, you will find true
peace.’ She immediately bought three loaves of bread and set off for the Jordan, arriving
there the same evening. She received Communion the following morning in the monastery of St.
John, and then crossed the river. She spent forty-eight whole years in the wilderness in the
greatest torments, in terror, in struggles with passionate thoughts like gigantic beasts. She fed
only on herbs and what could be found in the desert. After that, when she was standing in prayer,
Zosimas saw her lifted up in the air. She begged him to bring her Communion the next year on the
bank of the Jordan, and she would come to receive it. The following year, Zosimas came with the
Holy Gifts to the bank of the Jordan in the evening, and stood in amazement as he saw her cross
the river. He saw her coming in the moonlight, and arriving on the further bank, make the sign of
the Cross over the river. She then walked across it as though it were dry land. When she had
received Communion, she begged him to come again the following year to the same place where they
had first met. Zosimas went, and found her dead body there on that spot. Above her head in the
sand was written: ‘Abba Zosimas, bury in this place the body of the humble Mary. Give dust
to dust. I passed away on April 1st, on the very night of Christ’s Passion, after having
partaken of the divine Mysteries.’ Zosimas learned her name for the first time, and also
the awe inspiring marvel that she had arrived at that stream the previous year on the night of
the same day on which she had received Communion—a place that he had taken twenty days to reach.
And thus Zosimas buried the body of the wonderful saint, Mary of Egypt. When he returned to the
monastery, he recounted the whole story of her life and the wonders to which he had been an
eyewitness. Thus the Lord glorifies repentant sinners. St. Mary is also commemorated in the Fifth
Week of the Great Fast. The Church holds her up before the faithful in these days of the Fast as
a model of repentance. She entered into rest in 522.
2. Our Holy Father Procopius the Czech.
Born in Hotish, Czechoslovakia, of eminent parents, he became a priest and went off into the mountains to live after the example of the Eastern hermits. Herzog Ulrich came across him by chance and helped him to found the monastery of St. John the Forerunner by the River Sazava. This holy man entered into rest in 1053.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Why is so much said and written about the sufferings of holy men and women? Because these saints are counted as victors—and how can there be victory without struggle, pain and suffering? In ordinary, earthly warfare no man is reckoned as victorious and heroic who has never been in battle, who has not endured and suffered to a very considerable extent. All the more is this so in spiritual warfare, where the truth is clear and where self-assertion is not only of no use but is a real hindrance. He who knows no struggle for the sake of Christ, either with the world or with the devil or with his own self—how can he be counted among Christ’s soldiers? How, indeed, among Christ’s fellow-victors? St. Mary spoke of this gigantic struggle to the elder Zosimas: ‘For the first seventeen years in this wilderness, I struggled with my mindless passions as with fierce beasts. I wanted to eat meat and fish, which I had eaten abundantly in Egypt. I wanted to drink wine, and did not even have water here. I wanted to hear lustful songs. And I wept and smote my breast. I prayed to the most pure Mother of God to remove these thoughts from me. When I had wept and smote my breast for a long time, I then saw a light that flooded over me from all sides, and was filled with a wonderful peace.’
April 15th – Civil Calendar
April 2nd – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Titus the Wonder-worker.
He conceived a love for Christ from his earliest years, and despised the vanities of the world. For His sake, he left the world, went off to a monastery and received the angelic habit. With not a backward glance, he gave himself to the sober and narrow way of monasticism. Through great patience, he attained the two basic virtues of humility and obedience, and in these virtues he exceeded ‘not only the brethren, but all men’. He preserved his purity of soul and body right from his youth. In the time of the iconoclast heresy, he was seen to be a steadfast pillar of the Church of God. For his great humility and purity, he was endowed by God with the gift of wonder-working, both in his lifetime and after his death. And when he went to the Lord, he left a large number of disciples behind him. He entered peacefully into rest in the 9th century.
2. The Holy Martyrs Amphianos and Aidesios.
These two young men were brothers from the town of Patara, of eminent but pagan parents. While studying secular learning in Beirut, they were enlightened by the Spirit of God, and understanding the falseness of paganism, came to perceive the truth of Christianity. When they returned home, they could no longer live with their pagan parents and kinsmen, but fled in secret to Caesarea in Palestine, to a priest, Pamphylus, known for his purity and spiritual learning. With Pamphylus, they were instructed in the law of God day and night and practised Christian asceticism. Of Amphianos it is said that he had a twenty-year-old body but the understanding and greatness of soul of a centenarian. When a persecution arose under Maximian, many Christians fled from the town and hid, while others voluntarily and joyfully gave themselves into the torturers’ hands to be able to suffer for the name of the One Who first suffered for them. Amphianos was among these last. He came fearlessly into the pagan temple, where the governor, Urban, was offering sacrifice to idols, and seizing the hand with which the prince was making the offering, cried out to him to leave the service of, and sacrifice to, dead idols and to come to the knowledge of the true God. Some of those who heard his words and saw Amphianos’ great courage, repented and embraced the Christian Faith. But the enraged prince put him to torture. Among other tortures, his legs were wrapped in cotton which was then ignited. Then, while he was still alive, they threw him into the sea with a stone round his neck. The sea became stormy, and cast the martyr’s body ashore in the town.
Aidesios was first sent to a copper mine in Palestine, and then taken to Egypt. In Alexandria, he was filled with holy zeal against Hierokles, the governor, who had been buying Christian nuns, virgins and pious women and giving them to the most shameless prostitutes for ridicule. Aidesios, filled with holy zeal, smote the dishonorable prince. For this he was tortured and drowned in the sea like his brother, Amphianos. As two innocent lambs were they slain for Christ in about 306, and went to the glorious courts of the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘It is better to be ignorant but draw near to God in love than to be very learned and at the same time an enemy of God.’ These are the words of St. Irenaeus, the hieromartyr of Lyons. The truth of these words has been confirmed through the ages and is confirmed in our own day. Only one thing needs to be added to this: that those who love God are not ignoramuses, because they know God well enough to love Him. Of all human knowledge, this is the first and highest. And it must also be added that the enemies of God cannot be very learned—although they may think they are—because their knowledge is inevitably chaotic, having no head or order. For the head and order of all knowledge is God. Some of the saints—like Paul the Simple—did not know how to read or write, but by the strength of their spirit and their divine love, surpassed the whole world. He who draws near to God in love is incapable of evil-doing. But learning without love for God is inspired by the spirit of wickedness and strife. St. Efthymios the Great taught: ‘Have love, for as salt is to food, so is love to every virtue.’ Every virtue that is not salted and warmed with divine love is tasteless and cold.
April 16th – Civil Calendar
April 3rd – Church Calendar
1. St. Niketas the Confessor.
He was born in Bithynia, in the town of Caesarea. His father, Philaret, losing his wife, became a monk. Niketas remained with his paternal grandmother. After he had grown up and finished his schooling, he went to a monastery in Medikion, where Nikephoros, the abbot, tonsured him as a monk. After seven years of toil and asceticism, he was ordained hieromonk by Patriarch Tarasios. After the deaths of Nikephoros and Niketas’ great friend, Athanasius, the brethren chose Niketas as abbot, much against his will. St. Niketas was a holy example of life and asceticism to his brethren for many years. But when Leo V, the Armenian, came to the throne, following the devout Empress Irene and the pious Emperors Nikephoros and Michael, the iconoclast heresy sprang up again. The emperor deposed Patriarch Nikephoros and sent him into exile, and in his place put a heretic, Theodotus Kassiteras, a man of impure life. Niketas was imprisoned and tortured, but remained unwavering in his Orthodoxy. He was taken from prison to prison and tortured by hunger and thirst, by cold and heat and malice. But he remained utterly unwavering. A certain Nicholas pestered him particularly with his derision and malice. But one night the dead father of this Nicholas appeared to him in a dream and said: ‘Leave that servant of God alone!’ From that moment Nicholas repented, and not only refrained from pestering him but prevented others doing likewise. When the Emperor Leo the Armenian had made an evil end, the throne passed to the Orthodox Emperor Michael Balbus, who freed all the Orthodox sufferers. Niketas retired to a lonely place near Constantinople, where he spent the remaining days of his earthly life in prayer and thanksgiving to God. When he died, his body was taken to his monastery, and during that journey, many of the sick, on touching his body, were healed. His relics were placed close to the graves of his spiritual father, Nikephoros, and his friend Athanasius. This great hierarch entered into rest in 824.
2. St. Paul the Wretched.
A Russian by birth, he was enslaved by the Turks as a boy. Refusing to betray the Christian Faith and embrace Islam, he was tortured and beheaded in Constantinople in 1683.
3. The Holy Martyr Ulphianos.
A young man from the city of Tyre, he was tortured for Christ by the governor, Urban, the torturer of St. Amphianos (April 2nd). He was finally sewn into a sack, together with a dog and a snake, and thrown into the sea. He suffered and was glorified in 306.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘I look to die a thousand deaths’—thus wrote St. Athanasius the Great to his flock in Egypt in the time of the terrible Arian heresy. Every spiritual man can say the same thing when he looks in spirit and sees the net in which the whole world is caught. The more spiritual the man, the thicker the net is seen to be. This is the will of God: that the most spiritual be saved by the narrowest path. And the psalmist himself said: ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous.’ But, in the end, victory and glory fall to their lot. They only need to be armed with faith and patience. He who believes, understands his sufferings. He who arms himself with patience will see victory and glory. To those who love God, the narrowest way is sufficiently spacious, the greatest pains are the light yoke and the bitterest death is the joy of the wedding.
April 17th – Civil Calendar
April 4th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Joseph the Hymnographer.
He was born in Sicily of devout and virtuous parents, Plotinus and Agatha. After the death of his parents, he moved to Thessalonica, where he became a monk. As a monk, he was an example to all in fasting, restraint, ceaseless supplication, psalmody, vigils and toil. The Bishop of Thessalonica ordained him hieromonk. The famous Gregory of Decapolis, visiting Thessalonica, loved Joseph with heart and soul for his rare character, and took him back with him to his monastery in Constantinople. When the flame of iconoclasm sprang up again under Leo the Armenian, Joseph was sent to Rome to call the pope and the Roman Church to battle for the true Faith. But pirates captured him on the way and took him to Crete, where he was kept in prison for six years by the heretics. Joseph rejoiced that he was made worthy to suffer for Christ, and thanked God constantly, regarding the iron chains with which he was bound as golden ornaments. In the sixth year, around Nativity, the wicked emperor was murdered at the morning service in church. At the same moment, St. Nicholas appeared to Joseph in the prison and said to him: ‘Get up and follow me.’ Joseph felt himself lifted up in the air, and found himself all at once in Constantinople. His arrival was a source of rejoicing to all the Orthodox faithful. He composed canons and hymns for many of the saints. He had the gift of insight, because of which Patriarch Photius made him spiritual father and confessor to his priests, recommending him as ‘a man of God, an angel in the flesh, a father of fathers’. In great old age he gave his soul into the hands of the God he had served so faithfully in work and song. He died peacefully on the eve of Holy Thursday in 883.
2. The Holy Martyr Pherbutha, her widowed sister and their slave.
In the reign of the Persian King Sapor, a bishop, St. Simeon, was executed. His sister, Pherbutha, was taken to court for the queen’s pleasure. Pherbutha was unusually beautiful, and she therefore had many suitors, including pagan priests and soothsayers. Pherbutha refused them all, thus bringing down great wrath upon her head. When, just at that time, the queen fell ill, all the priests informed the king that the queen had been poisoned by Pherbutha, and as a means of healing, proposed that Pherbutha, her sister and their slave, as Christians, be sawn to pieces, that three parts of their bodies be placed on one side and three on the other, and that the queen be taken through between them. The king agreed to this bloody suggestion of the soothsayers,’ and Pherbutha, her sister and their slave-girl suffered in this way for Christ in 343, thereby meriting an unfading wreath in the deathless kingdom of their Lord.
3. Our Holy Father Zosimas.
A monk of the Jordan community in the reign of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger, he found St. Mary of Egypt, gave her Communion and buried her. He entered into rest in the Lord, at the age of 100, in the 6th century.
4. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Niketas.
He was a Slav from Albania. As a monk of the Holy Mountain, he went to Serres, where he disputed with the mullahs about the Faith. Being unable to overcome him by reason, the Turks put him to torture, under which St. Niketas died and gave his soul to God in 1808.
FOR CONSIDERATION
He who glorifies God, him God glorifies. This is demonstrated clearly and abundantly in the lives of the saints. St. Joseph the Hymnographer indeed glorified God in his labors, his sufferings and his compositions. And God glorified him both in life and in death. During his lifetime, St. Nicholas appeared to him in prison and set him free. And when St. Joseph was wondering whether to compose a Canon to St. Bartholomew or not, this apostle appeared to him, clad in white garments, and told him that it was pleasing to God that he compose that canon. When Joseph died, a citizen of Constantinople learned of the glory with which God glorifies those who are pleasing to Him. This man had come to the church of St. Theodore the Phanariot to beg the saint to reveal to him where a runaway servant of his was hiding (for St. Theodore was famed among the people as a saint who revealed where something lost or stolen was to be found, and had therefore acquired the title ‘the Phanariot,’ or ‘the Revealer’). This man prayed for three days and nights, and having received no reply of any sort from the saint, prepared to leave. At that moment, St. Theodore appeared to him in a vision and said: ‘What are you angry about? Joseph the Hymnographer’s soul has parted from his body, and we have been with him during this time; and when he entered into rest tonight, all of us, whom he had glorified in song, carried his soul to heaven and brought him before the face of God. So, I’m late in coming to you.’
April 18th – Civil Calendar
April 5th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Agathopous and Theodulus.
Agathopous, adorned with the white hairs of age, was a deacon and Theodulus, with the chastity of youth, was a reader in the Church in Thessalonica. In the time of Diocletian’s hunting of Christians, these two were summoned for trial. They went there joyfully, and each holding the other by the hand, went in crying: ‘We are Christians!’ The whole court’s urging them to deny Christ and worship idols was in vain. After long imprisonment and starvation, they were condemned to death by drowning in the sea. Their hands were bound behind them and a large stone tied to their necks, and they were taken off to be drowned. When they went to throw Agathopous into the depths, he cried out: ‘Lo, by second Baptism we are washed from all our sins, and will go cleansed to Christ Jesus!’ The sea quickly threw their drowned bodies onto the shore, and Christians gave them burial. St. Theodulus appeared to his friends in the form of a shining angel in white raiment and commanded them to distribute all his remaining goods to the poor. These great soldiers of Christ suffered with honor under the Emperor Diocletian and Faustinus the governor of Thessalonica, in the year 303.
2. Our Holy Father Mark of Trache.
He is also known as ‘the Athenian’ because Athens was his birthplace. When he had finished his higher schooling in Athens, his parents died. He pondered within himself on the inevitability of death, and that one must prepare in good time for a holy departure from this world. He gave his goods away to the poor and seated himself on a plank in the sea, with profound faith in God’s help and the prayer that God would lead him wherever He desired. And, by the providence of God, he was kept safe and taken to Libya (or Ethiopia), to a mountain called Trache. Mark lived in asceticism on that mountain for ninety-five years, seeing neither man nor beast. For thirty whole years he had an intense struggle with evil sprits, and was tormented by hunger and thirst, cold and heat. He ate earth and drank sea-water. After thirty years of the most intense sufferings, the conquered demons fled from him and angels of God started bringing him food every day in the form of bread, fish and fruit. St. Serapion visited him just before his death, and later recorded the wonderful life of this saint. Mark was asking Serapion if there were in the world any Christians who could say to the mountain they were on: ‘Get up and cast yourself into the sea,’ and it would do so. At that moment the mountain began to move like a wave. But Mark raised a hand and quieted it, such being the miraculous power of this man of God. At the time of his death, he prayed for the salvation of all men and gave his soul into God’s hands. St. Serapion saw an angel bearing Mark’s soul, and a hand extended from heaven to receive it. St. Mark lived for a hundred and thirty years and entered into rest in about 400.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Live as though you were out of this world, and you will have peace.’ Thus St. Anthony spoke to his disciple. This is a strange teaching, but a true one. We experience the greatest trouble and unease in ourselves when we feel ourselves more and more to be in this world. But, the more a man withdraws from the world, the more often he contemplates this world as existing without him and the more strongly, in his thoughts, he ponders on the utter needlessness of his presence in this world, so much the closer will he stay to God and so much the deeper will be the spiritual peace that he will have. ‘I die daily’ (I Cor 15:31), says the Apostle Paul. That is, I feel every day that I am not in this world. But, because of this, he feels himself every day in spirit a citizen of heaven. When the torturer Faustinus asked St. Theodulus: ‘Isn’t life better than a harsh death?’ St. Theodulus replied: ‘Indeed, I bear in mind that life is better than death; and have therefore decided to scorn this mortal and transitory life on earth that I might be a partaker of life immortal.’
April 19th – Civil Calendar
April 6th – Church Calendar
1. St. Eftychios, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He was born in Phrygia of devout parents, and was the son of an officer. Once, Eftychios was playing with some other children of his own age, their game being to write their names on a wall and put beside them the rank that they reckoned they would have in life. When Eftychios’ turn came, he wrote: ‘Eftychios—Patriarch!’ He became abbot of a monastery in Amaseia at the age of thirty, and ten years later the Metropolitan of Amaseia sent him to the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553 as his representative. At the council, he shone like a bright star among the Church fathers, both for his learning and his devotion. When a quarrel arose about whether heretics could be anathematised after their deaths or not, he supported his belief that they could by citing III Kings (I Kings KJV) 13:1-8, and IV Kings (II Kings) 23:16. He became greatly liked by both Emperor Justinian and Patriarch Menas. The emperor very frequently turned to him for advice, and Menas (at that time very wealthy) designated him his heir and asked the emperor to ensure that this happened. And so it came to pass. Eftychios governed the Church in peace for twelve years. But then the devil raised a storm against him. This storm reached the Emperor Justinian himself. The emperor was deluded and fell into the Monophysite heresy of Aphthartodocetism, which taught the falsehood that the Lord Jesus, before the Resurrection, had a divine and incorrupting body, not feeling hunger or thirst or pain. Eftychios stood firmly against this heresy, for which the emperor sent him into exile to his first monastery. There Eftychios lived for twelve years and eight months, being shown to be a great wonder-worker, healing people of various diseases by his prayers and by anointing with holy oil. Justinian repented and died, and his successor, Justin II, called Eftychios back to the patriarchal throne, on which this saint remained till his death, governing the Church of God in peace. In 582, at the age of seventy, he went to the kingdom of Christ the Lord, the Lord Whom he had served so faithfully and courageously all his life.
2. The 120 Holy Martyrs in Persia.
When the Persian King Sapor plundered the Byzantine lands, he took 120 Christians into slavery. He put pressure on them to deny Christ and worship fire, but in vain. He then threw them into the fire and burned them alive. Among these martyrs were nine virgins, consecrated to God. They all suffered with honor between 344 and 347, and went to the courts of Christ the King.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Of a certain orator of olden times it is said that he strove day and night to perfect his oratory. Someone said to him: ‘Demosthenes will never permit you to be the chief orator!’ to which he at once replied: ‘Nor I him, to be the only!’ If you can’t be a first-class saint, like St. Anthony, don’t shrug your shoulders and say: ‘I can’t do anything,’ but apply your effort and double your talent. ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions,’ said the Lord. If you deserve only to find yourself in the smallest of these mansions, you will be more glorious and happier than any earthly monarch who has ever lived. To each according to his talent. You won’t be a St. Anthony—but the kingdom of God is not entirely populated by St. Anthonies!
April 20th – Civil Calendar
April 7th – Church Calendar
1. St. George the Confessor.
For his great virtues, which he acquired through long asceticism, George was chosen and installed as Metropolitan of Mytilene. And this saint governed his flock with zeal and wisdom to old age. But when a persecution arose under Leo V, the Armenian, who destroyed the holy icons, this holy elder was summoned by the emperor to Constantinople, to the council of bishops which was summoned, at the emperor’s desire, to put a stop to the veneration of icons. But George not only refused to act according to the emperor’s desire; he, together with some other courageous bishops, stood up in defence of the holy icons. For this he was held in derision by the emperor and exiled to the region of Cherson, where, in physical pain and every sort of need, he spent the remainder of his earthly life. He died and went to immortal life in about 816. He was a wonder-worker both during his life and after his death, through his great righteousness and love for the Lord Jesus.
2. Our Holy Father Nil Sorsky.
One of the great fathers of the Russian Church, he was the founder of the monastic ‘skete’ way of life in Russia. He died peacefully in 1508, and his relics are preserved in the monastery at Sora. His rule of life in the sketes presents a spiritual and pragmatic work of the first order.
3. The Holy Martyr Calliopus (Kalliopios).
He was the only son, obtained from God with tears, of a senator of Perga in Pamphylia. His devout mother, Theoklea, taught him veneration of God and purity of life at an early age. Calliopus was still very young when a terrible persecution arose under the Emperor Maximian. To save him from death, his mother put him into a ship, gave him a sufficient sum of money and sent him off to the city of Pompeiopolis. But things turned out differently, by the providence of God. Disembarking at Pompeiopolis, Calliopus walked straight into some tumultuous pantheistic celebration. When he, in the press of the crazed mob, refused to take part in that senseless feast, he was brought to the commander, Maximus, to whom he confessed that he was a Christian. The commander ordered that he be beaten with iron staves, burned by fire and finally, wounded all over, thrown into prison. Hearing of the torture of her son, his mother, Theoklea, gave away all her goods to the poor and needy, and with a small sum of money, hurried to her son’s prison. Entering the prison, she bowed to her son and bound up his wounds. Finally, the commander pronounced the sentence that Calliopus be crucified. Joy and anguish were mingled together in his mother’s heart. When they led her son to the place of execution, she passed the executioner five gold pieces to crucify her son, not like the Lord, but upside-down. This she did from humility towards the Lord. Calliopus was crucified, upside-down, on Holy Thursday, and his mother stood below the cross giving thanks to God. When they took his dead body down from the cross the next day, she fell on it and breathed her last. Thus these two went to stand before the throne of the King of glory. They suffered with honor in 304.
4. Our Holy Father Daniel of Pereyaslavl.
He had as his special asceticism the care of the dead. Whenever he heard that someone had frozen to death or died in some other way, he hurried to give him burial and to pray to God for him. He died peacefully in 1540. His healing relics are preserved to this day.
5. Our Holy Father Gregory the Sinaite.
A great saint and ascetic of Sinai and Athos (see August 8th).
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Those in spiritual authority must be careful to differentiate between themselves and those under them, as a shepherd must between himself and his sheep.’ So speaks St. Isidore of Pelusium, interpreting the First Epistle to St. Timothy. The life of a priest always serves as an example, whether for good or for ill. By a good life, a priest confirms the Gospel, and denies it by a bad one. No one else is in such a position to confirm or deny the Gospel as is a priest by his life. A good priest is differentiated by his actions from a bad priest, no less than a shepherd from a wolf. Therefore the portion of the good priest will be with the sons of God, and that of the bad with the wild beasts in darkness. Good shepherds of the Church, even at the moment of their last breath, were concerned for the flock that they were leaving behind them. On his deathbed, St. Joseph the Hymnographer prayed to God: ‘Defend Thy flock, O Son of God, and protect all the works of Thy hands to the end of time. Be Thou a helper of the beloved sons of Thy Church. Give to Thy Bride (the holy Church) eternal peace and stormless quiet.’ And St. Antipas, burning in a red-hot copper ox, prayed to God: ‘Not for myself alone, but for those who will, after me, become partakers of Thy mercy.’
April 21st – Civil Calendar
April 8th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostles Herodion, Agabus, Rufus, Asyncritus, Phlegon and Hermas.
They were all among the Seventy, and are all mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistles. Herodion was a kinsman of Paul’s: ‘Salute Herodion my kinsman,’ he writes to the Romans (16:11). Herodion suffered greatly at the hands of the Jews as Bishop of Neoparthia; he was beaten about the head, stoned on the mouth and stabbed in the legs. When they had left him for dead, St. Herodion arose and continued to serve the apostles. He helped the Apostle Peter in Rome, and was beheaded along with many other Christians on the same day that St. Peter was crucified.
St. Agabus had a spirit of prophecy. Two of his prophecies are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. First, he prophesied a great famine throughout the world, which came to pass in the time of Claudius Caesar (Acts 11:28). The second was when he met the Apostle Paul in Caesarea. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, and Agabus took St. Paul’s girdle and bound himself hand and foot, saying: ‘Thus saith the Holy Spirit: so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle’ (21:11).
 St. Rufus was Bishop of Thebes in Greece. The Apostle Paul
mentions him also: ‘Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord’ (Rom. 16:13).
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St. Asyncritus (Rom. 16:14) was Bishop of Hyrcania in Asia.
 St. Phlegon, who is mentioned in the same place as St.
Rufus, was bishop in the Thracian city of Marathon.
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St. Hermas, mentioned with the others, was bishop in Dalmatia.
All these, with bee-like industry, spread the Gospel, suffering greatly for the love of Christ. They all went to the eternal kingdom of their beloved Christ.
2. St. Niphon, Bishop of Novgorod.
He was adorned with zeal in the building and repairing of churches and with great courage in opposing tyrannical princes. Thirteen days before his death, St. Theodosius appeared to him and predicted his imminent departure to the other world. He entered into rest in 1156.
3. St. Celestine, Bishop of Rome.
A great zealot for the Orthodox Faith, he wrote an epistle against the Nestorian heresy at the time of the Third Ecumenical Council. He entered peacefully into rest in 432.
FOR CONSIDERATION
There is a heroism that is more than heroism, and an asceticism that is more than asceticism. St. Epiphanios of Cyprus once invited Hilarion the Great to lunch, and to show even greater honor to his guest, brought baked chicken to the table and offered it to him. Hilarion said to him: ‘Please excuse me; from the time I became a monk I have eaten nothing slaughtered.’—to which Epiphanios retorted: ‘And I, since becoming a monk, have never lain down on my bed without forgiving all my enemies!’ Hilarion exclaimed in wonder: ‘Yours, holy bishop, is a greater virtue than mine.’ This is an important teaching for us all. Fasting is a thing of primary importance, but forgiveness of insults is greater. A man trains himself by fasting for greatness of soul, and shows this greatness of soul by forgiveness. The latter surpasses the former, but is not attained without the former.
April 22nd – Civil Calendar
April 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Efpsychios (Eupsychius).
He was of gentle birth and was reared in faith and devotion. In the time of the Emperor Julian the Apostate, when St. Basil the Great was governing the Church in Caesarea, Efpsychios married a girl of good family. But he was not given even one day to live in wedlock, for, on his wedding day itself, there was a pagan festival with sacrifices to the idol of Fortune. Efpsychios went out with some others and smashed all the idols in the temple, then pulled down the temple itself. Julian was furious, and commanded that the culprits be beheaded, that many Christians be taken into the army, that an enormous levy be imposed on Christians, the proceeds of which were to be used to rebuild the Temple of Fortune, and that the town cease to be called Caesarea (as it had been named by Claudius Caesar), and revert to its former name, Maza. Efpsychios was first bound to a tree and cruelly tortured, and then beheaded, in 362. A little after this time, the wicked Emperor Julian visited that town on his way to Persia, against which he was waging war. St. Basil went to meet him, bearing three barley loaves as a sign of honor and welcome. The emperor ordered that, as a return gift, the saint be given a fistful of hay. Basil said to the Emperor: ‘You ridicule us now, O king; we bring you bread, by which we are fed, and you give us miserable food which you, with all your power, are not able to turn into nourishment for men!’ To this the emperor replied: ‘You can be sure that I will feed you with this hay when I return from Persia!’ But the wicked apostate did not return alive from Persia, but perished there by a fitting and unnatural death.
2. Our Holy Father Vadim the Martyr.
In the time of the Persian King Sapor, Vadim, abbot of a monastery and a man famed for his grace, was thrown into prison with seven of his disciples. With him in prison was a Prince Nirsan, also a Christian. Every day they were taken out and flogged. Prince Nirsan was afraid, and promised to forsake his faith and worship the sun. This was pleasing to Sapor, and he promised Nirsan all the possessions of Vadim’s monastery if he would, with his own hands, behead Vadim. Nirsan agreed to this. With trembling hands, terrified by the dignity of St. Vadim’s face, he let the sword fall several times on the holy man’s neck, barely succeeding in beheading him. But, very quickly after that, he fell into despair and ran himself through with his own sword; thus receiving at his own hands the punishment for slaying a righteous man. St. Vadim suffered in 376.
3. Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene
Archimandrite Raphael,
Abbot of the Theotokos Monastery, and Hierodeacon Nicholas, settled on Lesvos (Mytilene) after
the Fall of the City. In 1463, Muslims attacked on Great Friday. Archimandrite Raphael was pulled
and tugged by his hair and beard along the rock-strewn ground. He was struck with clubs, spears,
lances, and swords, while his hands were tied behind his back. He was stabbed all over and cast
down paralyzed. His tongue was severed, and he was then suspended upside down from a large walnut
tree, repeatedly beaten and whipped for 24 hours. He was cut down from the tree and stripped of
his clothing from the waist up. After being positioned on his knees, five savage Muslims took up
a saw and began cutting away his lower jaw. Nearly unconscious, he had his head placed on a
square icon, where they struck him thrice on his mouth, extracting his lower jaw, thus separating
his head from his body on Bright Tuesday, then the 9th of April.
Deacon Nicholas, bound to a smaller walnut tree, witnessed these
terrifying scenes. He, too, was stabbed, but he did not die immediately. It was only after his
terror-stricken tender heart had borne the startling sight of his wounds and the punishments of
the others, that he suffered cardiac arrest.
Twelve-year-old Irene was seized and had boiling water poured into
her mouth. One of her delicate hands was severed, the limb being tossed before the parents. The
stump of her arm was bleeding profusely, as they chopped away one of her little feet. The lass
was then pushed down into an earthen jar, where she was burned alive after being doused with
flammable liquids and torching her bodice. As she stood trapped in the flaming cask, she lifted
up her eyes heavenward and called upon Christ, commending her soul into the hands of the Lord.
In 1959 and in the early 1960’s miraculous visions of the
martyrs were granted to the islanders. The recovery of their relics has been the occasion of
countless miracles and pilgrimages.
FOR CONSIDERATION
It is said of Pericles that he was a man of almost perfect human form, except that his head was rather too long and narrow-like, so that he invited ironic smiles whenever he appeared bare-headed. To conceal this shortcoming of this great man of his people, Greek sculptors always portrayed him wearing a helmet. If pagans thus strove to conceal the shortcomings of their fellows, how much more should we Christians do so! ‘In honor preferring one another’ (Rom. 12:10), the apostle commands all who follow Christ. How can we say that we follow Him in meekness and purity if we poison the air every day with our talk of others’ sins and weaknesses? To conceal your own virtues and the shortcomings of others—in that lies the greatest spiritual wisdom.
April 23rd – Civil Calendar
April 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Terence, Africanus, Maximus, Pompeius and 36 others with them.
They suffered for Christ and were crowned with wreaths of glory in the time of the Emperor Decius. By the emperor’s orders, the governor of Africa notified all the people that they must offer sacrifice to idols. In the case of opposition, the governor was to put the stubborn to harsh torture. Hearing this threat, many lapsed from the Faith and worshipped idols. But these forty martyrs remained steadfast, for which they were put to torture. St. Terence encouraged his companions with these words: ‘Let us, my brethren, keep ourselves from denying Christ our God; that He may not deny us before His heavenly Father and the holy angels.’ The governor divided them into two groups; thirty-six of them, after flogging and having salt rubbed in their open wounds, he beheaded. But the first four he cast into prison with heavy chains round their necks and on their hands and feet. An angel of God appeared to them in the prison and touched their chains, which fell from them. Then the angel brought them a table abundantly heaped with food, and fed them. They were again taken out and tortured, and again shut up in the prison. Also, the governor ordered sorcerers to gather as many poisonous reptiles as possible, such as snakes and scorpions, and to shut them up with the martyrs. But the reptiles would not touch the men of God, but huddled together in one corner, where they remained for three days. When the prison was opened on the third day, the reptiles fell on the sorcerers and bit them. At last the governor passed sentence of death on these four martyrs. When they were taken to the scaffold, they joyfully sang psalms and hymns of thanksgiving to God, Who had accounted them worthy of a martyr’s death. They suffered with honor and attained to the kingdom in the year 250.
2. The 6,000 Holy Martyrs in Georgia.
In the wilderness of David-Garejeli in Georgia, there were twelve monasteries in which monks had lived the ascetic life for centuries. In 1615, Shah Abbas I invaded Georgia, laid it waste and slew innumerable Christians. One day, while out hunting at dawn on the day of Pascha itself, he saw the light of many candles shining in the hills. This was the monks of all twelve monasteries in procession all round the Church of the Resurrection, walking with candles in their hands. When the shah discovered that it was monks, he asked in disbelief: ‘Isn’t the whole of Georgia put to the sword by now?’ and ordered his generals to go and slaughter the monks at once. An angel of God appeared to Abbot Arsenius, and revealed their imminent death to him, and Arsenius informed the brethren. They then all received Communion in the Holy Mysteries and prepared for death. Then the attackers arrived, hacked the abbot to pieces when he came out ahead of the others, and then killed all the rest. They all suffered with honor and were crowned with unfading wreaths in 1615. Thus ended the history of these famous monasteries, which had been like a flame of spiritual enlightenment in Georgia for more than 1,000 years. There remain just two today: St. David and St. John the Baptist. The King of Georgia, Archil, gathered the remains of all the martyrs and buried them. Their relics are to this day full of myrrh for the healing of those in sickness. [These saints are commemorated on Bright Tuesday.]
FOR CONSIDERATION
When a man detaches his mind from the earth and opens it to God with the desire of pleasing Him, then God reveals His will to him in various ways. St. Peter Damascene writes: ‘If a man has a wholehearted desire to please God, to him will God show His will through his thoughts, or through some other person or through holy Scripture.’ Such a man will be careful and will await the promptings of God, both inward and outward. For him there is no such thing as chance, and the world becomes for him as a ten-stringed harp that gives forth no sound but in response to the finger of God.
April 24th – Civil Calendar
April 11th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum in Asia.
He is mentioned in the Book of
Revelation as ‘Antipas My faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan
dwelleth’ (Rev. 2:13)—the city of Pergamum (Pergamos). The inhabitants of this town dwelt
in the darkness of idolatry and in the depths of impurity: they were slaves to their passions,
slanderers, bullies, incestuous; in brief, slaves of Satan. There among them lived Antipas,
‘as a light in the midst of darkness, as a rose among thorns, as gold in mud’. He who
would seize and kill a Christian was regarded as good and just. The whole of their idolatrous
faith consisted in soothsaying, the interpretation of dreams, the service of demons and the
extreme excesses of debauchery. In terror of Antipas as of fire, the demons appeared to the pagan
priests in their dreams and told them how greatly they were in fear of him, and how this fear was
driving them from the city. The priests stirred up the multitude, and they began to torment him
and to press him to deny Christ and worship idols. Antipas said to them: ‘When your
so-called gods and lords of the universe are afraid of me, a mortal man, and have to flee the
city, why do you not learn from this that all your faith is in vain?’ And the saint spoke
further with them of the Christian Faith as the only true and saving Faith. But they became
incensed like wild beasts and dragged the aged Antipas before the temple of Artemis, where there
stood an ox cast in bronze. They heated the ox and threw the servant of God inside. St. Antipas,
inside the red-hot ox, glorified God with thanksgiving, like Jonah in the sea monster and the
Three Children in the burning fiery furnace. Antipas prayed for his flock and for the whole world
until his soul parted from his exhausted body and went to join the angels in the kingdom of
Christ. He died under torture and was crowned with unfading glory in the year 92.
2. The Holy Martyrs Processus and Martinian.
They were warders in the Roman prison where the Apostles Peter and Paul were held captive. Hearing the words and seeing the miracles of these apostles, they were baptized and released the apostles from prison. The apostles left Rome, but the Lord appeared to Peter on the Appian Way. ‘Lord, whither goest Thou?’ asked Peter of Him, and the Lord replied: ‘I’m going to Rome, to be crucified afresh.’ The apostles returned to Rome, where they were arrested and killed. The two courageous martyrs, Processus and Martinian, were beheaded along with St. Paul.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘There is no rest on earth for those who seek salvation,’ says St. Ephraim the Syrian. The struggle is incessant, whether external or internal. The enemy acts at times visibly through people and things, at times invisibly through the mind. At times he shows himself clearly as the enemy, acting with cruelty; at others as a flattering friend, leading astray by a trick. That which takes place in war between two opposing armies is that which happens to a man who commits himself to the struggle with the delusion of this world. Indeed, ‘there is no rest on earth for those who seek salvation’. But when salvation comes, rest comes with it.
April 25th – Civil Calendar
April 12th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Isaac II of Syria (St. Isaac the Syrian is commemorated on Jan. 28th).
St. Gregory the Dialogist writes about this Isaac. He went to Italy in the time of the Goths and went into the church in the town of Spoleto to pray. He asked the verger to leave him locked in the church all night, and thus spent the night in prayer without moving from that place. He spent the next day and night in the same way. The verger called him a hypocrite and struck him a blow—and lost his reason at that same moment. Seeing how the verger was so fiercely tormented, Isaac bent over him and the evil spirit fled from him, leaving him whole. People came to hear of this happening, and the whole town thronged around this wonderful elder. They offered him money and goods, but he refused them all and would accept nothing. Instead, he withdrew to a forest, where he built himself a cell, which quickly became transformed into a large monastery. Isaac became famous for his miracles, especially for his discernment. One evening he told the brethren to take all the hoes out to the vineyard and leave them there. The next day, the brethren set out for the vineyard, taking their lunch, as they had no workers. When they got there, they found as many people working as there were hoes to work with. It transpired that these people had come as thieves to steal the hoes, but by the power of God, they were constrained to work all night.
On another occasion, a couple of almost-naked men came seeking clothing from Isaac. He sent a monk to a hollow tree at the end of the road, to bring what he found there. The monk went off, found some clothing and brought it back to the monastery. The abbot took the clothing and gave it to the beggars. They were profoundly ashamed as they recognized their own clothing, which they had concealed in that tree.
A man once sent two beehives to the monastery. A monk hid one of them on the way, and brought the other to the abbot. The saint said to him: ‘Be careful when you go back to that beehive you hid on the way. It’s been taken over by poisonous snakes. Take care they don’t bite you!’
St. Isaac reposed in peace in 550.
2. St. Basil the Confessor.
In a time of iconoclasm, this virtuous man was bishop in the city of Parius in Asia Minor. He refused to sign the imperial order against the veneration of icons, for which he was greatly persecuted and tortured. But he remained firm as diamond in his Orthodoxy. He died in the first half of the 8th century, and went to the Lord.
3. Our Holy Father Akakios.
From the village of Gollitsa in Epirus, he was a great Athonite ascetic, spiritual guide and clairvoyant, and had many heavenly visions. He gave his blessing to several monks to seek martyrdom. He entered into rest at the age of 98, in 1730.
4. Our Holy Mother Athanasia.
Born on the island of Aegina of rich and eminent parents, she gave her goods to the poor and went off to a monastery, where she heaped greater and greater asceticism on herself. She took food only once a day, and that only bread and water, and in the Great Fast only once every two days. Only at Nativity and Pascha did she taste fish and oil. Although she was abbess of the monastery, she was the servant of all the other sisters and was ashamed that any should wait on her. She was made worthy of the great gift of wonder-working, both during her lifetime and after her death. She entered into rest in the Lord in 860.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The wicked Emperor Constantine Kopronymos had a virtuous daughter, the maiden Anthusa, ‘a beauteous branch of an evil stem’. She remained set against all her father’s urgings that she marry, for she was firmly bound in whole-hearted love to Christ the Lord. When her father died, Anthusa gave her goods away to the poor and became a nun in a monastery. It is a cause of wonder that many men of gentle birth have left the vanity of the world and set off on the narrow way after Christ; and it is twice as great a cause of wonder that women scorn youth and wealth and all the transient attraction of the world for the love of Christ. The Lord Himself said that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Hard, yes: but not impossible. To those who scorn their own selves, it is easy to scorn riches and the whole world.
April 26th – Civil Calendar
April 13th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Artemon.
He was a priest in Laodicea in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. He spoke thus of himself before the torturers’ tribunal: ‘I am called Artemon, a servant of Christ my God. Sixteen years I was a reader, and read the services in the Church of my God; twenty-eight years a deacon, and read the holy Gospel; and have now completed thirty years as a priest, teaching the people and setting them on the way of salvation with the help of Christ.’ The judge took him to the temple of Aesculapius, where the priests kept great snakes, regarding them as gods. They meant the snakes to bite Artemon, but he made the sign of the Cross, and by its power riveted the snakes to the ground so that they could not bite him. He then brought them out to the courtyard and breathed on them, and they died instantly. All who saw this were filled with amazement. But the chief of the pagan priests of that temple, Vitalis, seeing this marvel, fell to his knees before Artemon and cried: ‘Great is the Christian God!’ The martyr baptized him, along with several of his friends. But the evil judge stood firm in his wickedness and tortured the aged Artemon in various ways. He intended at one time to cast him into burning pitch, but fell off his horse into it himself and was burned. Two eagles were seen to descend on him, lift him from his horse and cast him into the pitch. St. Artemon remained free for a certain time and went about teaching the people, accompanied always by two tame deer. But he was arrested afresh and beheaded in the year 303. And his soul went to the kingdom of Christ our God, Whom he had served so faithfully.
2. The Holy Martyr Crescens.
From the city of Myra in Lycia, he was an honored and eminent citizen. He openly confessed his faith in Christ, and mocked at the lifeless idols. For this he was burned to death by the pagans.
3. The Holy Martyr Thomaïs.
Born in Alexandria of devout parents, she was instructed in piety from her youth and married to a devout man at the age of fifteen. But her father-in-law was a foul old man, and in the absence of his son, fell on his daughter-in-law with the intention of taking away her honor. Thomaïs was terrified, and in her terror, reminded her father-in-law of God’s law and slipped out of his hands. After a long struggle, the father-in-law took out a knife and slaughtered Thomaïs, cutting her into two pieces. At that moment the punishment of God fell upon him: he was instantly blinded and was unable to find the door to get out of the room. He was arrested right there and taken for trial, where he was condemned to death. Thus Thomaïs suffered for the commandments of God and for marital fidelity and purity. It happened after that, that those who were tormented by lustful passions lifted up their prayers to St. Thomaïs and received great help from her. The great ascetic Daniel translated her relics to Sketis and laid them in the priests’ cemetery. St. Thomaïs suffered in 476.
FOR CONSIDERATION
When the martyr Crescens, a nobleman of Myra in Lycia, was taken for trial, the judge put great pressure on him to worship idols. Being utterly unsuccessful in this, he finally said to Crescens: ‘Only let your body bow, but cleave in your soul to your God.’ To this the honest Crescens replied: ‘The body can do nothing independently of the soul, which gives it movement and guidance.’ Crescens was murdered for that clear teaching for Christians against two-facedness. And there is more to this. Christians have the responsibility of serving their Creator with their bodies, not just with their souls. By this is refuted the false position of some Christians who live in the flesh as pagans and meanwhile congratulate themselves on the belief in and love for God in their souls. They cut themselves in half and enter the service of two masters—although the holiest lips have stated the impossibility of that.
April 27th – Civil Calendar
April 14th – Church Calendar
1. St. Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome.
Martin became Pope on July 5th, 649, at the time of a furious quarrel between the Orthodox and the Monothelite heretics. Constans the Second, Herakleios’ grandson, was on the throne at the time, and Paul was Patriarch of Constantinople. To restore peace in the Church, the emperor himself wrote a dogmatic decree, the Typos, which leaned heavily towards heresy. Pope Martin summoned a council of 105 bishops, at which the emperor’s statement was condemned. At the same time, the pope wrote a letter to Patriarch Paul, begging him to uphold the purity of the Orthodox Faith and to counsel the emperor to reject the theories of the heretics. This letter infuriated both the patriarch and the emperor. The emperor sent one of his generals, Olympius, to take the pope to Constantinople in bonds. The general did not dare to bind the pope with his own hands, but instructed one of his soldiers to kill him with the sword in church. But, when the soldier entered the church with his sword concealed, he was instantly blinded. So, by the providence of God, Martin escaped death. At that time, the Saracens fell upon Sicily, and Olympius went off there, where he died. Then, by the intrigues of the heretic Patriarch Paul, the emperor sent a second general, Theodore, to bind and take the pope on the charge that he, the pope, was in collusion with the Saracens and that he did not reverence the most holy Mother of God. When the general arrived in Rome and read the accusation against the pope, he replied that it was libel; that he had no contact of any sort with the Saracens, the opponents of Christianity, ‘and whoever does not confess the most holy Mother of God and do her reverence, let him be damned in this age and in that which is to come’. But this did not affect the general’s decision. The pope was bound and taken to Constantinople, where he lay long in prison in great sickness, tortured by both anxiety and hunger, until he was finally sentenced to exile in Cherson, where he lived for two years before his death. He gave his soul into the hands of the Lord, for Whom he had suffered so greatly, in 655. The evil patriarch, Paul, died two years before him, and when the emperor visited him on his deathbed, he smote his head against the wall, confessing with tears that he had greatly sinned against Pope Martin and asking the emperor to set Martin free.
2. The Holy Martyrs Anthony, John and Eustace.
These three were all at first pagans and fire-worshippers. They were slaves at the court of the Lithuanian Prince Olgard in Vilna. Their former names were Krugletz, Kumetz and Neghilo. All three were baptized by a priest called Nestor. The three of them were hanged, one behind the other, from the same oak tree in 1347. Christians cut down this oak and built a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, in which they laid the precious relics of these martyrs, making the Holy Table from the stump of the tree. Their relics are preserved in Vilna.
3. The Holy Martyr Ardalion the Actor.
The holy martyr Ardalion lived at the time of Maximian, 298 A.D. By profession he was an actor or a mimic, imitating the sorrows and woes of others. On one occasion he decided to imitate the resistance that Christians display when being martyred by the tyrants. So his friends staged an act where Ardalion was suspended from a height and supposedly mutilated because he would not sacrifice to the idols. The audience was so moved by his performance that they interrupted and gave him a standing ovation. Then Ardalion exclaimed in a great voice, telling the audience to stop their applause, and announced that he was a Christian in reality. The governor of that territory advised him to change his mind, but our martyr would not listen to him, and stayed firm in the Faith. He was cast into a bonfire which was lit on that spot, and thus he met his end and received the laurel of martyrdom.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘A monk must love God as a son and fear Him as a slave,’ says Evagrius. In fact, this is so of every Christian, even if he is not a monk. It is a great art to unite love for God to fear of Him. Many other of the holy fathers also, when they speak of the love of God, speak at the same time of fear of Him—and vice versa. St. John Chrysostom, in his homily ‘On Perfect Love,’ speaks at the same time of punishment and the torments of hell. Why? Because the greatest love towards God of which man is capable can be turned into pride if it is not accompanied by a sense of fear—and great fear without love leads to despair.
April 28th – Civil Calendar
April 15th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostles Aristarchus, Pudens and Trophimus.
These were all numbered among the Seventy. Aristarchus was Bishop of Apameia in Syria. The Apostle Paul mentions him several times (Acts 19:29; Col. 4:10; Philem. v.24). He was seized in Ephesus, together with Gaius, by a mob that had risen up against Paul. The apostle wrote to the Colossians: ‘Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner saluteth you,’ and in the Epistle to Philemon, Paul calls Aristarchus ‘my fellow-laborer,’ together with Mark, Demas and Luke. Pudens was an eminent Roman citizen. The Apostle Paul mentions him once (II Tim. 4:21). Pudens’ house was first the refuge of the chief apostles and was then turned into a church dedicated to the Good Shepherd. Trophimus was an Asian (Acts 20:4), and accompanied St. Paul on his journeys. In one place, Paul writes: ‘Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick’ (II Tim. 4:21). During Nero’s persecution, when the Apostle Paul was beheaded, these glorious martyrs were also beheaded.
2. The Holy Martyr Savvas the Goth.
There was a brutal persecution of Christians on the part of the Goths. A Gothic prince came to the village where this devout Savvas lived, and asked the villagers if there were any Christians there. They answered him on their honor that there were none. Then Savvas stood before the prince and the people, and said: ‘Let no one swear an oath on my behalf. I am a Christian.’ The prince, seeing this poor wretch, let him go in peace, saying: ‘This one can do neither harm nor good.’ The next year, just at Pascha, a priest, Sansal, came to the village and celebrated Pascha with Savvas. The pagans, coming to hear of this, descended suddenly on Savvas’ house and began to belabor the men of God without mercy, then, having dragged Savvas naked through thorns, bound them both to trees and tried to force them to eat meat offered to idols. But the men of God, remembering the apostle’s words, would not touch the unclean, diabolical sacrifices. The prince finally sentenced Savvas to death and handed him over to the soldiers. Savvas went to the place of execution full of joy, praising God. Recognising in him a good man, the soldiers sought to set him free on the way, but Savvas was greatly distressed by this and told the soldiers that they were in duty bound to carry out the prince’s command. Then the soldiers brought him to a river, tied a rock round his neck and threw him into the water. His body was cast up onto the bank. Later the Greek commander Ionnios Soranos, in the time of the Emperor Valens, found Savvas’ body during a war with the Goths and took it to Cappadocia. St. Savvas suffered in 372, at the age of 31.
3. The Holy Martyrs Vasilissa and Anastasia.
Two devout Roman women, they gathered the bodies of the apostles’ disciples for burial during Nero’s persecutions. They were arrested for this and imprisoned, and after prolonged torture in which their breasts were cut off and their tongues cut out, they were beheaded.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Gregory of Sinai writes on meditation: ‘We reckon that there are eight main subjects for meditation: first, God, unseen and invisible, without beginning and uncreated, the first Cause of all that is, threefold and one in His divine being; second, the order and state of the angelic powers; third, the structure of visible things; fourth, the incarnation of the Logos; fifth, the general resurrection; sixth, the dreadful Second Coming of the Lord; seventh, eternal torment; eighth, the kingdom of heaven. The first four have already been revealed and belong to the past. The last four have not yet been revealed and belong to the future, although these four are able to be considered by those who, with the help of the grace they have received, acquire a truly pure mind. He who approaches this labor (meditation) without the light of grace, let him know that he is building fantasies, not meditation.’ So writes the great and discerning Gregory of Sinai, whose knowledge came from experience.
April 29th – Civil Calendar
April 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Agapia, Chionia and Irene.
They were sisters from the region of Aquileia. When the Emperor Diocletian was staying in Aquileia, he ordered that the famous spiritual guide, Chrysogonus, be executed. An old priest named Zoilus received a vision in which he was shown where the body of Chrysogonus lay unburied. The old man hurried off, found the body of the martyr, placed it in a coffin and carried it to his home. On the thirtieth day after that, St. Chrysogonus appeared to him and told him that the three maidens would be martyred in the next nine days, and that he, Zoilus, would himself enter into rest during that time. Anastasia the Clairvoyant also received the same tidings in a vision sent by Chrysogonus, who had been her teacher. The elder Zoilus did indeed find his rest after nine days, and the three sisters were brought to trial before the emperor. The emperor urged the holy maidens to worship idols, but they all refused, confessing their firm faith in Christ. Irene told the emperor that it was ridiculous to bow down to things made of wood and stone, made to order at an agreed price by the hands of a mortal man. The furious emperor flung them into prison. Now, when the emperor travelled to Macedonia, he took all his slaves and servants with him, including the three sisters. He gave them to Dulcitius, a general, for torture. Inflamed with a dark passion, he desired to defile the maidens, but when he tried to go into the prison, he lost his mind and fell upon the pots and cauldrons in front of the gate, embracing and kissing them, and was completely blackened with soot. When the emperor heard of this happening, he ordered another general to undertake the trial of the sisters. After terrible torture, the judge condemned the first two sisters to death by fire, but kept Irene for a time, hoping to defile her. But, when he sent Irene to the brothel along with some soldiers, an angel of God turned the soldiers back and led her out onto a high hill. The next day the general went out to the hill with his soldiers, and being unable to climb it, ordered that Irene be shot at with arrows. St. Anastasia gathered all three bodies together in one place and gave them burial. They suffered for Christ their King and Lord in about 304.
2. The Holy Martyr Leonides and those with him: Charissa, Nike, Galina, Kallis, Nunechia, Vasilissa and Theodora.
They were thrown into the sea, but it refused to receive them. They walked upon the sea as if it were dry land and sang praises to God: ‘I have won one battle, O Lord, and the soldiers have persecuted me, O Lord, and I have not denied Thee, O Lord; save Thou my soul!’ The pagans were at first astounded to behold this, but they then tied stones around their necks and again threw them into the deep, where they were drowned. They all suffered with honor for Christ our King and Lord in 281.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A story of the elder Barlaam: A man had three friends; two of these he loved sincerely, but avoided the third because he found him boring. It so happened that the emperor summoned the man to pay a debt. He turned to the first friend for aid, but he refused and went away. He asked help of the second, but he would not help him either. Somewhat shamefacedly, he turned to his third friend, who went willingly with him to the emperor. The meaning is this: the first friend is riches, the second is friends and family, and the third is the good deeds of a man in this world. The emperor is God, Who sends out His summons by means of death and demands payment of the debt. A man on the point of death looks for help from his riches, but they simply turn their back on him and pass into the hands of another. Then he turns to his kinsmen, but they go with him for a short distance, but then turn their backs on him, send him off and stay behind themselves tending to their own affairs. Then he begins to think on his good deeds, which he performed so grudgingly—and straightway these come with him on the road to the presence of the King and Judge. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The soul’s only companions into the other world are his deeds, be they good or bad. All that which was dear and precious to a man abandons him and turns its back on him; only his deeds, down to the very last one, go with him. He who has a mind to understand, let him understand.
April 30th – Civil Calendar
April 17th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Simeon, Bishop in Persia.
In the time of the wicked King Sapor, Simeon was tortured for Christ together with two of his priests, Audel and Ananias. The king’s eunuch, Ustazan, who had first denied Christ but then, moved by the reprimand of St. Simeon, again confessed the true Faith before the king, was executed before they were. A thousand other Christians were also led to execution with St. Simeon, who purposely stood a little back so that he should be the last to die, and so be able to encourage the other Christians right to the end and keep them from wavering through fear of death. When the priest Ananias laid his head on the block, he was trembling all over. But the king’s clerk, Fusik, who was himself secretly a Christian, began to encourage him, saying: ‘Don’t be frightened, elder. Shut your eyes and be a man, and you’ll see the divine light.’ As soon as he had said this, it was seen that he was a Christian and he was denounced to the king. The king wore him down with harsh tortures, and also his daughter, the maiden Askitria. St. Simeon was eventually beheaded, after having seen his flock into the other world. The following year, on Great Friday, the king’s beloved eunuch, Azat, was slain for Christ, along with another thousand of the faithful. Then the king grieved for his eunuch and gave up killing any more Christians. They all suffered with honor for Christ their King and Lord in about 341.
2. St. Acacius, Bishop of Melitene.
He lived in asceticism in his birthplace, the city of Melitene in Armenia. Blessed Otreius, the bishop of that city, who took part in the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, ordained him to the priesthood. After Otreius’ death, Acacius was chosen as bishop. He participated in the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, which condemned the Nestorian blasphemy concerning the Mother of God. There he, together with St. Kyril of Alexandria, showed great zeal for the purity of the Orthodox Faith. St. Acacius was endowed with great grace by God, and worked many miracles. After long and zealous service of God, he died peacefully in 435.
3. St. Agapetus, Pope of Rome.
He was sent by Theodotus, King of the Goths, to the Emperor Justinian in Constantinople, to dissuade the latter from his campaign against the Goths. On the way, he healed a dumb and blind man. In Constantinople, he helped to uphold Orthodoxy, and died in 536.
4. Our Holy Father Zossima.
One of the founders of the ascetic community on the island of Solovetz (Solovki) in the White Sea. Many great saints were glorified in this community. His predecessor St. Sabbatius entered into rest in 1435, and St. Zossima in 1478.
FOR CONSIDERATION
After the Council of Chalcedon the Emperor Anastasios, a heretic, sent Elias, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Flavian of Antioch to prison. One day these two saints foresaw the death of the heretic emperor, and simultaneously sent each other word of this, saying: ‘Anastasios has at this moment died; let us set out that we may be judged by God together with him!’ The emperor died, and both patriarchs died two days later. What zeal for the true Faith! And what a humble attitude to God’s judgement! These saints saw no other reason for their earthly life than the truth of God. Neither did they say ‘We have judged,’ but ‘Let God judge!’ Our sojourn on earth is not just for the sake of our being here, but for our personal decision for good or evil, for truth or falsehood. Blessed are we if we can lay all before the will of God and the judgement of God. But in all things a strong faith is vital. These Orthodox hierarchs had strong faith.
So had St. Acacius. Once, in a time of great drought, when the people were in despair, Acacius held a procession with the people all round the town. And he arranged for the Liturgy to be celebrated outside the town, outside the Church of St. Eustace. Consecrating the holy Gifts, Acacius did not pour water into the wine, but prayed to God that He, the Almighty, would send water into the chalice from a cloud. God hearkened to the prayer of His faithful servant and sent abundant rain onto the thirsty fields, as well as into the chalice.
May 1st – Civil Calendar
April 18th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father John.
He was a disciple of St. Gregory of Decapolis. In the time of the iconoclast heresy, the Emperor Leo the Armenian put John to torture, together with his teacher, Gregory, and Joseph the Hymnographer. When Gregory finished his earthly course, John became abbot of the Decapolite monastery in Constantinople. Becoming abbot, he intensified his asceticism for the sake of the kingdom of God. He died peacefully in about 820. After his death, St. Joseph buried him near the grave of St. Gregory.
2. The Holy Martyr John the New of Ioannina.
He was born in Ioannina, the ancient capital of King Pyrrhus. When his poor parents died, the young John went to Constantinople and there continued his trade, for he was a craftsman. The Turks had occupied Constantinople not long before this, and many Christians had, out of fear, denied Christ and accepted Islam. St. John had his workshop right in the midst of these men who had become Turks. The more inflamed St. John became with love for Christ, the more outwardly apparent this became to these apostates. He began to dispute with them about the Faith, and to reprimand them for their betrayal of Christ. They dragged him before the judge and falsely accused him of having earlier accepted Islam and having returned to Christianity. For this he was tortured—beaten and flogged with iron flails—and then cast into prison. On the second day, which was the day of Pascha, they brought him out for further torture, and John emerged full of joy and singing: ‘Christ is risen from the dead!’ He spoke courageously to his torturers, saying: ‘Do what you will to me, and send me as quickly as possible from this transient life into life eternal. I am Christ’s servant; I follow Christ, and I die for Christ that I may live with Him!’ After that, John was bound in chains and taken to the place of burning. Seeing the great flames prepared for him, John ran forward and leapt into them. But his torturers, seeing how he sought death in the fire, pulled him out of it and sentenced him to be beheaded. When they had cut off his head, they threw it and his body into the fire. Later, Christians gathered the ashes and some of his precious and wonder-working relics and buried them in the Great Church in Constantinople. Thus he died a martyr’s death and received the glorious wreath of martyrdom on April 18th, 1526.
3. The Holy Martyrs Victor, Zotikos, Zeno, Akyndios and Severian.
They were all martyred under the Emperor Diocletian. They were pagans until they witnessed the martyrdom of St. George the Great Martyr. Then, seeing the sufferings and courage of this glorious martyr and the many miracles that were wrought at that time, they embraced the Christian Faith. For this Faith they soon suffered, and were crowned with glory.
4. The Holy Martyr Apollonius.
He was a Roman senator. Denounced for his faith, he confessed it before the entire senate, for which he was beheaded in the year 186.
FOR CONSIDERATION
In one description of the Christian martyrs under the Persian King Sapor, it is said: ‘Swords become blunt, sword-bearers fall and sword-makers tire—but the Cross is ever higher and higher upraised and burnished with the blood of Christ’s martyrs.’ Times without number the persecutors of Christians have said complacently to themselves that they have done away with Christianity for good. In the event, their lives came to an end while Christianity sprouted and flowered anew. However, in the teeth of this experience, some of our contemporaries reckon that the Christian Faith can be uprooted forcibly. But—they do not say how. And they forget that this has already been attempted again and again without success. It was with reason that Tertullian cried to the pagans: ‘You are spilling our blood in vain; the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity!’
May 2nd – Civil Calendar
April 19th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father John of the Ancient Caves.
He labored in asceticism in the Ancient Caves or Lavra of Chariton the Great in Palestine. He came to love Christ the Lord with all his heart and soul and mind, and in his youth began travelling around all the holy places to seek the instruction and advice of holy men. He finally settled in Chariton’s cave, where he undertook a rigorous ascetic life, spending his days in fasting, prayer and vigils, constantly meditating on death and teaching himself humility. Like a well-ripened fruit, he was taken by death and entered into Paradise. He lived and died in the eighth century.
2. The Holy Martyrs Christopher, Theonas and Antonios.
These three were young officers under the Emperor Diocletian. When St. George the Great Martyr was being tortured, they witnessed his sufferings and the miracles that were performed at that time. Having seen all this, they came to the emperor, threw down their arms, removed their soldiers’ belts and courageously confessed the name of the Lord Jesus. They were subjected to many tortures and finally thrown into the fire, where their bodies were burned while their souls ascended to the one Lord in eternal joy. They suffered in Nikomedia in 303.
3. St. Tryphon, Patriarch of Constantinople.
The Emperor Romanos, who ruled Byzantium at the beginning of the 10th century, had a son, Theophylact, who was sixteen years old when Patriarch Stephen died. The emperor wished his own son to become patriarch, because he had been promised to a spiritual calling right from a small boy, but because of his youth he was timid about this. Tryphon, a simple, chaste and honorable old man, occupied the patriarchal throne and held that position for three years. When the emperor’s son attained his twentieth year, the emperor had it in mind to remove Tryphon and replace him with his own son as patriarch. St. Tryphon would not relinquish his throne voluntarily, considering it a great scandal for such a young man to be elected to so responsible and difficult a position as that of patriarch. The signature of the innocent Tryphon was obtained on a blank piece of paper through the scheming of an evil bishop, and a false resignation was written above his signature in the imperial court. The emperor announced his resignation, and a difficult time of unrest began in the Church, since the people and the clergy took the side of Tryphon, the man of God. Then the emperor deposed the old patriarch by force and placed him in a monastery, raising his own son, Theophylact, to the patriarchate. St. Tryphon lived in the monastery as an ascetic for two years and five months, and went to the Lord in 933.
4. Our Holy Father Agathangelos.
From Thrace, his worldly name being Anastasios, he was a slave to some Turks, and they compelled him to embrace Islam in Smyrna. As a penitent, he was tonsured at the monastery of Esphigmenou on the Holy Mountain. Tormented by his conscience, he desired to wash his sins in his own blood, so he went to Smyrna, where he showed a Cross and an icon of Christ’s Resurrection to the Turks. He was beheaded on April 19th, 1819, at the age of nineteen. He appeared to his spiritual father, Germanos, after his death.
5. Our Holy Father Simeon the Barefoot.
He labored in asceticism on the Holy Mountain and was abbot of Philotheou for a short time. He strengthened Christians in many Balkan countries in the Faith, and is renowned as a wonder-worker.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A spiritual guide and elder once said: ‘Remain indoors, speak with yourself alone; work, O body, that you may be fed; be vigilant, O soul, that you may be saved and inherit the kingdom.’ These are not mere idle words; rather, they have been the rule of many thousands of monks through the centuries, the daily rule of their lives. They fed themselves by their labor and were vigilant in prayer. But why only monks? Why should it not be the rule for every follower of Christ? Has not Christ Himself provided us with a clear example of bodily labor and unceasing vigilance in prayer?
May 3rd – Civil Calendar
April 20th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Theodore Trichinas.
He was a citizen of Constantinople, and the son of wealthy parents. He left parents, home and riches while still a young man and settled in a remote monastery in Thrace, where he undertook the most rigorous ascetic life. He slept on a stone so that he might have less sleep; he was always bareheaded and dressed in a hair-shirt, from which he was called ‘Trichinas’ or ‘hairy’. Because of his great and self-inflicted sufferings for the sake of his soul’s salvation, God granted him the gift of working miracles, both in his lifetime and after his death, and he died peacefully in about 400. Healing myrrh flowed from his relics.
2. Our Holy Father Anastasios of Mount Sinai.
He was abbot of Mount Sinai. He was for a long time a monk under the famous abbot, St. John of the Ladder, whom he succeeded on the latter’s death. He was also a great ascetic, and an eloquent narrator of the lives of the saints and the author of other instructive works. He fought an intensive battle against the heresy of the Akephalites, which was condemned by the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon. He died in great old age in 685, and went to the Lord Whom he had served so faithfully.
3. Blessed Anastasios the Sinaite, Patriarch of Antioch.
He was chosen as Patriarch of Antioch in the reign of the Emperor Justinian while still a monk on Mount Sinai. His virtues, purity of life, great spiritual learning and staunch faith won him the patriarchal throne. But Justinian, according to one historical source, for a short time fell into the heresy of Aphthartodocetism. Eftychios, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Blessed Anastasios reacted sharply against this. The emperor exiled Eftychios and wanted to exile Anastasios also, but could find nothing in his life capable of criticism. When Justinian was dying, he repented and returned Eftychios to the patriarchal throne, but Justin, his successor, succeeded in exiling Anastasios on the basis of certain slanders. Anastasios spent twenty-three years in exile and was then returned to the throne of Antioch during the reign of the Emperor Maurice. He governed the Church of God for six further years and finished his earthly course in 599.
4. Blessed Gregory, Patriarch of Antioch.
An Armenian by birth, he was abbot first of the Pharanite monastery and then on Mount Sinai, and when Blessed Anastasios was driven from the patriarchal throne, he was, against his will, installed as Patriarch of Antioch. John Moschus writes about him in his ‘Meadow,’ praising him highly. Gregory was particularly distinguished by an outstanding compassion, most especially towards sinners. He entered into rest in the Lord in 593
5. The Holy Apostle Zaccheus.
He was at first a publican and a sinner, but when the Lord saw him in the tree in Jericho (Lk. 19), He immediately brought Zaccheus to repentance. Zaccheus later followed the Apostle Peter, who made him Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, where he served the Gospel in faithfulness and died peacefully.
6. Our Holy Father Athanasius of Meteora.
 Born in 1310, he lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain.
He founded a famous monastery in the Meteora in Thessaly. He had great gifts of discernment
and wonder-working.
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Author’s note: Philaret also mentions Gabriel the Child-martyr in his ‘Lives of the Saints’. He was born in the village of Zvjerka, near the town of Zabludov and was only six years old when, in 1648, on the day when his parents were not at home, he was lured to a lonely place by a Jew named Schutko and crucified there. His body was found incorrupt thirty years later.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Anastasios of Mount Sinai teaches: ‘God gives to each Christian an angel to care for him through his whole life, unless he drives him away by his evil doings. But, as smoke drives away bees and an evil stench doves, so the guardian of our life, our angel, is driven away from us by our sins: drunkenness, debauchery, anger and the rest. An angel guides every faithful man in every good work, while the demons exert all their strength to disturb the faithful and deprive them of the heavenly kingdom.’ That angels are close to men and take care of them is testified to in the whole of holy Scripture and especially in the New Testament. Besides this, there are in the Orthodox Church innumerable testimonies of holy men and women who witnessed to that which Anastasios emphasises: that a gracious and powerful messenger of God, a soldier of the King of heaven, an angel of light, accompanies each one of us through this life. Who, other than the insane, would drive away such a good friend from himself? Indeed, only the insane and other ignoramuses drive away their greatest friends, their guardian angels.
May 4th – Civil Calendar
April 21st – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Januarius, and those with him.
This saint was Bishop of Benevento in Italy. In the time of a persecution under Maximian, he was brought before the judge and tormented with various tortures, which he endured patiently. When they threw him into the flames, they were cooled by an invisible dew and the martyr stood uninjured in it and sang the praises of God. Then they flayed his body with iron flails until the bones showed white, but the martyr patiently endured all. His deacon, Faustus, and his reader, Desiderius, were watching the torture and wept for their spiritual father. Then they too were bound and taken with their bishop to the town of Puteoli (Pozzuoli), and cast into prison. There were in the same prison for the sake of Christ the Puteolian deacons Proclus and Sossus and two simple, Christian men, Eutychius and Acutius. All seven were thrown next day to the wild beasts, but the beasts would not touch them. They were all then beheaded, and the Christians of the city of Naples secretly took the body of St. Januarius to their city and buried it in the church where they work miracles to those who approach with faith. One among many remembered is this: a poor widow, whose only son had died, took the icon of St. Januarius out of the church and laid it on her dead son, weeping and imploring the saint’s aid, and her son was restored to life. St. Januarius suffered with honor in 305.
2. The Holy Martyr Theodore, and others with him.
He suffered for the Christian Faith in Perga of Pamphylia in the time of the Emperor Antoninus. Theodore was young and fair of face. When the governor of that district chose him, along with several other young men, for service at the imperial court, Theodore refused and declared himself to be a Christian. Because of this, he was tortured in various ways and then thrown into the flames, but water gushed from the earth and put out the fire. The governor ascribed this to some magic of Theodore’s, but the martyr said to him: ‘This is not the work of any power of mine, but of Christ my God; and if you want to test the power of your gods, light another fire and throw in one of your soldiers—then I hope you will understand the strength and almighty power of my God.’ The governor really wanted to throw in one of the soldiers, but they, in terror, begged him to throw in the pagan priest, Dioscoros, in their place. The priest begged him to throw in only the idol of Zeus and the other idols, for, he said, if they were gods they would easily save themselves. Dioscoros spoke thus because he had already in his heart turned to Christ, having seen the marvel wrought concerning Theodore. Discovering this, the governor condemned Dioscoros to death by burning. He also delivered Theodore and two soldiers, Socrates and Dionysius, and Theodore’s mother Philippa, to death. Theodore was crucified, and breathed his last on the cross only on the third day. Socrates and Dionysius were run through with spears and Philippa was beheaded. They were all crowned with wreaths of glory in the kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Guard your hearts!’—said experienced ascetics of old. And Saint John of Kronstadt, in our day, says the same: ‘The heart is fine, spiritually light and heavenly in nature. Guard it; do not burden it; do not bring it low; be extremely abstinent in eating and drinking and especially in bodily comforts. The heart is the temple of God, and “he who defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy” (I Cor. 3:17).’ Spiritual experience in olden times and spiritual experience in our day are identical—on the condition that the confession of faith is identical. The heavenly knowledge to which the ancient ascetics came, in no way differs from the heavenly knowledge to which modern ascetics come. For, as Christ is the same today as yesterday, so also is human nature. And, what is most important, the heart of man is the same, and nothing can satisfy it but the glory and power and richness of God.
May 5th – Civil Calendar
April 22nd – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Theodore the Sykeote.
His birthplace was the village of Sykeon in Galatia, because of which he was named ‘the Sykeote’. While still a ten-year-old boy, Theodore gave himself to strict fasting and all-night vigils under the eye of an elder, Stephen, who lived in his house. His mother, Maria, was a rich widow and intended her son to devote himself to a soldier’s calling. But St. George appeared to her in her sleep and told her that Theodore was destined for the service, not of an earthly king, but of the King of heaven. St. George also appeared to Theodore many times, either to instruct him or to save him from some danger in which the evil demons had placed him. He also had several visions of the most holy Mother of God. Theodore’s asceticism exceeded in its severity the asceticism of all the other ascetics of his time. He tormented his body in hunger and thirst and iron girdles and standing all night in prayer. All this—only to link his soul in love to God and to achieve total mastery over his body. The merciful Lord’s love responded to Theodore’s love. He gave him great power over evil spirits and over all the ills and pains of men. He became known on all sides as a miraculous healer. For his great purity and devotion, he was chosen against his wishes as Bishop of Anastasioupolis. He spent eleven years in episcopal service, and then begged God to release him from this service in order to devote himself again to his beloved asceticism. After that, he returned to his monastery, where, in old age, he gave his soul to the Lord for Whose sake he had undergone so much voluntary suffering. He died at the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Herakleios, in about 613.
2. The Holy Martyr Leonidas.
The father of Origen, he suffered for Christ in Alexandria in 202. First, by imperial decree, all his goods were confiscated and then he was condemned to death. Origen wrote to his father in prison: ‘Father, do not worry about us, and do not flee from martyrdom on our account.’
3. Our Holy Father, the Monk Vitalis.
In the time of Patriarch John the Merciful, a young monk appeared, who, as soon as he arrived, compiled a list of all the prostitutes in Alexandria. His way of asceticism was exceptional and singular. During the day he hired himself out for the heaviest work, and at night he went into the brothels, gave the money he had earned to some prostitute and shut himself in her room with her for the whole night. As soon as he had shut the door, Vitalis begged the woman to lie down and sleep, while he spent the entire night in a corner of the room in prayer to God for that sinner. So he kept the sinner from sinning even for one night. The second night he would go to another, the third to another, and so on in order until he had gone through them all, then he went back to the one with whom he had started. By his counsel, many of these sinners left their foul calling; some married, others went to a monastery and others began some honest work for payment. All these women were forbidden by Vitalis to say why he came to them. As a result, he became a scandal to the whole of Alexandria. People reviled him in the streets, spat on him and buffeted him. But he bore it all patiently, revealing his good works to the Lord but concealing them from men. When he died, all became known about him. There began to be many miraculous healings over his grave; people came from various places, bringing their sick to it. Spat on by men, he was and is glorified by the all-seeing God.
FOR CONSIDERATION
At the time of the Council of Nicaea, various quarrelsome clerics wrote accusations against one another and gave them to the emperor. The Emperor Constantine took all these accusations, and without opening them, burned them in a brazier and said to the astonished bystanders: ‘If I were, with my own eyes, to see a bishop or priest or monk in some sinful act, I would cover him with my clothing, so that no one should see him in his sin.’ Thus the great Christian emperor put the scandalmongers to shame and shut their mouths. Our Faith forbids us to spy on the sins of others, and calls us to be merciless judges of ourselves. A sick man in a hospital is occupied with his own sickness and has neither the desire nor the time to examine the other sick people and sneer at their illnesses. Are not we all, in this world, like sick men in the hospital? And is it not common sense to occupy ourselves with our own sicknesses and not with another’s? Do not let anyone think that he will be healed of his sickness in this world. This world is the hospital and the place of healing, but in the other world there are no hospitals: there is either a king’s court or a prison.
May 6th – Civil Calendar
April 23rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr George.
This renowned and glorious martyr was born in
Cappadocia, the son of rich and God-fearing parents. His father suffered for Christ, after which
his mother moved to Palestine. When George grew up, he went into the army, in which he rose, by
the age of twenty, to the rank of tribune, and as such was in service under the Emperor
Diocletian. When this emperor began a terrible persecution of Christians, George came before him
and boldly confessed that he was a Christian. The emperor threw him into prison, and commanded
that his feet be put in the stocks and a heavy weight placed on his chest. After that, he
commanded that he be bound on a wheel, under which was a board with great nails protruding, and
thus be turned. He then had him buried in a lime pit with only his head above the ground, and
left there for three days and nights. Then, through some magician, he gave him deadly poison, but
in the face of all these tortures, George prayed unceasingly to God, and God healed him instantly
and saved him from death, to the great amazement of the people. When he also raised a dead man to
life by his prayers, many embraced the Christian Faith. Among these was the emperor’s wife,
Alexandra, and the chief pagan priest, Athanasius, the governor Glycerius and Valerius, Donatus
and Therinus. Finally, the emperor commanded that George and the Empress Alexandra be beheaded.
Blessed Alexandra died on the scaffold before being killed, and St. George was beheaded. This
happened in the year 303. The miracles that have been performed at his grave are without number,
as also are his appearances in dreams to those who, thinking on him, have sought his help, from
that time up to the present day. Consumed by love for Christ, it was not difficult for holy
George to leave all for this love—his status, wealth and imperial favor, his friends and the
whole world. For this love, the Lord rewarded him with a wreath of unfading glory in heaven and
on earth, and with eternal life in His kingdom. The Lord further endowed him with the power to
help in need and distress all who honor him and call on his name. The holy Great-Martyr and
Trophy-Bearer George is the first among the choir of all the martyrs of the Church. He is like
their chief or general.
2. The Holy Martyr Lazarus the New.
This new-martyr was a Bulgarian from Gabrovo. As a young man, he left his home and went off to Anatolia, becoming a shepherd in a village called Soma. As a Christian he brought the wrath of Turks down on his head and was thrown into prison by some agha. After great torment from inhuman torturers, which Lazarus endured heroically from love of Christ, this young martyr was murdered on April 23rd, 1802, at the age of 28. The Lord received him into His eternal courts and glorified him in heaven and on earth. Many miracles have been performed over the relics of St. Lazarus.
FOR CONSIDERATION
During a period of unrest in Constantinople in the time of the Emperor Constantine, some embittered men knocked the nose and ears off the statue of the emperor in the city. Sycophants hurried to the emperor, and as though with great disgust, informed him of how rebels had done this thing, asking the emperor to punish the miscreants with the harshest punishment. But this great emperor fingered his nose and ears, and then said to the petitioners: ‘I can feel my nose and ears whole and untouched.’ The petitioners were shamed and removed themselves. With such kingly greatness of soul must we endure insults from others. And more: to listen with particular care to calumny from others, passed on to us by those who flatter us. It is always essential to confess before God and ourselves that, because of our sins, we deserve much greater insult from others than we do, in fact, receive.
May 7th – Civil Calendar
April 24th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Savvas Stratelates.
This famous Savvas lived in Rome in the time of the Emperor Aurelian, and held a general’s rank. He was of a noble Gothic family. He often visited Christians in prison, helping them from his abundance. Through his great purity and fasting, God gave him power over unclean spirits. When he was charged with being a Christian, he stood courageously before the emperor, cast his officer’s belt before him and publicly confessed Christ the Lord. He was tortured in various ways: flogged, flailed with iron rods, burned with torches. But he did not succumb to these deadly tortures, and was seen to be alive and well. His comrades, the soldiers, seeing clearly that God was helping Savvas, accepted the Christian Faith, and seventy of them were immediately beheaded at the emperor’s command. Christ the Lord Himself appeared to Savvas in the prison in great light, and strengthened His martyr. Then Savvas was condemned to death by drowning. He was thrown into a deep river, where he gave his soul to God in the year 272. And his soul went to the Lord to Whom he had remained faithful under many tortures.
2. Our Holy Mother Elisabeth
She embraced monasticism in early youth in the monastery of Ss. Kosmas and Damian in Constantinople, and took on herself a heavy asceticism for the sake of Christ the Lord and of her soul. She regarded herself as the bride of Christ, and this world as illusory. From her great love for God flowed a great compassion for people, especially for the sick and suffering. By the gift she had received from God, she healed many diseases and much distress among the people. At her nightly prayers she was seen all illuminated with heavenly light. And after her death, her relics had the power of healing, and many of the sick and suffering have come to her grave through the ages. She entered peacefully into rest and went to the eternal joy of her Lord in the year 540.
3. The Holy Martyrs Evsevios, Neon, Leontios and Longinos.
These four were army comrades of St. George. Seeing the courageous endurance and marvels of the saint, they became Christians and were consequently beheaded.
4. The Holy Martyrs Pasikratees and Valention.
When the judge urged Pasikratees (Pasicrates), and also the martyr’s brother, Papianos (who had fallen away from Christ through fear of torture) to offer sacrifice to idols, Pasikratees put his hand into the fire and cried: ‘The body is dead and burned by fire, but the soul is immortal and does not feel visible torture.’ His mother upheld him and greatly encouraged him to endure to the end. He was beheaded along with Valention (Valentine), and they both went to the kingdom of Christ in about 302.
5. Our Holy Father Thomas the Fool for Christ.
Whenever, in his monastic work, he had to go into the city of Antioch, Thomas feigned madness for the sake of Christ. A certain Anastasios, refusing to give him the requested alms for the monastery, gave him a blow instead. Then Thomas prophesied: ‘From now on, I shall receive nothing from Anastasios, nor will Anastasios be able to give anything.’ One day later, Anastasios died; and Thomas also, about to return to the monastery, gave up the spirit. And so the prophecy of this holy man was fulfilled. St. Thomas departed this life in Laphnis near Antioch, in the time of Patriarch Domnos (546-560).
6. The Holy New-Martyrs Luke and Nicholas
The young man Luke (or Doukas), a tailor by profession, suffered for Christ in 1546, and Nicholas in 1776.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Exhorting Christians to come to church for prayer, St. John Chrysostom says: ‘If a messenger brings an imperial or princely document to a subject citizen, the citizen does not examine the life of the bearer, whether he is rich or poor, righteous or sinful, but listens carefully to what he reads. If anyone has not heard him, he asks someone who has. So, if you have such enormous respect for an earthly ruler, how necessary it is to listen to us priests, here where the Creator of the heavenly powers speaks through us sinners.’ And, indeed, what are the holy Scriptures but documents of the King of heaven? How can it not interest us every day and every hour, that unique and saving document, when the least decree of the lowest authority in the state interests us? St. Anthony says: ‘Let all that you do be justified in holy Scripture.’ But how can you have justification from holy Scripture if you do not know the Scriptures?
May 8th – Civil Calendar
April 25th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark.
St. Mark was a companion and helper of the Apostle
Peter in his journeys. Peter, in his first Epistle, calls him his son, not after the flesh but
after the spirit (I Pet. 5:13). When Mark was with Peter in Rome, the faithful begged him to
write down for them the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus, His miracles and His life. So Mark
wrote his Gospel, which the Apostle Peter himself saw and testified to as true. Mark was chosen
by the Apostle Peter to be bishop, and sent to Egypt to preach. And so Mark was the first
preacher of the Gospel and the first bishop in Egypt. Egypt was oppressed by a thick darkness of
paganism, idolatry, divination and malice. But, with the help of God, St. Mark succeeded in
sowing the seed of the knowledge of God in Libya, Ammonicia and Pentapolis. From Pentapolis, he
went to Alexandria, whither the Spirit of God led him. In Alexandria, he succeeded in
establishing the Church of God, in giving her bishops, priests and deacons and in rooting
everything firmly in faithfulness and devotion. Mark confirmed his preaching with many great
miracles. When the pagans brought accusations against Mark as a destroyer of their idolatrous
faith, and when the governor of the city began to search for Mark, he fled again to Pentapolis,
where he continued his earlier work. After two years, Mark again returned to Alexandria, to the
great joy of his faithful, whose number had already increased very greatly. The pagans took the
opportunity to seize Mark, and they bound him firmly and began to drag him over the cobblestones,
crying: ‘We’re taking the ox to the stall!’ They threw him into prison all
injured and bloodstained, where there appeared to him first an angel from heaven, who encouraged
and strengthened him, and then the Lord Himself. Jesus said to him: ‘Peace to thee, Mark My
Evangelist!’ to which Mark replied: ‘And peace to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ!’
On the next day, the wicked people hauled Mark from prison and again dragged him through the
streets with the same cry: ‘We’re taking the ox to the stall!’ Utterly spent
and enfeebled, Mark said: ‘Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit,’ and thus
breathed his last and went to the better world. His holy relics were given burial by Christians,
and through the ages they gave healing to people from every pain and ill.
2. St. Anianus, Second Bishop of Alexandria.
When St. Mark stepped from the boat onto dry land in Alexandria, one of his shoes was torn, and he took it to a cobbler. While the cobbler was sewing it, he drove the awl through his left hand and the blood began to flow, the man screaming with the pain. Then the apostle of God mixed dust with his spittle and anointed the injured hand, and it at once became whole and healthy. The cobbler marvelled at this miracle, and invited Mark to his house. Hearing Mark’s preaching, Anianus, for that was his name, was baptized, he and his whole household. Anianus showed such devotion and zeal for the work of God that St. Mark consecrated him bishop, and this holy man was the second Bishop of Alexandria.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The devil quickly finds work for idle hands, but an angel for diligent ones. In this world of constant movement and incessant change, a man, whether he likes it or not, must be busy, either with good works or with evil ones. An idle man is not, in fact, unoccupied: he is a diligent worker for the devil. A lazy body and a lazy soul are the most suitable ground for devilish sowing and reaping. St. Anthony the Great says: ‘The body must be subdued and exhausted by long labor,’ and St. Ephraim the Syrian teaches: ‘Learn to work, so that you don’t have to learn to beg!’ And all the other holy fathers, without exception, speak of the indispensability of labor for the salvation of the soul of man. The apostles and all the saints give us an example of hard and unceasing labor, both spiritual and physical. That the lazy man, by idleness, does not prolong his life on earth, is clearly attested by the longevity of many of the saints, the greatest laborers of all upon earth.
May 9th – Civil Calendar
April 26th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Basil, Bishop of Amaseia.
Licinius, the brother-in-law of the Emperor Constantine, whose sister he had married, dissembled before the great emperor, saying that he was a Christian. When he received authority over the whole of the East, he began, at first secretly but then publicly, to persecute the Christians and to uphold idolatry. His wife grieved greatly over this, but could not turn her husband back from this dishonor. Giving himself over to idolatry, Licinius gave himself over to all the passions, and especially to brutality towards women. Through this fall into such an impure passion, he desired to deflower the maiden Glaphyra, who was in waiting at the imperial court. She complained to the empress, who sent her away from the court at Nikomedia secretly to the coast of Pontus. The maiden got as far as the town of Amaseia, and was there warmly received by the bishop, Basil, and the other Christians. Glaphyra was very joyful that God had preserved her virginity, and wrote of this to the empress. And the empress rejoiced and sent her money for the Church in Amaseia. But one letter of Glaphyra’s, on its way to the empress, fell into the hands of an imperial eunuch, who showed it to Emperor Licinius. Discovering where Glaphyra was to be found, he immediately sent orders that she and the bishop be brought to Nikomedia. In the meantime, Glaphyra died, and the soldiers brought only Basil, in bonds. After torture and imprisonment, this blessed man was beheaded and thrown into the sea, in the year 322. His priests, with the help of an angel of God, found his body near the town of Synope, took it out of the water with the aid of fishing nets and carried it to Amaseia, where they gave it burial in the church which he had built by his labors. The Emperor Constantine raised an army against Licinius, overcame him, arrested him and sent him into exile in Gaul, where he ended his God-hating days.
2. St. Janik of Devič.
He was a Serb from Zeta. As a young man, overcome with love for Christ, he left his home and went off to the region of the Ibar, to the mouth of the Black River, to a narrow cave in which, according to tradition, St. Peter of Koriša had lived in asceticism before him. But when his fame began to spread among the people, he fled to Drnica and hid himself in the thick forest of Devič. St. Janik spent years there in solitude, silence and prayer. According to tradition, the Serbian Prince George (Đurađ) Branković brought his mad daughter to him, and the saint healed her. In gratitude, George built a monastery in that place known today by the name of Devič. Here are kept Janik’s holy and wonder-working relics. In this monastery there lived a famous and godly nun, Ephemia, better known in the Kosovo region as Blessed Stojna. She entered into rest in the Lord in 1895.
3. St. Stefan (Stephen) of Perm.
A Russian by birth, he gave himself from his youth to prayer and pondering on God, and as a young man went to Rostov, where he became a monk in the monastery of St. Gregory the Theologian. Learning about the land of Perm, all overgrown with the weeds of paganism, Stefan conceived the desire to be a missionary in that land. He immediately set about learning the language, and when he had become proficient, compiled an alphabet and translated the service books. With the blessing of the Metropolitan of Moscow, he, as a priest, set off on his apostolic labors and began with apostolic zeal to preach the Gospel in the thick darkness of Permian paganism. Baptising a number of souls, he labored to build in Perm a church dedicated to the Annunciation. And, when the Church in Perm grew larger, he was consecrated as its bishop. Enduring all toil, pain, evil and humiliation, he succeeded in dispersing the darkness among the pagan Permians and in illumining them with the light of Christ. He returned once in old age to Moscow, and there went to the Lord in 1396.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The saints are alive, and their God-given power is not diminished by time. St. Janik of Devič performs miracles today as he did in his lifetime five hundred years ago. A man called Milos from Herzegovina was preparing to go to Jerusalem to venerate the saints. Just as he was ready to set off, St. Janik appeared to him in a dream and told him not to go to Jerusalem. ‘You’d do better,’ the saint explained, ‘to go to Devič and clean up my church there, and put it in order, than to go to Jerusalem.’ Milos obeyed and went to the neglected Devič, cleaned it up, put it in order and gave it new life. There he became a monk and remained to the end of his days.
At the time of the First World War and the Austrian occupation, an officer, a Hungarian, came to Devič with a detachment of soldiers. He took the abbot, Damascene, to the tomb of St. Janik and asked him what was under the slab. ‘A holy place,’ replied the abbot. ‘What sort of holy place?’—the officer smiled. ‘You’ve got things hidden under there!’ And he ordered the soldiers to break up the slab with pickaxes. But while they were finishing this, the officer was seized with pains all round the middle of his body. He lay down on a bed and died before the evening of the same day. The terrified soldiers left their work unfinished and fled from the monastery.
May 10th – Civil Calendar
April 27th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Simeon.
One of the Seventy, he was the son of Cleopas, and Cleopas was the brother of Joseph, the betrothed of the most holy Mother of God. Seeing the miracles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Simeon was converted and included among the Seventy apostles. With great zeal and courage, he preached the Gospel everywhere in Judea. When the wicked Jews killed Iakovos, the Lord’s brother and first bishop of the Church in Jerusalem, throwing him down from the top of the Temple and then stoning him to death, this Simeon, Joseph’s nephew, was installed as bishop in Jerusalem. He, as the second bishop of the holy city, governed the Church of God with wisdom and strength to a great age. He was more than a hundred years old when he suffered, and his sufferings came about as follows: in the time of the Emperor Trajan there was a double persecution begun in Palestine, against the descendants of David and against the Christians. The wicked people condemned Simeon on both counts. St. Simeon endured harsh torture and was finally crucified, as had been the Lord Whom he had faithfully served on earth.
2. Our Holy Father Stefan, Bishop of Vladimir.
A disciple of St. Theodosius of the Kiev Caves, Stefan was at one time abbot of the Monastery of the Caves and labored greatly in the regulation and organization of the monastic life and in the beautifying of the churches. But the enemy inflamed an evil monk against him, and he was not only removed from the abbacy but driven from the monastery. But God, Who does not leave the righteous long under the humiliation of the unrighteous, so guided the life of blessed Stefan that he was chosen as Bishop of Vladimir. As God’s hierarch, Stefan guided the Church to old age and departed this life in the Lord peacefully in 1094.
3. The Burning of the Relics of St. Sava, Archbishop of Serbia.
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The body of St. Sava was buried at Mileševa.
In the time of the Turkish occupation, the Serbian people gathered together round the
relics of their saint, to seek support and healing. Fearing that a rebellion against the
Turks might be stirred up in that place, Sinan Pasha of Belgrade commanded that St.
Sava’s relics be brought to Belgrade and burned there at Vračar. This was done
on April 27th, 1594. But, with the burning of the saint’s relics, the wicked pasha
did not burn the saint, who remains alive before the throne of God in heaven and in the
hearts of his people on earth.
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4. Our Holy Father John the Confessor.
He was the abbot of the community ‘of the Pure’ (the Katharoi). This community was founded near Nicaea during the reign of Justin, in the 6th century. For his veneration of icons during a ban on such veneration, John suffered much at the hands of the Emperors Leo and Theophilus, and died under their persecution in about 832.
FOR CONSIDERATION
True faith will be persecuted in this world. The Savior Himself said this to His apostles clearly and publicly (Jn 16:32). And St. Apollinarius of Hierapolis, writing against the Montanist heretics, asserts: ‘Let them tell us, before God, who of all their prophets, beginning with Montanus and his wives, has been persecuted by the Jews and killed by the ungodly. No one. Who among them has been arrested for the name of Christ, and crucified? Again, no one. Have any of their women been flogged or stoned in the Jewish synagogues? No.’ This Orthodox saint means to say that it is true faith that will be persecuted in this world. Heresies are usually closer to the worldly and demonic spirit, and therefore the world and the demons do not persecute their own. To be constantly under persecution—with short breathing-spaces—is a distinguishing mark of the Faith and of the Orthodox Church. This persecution has existed throughout the whole of history, whether externally or internally; externally from unbelievers and internally from heretics.
May 11th – Civil Calendar
April 28th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostles Jason and Sosipater, and the Virgin Kerkyra.
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The first two were among the Seventy Apostles, and the last was the daughter of the king of the island of Corfu. The Apostle Paul mentions Jason and Sosipater (Rom. 16:21), and calls them his kinsmen. Jason was born in Tarsus, as was the Apostle Paul himself, and Sosipater in Achaea. The first was nominated by the apostles as Bishop of Tarsus and the second as Bishop of Iconium. Travelling and preaching the Gospel, these two apostles came to the island of Corfu, where they succeeded in building a church dedicated to St. Stephen the Protomartyr and in bringing some unbelievers to the Church. The king of the island threw them into prison, where there were seven robbers already imprisoned: Satorninus, Jakischolus, Faustian, Januarius, Marsalus, Evphrasius and Mamminus. The apostles brought all seven of them to the Christian Faith, making wolves into lambs. The king commanded that these seven be put to death in boiling pitch, and they thus received the wreath of martyrdom. Seeking to disgrace Jason and Sosipater, the king had them dragged through the streets by a horse at a speed calculated to be slow enough to bruise them without killing them. When the king’s daughter, Kerkyra, saw this, she looked upon the wretchedness of her father with disdain, and discovering the reason for it, she visited them in the prison, where she was converted. She gave all her jewels away to the poor and proclaimed herself a Christian to her father. The king was filled with wrath against his daughter and shut her up in a separate prison. Then, failing to turn her from Christ, he ordered that the prison be burned down. The prison burned to the ground, but the maiden remained alive. Seeing this wonder, many of the people were baptized. The furious king ordered that his daughter be bound to a tree and killed with arrows. Those who had come to believe in Christ fled from the terrible king to a nearby island and hid themselves. The king set off in a boat to arrest them, but his boat overturned in the sea and thus the unrighteous perished, as Pharaoh aforetime. The succeeding king, Donatios, continued in the persecution. He ordered Sosipater to be put to death. It was presumed that Jason would follow his comrade in death, but the king decided to question the surviving partner first. A gnawing sense of guilt precipitated the meeting of the two, at which Jason succeeded in converting Donatios to the Christian Faith. Not long after this, the twelve-year-old daughter of Donatios was stricken with a fatal illness, but was cured when Jason knelt in prayer on her behalf. Jason continued to work for our Savior until his death at the age of sixty on April 28th, the day on which Sosipater had died for Christ. |
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2. The Holy Martyrs Maximus, Dada and Quintillian.
Suffering in the time of Diocletian, they were condemned and tortured by the commander Tarquinius. After imprisonment and torture, they were beheaded.
3. The Holy Martyr Tibald.
A Slav from Pannonia, he was terribly tortured for the Faith in the time of Diocletian, and suffered in Tsibal.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The mystery of our salvation is fulfilled in God’s appearing among men in human flesh. Meliton of Sardis writes: ‘The works of Christ after His Baptism showed and demonstrated to the world that His divinity is hidden within His flesh. Being God, He was also perfect man. He revealed His two natures to us: His divinity by His miracles, performed in the three years after His Baptism, and His humanity through those thirty years when bodily nature hid the signs of His divinity, although He was truly the pre-eternal God.’ The means of uniting the divinity with the humanity is difficult to comprehend, but the event of the appearing of God among men is perfectly comprehensible from the point of view of God’s love for man. As an event, the world is not more comprehensible—it can be said to be even less comprehensible than the event of events, the incarnation of God.
May 12th – Civil Calendar
April 29th – Church Calendar
1. St. Basil of Ostrog.
Basil was born in Popovo Selo in Herzegovina,
of simple and devout parents. From his youth he was filled with love for the Church of God, and
when he grew up he went to the monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God at Trebinje, and
became a monk. As such, he quickly became known for his serious and rare ascetic life, for he
loaded himself with ascetic practices, each harder than the last. He was later chosen and
consecrated as Bishop of Zahum and Skenderia, much against his will. As a bishop, he first lived
in the monastery at Tvrdoš, whence, as a good pastor, he confirmed his flock in the
Orthodox Faith, keeping it from the cruelty of the Turks and the guile of the Latins. But when he
was too pressed-upon by his enemies, and when Tvrdoš* was destroyed by the Turks, Basil
moved to Ostrog, where he lived in strict asceticism, protecting his flock by his unceasing and
loving prayers. He went peacefully to the Lord in the 16th century, leaving his whole and healing
body, incorrupt and wonder-working, to the present day. The miracles at the grave of St. Basil
are without number. Both Christians and Moslems hasten to his relics and find healing of the
gravest sicknesses and sufferings. A great national gathering takes place there every year at
Pentecost.
* Author’s Note: A new church, on the ruins of the old Tvrdoš, has been built in our day by Nikolai Runjevac, from the village of Poljica near Trebinje—a wonderful foundation in the sight of God and His people.
2. The Nine Holy Martyrs of Kyzikos.
These nine courageous martyrs, burning with love for Christ, refused to offer sacrifice to idols or to deny Christ the Lord, for which they were harshly tortured and finally beheaded. In the time of the Emperor Constantine, a church was built in Kyzikos in honor of these martyrs, and their incorrupt relics were laid there. Their names were: Theognes, Roufos, Antipater, Theostichos, Artemas, Magnos, Theodotos, Thaumasios and Philemon. They all scorned the temporal for the sake of the eternal, and the corruptible for the incorruptible. Therefore the Lord brought them into His eternal family and crowned them with wreaths of unfading glory. They suffered with honor and were glorified in the 3rd century.
3. Our Holy Father Memnon the Wonder-worker.
From his youth, Memnon gave himself to fasting and prayer, and purified himself so greatly that he became a dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. He cured incurable illnesses and worked many other miracles. He appeared during storms at sea and saved boats from destruction. He entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in the second century, and went to His heavenly courts.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Nothing can be hidden from the omniscient God. To Him is known at every moment what is being done on earth, both in the external and in the internal, spiritual world. Not a single intention, not a single wish, not a single thought of his can a man hide from God. How can that which cannot be hidden from holy men be hidden from God? The great Tsar Ivan the Formidable came one day to church. In the church, Blessed Basil the Fool for Christ was at prayer. The tsar was indeed physically present in the church, but his mind was on Sparrow Hill, not far from Moscow, on which a palace had been begun. Throughout the service, Ivan was thinking of how to continue and complete his palace on that hill. After the service, the tsar saw Basil, and asked him where he had been. ‘In church,’ replied Basil, and immediately asked the tsar: ‘And where were you, my tsar?’ ‘I, too, have been in church,’ replied the tsar. But to this, the discerning saint made answer: ‘You are not speaking the truth, my little Ivan, for I saw you in thought walking on Sparrow Hill and building a palace there!’
May 13th – Civil Calendar
April 30th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Iakovos (James).
He was the son of Zebedee and brother of John, and was
one of the Twelve Holy Apostles. At the call of the Lord Jesus, he left his fishing nets and his
father, and together with John, immediately followed Christ. He was one of the three apostles to
whom the Lord revealed the greatest mysteries: before whom He was transfigured on Tabor and
before whom He was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane before His Passion. After receiving the
Holy Spirit, he preached the Gospel in various places, going as far as Spain. On his return from
Spain, a violent quarrel broke out between the Jews and himself on the holy Scriptures, and being
unable to withstand him, they hired a magician, Hermogenes. But Hermogenes and Philip, his pupil,
were overcome by the power and truth that Iakovos preached, and were baptized. Then the Jews
denounced him to Herod, and persuaded one Josias to slander the apostle. This Josias, seeing
Iakovos’ manly bearing and hearing his clear preaching of the truth, repented and came to
faith in Christ. When Iakovos was condemned to death, this Josias was also condemned. Mounting
the scaffold, Josias begged Iakovos’ forgiveness for the sin of slander, and Iakovos
embraced him, kissing him and saying: ‘Peace be to thee, and forgiveness.’ And they
both laid their heads under the sword and were beheaded for the sake of the Lord Whom they had
loved and served. St. Iakovos suffered in Jerusalem in the year 45. His body was taken to Spain,
where to this day miracles of healing are performed at his tomb.
2. St. Donatus.
Bishop of Evria in Albania, he was endowed by God with great gifts of wonder-working, and performed many miracles for the sake of the people. He turned brackish water into sweet, brought rain in a drought, healed the king’s daughter of insanity and raised a dead man. This dead man had paid off a debt to some creditor, but the unscrupulous creditor wanted the debt paid a second time, so he used the death of his debtor to come to the widow and demand that the debt be paid immediately. The widow wept and complained to the bishop. St. Donatus told the creditor to wait until the man had been buried, then they would talk about the debt. But the creditor angrily demanded his own. Then Donatus went up to the corpse, took hold of it and cried: ‘Get up, brother, and see what’s up with this creditor of yours!’ The corpse got up, and with a terrible gaze, looked at its creditor, telling him when and where it had paid the debt. It also demanded a written receipt from him. The terrified creditor gave the receipt into its hands. The corpse tore it up, then lay down again and died. St. Donatus entered peacefully into rest in great old age, and went to the Lord in 387. His relics are still preserved for the help of the faithful in Evria in Albania.
3. The Holy Martyr Argyre.
This new-martyr was born in Prousa (Bursa) of devout parents. As soon as she was married to a Christian man, a Turk from the neighborhood looked on her and invited her to live with him. The Christ-loving Argyre rejected the Turk’s foul suggestion, and he was enraged and accused her to the judge of having intended to become a Moslem and afterwards retracted. From trial to trial, from prison to prison, St. Argyre spent fifteen whole years suffering for Christ, for she loved Him more than anything in the world. She finally died in prison in Constantinople in 1725.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A devout elder was lying on his deathbed. His friends were gathered round him, weeping for him. The elder sighed three times. The monks asked him why he had sighed. The elder replied: ‘I sighed the first time because you are afraid of death; the second time because you are not ready for death; and the third time because I am going from toil to rest.’ You see how a righteous man enters into rest? He does not fear death; he is ready for death, and he sees that, through death, he passes from a life of toil to eternal rest. When human nature is conceived in its natural state in Paradise, then death is unnatural, as sin is unnatural. Death comes from sin. Repentant and cleansed from sin, a man does not regard death as annihilation but as the gate of immortal life. And if the righteous prayed for their earthly life to be prolonged, this was not from love of this life, nor from fear of death, but only that they might be given more time for repentance and cleansing from sin, so that they might be purer and more sinless to go before God. And if they sometimes showed fear in the face of death, this was not fear of death but of God’s judgement. What sort of fear must unrepentant sinners have in the face of death?
May 14th – Civil Calendar
May 1st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Jeremias (Jeremiah).
Born 650 years before Christ in the village of Anathoth, not far from
Jerusalem, he began to prophesy at an early age, during the reign of King Josiah (Jer. 1:1-19).
He preached repentance to the king and nobles and the false prophets and priests, and in the time
of that King Josiah, barely escaped death at the hands of the enraged nobles. He prophesied to
King Jehoiakim that his burial would be like that of an ass; that is, he would be cast dead out
of Jerusalem and his body would be for a long time dragged around the ground without burial
(22:18). For this, Jeremias was thrown into prison. Being unable to write there, he sent for
Baruch, who stood outside the window of the prison while Jeremias dictated to him. When the king
read this prophecy, he took the paper in fury and threw it into the fire. By God’s providence,
Jeremias was saved from prison, and the words of the prophecy were fulfilled upon Jehoiakim. He
prophesied to King Jeconiah that he would be carried off to Babylon with his whole family and
that he would die there, all of which quickly came to pass (24:1; 27:20). Under King Zedekiah, he
put a yoke on his neck and walked through Jerusalem prophesying the fall of the city and slavery
under the yoke of Babylon (27:2). He wrote to the slaves in Babylon, telling them that they would
not return to Jerusalem but would remain for seventy years in Babylon, which came to pass
(25:11). In the valley of Topnet, near Jerusalem, where the Jews had brought children to the
idols for sacrifice, Jeremias took a whole pot in his hands and smashed it in front of the
people, prophesying the imminent crushing of the Jewish Kingdom (19:10-11). The Babylonians soon
overran Jerusalem, killed King Zedekiah, burned the city down and utterly destroyed it. They
slaughtered an enormous number of Jews in the valley of Topnet, in the place where children had
died as sacrifices to idols and where the prophet had broken the pot. Jeremias, with the Levites,
took the Ark out of the Temple and bore it off to the mountain of Nebo, where Moses had died, and
hid it in a cave. He hid the fire from the altar in a deep well. He was forced by some Jews to go
with them to Egypt, where he lived for four years and was then stoned to death by his countrymen.
He prophesied to the Egyptians the destruction of their idols and the coming there of a Virgin
with a Child. There is a tradition that Alexander the Great himself visited the grave of the
Prophet Jeremias,* and ordered that his body be moved and buried in Alexandria.
* Author’s note: The Egyptians almost deified St. Jeremias, and they therefore buried him as a king. He was regarded as a wonder-worker after his death. The dust from his tomb was taken as a medicine against snake bites, and today many Christians invoke his help against them.
2. The Right-believing Queen Tamara of Georgia.
She was born between the years 1156 and 1165, a descendant of the ancient Bagratid Dynasty. In her youth, Tamara became co-regent with her father. She became sole ruler of Georgia upon his death in 1184. Her reign came to be known as the Golden Age of Georgian history. Queen Tamara ruled with much wisdom and godly piety. She was a favorite among her people. In imitation of the saintly empress of old, Helen, Tamara built countless churches and monasteries throughout her kingdom and was a benefactress to the holy land, Mount Athos, and the sacred places in Greece and Cyprus. Saint Tamara was conspicuous for her continuous flow of alms among the needy. She sponsored both education and learning. Upon her coronation she convoked a holy synod, urging the holy fathers to establish righteousness and redress abuses. The young sovereign addressed the prelates with many wise words, speaking in this manner, “Our holy Faith will be exalted by you as spiritual fathers and ones with authority given to you from on high, and by me as this fair country’s ruler and vigilant guardian.” In 1204, the Georgian people were threatened by the inroads of Muslims. The queen went herself, clad in armor at the head of her Georgian armies. With sword in hand, she gained unprecedented military triumphs over the neighboring Muslims. By means of her many military and political triumphs, she expanded Georgian power into Armenia and Persia, for the sake of Orthodoxy and the curtailment of Islam. Queen Tamara also founded the empire of Trebizond. The enemies of Georgia, entire mountain tribes, on account of the reverence they had for Tamara the queen, renounced Islam and were baptized. She also defeated coalitions of Muslim rulers. In other instances, the Archangel Michael appeared to her prisoners of war, making it known that his heavenly solicitude was directed toward the queen, so that he both protected her in battle and caused her campaigns to succeed. Although fearless in war and governing, her people extolled her gentleness, love of peace, wisdom, piety, and beauty. Although St. Tamara acquired much glory and admiration in her lifetime, still she did not exalt herself in her mind. She spent the final years of her life in the Bardzia Cave Monastery. She had her own cell which was connected to the church by a window, through which she could offer up prayer to God during the divine offices. She reposed in peace between 1207 and 1213, and soared into the heavens where she is numbered among the saints. St. Tamara is venerated as the healer of infirmities. She is also commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women. The queen is recorded to have uttered these final words: “O Christ, my God, as Thou hadst entrusted me with the stewardship of this kingdom dedicated to Thee, so I commend to Thee the people who have been redeemed by Thy precious blood. To Thee, O my Christ, do I commit my spirit.” Tamara the all-great is the never-fading glory of the Iberians and the exquisite ornament of the Orthodox Church, for she tended well the portion of the Theotokos and cultivated well the vine of the enlightener Nina, by confirming her people in Orthodoxy and with right doctrine and practice.
3. Our Holy Father, the New-Martyr Akakios the Slipper-Maker.
He was from the village of Neochorion, near Thessalonica. Being much ill-treated by his master in Serres, he became a Turk. After that, as a penitent and a monk, he lived at Hilandar. His poor and devout mother counselled him: ‘As you voluntarily denied the Lord, so you must now voluntarily and courageously receive martyrdom for our sweet Jesus’. The son obeyed his mother, and with the blessing of the fathers of the Holy Mountain, went off to Constantinople, where he was beheaded by the Turks on May 1st, 1815. His head is preserved in the monastery of St. Panteleimon.
4. Our Holy Father Paphnutius of Borovsk.
The son of a Tartar noble who had earlier accepted the Christian Faith, he became a monk at the age of twenty and remained in his monastery to the age of ninety-four, when he entered into rest in the Lord. He was a virgin and an ascetic, and because of this, a great wonder-worker and clairvoyant. He died in 1478.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Our holy father Paphnutius of Borovsk spoke to his disciples of how a man’s soul and hidden works can be known by external sight. This seemed improbable to his disciples, until this man of God demonstrated it in practice on several occasions. Looking with insight into the destiny of others, he also saw his own. For a week, while still in good health, he prophesied that, on the next Thursday, he would be parted from this world. And when that Thursday dawned, he cried out with joy: ‘This is the day of the Lord! Rejoice, O ye people! Lo, the expected day has dawned!’ And thus the man waited for death who, through his whole life, had thought on the parting from this world and the meeting with God.
May 15th – Civil Calendar
May 2nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Esperos, Zoë Kyriakos and Theodulos.
In the time of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138), a pagan called Catallus bought Esperos, his wife Zoë and their sons Kyriakos and Theodulos as slaves. Being convinced Christians, they refused to eat anything that had been sacrificed to idols, but threw all that had been thus offered to the dogs, and themselves went hungry. Catallus, discovering this, became very angry and began to torture his slaves cruelly. He first tortured the children, but they remained unfaltering in the Faith and sought yet harsher tortures. At last all four of them were cast into a burning furnace where, after prayers of thanksgiving, they gave their spirits into the Lord’s hands. Their bodies remained whole and untouched by the fire.
2. St. Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria.
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On this day are commemorated the
translation of his relics and their miracles. The life and work of this great saint are
written on January 18th.
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3. The Holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb.
They were sons of the great Prince Vladimir, Baptizer of the Russian people. Until his Baptism, Vladimir had many wives, and children by them. Boris and Gleb were brothers of one mother. Before his death in 1015, Vladimir divided the kingdom among all his sons. But Svyatopolk, his eldest son and Prince of Kiev, desired to take the parts that were set aside for Boris and Gleb, so he sent men to kill Boris in one place and Gleb in another. Both brothers were deeply devout and pleasing to God in all things, and they met death with prayer and the lifting up of their hearts to Him. Their bodies remained incorrupt and fragrant, and were buried in the town of Vishgorod, where to this day blessed strength flows forth from them to heal men of diverse ills and sufferings.
4. St. Michael (Boris), King of Bulgaria.
Born and brought up as a pagan, Boris was baptized under the guidance of his uncle, Boyan, and his own sister. At his Baptism, he received the name Michael (Mikhail). Patriarch Photius sent him priests, who little by little baptized the whole Bulgarian people. Many of the nobles opposed this new Faith, but it was victorious, and the Cross glittered on many churches built by the devout King Michael. The Faith among the Bulgarians, as among the Serbs, was especially strengthened by the Five Followers of Ochrid, disciples of Saints Kyril and Methodius, who preached the knowledge of Christ to the people in the vernacular Slavonic language.
Michael became a monk in old age, and withdrew to a monastery. But when his son Vladimir began to ruin his father’s work and exterminate the Christians, Michael again put on his military uniform, took his sword, threw Vladimir down from the throne and replaced him with his younger son Simeon. He then put on his monastic schema again and withdrew to tranquillity, where, in asceticism and prayer, he finished his earthly course peacefully, ‘in good faith and a true confession of our Lord Jesus Christ, great and honored,’ and went to the heavenly world on May 2nd, 906.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Blessed Maximus the Fool for Christ walked naked in winter through the streets of Moscow. To the advice of some to put on some clothes and protect himself from the cold, he replied: ‘The winter is hard, but Paradise is sweet!’ He also said: ‘God crowns endurance with salvation.’ If Christ the Lord did not regret giving Himself to torture and death for our sakes, why should we regret giving ourselves for our own sakes? He bequeathed us a prescription, a diet, for our spiritual health, and this He named His easy yoke. The yoke with which we load ourselves is much heavier, for that yoke topples us into still greater and greater spiritual sickness. The earth demands of us many great sacrifices, promising us no reward after death. The earth demands that we sacrifice God to her, and our soul and conscience, our mind and human and divine dignity, and shows us a dark and stinking grave as the end of everything and the payment for everything. Christ seeks that we sacrifice only the earth and our animal nature, and sin and vice and everything that is worthless, and He then promises us resurrection and immortal life in Paradise. Yes, the winter is hard, but Paradise is sweet!
May 16th – Civil Calendar
May 3rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Timothy and Mavra.*
Strange was the destiny of these wonderful martyrs, husband and newly-wedded wife. Twenty days after their wedding, they were taken for trial for their Christian Faith before Arrianos, the pagan governor of the Thebaid, in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. Timothy was a reader in the church where he lived. ‘Who are you?’ the governor asked him. Timothy replied: ‘I am a Christian and a reader in the Church of God.’ The governor said to him further: ‘You see, don’t you, the instruments prepared for torture?’ Timothy replied: ‘But you don’t see the angels of God, which are strengthening me.’ Then the governor commanded that he be pierced through the ears with iron rods, so that the pupils of his eyes leapt out with the pain. They then suddenly hanged him by the feet and stuffed his mouth with wood. Mavra was at first afraid of torture, but when her husband gave her courage, she also confessed her steadfast faith before the governor. He commanded that, first, her hair be torn out, then all her fingers cut off. After many other tortures, to which they would quickly have succumbed had they not been strengthened by the grace of God, they were both crucified, one in sight of the other. And thus, hanging on their crosses, they remained alive for nine full days, counseling each other and encouraging each other in endurance. On the tenth day they gave their spirits into God’s hands, the God for Whom they had suffered crucifixion, and thus became worthy of His kingdom. They suffered with honor for Christ in 286.
* Author’s note: ‘Mavra’ means ‘black,’ from which it comes that in Macedonia the day of these saints is known as ‘Black Day’. On the island of Zakynthos there is a church of Saints Timothy and Mavra, in which many miraculous healings have taken place.
2. Our Holy Father Theodosius (Feodosy) of the Kiev Caves.
From his earliest youth, he fled from laughter and merriment and gave himself to pondering on God and prayer. Because of this, he was often beaten by his mother, and especially when she saw one day an iron belt around his naked body, from which his shirt was stained with blood. Reading one day in the Gospel the words of the Lord: ‘He who loves father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me,’ he left his parents’ home and fled to Kiev, to the cave of our holy father Anthony. Anthony received him and quickly made him a monk. When his mother found him, and called him to return home, he spoke with her and she then became a nun in a women’s monastery. By his asceticism, his meekness and his goodness, Theodosius quickly outstripped all the other monks and became very dear to Anthony, who made him abbot of the monastery. In his time, the number of brethren in the monastery grew very rapidly, churches and cells were built, and the Rule of the Studion was introduced in its fullness. God endowed Theodosius with great grace in response to his virginal purity, labors in prayer and love for his neighbor, and so this man of God had great power over unclean spirits and healed sicknesses and had insight into the destinies of men. With St. Anthony, St. Theodosius is regarded as the restorer and organizer of Russian monasticism. He entered peacefully into rest in 1074, and his healing relics rest beside those of St. Anthony.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Abba John Kolovos asked his monks: ‘Who or what sold Joseph?’ One of them answered: ‘His brethren.’ To this the elder said: ‘Not his brothers, but his humility.’ Joseph could have revealed that he was their brother, and thus oppose the sale. But he kept silent about that. By humility, then, was he sold, and this same humility later made him ruler of Egypt. We guard ourselves too carefully from the outward difficulties encountered in giving ourselves over to the will of God, and so we lose the good fruits that are reaped in difficult circumstances endured with humility. Abba Poemen spoke wisely thus: ‘We have set aside the light yoke; that is, self-instruction, and loaded ourselves with the heavy one; that is, self-righteousness.’ Christians accept every difficulty as payment for past or present sins, seeking the will of God with faith in all things, and looking to the end with hope.
May 17th – Civil Calendar
May 4th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Pelagia of Tarsus.
Born in the town of Tarsus of pagan but noble and wealthy parents, she heard about Christ and the salvation of the soul from Christians, became inflamed with love for the Savior and was a Christian in her soul. There was at that time a terrible persecution of Christians. It happened that the Emperor Diocletian himself stopped in Tarsus and that, during the time of his stay in the town, his son, the heir, fell deeply in love with Pelagia and wanted to make her his wife. Pelagia replied through her mother—a wicked woman—that she was already promised to her betrothed husband, Christ the Lord. Fleeing from the foul heir and her wicked mother, Pelagia sought and found Bishop Linus, a man renowned for his holiness. He instructed her in the Faith and baptized her. Then Pelagia gave away her luxurious clothing and great wealth, returned home and confessed to her mother that she was already baptized. Hearing of this, the emperor’s son, losing all hope of getting this holy maiden as his wife, ran himself through with a sword and died. Then the wicked mother denounced her daughter to the emperor and she was taken for trial. The emperor marveled at the girl’s beauty, and forgetting his son, burned with an impure passion for her. But when Pelagia remained unfaltering in her faith, the emperor condemned her to be burned in a metal ox heated by fire. She entered the ox with prayers of thanksgiving to God on her lips, and received a crown of martyrdom. She suffered with honor in 287. Diocletian bid that her remains be cast out of the city for wild beasts to devour, but God preserved her relics intact. Bishop Linus took her relics and buried them honorably. In the time of the Emperor Constantine Kopronymos (741-775), a beautiful church was built on that site in honor of this holy virgin and martyr Pelagia, who was sacrificed for Christ to reign eternally with Him.
2. The Hieromartyr Silvanos, Bishop of Gaza.
He was at first in military service, but later, urged by the strength of his faith, he transferred to spiritual service. Accused of bringing many pagans to Christianity, he was at first brutally tortured then beheaded with forty other soldiers in 311, and thus became a citizen of heaven.
3. Our Holy Father Nikephoros the Hesychast.
He was at first a Roman Catholic, but then became Orthodox. He lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain as a monk, with the wise Theoleptos. He was a teacher of St. Gregory Palamas and wrote a work on mental prayer. He went peacefully to the Lord in the 14th century. He taught: ‘Gather your mind and compel it to enter into your heart and remain there. When your mind is firmly in your heart, it must not remain empty, but must incessantly make the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!” And it must never fall silent. Through this the whole string of the virtues: love, joy, peace and the others, will make their abode in you, by which, then, every request of yours to God will be fulfilled.’
FOR CONSIDERATION
A young man, inexperienced in the spiritual struggle, makes a show to everyone of his good works with self-congratulation. But a soldier experienced in skirmishes with the passions and with demons belittles each work of his and intensifies his prayer for the help of God. Abba Matoes said: ‘The closer a man is to God, the more clearly he knows himself a sinner.’ And, again, he said: ‘When I was young, I thought that I might be able to do some good thing; but now that I am old, I see that I have not done a single good work.’ Did not the Lord say: ‘None is good, but the one God’? If, then, the one God alone is good and the fount of all good, how can a good work be done that is not of God? And how can anyone who performs a good work attribute it to himself and not to God? And, if this is so, by what can a dead man be praised? By nothing but God and the goodness of God.
May 18th – Civil Calendar
May 5th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Irene.
She lived in the Balkans in apostolic times, in the town
of Magedon where her father Licinius was governor of a small region. She was born a pagan of
pagan parents. Penelope—for that was her pagan name—learned the Christian Faith from her teacher,
Appelianus. St. Timothy, the disciple of the Apostle Paul, baptized her and her lady-in-waiting,
and brought her a letter from the Apostle Paul to read. She infuriated her father by her
embracing Christianity, and he intended to have her trampled to death by horses. The horses
turned on him, however, slaying him. She prayed to God on behalf of her father, who had just
tried to kill her, and the Lord resurrected him. He subsequently embraced Christianity. Irene was
tortured in different ways by four kings, other than her father, but God saved her through His
angels. King Sedekias had her cast headlong into a deep pit full of snakes and reptiles. The
saint persevered there for fourteen days, and emerged unscathed. Then the same king attempted to
saw off her feet, but the sword broke against her body as against stone. This same king once
again bound her to the wheel of a water-mill, then let the water in to drown her, but the water
would not flow, but stood still, and the maiden remained whole and alive. After Sedekias was
ousted from his domain, Sapor, his son, marched against those who deposed his father. St. Irene
met Sapor and his army in the city of Magedon. By her prayers, his entire army was stricken
blind. Again, she prayed and their eyesight was restored by divine grace. Nonetheless, the
ungrateful ones shod her with nails, loaded a sack of sand onto her, put a bridle on her and
commanded that she be led like an animal far outside the city. ‘Truly I am as a beast
before Thee, O Lord!’ said the holy martyr as she ran bridled behind her torturers. But an
angel of God caused an earthquake, and the earth opened and swallowed up ten thousand
infidels—but brought thirty thousand to the Faith. Despite this, the king persisted in his
paganism, for which he was smote by an angel of the Lord. Surviving all these tortures, by which
an enormous number of pagans were brought to Christianity, Irene went to the city of Kallinikos,
where she preached the Christian Faith. The local king, Numerian, tried to kill her, throwing her
into three burning metal oxen one after the other. But the maiden was preserved and remained
alive, and many saw and believed. The eparch, Vavdonos, sought to kill her by putting her onto a
burning grid, but this did not harm St. Irene, and brought him to the true Faith. She then went
to the city of Constantina, where Shapur II the Great, King of the Persians, had her head cut
off. But she was resurrected by an angel of God. The king, seeing this, together with many of the
people, believed in Christ and was baptized. And thus St. Irene, by her sufferings and miracles,
brought over 100,000 pagans to faith in Christ. At last she laid herself in a grave and commanded
Appelianus, her former teacher, to close it. After four days, when the grave was opened, her body
was not in it. Thus God glorified forever the maiden and martyr Irene, who had sacrificed all and
endured all, that God should be the more greatly glorified among men.
2. Ss. Martin and Heraclius.
Slavs, they were persecuted by heretical Arians in Illyria. Sent into exile, these knights of Orthodoxy finished their earthly course in the 4th century and went to the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Prayer with words is of no use if the heart does not participate. God only hears prayer from the heart. Abba Zoilos of the Thebaid, returning once from Mount Sinai, met a monk who complained that in the monastery, they were greatly suffering from drought. Zoilos asked: ‘Why don’t you pray to God, and implore Him?’ The monk replied: ‘We have prayed and implored, but there is no rain!’ To this Zoilos answered: ‘It is obvious that you are not praying from the heart. Do you want to be convinced that this is so?’ And, thus speaking, the elder raised his hands to heaven and began to pray, and abundant rain fell onto the earth. Seeing this, the marveling monk fell to the ground before the elder and did him reverence, but the elder, fearing the praise of men, quickly fled from him. ‘Ask, and it shall be given you,’ said the Lord Himself. But vain are mouthfuls of prayers if the heart is empty. God does not stand and listen to the lips, but to the heart. Let the heart be filled with prayer and the lips be silent. God will hear and receive the prayer, for He only hearkens to heartfelt prayer.
May 19th – Civil Calendar
May 6th – Church Calendar
1. Holy, Righteous, and Long-suffering Job.
Job was a descendant of Esau the grandson of
Abraham, and lived in Arabia about 2,000 years before Christ. His father’s name was Zareth
and his mother’s Bosora; his full name was Jobab. He was an honorable and God-fearing man,
and was very rich. But when he reached the age of seventy-nine, God permitted heavy temptation
from Satan to fall on him, as is written in detail in the Book of Job. In one day, Job lost all
his great possessions and his sons and daughters. Then a great sickness fell on him, from which
his whole body was covered with sores from top to toe, and Job lay on a rubbish heap outside the
town and scoured his boils with sherds of broken pottery. But Job did not complain of God, but
patiently endured all his sufferings to the end. Therefore the Lord restored his health and gave
him riches greater than he had had before, and there were born to him seven sons and three
daughters; as many as he had had before. And Job lived for 248 years, glorifying and praising
God. Job is regarded as the model of patient endurance of every suffering that God sends us, and
is a type of the suffering Christ.
2. The Holy Martyr Barbaros.
Barbaros was a soldier in the time of Julian the Apostate. When the imperial commander Bacchus led the Roman army against the Franks, Barbaros was in that army, a secret Christian. In this battle there appeared a hero on the Frankish side, like the earlier Goliath, and he challenged the Romans to send one of their number out to single combat. The commander told Barbaros to go. Barbaros prayed in his heart to the living Lord, went out and conquered this giant. As a result, the Frankish army was confused and overcome. Then the commander made a great triumph, and ordered that sacrifice be made to idols. But, at this sacrificing, he noticed that Barbaros was standing to one side. When he asked him why, Barbaros revealed that he was a Christian. The commander informed the emperor, and the emperor commanded that Barbaros be put to the harshest torture, which Barbaros endured with rare courage and composure. At the time of his martyrdom, many marvels were seen and many soldiers, seeing them, embraced the Christian Faith. Among these was the commander Bacchus himself, with Callimachus and Dionysius. All three of them were beheaded for the name of Christ, and after them, Barbaros, in 362. Their souls went to the kingdom of Christ the immortal King.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Abba Isaias said of himself: ‘I see myself as a horse wandering without a rider. Whoever finds it sits thereon and trots on it whither he wishes. When the rider leaves the horse, a second takes it and does the same, then a third and so forth.’ This great ascetic, of whom all said with wonder that he had achieved perfection, said this of himself either out of humility or from the memory of the time of his imperfection. This saying is true in relation to every Christian who walks spiritually ungirt and unbridled. No sooner has one passion dismounted than another mounts. As soon as one has worn him out and left him in despair, another mounts him, with a diminished capacity to make him happy. Such a man has no rider to guide him in the right path without deviating either to the right or left. The only friendly rider, to be welcomed with joy, is a holy and powerful Christian spirit.
May 20th – Civil Calendar
May 7th – Church Calendar
1. Commemoration of the Appearance of the Precious Cross over Jerusalem.
In the time of the Emperor Constantius, St. Constantine’s son, and Patriarch Kyril of Jerusalem, the Precious Cross appeared one day at nine o’clock in the morning above Golgotha, and spread as far as the Mount of Olives. This Cross was brighter than the sun and more beautiful than the loveliest rainbow. The whole people—believers and unbelievers—left their work and watched this heavenly sign in fear and wonder. Many unbelievers were converted to faith in Christ, and also many Arians abandoned their wicked heresy and returned to Orthodoxy. Patriarch Kyril wrote a letter to the Emperor Constantius about this sign, the emperor himself being inclined towards Arianism. This took place on May 7th, 357. Thus was it demonstrated by this means that the Christian Faith does not lie in the worldly theorizing of the sensual understanding of men, but in the power of God, shown forth through wonders and signs without number.
2. The Holy Martyr Akakios.
This saint was an officer in the Roman army in the time of the Emperor Maximian. Answering at judgement for his faith in Christ, he said that he had inherited a devout faith from his parents, and that he would be steadfast in it, seeing the many miracles of healing that came from the relics of the Christian saints. After harsh torture endured courageously in the Thracian city of Pyrrinthus, Akakios was taken to Byzantium, where he underwent further torture and was finally beheaded with the sword. He suffered with honor and went to the kingdom of eternal joy in the year 303.
3. Our Holy Fathers of Georgia.
In the sixth century, two hundred years after St. Nina had preached the Gospel in Georgia, the most holy Mother of God appeared to John, an ascetic of Antioch, and commanded him to choose twelve of his disciples and go to Georgia, to strengthen the Orthodox Faith there. John did so. Reaching Georgia, these twelve missionaries were formally welcomed by the prince of that country and the Catholicos (Patriarch) Evlalius, and immediately began their work with great zeal. The people gathered around them in hordes, and they strengthened them in the Faith with great wisdom and many miracles. The chief of these Christ-loving missionaries was St. John of Zedan, and the names of the others were: Abidus, Anthony, David, Zeno, Thaddeus, Jesse, Isderius, Joseph, Michael, Pyrrus, Stefan and Shio. With apostolic zeal, they all strengthened the Christian Faith in Georgia, founded many monasteries and left many disciples to follow them. Thus they became worthy of glory in heaven and power on earth.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘I know that my debt was greater, and that more was forgiven me. I was called from juridical and public work to the priesthood; and therefore I show myself ungrateful if I love less than the measure to which I am forgiven.’ These are the words of St. Ambrose, who was unexpectedly called by God to change his calling, and from the practice of law to become a hierarch in the Church of Christ. By these words, the saint shows how the priestly calling is higher than the worldly, how he came to it at the call of God, and how he who is called owes gratitude to God. The debt of gratitude is regarded by all the saints as their greatest debt. Without gratitude to God, no advance can be made in the spiritual life. Ceaseless gratitude to God is a seed of grace from which, if it is watered with tears of unceasing repentance, grows a beautiful fruit—love towards God.
May 21st – Civil Calendar
May 8th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John.
 The main commemoration of this great apostle
and evangelist is on September 26th, but on May 8th is commemorated a wonderful revelation
about his grave. When St. John was more than a hundred years old, he took seven of his
disciples, went outside the city of Ephesus and told the disciples to dig a grave in the
form of a cross. Then the elder went down alive into the grave, gave up his soul to the
Lord, and was buried. When the faithful later opened John’s grave, they did not find
the body in it. And on May 8th each year a dust arose from the grave, from which those
suffering from many diseases were healed.
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2. Our Holy Father Arsenius the Great.
This famous saint was born of a patrician family in Rome, and was well-educated both in secular learning and philosophy and in spiritual wisdom. Abandoning all secular studies, he gave himself to the service of the Church and was deacon in a large church in Rome. Unmarried, retiring, silent and prayerful, Arsenius thought that he would spend his whole life in that way. But, by the providence of God, his life was directed in a different way. The Emperor Theodosios summoned him to bring up and educate his two sons, Arkadios and Honorios, and made him a senator, surrounding him with wealth, honor and luxury. But this was a greater burden than pleasure to the heart of Arsenius. It happened at one time that Arkadios was at fault, and Arsenius punished him for it. The insulted Arkadios thought up a harsh revenge on his teacher, and when Arsenius discovered this, he dressed himself in simple clothing, went to the coast, got into a boat and sailed off to Egypt. When he arrived at the famous Sketis, he became a disciple of John Kolovos and gave himself to asceticism. He considered himself as one dead, and when he was informed that a rich kinsman had died and left him all his goods, he replied: ‘I died before he did. How, then, can I be his heir?’ He retired to a cell in the desert as into a grave, and there he spent his days weaving baskets from palm leaves and his nights in prayer. He fled from men and from every conversation with men. Only on feast days did he leave his cell and come to the church for Communion. In order not to become idle, he often put this question to himself: ‘Arsenius, why did you come into the desert?’ He spent thirty-five years as a hermit, and all that time he was an example to the monks and the glory of monasticism. In all, he lived a hundred years and departed this life peacefully in 448, after long labors and trials voluntarily taken on himself. He went to the kingdom of Christ the Lord, Whom he had loved with all his heart and soul.
3. St. Emilia.
She was the mother of St. Basil the Great. In her youth, she desired to remain a life-long virgin, but was forced to marry. She bore nine children, and so endowed each of them with a Christian spirit that five of them became Christian saints: Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Peter of Sebaste, Makrina and Theosevia. She founded a monastery in her old age, where she lived with her daughter Makrina, and where she entered into rest in the Lord on May 8th, 375.
4. Our Holy Father Arsenius the Lover of Labor.
A monk of Kiev, he never gave himself any rest, but worked without pause. He ate only once a day, at sunset. He lived in asceticism and died in the 14th century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A monk complained to St. Arsenius that, while reading the holy Scriptures, he felt neither the power of the words he read nor any sweetness in his heart. To this the great saint replied: ‘My child, just read! I have heard that snake-charmers, when they cast a spell on the snakes, pronounce words that they themselves do not understand; but the snakes, hearing the words spoken, feel their power and are tamed. So with us, when we constantly keep the words of holy Scripture on our lips; even if we cannot feel their power, the evil spirits, hearing these words, flee in terror, for they cannot abide the word of the Holy Spirit. My child, just read. The Holy Spirit, Who wrote the divine words through those He inspired, will hear and understand, and will hasten to your aid; and the demons will hear and understand, and will flee from you. That is: He Whom you summon to your aid will understand, and he whom you want to drive from you will understand, and both goals will be reached.’
May 22nd – Civil Calendar
May 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Isaias (Isaiah).
This great prophet was of royal birth. He was born in Jerusalem
of Amoz the brother of Amaziah, King of the Jews. By the great grace of God that was within him,
Isaias was made worthy to see the Lord of Sabaoth on His heavenly throne, surrounded by
six-winged seraphim which cried unceasingly: ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord of Sabaoth’ (Is.
6). Isaias prophesied many things, both to individuals and to nations. Once he walked for three
years naked through the streets of Jerusalem, prophesying the imminent fall of the city to the
Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and warning the king and the leaders of the people not to seek help
from Egypt and Ethiopia, because they too would shortly be over-run by the same Sennacherib, but
to seek the aid of the all-seeing God. And this prophecy, like all the rest, was literally
fulfilled (37:31-35). But his most important prophecies were on the incarnation of God, on the
conception of the most pure Mother of God, on John the Baptist and on many events in the life of
Christ. This clairvoyant, because of his pure heart and zeal for God, also received the gift of
working miracles. Thus, when the besieged city of Jerusalem was suffering from thirst, he prayed
to God and water flowed out from beneath the hill of Sion. This water was named Siloam
(‘sent’), and it was to that water that, later, the Lord sent the man born blind, to
wash himself and receive his sight (Is. 8:6; Jn 9:7). In the time of King Manasseh, when Isaias
thundered against the pagan practices of the king and the leaders of the people, comparing that
generation with Sodom and Gomorrah, the anger of the leaders and the people was lifted up against
this great prophet, and he was seized, taken out of Jerusalem and sawn in half. He lived and
prophesied seven hundred years before Christ.
2. St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker of Myra in Lycia.
 On this day is commemorated the
translation of his relics. In the time of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Patriarch
Nicholas Grammatikos, in 1087, the body of this saint was taken from Myra in Lycia to the
town of Bari in Italy. This came to pass because of a Moslem attack on Lycia. The saint
appeared to a priest in Bari and commanded that his relics be taken there. At that time,
the town of Bari was Orthodox and under the administration of an Orthodox patriarch. At the
translation of the saint’s relics, many miracles were wrought on those who touched
them, and a healing myrrh flowed in abundance from them. Also on this day is commemorated
the miracle worked by St. Nicholas on Stefan of Dečani, King of Serbia. This was
when the saint restored the sight of the blind King Stefan.
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3. The Holy Martyr Christopher.
 A great wonder-worker, he is especially venerated in
Spain. His help is invoked particularly against infectious illnesses and great pestilence.
He was martyred for Christ and glorified in 249.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
Every Christian can take on himself some martyrdom for his Faith, both in times of persecution of the Faith and in times of peace. Abba Athanasius says: ‘Be tortured by your conscience, die to sin, be as a dead man on earth, and you will be a martyr by desire. They fought aforetime with kings and princes; you have the king of sin—the devil—and the princes, the demons. Formerly there were idols, heathen temples and those who sacrificed to idols. And these remain as thoughts in the soul. He who is a slave to lust bows down before the idol of Aphrodite. He who is in anger and fury bows down to the idol of Ares. He who is avaricious and blind to the trouble of his neighbor bows down to the idol of Hermes. But if you restrain yourself from all this, and keep yourself from the passions, you have conquered the idols, turned from evil and false belief and become a martyr for the Faith.’ And so, a man does not need to yearn for persecution and martyrdom. Every man in every age can endure martyrdom for the sake of Christ and His Gospel.
May 23th – Civil Calendar
May 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Simon the Zealot.
 One of the twelve great apostles, he
was born in Cana of Galilee. The Lord Jesus came to his wedding with His Mother and His
disciples, and when the wine ran out, the Lord changed water into wine. Seeing this wonder,
the newly-married Simon left his home and parents and bride, to go after Christ. Simon was
called the Zealot because of his great and burning zeal for the Savior and His Gospel.
After receiving the Holy Spirit, he went off to preach the Gospel in Mauretania in Africa.
As a result of his success in bringing many to the Faith of Christ, he was tortured and
finally crucified like his Lord, Who had prepared a crown of glory for him in His immortal
kingdom.
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2. The Holy Martyrs Alphaeus, Philadelphus and Cyprinus.
They were brothers, sons of Vitalius, a governor in southern Italy, and were men of great nobility and strong faith. They were brought to judgement for their faith in Christ and taken from one judge to another, from one torturer to another. They were finally taken to Sicily and killed there, in the time of the Emperor Licinius. Alphaeus had his tongue torn out and died from the loss of blood. Philadelphus was burned in an iron coffin, and Cyprinus in fire. Their incorrupt relics were found in 1517. The three brothers appeared to St. Euthalia (see March 2nd).
3. Our Holy Mother Isidora the Fool for Christ.
She lived in the
fourth century, and was a nun in a women’s monastery in Tabennisi. She pretended to be mad
in order to conceal her virtues and asceticism. She did the dirtiest jobs, fed herself from
left-over scraps from the plates, was the servant of each and all and was despised by everyone.
At that time, an angel of God appeared secretly to the great ascetic Pitirim, and told him about
Isidora. Pitirim came to the monastery, and when he saw Isidora, bowed down to the ground, and
she did the same before him. The sisters told him that she was mad. ‘It is you that are
mad,’ replied Pitirim. ‘She is greater before God than either you or me. I only beg
God to give me also that which is destined for her at the dreadful Judgement!’ Then the
sisters were ashamed, and begged Pitirim and Isidora to forgive them. From that time, they all
began to show honor to Isidora. But she, to escape this honor, fled from the monastery and
finished her monastic life in obscurity in about 365.
4. Blessed Thaïs.
Thaïs was a rich maiden, a Christian, in Egypt. She decided not to marry, but to give her possessions to the hermit monks. But, when she had given away all her goods, she gave herself to a life of debauchery. Hearing of this, the hermits begged Abba John Kolovos to do something, and he went to Alexandria and began to weep in Thaïs’ hearing. When she heard the elder weeping for her sins, she repented at once, left her house and everything she had and went into the desert after the saint. One night when she was sleeping and John was standing in prayer, he saw an angel in a nimbus of light coming down to take Thaïs’ soul. And John saw that her sudden but deep repentance was more pleasing to God than the years-long but shallow repentance of many of the hermits.
FOR CONSIDERATION
In one of his prayers, St. Ephraim the Syrian turns to God with these words: ‘On that dreadful and amazing day, Thou shalt say to us sinners, O Lord: “You men know well what I have undergone for you.... What have you suffered for Me?” What shall I say to that; I who, though penitent, am evil, sinful and polluted? The martyrs will point to their wounds, their sufferings, the severed parts of their bodies, and to their endurance to the end. The ascetics will point to their asceticism, to their long fasts and vigils, to their liberality, their tears and their endurance to the end. But I, idle, sinful, transgressing as I am, what shall I be able to point to? Spare me, O merciful One! Spare me, O Thou Lover of mankind!’
May 24th – Civil Calendar
May 11th – Church Calendar
1. Ss. Kyril and Methodius, Equal to the Apostles.
They were brothers from Thessalonica, of eminent and wealthy
parents, Leo and Maria. The elder brother, Methodius, spent ten years as an officer among the
Slavs in Macedonia, and thus learned the Slavic language. After that, Methodius went off to
Olympus and gave himself to monastic asceticism, and Kyril (Constantine) later joined him there.
When the Khazarite king, Kagan, sought preachers of the Christian Faith from the Emperor Michael,
the emperor commanded that these two brothers be found and sent to the Khazars. They converted
Kagan to the Christian Faith and baptized him, together with a great number of his nobles and an
even greater number of the people. After some time, they returned to Constantinople, where they
compiled a Slavic alphabet of 38 letters and began to translate the service books from Greek into
Glagolitic (the precursor of Slavonic). At the invitation of Prince Rastislav, they went to
Moravia, where, with great devotion, they spread and confirmed the Faith, made more copies of the
books, brought them priests and taught the young. They went to Rome at the invitation of the
pope, and Kyril fell ill and died there, on February 14th, 869. Then Methodius returned to
Moravia and labored at the confirming of the Faith among the Slavs until his death. After his
death, he entered into rest in the Lord on April 6th, 885—his disciples, the Five Followers, with
St. Clement as bishop at the beginning, crossed the Danube and moved towards the south, to
Macedonia, where, from Ochrid, they continued the work among the Slavs that Kyril and Methodius
had begun in the north.
2. The Hieromartyr Mokios.
A Roman by birth, and a priest in Amphipolis in Macedonia, he suffered in the time of Diocletian. He destroyed a statue of the god Dionysos by his prayers, which roused some of the pagans to fury against him but brought others to the Faith. He was beheaded for Christ in 295.
3. St. Nikodim of Peć, Archbishop of Serbia.
This great hierarch was a Serb by birth. He lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain, and was abbot of Hilandar. After the death of Sava the Third, he was chosen as archbishop of ‘all the Serbian lands and those bordering the sea,’ in 1317. He crowned King Milutin in 1321. He also translated the Jerusalem Typikon* into Serbian. In the Preface of this book he says: ‘Almighty God, Who knows our weaknesses, will give us spiritual strength, but only if we first make an effort.’ He sincerely loved the ascetic life, and labored to deepen it in the land of Serbia. He labored tirelessly to uproot the Bogomil heresy and confirm the Orthodox Faith. He entered into rest in the Lord in 1325 and his wonder-working relics are preserved in the monastery at Peć.
* A Typikon is a book of rubrics for the ordering of church services and of monastic life—Translator.
FOR CONSIDERATION
They asked St. Kyril in the Saracen camp: ‘As a Christian, is it possible to wage war and also to fulfill Christ’s command to pray to God for your enemies?’ To this St. Kyril replied: ‘If, in one law, there are two commandments written and given to men to fulfill, which man would the better fulfill the law—he who fulfills one commandment or he who fulfills both?’ To this the Saracens replied: ‘Undoubtedly, he who fulfills both.’ St. Kyril continued: ‘Christ our God commands us to pray to God for all those who persecute us, and to do good to them, but He has also said to us: “Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.” And we therefore submit to the insults that our enemies cast at us individually, and pray to God for them, but as a group we defend one another and lay down our lives for one another, so that you wouldn’t, by enslaving our brothers, take away their souls along with their bodies and kill them off completely.’
May 25th – Civil Calendar
May 12th – Church Calendar
1. St. Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus.
He was born a Jew, but seeing the power of the Christian Faith, was baptized together with his sister, Kallithrope. He became a monk at the age of twenty-six, in the monastery of St. Hilarion. He later founded a monastery of his own, and became famed throughout Palestine and Egypt for his asceticism, his spiritual wisdom and the wonders he worked. Fleeing the praise of men, he went off to Egypt. On the way, he met Paphnutios the Great, who prophesied that he would be a hierarch on the island of Cyprus. And indeed, many years later, by God’s providence, Epiphanios came to Cyprus, where he was unexpectedly chosen as bishop. He became bishop of the town of Salamis at the age of fifty, and governed the Church of God for thirty-six years. In all, he lived nearly ninety years on this earth, and entered into rest from this life to live eternally in the kingdom of Christ. Before his death, he was invited to Constantinople by the Emperor Arkadios and his wife, Evdoxia, for the council of bishops which was forced, at the desire of the emperor and empress, to condemn St. John Chrysostom. Arriving in Constantinople, he came to the emperor’s court, where the emperor and empress talked with him at great length, endeavoring to make him declare against Chrysostom. The citizens and St. Chrysostom heard that Epiphanios had agreed with the emperor against him. Chrysostom therefore wrote him a letter: ‘My brother Epiphanios, I hear that you have advised the emperor that I should be banished: know that you will never again see your episcopal throne.’ To this, Epiphanios wrote in return: ‘John, my suffering brother, withstand insults, but know that you will not reach the place to which you are exiled.’ And these two prophecies of the two saints soon came about. Refusing to agree with the emperor on the exile of Chrysostom, Epiphanios took ship and set off for Cyprus, but died on the voyage. The emperor sent St. Chrysostom into exile in Armenia, but the saint died on the road. Saint Epiphanios entered into rest in the year 403. Of his many writings the best-known is his ‘Medicine Chest,’ in Greek, in which he explains and refutes eighty heresies.
2. St. Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He was the son of the head of the imperial senate, who was killed by the Emperor Constantine Pogonatos. This same wicked emperor castrated the senator’s son, this Germanos, and drove him by force into a monastery. As a monk, Germanos shone like a star by his life of good works. Because of this, he was chosen first as Bishop of Kyzikos (Cyzicus) and then, when Anastasios II became emperor in 715, as Patriarch of Constantinople. As patriarch, he baptized the infamous Kopronymos who, at the time of his Baptism, fouled the water with filth, and the patriarch prophesied that, when he became emperor, he would bring some foul heresy into the Church. And this came to pass. When Kopronymos became emperor, he restored the iconoclast heresy. Leo III the Isaurian, Kopronymos’ father, began the persecution of icons, and when Patriarch Germanos opposed him, the furious Leo cried: ‘I am emperor and priest!’ then deposed Germanos from his throne and sent him into exile to a monastery, where the saint spent ten further years until God called him to Himself in the kingdom of heaven, in 740.
3. The Holy Martyr Pancratius.
He came from Phrygia to Rome, where, as a boy of fourteen, he was martyred for Christ in 304. This saint is much revered in the West. There is a church in Rome dedicated to his name, and his holy relics are preserved there.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Clement of Alexandria quotes a horrible barbaric custom. When they took their enemies captive, he says, they bound them each back-to-back with a dead man, and left the two together thus until the living and the dead rotted together. We might say: ‘Thank God that this barbaric custom has ceased.’ In fact it has not ceased, but holds sway today with undiminished strength. Everyone who binds his living soul to a dead body, a body deadened by passions, is just as barbaric as those who bound a living man to a corpse and left them to rot.
May 26th – Civil Calendar
May 13th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Glykeria.
The daughter of a governor of Rome, she became poor after her father’s death and went to live in Trajanopolis in Thrace. In the time of the wicked Emperor Antoninus, Glykeria was brought to offer sacrifice to the idol of Zeus. She traced the Cross on her forehead, and when the governor asked her where was her lamp (for they all carried lamps in their hands), Glykeria indicated the Cross on her forehead and said: ‘This is my lamp!’ At her prayers, the idol was struck by lightning and broken into pieces. The governor was furious with her and commanded that she be thrown into prison. He sealed the door of the prison, intending to starve the maiden to death, but an angel of God appeared to Glykeria and gave her heavenly food. After a certain time, when the governor reckoned that the maiden must have died of hunger, he opened the prison and was astounded to see her in good health, bright and merry. The warder, Laodicius, seeing this marvel, himself confessed Christ the Lord and was at once beheaded. After that, Glykeria was thrown into a burning furnace, but she remained untouched by the flames. Standing in the midst of the fire, she praised the Lord, commemorating the wonder with the Three Children in the burning fiery furnace in Babylon. Finally, she was thrown to the lions, and praying to God, this holy maiden gave her soul into the hands of the Lord for Whom she had heroically suffered much torture. She suffered with honor in the year 141. A healing myrrh flowed from her relics, which healed the sick of the gravest illnesses.
2. The Holy Martyr Alexander.
He was a Slav, an eighteen-year-old soldier in the army of the Emperor Maximian. He refused to obey the imperial order to offer sacrifice to the Roman idols, because of which it fell to Captain Tiberian to tell him either to deny Christ or be tortured and killed. As all this advice was in vain, Tiberian arrested him and took him through Macedonia to Constantinople, whither he himself had an errand. In every place, the young Alexander was harshly tortured, but in every place also, Christians came out to him, begging his blessing and encouraging him in his sufferings. His mother, Pimenia, followed him. In the course of this journey, Alexander was many times visited by an angel of God, who eased his pains and encouraged him. In one place called Carasura, the martyr worked a miracle by his prayers: when the soldiers who were escorting him were tormented by thirst, he made a spring of cold water come out of a dry place. On the bank of the River Ergina, Tiberian ordered that the executioner behead Alexander and throw his body into the river. When the executioner swung his axe above Alexander’s head, he saw angels of God around him, resplendent with light, and was afraid and stayed his hand. Alexander asked him why he had done this, and he said that he had seen some young men in a nimbus of light surrounding him. Desiring to die and so be united with the Lord, Alexander prayed to God to take the angels away, so that the executioner would not be afraid. And so the executioner completed his work, in 298. Pimenia retrieved the body of her son and gave it burial. There were many healings at the martyr’s grave. After his death, he appeared to his mother and gave her tidings of her own imminent departure to the other world.
3. Our Holy Fathers John, Evthymius, George and Gabriel of Iviron.
They were the founders of the famous Iviron (Georgian) Monastery on the Holy Mountain. St. John (Ioane) lived in asceticism first in the Lavra of Athanasius, and then founded his own monastery, Iviron. He entered into rest in 998. Evthymius (Ekvtime) and George (Giorgi) translated the holy Scriptures into Georgian. Evthymius died in 1028 and George in 1066. Gabriel was found worthy to receive the wonder-working Portaïtissa icon of the Mother of God which was brought to the monastery by the sea.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Athanasius writes thus on the power of the death of Christ and His Cross: ‘Whose death has ever driven away demons? And whose death has ever been the cause of fear to demons, as was the death of Christ? Wherever the name of the Savior is invoked, there the demons are driven out. What has tamed man’s spiritual passions to such an extent that prodigals become chaste and murderers are no longer servants of the sword, and the fearful become brave? Has not the Christian Faith? Has not the sign of the Cross? And what else has so convinced man of immortality as the Cross of Christ and His bodily Resurrection?’ The death of the Sinless One and the Cross of the Lover of mankind have brought a greater and more enduring victory than all the kings of the earth with their milliard soldiers. For when has an army ever overcome one single demon? Only the invocation of the name of the Crucified puts the armies of demons to flight. Oh, when will all Christians know what riches they have in the name of Christ, and what a weapon in His Cross?
May 27th – Civil Calendar
May 14th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Isidore.
In the reign of the Emperor Decius, this Isidore was taken by force by soldiers from the island of Chios. He had held the Christian Faith from his youth, and had spent his life in fasting, prayer and good works. So when, in the army, he declared himself to be a Christian, the commander took him to task for it, and urged him to deny Christ and offer sacrifice to idols. The saint replied: ‘Even if you kill my body, you have no power over my soul. I have the true and living God, Jesus Christ, Who lives in me and will be with me at my death; and I am in Him and shall remain in Him, and will not cease to confess His holy name while the spirit is in my body.’ The commander ordered that they first beat him with iron flails and then cut out his tongue. But, even without his tongue, Isidore was able to speak, and confessed the name of Christ by the Spirit of God. Meanwhile the punishment of God struck the commander, and he suddenly became mute. The mute commander finally gave the signal to behead Isidore. Isidore rejoiced at this sentence, and praising God, went out to the scaffold, where his head was cut off in the year 251. His friend, Ammon, buried his body, and after that, himself suffered and received the wreath of martyrdom.
2. Our Holy Father Serapion the Sindonite.
‘Sindon’ means ‘linen cloth,’ and this saint was called ‘the Sindonite’ because he covered his naked body only with a linen cloth. He carried the Gospels in his hand. Serapion lived like the birds, with no roof and no cares, moving from one place to another. He gave his linen cloth to a poor wretch who was shivering with cold, and himself remained completely naked. When someone asked him: ‘Serapion, who made you naked?’ he indicated the Gospels and said: ‘This!’ But, after that, he gave away the Gospels also for the money needed by a man who was being hounded to prison by a creditor for a debt. At one time in Athens, he did not eat for four days, having nothing, and began to cry out with hunger. When the Athenian philosophers asked him what he was shouting about, he replied: ‘There were three to whom I was in debt: two have quieted down, but the third is still tormenting me.’ The crowd was roused to aid him. They asked him who these were who were tormenting him. He replied: ‘The first creditor is carnal lust, which has tormented me from my youth; the second is love of money, and the third is the stomach. The first two have left me alone, but the third one still torments me.’ The philosophers gave him some gold to buy bread. He went to a baker, bought a single loaf, put down all the gold and went out. He went peacefully to the Lord in old age, in the 5th century.
3. Blessed Isidore the Fool for Christ.
He was of German birth. Going to Rostov from an attraction to the Orthodox Faith, he not only became a member of the Orthodox Church but took on himself the strict asceticism of folly for Christ. He lived in rags, spending the day pretending madness, and through this madness, teaching men; and spending the nights in prayer. He spent these nights in a hut outside the town, built in a lonely swamp. Great and mighty wonders were performed by this saint, both during his lifetime and after his death. He appeared to a merchant who had been thrown out of his ship and was drowning. Isidore came to him through the water and led him to the shore. He caused the wine in all the containers to dry up one day, when the servants had driven him from the door of the Prince of Rostov without giving him a single cup of water. When he died in his hut on May 24th, 1484, the whole of Rostov was aware of a fragrant aroma. The merchant who had been saved from the sea built a church in the place where the hut had stood.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A sin that is a cause of scandal to others is a twofold sin. A wise man tries to ensure that he gives scandal to no one by his sinful example and leads another into sin. St. Ambrose applauds such wisdom in the Emperor Valentinian, who died young, in this example from his life: ‘The emperor, hearing that he was being talked of all over Rome as a passionate hunter of wild beasts—which he, in fact, was not—and that this passion was taking the emperor away from his duties of state, immediately commanded that all the wild beasts in his forests be destroyed. Hearing, on another occasion, that some malicious person was spreading word that he lunched early (wanting by this to make him out to be a glutton), he took on himself a very strict fast, both publicly and privately. At public meals, he was rarely seen to put a morsel of food into his mouth. When, again, his sisters were in dispute with a man over some land, the emperor, although he had the right to try the case himself, submitted it to trial in open court, so that he could not be accused of partiality.’ Truly this devout emperor kept with godly fear to the words of the Lord: ‘Woe to him that causes offence to one of these little ones.’
May 28th – Civil Calendar
May 15th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Pachomios the Great.
He was an Egyptian by birth and was a pagan in his
youth. As a soldier, he took part in the Emperor Constantine’s war against Maxentius. After
that, learning from Christians about the one God and seeing their devout life, Pachomios was
baptized and went to the Tabennisiot desert, to the famous ascetic Palamon, with whom he lived in
asceticism for ten years. Then an angel appeared to him in the robes of a monk of the Great Habit
at the place called Tabennisi and gave him instructions on the rule of a cenobitic monastery,
commanding him to found such a monastery in that place and prophesying to him that many monks
would come to it seeking the salvation of their souls. Obeying the angel of God, Pachomios began
building many cells, although there was no one in that place but himself and his brother John.
When his brother grumbled at him for doing this unnecessary building, Pachomios simply told him
that he was following God’s command, without explaining who would live there, or when. But
many men soon assembled in that place, moved by the Spirit of God, and began to live in
asceticism under the rule that Pachomios had received from the angel. When the number of monks
had increased greatly, Pachomios, step by step, founded six further monasteries. The number of
his disciples grew to seven thousand. St. Anthony is regarded as the founder of the eremitic
life, and St. Pachomios of the monastic, communal life. The humility, love of toil and abstinence
of this holy father were and remain a rare example for the imitation of monks. St. Pachomios
performed innumerable miracles, and also endured innumerable temptations from demons and men. And
he served men as both father and brother. He roused many to set out on the way of salvation, and
brought many into the way of truth. He was and remains a great light in the Church and a great
witness to the truth and righteousness of Christ. He entered peacefully into rest in 346, at the
age of sixty. The Church recognizes many of his followers as saints: Theodore, Job, Paphnutios,
Pecusius, Athenodorus, Eponichus, Soutus, Psois, Dionysius, Petronius and others.
2. St. Achillios, Bishop of Larissa.
This great hierarch and wonder-worker was born in Cappadocia. He took part in the First Ecumenical Council, at which he put the heretics to shame, and both by his great learning and his great purity, gave cause for much wonder. Taking up a stone, Achillios called to the Arians: ‘If Christ is a creature of God, as you say, tell oil to flow from this stone.’ The heretics kept silent, amazed at this demand by St. Achillios. Then the saint continued: ‘And if the Son of God is equal to the Father, as we believe, then let oil flow from this stone.’ And oil flowed out, to the amazement of all. St. Achillios entered peacefully into rest in Larissa in the year 330. Samuel, King of Macedonia, when he conquered Thessaly, translated the relics of Achillios to Prespa, to an island in a lake that was named, and is called to this day, Achillios or Ailus.
3. Our Holy Father Silvanos.
He was at first a comedian, mimicking each and all, but then, inflamed by the love of Christ, he became a disciple of St. Pachomios. ‘I would be ready to give my life,’ he said, ‘to receive the forgiveness of my sins.’
FOR CONSIDERATION
When a tyrant exercises tyranny over a righteous man from covetousness, then the tyrant brings both a gain and a loss: a loss for the tyrant and a gain for him who suffers the tyranny. Boris Godunov murdered the eight-year-old Tsarevich Dimitri in order to seize the throne without a rival. The days of his reign were quickly ended, and the tyrant was given over to corruption and damnation; but Dimitri was sanctified. After lying in the grave for fifteen years, Dimitri’s body was found to be incorrupt and wonder-working. There are forty-five miracles of healing recorded over his grave. Whose, then, was the loss and whose the gain from this tyranny? If the tyrant thought that he would, by tyranny, help his opponent to be included in the ranks of the saints and would prepare destruction and damnation for himself, he would change his mind about his planned tyranny. But wrong thinking is the forerunner and companion of tyranny.
May 29th – Civil Calendar
May 16th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Theodore the Sanctified.
He was a disciple of St. Pachomios, being born and growing up an unbeliever. Coming to the true Faith as a young man, he was baptized, and having heard of St. Pachomios, fled to him in his monastery, unknown to his parents. St. Pachomios made him a monk and came to love him for his rare zeal and his obedience. When his mother came to fetch him back home, he would not let her see him, but prayed to God to enlighten her with the truth. And indeed, his mother not only did not take her son back home, but herself did not return. Seeing a women’s monastery close by, ruled by Pachomios’ sister, she entered it and was tonsured. After a certain time, Paphnutios, Theodore’s brother, also came to the monastery and was tonsured. It once happened that the Bishop of Panopolis invited Pachomios to build a monastery for the many people who were desirous of the monastic life. Pachomios took Theodore with him, and entrusted to him the duty of building the monastery. Upon Pachomios’ death, Theodore became abbot of all Pachomios’ monasteries and lived until great old age, guiding a multitude of monks on the way of salvation. He entered peacefully into rest and went to the kingdom of eternal light in the year 368.
2. The Blessed Maiden Musa.
St. Gregory the Dialogist relates of her that she was a mere nine years old when the most holy Mother of God appeared to her on two occasions, surrounded by virgins bathed in light. When Musa expressed her desire to be included in the resplendent company of the Queen of heaven, the Mother of God told her that she would come for her and take her within a month, outlining for her how she should spend those thirty days. On the twenty-fifth day, Musa took to her bed and on the thirtieth day the most pure and holy Mother again appeared to her, calling to her in a quiet voice, to which Musa replied: ‘Here I am waiting, my Lady! I’m ready!’ and she breathed forth her spirit. She passed from this life to life eternal in the fifth century.
3. St. Nicholas Mystikos, Patriarch of Constantinople.
‘Mystikos’ signifies the senior member of the imperial council. This saint was such at first, then a high-ranking courtier, but after this he forsook the vanity of the world and was tonsured. He was renowned for the rare austerity of his life. The Emperor Leo VI had married four times, and the patriarch therefore forbade him entry to the church, and the priests who had married him were defrocked. The emperor cast the patriarch out and drove him into a monastery. The delegates of the Roman Pontiff, Sergius III, gave their approval to the emperor’s fourth marriage, but when the emperor died, Nicholas was restored to the patriarchal throne and called a council in 925, at which fourth marriages were in general forbidden to Christians. He died peacefully in 930.
4. The Holy New-Martyr Nicholas.
He was born in Metsovon of Epirus,
of pious parents. He left home while quite young and traveled to Trikala, where he found
employment with a Turkish baker. There he denied the Faith and embraced Islam. He then returned
home and repented. A neighbor of his former employer came upon Nicholas one day and discovered
his return to Christianity. He blackmailed Nicholas for several years. Finally, Nicholas decided
that his succumbing to this blackmail was tantamount to further denying Christ, and he became
determined to become a martyr to correct his denial of Christ. He confessed his intentions to his
parish priest, who advised him not to proceed with his plan, lest he be unable to endure their
tortures and fall a second time. Nicholas was determined, however, and his priest blessed and
strengthened him for his ordeal. Nicholas then traveled back to Trikala, where he refused to pay
his blackmailer any further. He was brought before the Turkish judge for having embraced and then
renounced Islam. He was beaten with rods, and finally burned alive in Trikala on May 16, 1617. He
was twenty-six years old. A pious Christian secretly recovered his skull from the ashes, and hid
it in the wall of a house he was building at the time. Later, a man named Melandros bought the
house. Every year, for several years, on the day of Nicholas’ martyrdom, Melandros beheld a
strange light emanating from the wall of the house. He received a divine revelation in his sleep,
disclosing that at the place the light appeared was hidden the holy skull of Nicholas the Martyr.
Melandros dug into the wall where he had beheld the light, and found the martyr’s relics. Feeling
himself unworthy to possess such a treasure, he turned it over to his brother, a monk at a
monastery of Meteora. The martyr’s head is preserved to this day in one of the monasteries
of the Meteora in Thessaly, and performs many miracles, heals the gravest sicknesses and is
particularly renowned for driving locusts from crops.
5. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs of St. Sava’s.
In the time of the Emperor Herakleios, in about 610, forty-four monks of the community of St. Sava the Sanctified suffered for the Christian Faith. Their heroism and sufferings were recorded by St. Antiochus (Dec. 24th).
FOR CONSIDERATION
When Theodore the Sanctified was in Panopolis with his spiritual father, St. Pachomios, a philosopher came to him and sought to dispute with him about faith. The philosopher posed these three questions to Theodore: ‘Who was not born, but died? Who was born, but did not die? And who died, but did not decay?’ To those questions, St. Theodore made answer: ‘Adam was not born, but died. Enoch was born, but did not die. Lot’s wife died, but did not decay.’ The saint added this advice to the philosopher: ‘Take note of this sound advice of ours: shun vain questionings and scholastic syllogisms; draw near to Christ, Whom we serve, and you will receive the forgiveness of your sins.’ The philosopher was rendered speechless by such a shrewd answer, and went away ashamed. From this, one sees clearly the difference between a pagan philosopher and a Christian saint. The one loses himself in abstractions, in skilful juggling with words, in contests of logic and mental gymnastics, while the other centers his whole mind on the living God and on the salvation of his soul. The one is abstract and dead; the other is practical and alive.
May 30th – Civil Calendar
May 17th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Andronicus.
One of the Seventy, he was a kinsman of the Apostle Paul, as Paul wrote (Rom. 16:17), remembering also St. Junia, Andronicus’ helper. Andronicus was made Bishop of Pannonia, and did not stay in one place, but preached the Gospel throughout the whole of Pannonia. With St. Junia, he was successful in bringing many to Christ and in demolishing many temples of idolatry. Both of them had the grace of wonder-working, by which they drove out demons and healed every sort of sickness and disease. They both suffered for Christ, and thus received a twofold crown: of apostleship and of martyrdom. Their holy relics were found in the excavations in Evgenios (see Feb. 2nd).
2. The Holy Martyr Solochon.
He was an Egyptian by birth, and a Roman soldier under the commander Campanus, in the reign of the wicked Emperor Maximian. When the imperial command that all soldiers offer sacrifice to idols arrived, Solochon revealed that he was a Christian. Two of his friends, Pamphamir and Pamphylon, also did the same. The commander ordered that they be beaten and tortured with great harshness, under which St. Pamphamir and St. Pamphylon breathed their last. Solochon remained alive, and was put to new torture: the commander ordered the soldiers to force his teeth open with a sword and stuff his mouth with food sacrificed to idols. The martyr broke the iron with his teeth and did not receive the foul, idolatrous sacrifice. Finally, they stabbed him with a quill through both ears and left him thus to die. Christians took the martyr and carried him to the home of a widow, where he gained a little strength with food and drink, and continued to give counsel to the faithful to be steadfast in their faith and in torture for it. After this, he breathed a thanksgiving to God, finished his earthly course and went to the kingdom of heaven, to the Lord Whom he had served so faithfully, in the year 298.
FOR CONSIDERATION
After a terrible earthquake in Antioch, St. John Chrysostom said to the people: ‘Great are the fruits of the earthquake. Behold, the Lord, Who loves mankind, Who shakes the city but confirms the souls; Who makes the foundations tremble but strengthens the thoughts; Who demonstrates the weakness of the city but makes the will strong! Behold His love for men: He makes to sway for a little, and makes strong forever. The earthquake lasts for two days, but the devotion will remain for all time; sorrow endures for a season, but strength is forever. A mother who wants to wean her child from frequent crying rocks the cradle strongly, not in order to kill it but to frighten it. Precisely thus, the Lord, Who holds His universe in His hand, shakes it—not in order to destroy it, but to bring those who love lawlessness back to salvation.’ This is how the holy fathers, the pillars of the universal Church, knew how to explain by God’s love for man both assaults and blessings, both misfortunes and pleasures. Let us be ashamed of our slowness in thanking God when He gives, and of our quickness in grumbling at Him when He takes away.
May 31st – Civil Calendar
May 18th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Theodotus, and the seven maiden martyrs: Tecusa, Alexandra, Claudia, Favina, Euphrasia, Matrona and Julia.
Theodotus was a married man and an innkeeper in Ankyra in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. Although he was married, he lived according to the words of the apostle: ‘They who have wives be as though they did not have’ (I Cor. 7:29). But he kept the inn open, in order to be able unsuspectedly to help Christians, and his inn was a refuge for persecuted Christians. Theodotus secretly sent help to the Christian refugees in the mountains, and secretly gathered the bodies of those who had been killed, giving them burial. At that time, seven maidens were taken for trial and tortured for Christ. They were tortured, mocked and then thrown into a lake. One of them, St. Tecusa, appeared to St. Theodotus and told him to take her body out of the lake and bury it. Under cover of night, Theodotus set off with a companion to carry out the martyr’s wishes, and led by an angel of God, succeeded in finding all seven bodies and burying them. But this friend betrayed him to the authorities and the judge put him to harsh torture. Theodotus endured all the tortures as though not in his own body, having his whole mind steeped in God. When the torturers had made his body one great wound and broken his teeth with stones, it was ordered that he be beheaded. When he was taken to the scaffold, many Christians wept for him, but St. Theodotus said to them: ‘Don’t weep for me, my brethren, but glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whose aid I am finishing my course and overcoming the enemy.’ Saying this, he laid his head on the block under the sword and was beheaded, in the year 303. A priest buried the martyr’s body on a hill outside the city and a church dedicated to St. Theodotus was later built on the site.
2. The Holy Martyrs Peter, Dionysius, Andrew, Paul and Christina.
Peter was a young and gifted man; Dionysius was a nobleman; Andrew and Paul were soldiers; and Christina was a sixteen-year-old girl. They all courageously confessed Christ the Lord and underwent torture and death for His name in the year 250. One Nicomachus, who was tortured with them, denied Christ under torture, and instantly lost his mind, tearing at his body with his teeth and foaming at the mouth until he breathed his last.
3. The Holy Martyrs Herakleios, Paulinos and Benedimos.
They were Athenians, and suffered for the Faith in the time of Decius. They were thrown into a burning furnace for the name of Christ.
4. St. Stephen, Patriarch of Constantinople.
The son of the Emperor Basil the Macedonian and brother of Leo the Wise, he came to the patriarchal throne after Photius, and governed the Church of God from 886 to 893. He died peacefully, and went to the Lord Whom he had greatly loved.
FOR CONSIDERATION
To hide one’s virtues and ascetic practices has been normal with ascetics, not only in the first periods of Christianity but also through the ages to the present day. Evdokia, the wife of the famous Prince Dimitri of the Don, the liberator of Russia from the Tartars, was left a widow in 1389, while still fairly young. Imbued with devotion, this princess built churches, gave alms and secretly wore her body out with fastings and vigils. She wore iron chains around her body. However, she showed a smiling face to the world and dressed luxuriously, decking herself with pearls. The world said all sorts of things about her; voices began to be raised about her immoral life. Her sons came to hear about this, and insultingly and bitterly told their mother openly what was being said about her. Their mother undid her luxurious robe and her sons saw, with great amazement, her body all shrivelled and dried up, and bound with iron chains.
June 1st – Civil Calendar
May 19th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Patrick, Bishop of Prousa, with three priests: Akakios, Menander and Polyenos.
They suffered for the Christian Faith in the time of Julian the Apostate in Asian Prousa. The imperial governor, Junius, brought Patrick to a hot water spring and asked him: ‘Who created this healing water, if not our gods, Aesculapius and the others, whom we worship?’ St. Patrick answered: ‘Your gods are demons; and this water, like all other water, was created by Christ, our Lord and God.’ Then the governor asked: ‘And will this Christ of yours save you if I throw you into this boiling water?’ The saint replied: ‘If He wills, He can keep me whole and uninjured, although I would wish, in this water, to be parted from this temporal life, that I may live eternally with Christ; but let His holy will be done, without which not a hair of a man’s head can fall.’ Hearing this, the governor ordered that Patrick be thrown into the water. The boiling drops fell on all sides, and scalded many of the onlookers, but the saint remained untouched, as though he were standing in cold water. Seeing this, the governor was wild with shame and commanded that Patrick and three of his priests be beheaded with axes. So these goodly followers of Christ said their prayers and laid their heads under the executioner’s axe. When they had been beheaded, their souls were taken merrily to Christ’s kingdom of light, to reign eternally.
2. St. John, Bishop of the Goths.
He was bishop in Georgia, but when a local Tartar khan began to torture the Christians, he went off and spent four years among the Goths in Bessabara (a Gothic diocese formed in the time of Constantine the Great). Hearing of the death of the khan, he returned to his work and guided his flock with zeal and godliness. Before his death, he said: ‘In forty days I shall go to judgement with the khan’ (that is: through death, he was going before the throne of God). And thus it was. On the fortieth day, he passed away and went to the Lord. He entered peacefully into rest in the 8th century.
3. The Holy Prince Ivan of Vologda.
He was a wonder-worker. God-fearing and devout from his youth, he was thrown into prison by his uncle, Ivan Vasillievitch, together with his brother Dimitri, spending thirty-two years there. Ivan became a monk before his death, receiving the name Ignatius.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Peter of Damascus laments, “I begin to see that my soul is being destroyed, and yet I make no effort to embark on a godly life. Why, O my soul, are you so indifferent about yourself? Why, when you sin, are you not as ashamed before God and His angels as you are before men? Alas, alas, for I do not feel the shame before my Creator and Master that I feel before a man. Before a man I cannot sin, but do all I can to appear to be acting righteously; yet standing before God I think evil thoughts and often am not ashamed to speak of them. What madness! Though I sin, I have no fear of God Who watches me, and yet I cannot tell to a single man what I have done so as to give him a chance to correct me. Alas, for I know the punishment and yet am unwilling to repent. I love the heavenly kingdom, and yet do not acquire virtue. I believe in God and constantly disobey His commandments. I hate the devil, and yet do not stop doing what he wants. If I pray, I lose interest and become unfeeling. If I fast, I become proud, and damn myself all the more. If I keep vigil, I think I have achieved something, and so I have no profit from it. If I read, I do one of two evil things in my obduracy: either I read for the sake of profane learning and self-esteem, and so am further benighted; or by reading, and not acting in the spirit of what I read, simply increase my guilt. If by God’s grace I happen to stop sinning in outward action, I do not stop sinning continually in what I say. And if God’s grace should protect me also from this, I continue to provoke His wrath by my evil thoughts. Alas, what can I do? Wherever I go, I find sin. Everywhere there are demons. Despair is worst of all. I have provoked God, I have saddened His angels, I have frequently injured and offended men.
“I desired, O Lord, to erase the record of my sins by tears, and through repentance to live the rest of my life according to Thy will. But the enemy deceives me and battles with my soul. Before I perish utterly, O Lord, save me.”
June 2nd – Civil Calendar
May 20th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Thallaleus (Thalelaios).
He was born in Lebanon. His father’s name was Berucius and his mother’s was Romylia. He was an eighteen-year-old youth, handsome and well-grown and with ginger hair. A doctor by profession, he suffered for Christ in the reign of Numerian. When he courageously confessed his faith in Christ the Lord before the judge, the latter commanded the two executioners, Alexander and Asterios, to bore through his knees, pass a rope through the pierced bone and hang him from a tree. But the executioners, as though the unseen power of God had deprived them of sight, bored through a plank and hung it on the tree. When the judge discovered this, he thought that the executioners had done it deliberately, and ordered that they be flogged. Then Alexander and Asterios cried out under the flogging: ‘The Lord is alive to us; from now on, we are become Christians. We believe in Christ, and suffer for Him.’ Hearing this, the judge ordered that they be beheaded. Then the judge took the awl, to bore through Thallaleus’ knees himself, but his hand was paralysed and he had to ask Thallaleus to heal him, which the kindly martyr, with Christ’s aid, did by his prayers. Then he was thrown into water, but showed himself alive to the judge (for Thallaleus was praying within himself that God would not have him die at once, but would let his tortures continue). When he was thrown to the wild beasts, they licked his feet and rubbed tamely round him. He was finally beheaded and entered into eternal life in 284.
2. The Holy Martyr Asklas.
He suffered in Antionus, a town in Egypt, in the time of Diocletian. He was flogged, flayed and burned with torches, but remained to the end steadfast in the Faith. When the torturer, Arrianos, was crossing the Nile by boat, Asklas, by his prayers, stopped the boat and would not let it move again until Arrianos had put in writing that he believed in Christ as the one, almighty God. But, dismissing that wonder as magic, Arrianos the torturer forgot all that he had written and continued to torture the man of God even more harshly. At last, Asklas had a stone tied around his neck and he was thrown into the Nile. But, on the third day, Christians found his body on the bank, with the stone still round his neck (as the martyr had foretold to them before his death), and gave him burial, in 287. The holy martyr Leonidas suffered together with him. Their torturer, Arrianos, repented later, came to believe in Christ with his whole heart and began to proclaim his faith publicly before the heathen. They then killed him also; and thus Arrianos, the sometime torturer of Christians, became worthy of the martyr’s wreath for Christ.
3. Our Holy Father Stefan of Piperi.
This saint was of the tribe of Nikšić, from the village of Župa, of poor and devout parents, Radoje and Yacima. To learn the ascetic life, he lived first in the monastery of Morača, where he became abbot. The Turks drove him out of there, and he settled in Rovaski Turmanj, in the place now called Celište. After that, he moved again and settled in a cell at Piperi, where he remained to his death in toil and godly asceticism. He entered peacefully into rest in the Lord on May 20th, 1697. His relics are preserved there to this day, and glorify Christ our God and Stefan the man of God by their many wonders.
FOR CONSIDERATION
When a man acquires a Christian conscience, he strives with zeal to set his life aright and to be pleasing to God. All else becomes for him of lesser value. We have examples of such men, not only among the great ascetics and spiritual teachers, but also among mighty kings. The Emperor Theodosios the Great offers us one such example. He at one time fell into heresy, but afterwards repented. In his funeral oration over Theodosios’ body, St. Ambrose said: ‘I loved this man, who, stripping himself of all imperial symbols, publicly bewailed his sin in church, and with sighs and tears, begged for forgiveness. That which a poor man might be ashamed to do was not shame to the emperor. After gaining a glorious victory over the enemies of the empire, he vowed not to receive holy Communion until the return of his sons, because his enemies had been killed in battle.’
June 3rd – Civil Calendar
May 21st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Emperor Constantine and the Empress Helena.
Constantine’s parents were the Emperor Constantius
Chlorus and the Empress Helena. Chlorus had further children by another wife, but by Helena he
had only the one, Constantine. Constantine fought two great battles when he came to the throne:
one against Maxentius, a tyrant in Rome, and the other against Licinius not far from Byzantium.
At the battle against Maxentius, when Constantine was in great anxiety and uncertainty about his
chances of success, a shining cross, surrounded by stars, appeared to him in the sky in full
daylight. On the cross were written the words: ‘In this sign, conquer!’ The wondering
emperor ordered that a great cross be put together, like the one that had appeared, and be
carried before the army. He also ordered all of his soldiers to paint crosses on their shields.
By the power of the Cross, he gained a glorious victory over enemies greatly superior in number.
Maxentius drowned himself in the Tiber. Immediately after this, Constantine issued the famous
Edict of Milan, in 313, to put an end to the persecution of Christians. Conquering Byzantium, he
built a beautiful capital city on the Bosphorus, which from that time was named
Constantinople.
When there was discord in the Church about the troublesome heretic Arius, the emperor summoned the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, in 325, where the heresy was condemned and Orthodoxy confirmed. St. Helena, the emperor’s devout mother, was very zealous for the Christian Faith. She visited Jerusalem and found the Precious Cross of the Lord, and built the Church of the Resurrection over Golgotha and many other churches in the Holy Land. This holy woman went to the Lord in 327, at the age of eighty. The Emperor Constantine outlived his mother by ten years and entered into rest at the age of about sixty in 337, in the city of Nikomedia. His body was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.
2. Our Holy Father, the New-Martyr Pachomius.
Born in Little Russia, he was taken by the Tartars as a boy and sold to a Turkish tanner as a slave. He spent twenty-seven years in slavery in Usaki in Asia Minor, and was forced to embrace Islam. He went off to the Holy Mountain, became a monk and spent twelve years near the monastery of St. Paul. He resolved to suffer for Christ. His spiritual elder, Joseph, sent him off to Usaki, where he showed himself to his former owner as a Christian, wearing his monastic schema. The Turks gave him over to torture, then threw him into prison and finally beheaded him on May 8th, 1730, on Ascension Day. Many miracles were wrought by his blood and his relics. His body was buried on the island of Patmos in the Church of St. John the Theologian. Thus this villager from Little Russia became a martyr and wears the wreath in the kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
We see that vice is something shameful and sinful, and that it always hides itself and always takes on the semblance of good works. St. John Chrysostom says most beautifully: ‘Vice has not got its own, personal face, but borrows the face of good deeds.’ The Savior also said: ‘(they) come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves’ (Matt. 7:15). Call a liar a liar, and a thief a thief; a murderer a murderer, an immoral man an immoral man and a slanderer a slanderer, and you will anger them. Call any man honest, honorable, selfless, truthful, just, conscientious, and you’ll please and content him. Again I quote St. Chrysostom: ‘Good works are something natural to man, while vice is something unnatural and false.’ If a man is seized by some vice, he quickly justifies it by some good work, clothing it in the garment of good deeds. Truly, vice does not have its own, personal face, and neither has the devil, the father of vice.
June 4th – Civil Calendar
May 22nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Vasiliskos.
A kinsman of St. Theodore the Tyro, he was martyred together with Eftropios and Kleonikos (March 3rd). When these two were crucified and gave up the spirit, Vasiliskos was taken back to prison. A change of governors occurring at this time, Vasiliskos remained a long time confined in prison. He besought God with tears that He would not deprive him of a martyr’s death for His sake. After he had prayed at length, the Lord Jesus appeared to him and promised to fulfill his desire, sending him to his village to say farewell to his mother and brothers. Thereupon the new governor, Agrippa, arrived and sent to have Vasiliskos brought from the village immediately. On the way to the city of Amaseia, the Lord worked great wonders through His martyr, bringing many of the people to faith in Christ. Agrippa ordered the martyr to offer sacrifice to Apollyon. ‘“Apollyon” means “Destroyer”,’ said Vasiliskos, and with fervent prayer, he knocked the idol to dust and burned the temple with fire from heaven. The terrified Agrippa attributed this all to magic, and ordered that Vasiliskos be beheaded with the sword. Agrippa immediately became insane, and in his madness, went to the place of execution, found a little of the martyr’s blood in the dust and smeared it on himself under his belt, being restored to health by it. Having come to his senses, he was baptized. Later, a certain Marinus, a citizen of Comana (the place of Vasiliskos’ execution) built a church over the martyr’s relics, and many of the sick found healing there.
2. The Holy Martyr John (Jovan) Vladimir, King of Serbia.
He came of a princely family from Zahumlje. His grandfather was named Hvalimir and his father Petrislav. He was a wise ruler—merciful, meek, chaste and courageous. He was fervent in prayer and a devoted builder and benefactor of churches. But he had major battles to fight, both inside and outside his realm; internally with heretics and Bogomils, and externally with invaders, with King Samuel of Bulgaria and the Emperor Basil. Samuel captured him by guile and threw him into prison. While he was in prison, an angel of God appeared to him and foretold that he would soon be released from prison, but that he would die a martyr’s death. Getting to know Vladimir better, Samuel became attached to him and gave him his daughter Kosara in marriage. When Samuel died, his son Radomir became king, but his twin brother Radislav killed him and then summoned Vladimir on some pretext and beheaded him as well, in 1015. The relics of this holy martyr-king are preserved incorrupt in his monastery near Elbasan, and numerous wonders have been worked over them through the ages and to this day. In 1925, a church was built to this royal martyr near the monastery of St. Naum, which famous monastery he founded.
3. The Second Ecumenical Council.
This council was held in Constantinople in 381, in the time of the Emperor Theodosios the Great. Its purpose was to confirm the teaching of the Orthodox Church about the Holy Spirit. Makedonios (Macedonius), Bishop of Constantinople (d. 362), had taught wrongly that the Holy Spirit is God’s creature and not a divine Person, equal to the Persons of the Father and the Son and one in being with Them. Makedonios was condemned by this council and the Nicene Creed was amplified with teaching on the Holy Spirit.
4. Holy and Righteous Melchisedek, King of Salem.
 He was a contemporary of our
forefather Abraham. According to the Apostle Paul, he was, as king and priest, a type of
the Lord Jesus (Heb. 7).
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FOR CONSIDERATION
How was Moses able to fast for forty days? How were many Christian ascetics able to live, and live long, with prolonged periods of abstinence from food and drink? A carnal man, unacquainted with the spiritual life, finds this impossible to believe. It is impossible to prove it to him, for it can be understood only from experience. When St. Vasiliskos’ torturers left him for three days without food or water, and then urged him to eat, he refused, saying that he was not hungry. ‘I am,’ he said, ‘filled with immortal nourishment and will not receive mortal food. Earthly bread feeds you, but I am fed by the heavenly word of God; the universe gives you wine, but I receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. You are nourished by meat, but I by fasting; bodily power strengthens you, but me the Cross of Christ; gold enriches you, but me the love of Christ; clothing beautifies you, but me good works. You are made merry by laughter, but I am comforted in my spirit through prayer.’ Behold this man, one of many, in whom the words of Christ are confirmed: ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’ (Matt. 4:4).
June 5th – Civil Calendar
May 23rd – Church Calendar
1. St. Michael, Bishop of Synnada.
From his childhood, this wise and holy hierarch consecrated himself to the service of Christ. He labored in asceticism together with Saint Theophylact of Nikomedia. Once, in a time of drought, these two holy men caused an abundance of rain to fall on the earth by their prayers. Because of the life of asceticism and chastity that Michael had led from his early youth, he was chosen and consecrated by Patriarch Tarasios as Bishop of Synnada. He took part in the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787. At the wish of the emperor, he visited Caliph Harun al-Rashid to conduct peace negotiations. In the time of the wicked Emperor Leo the Armenian, he was deposed from his episcopal throne for his veneration of the holy icons and sent into exile, where he died in want and poverty, faithful to Orthodoxy to the end. He entered into the kingdom of Christ the King in 818.
2. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Michael.
On the death of his parents, this Michael gave all his goods away to orphans and went on pilgrimage to the holy places in Jerusalem. He then entered the monastic community of St. Sava the Sanctified and became a monk. Although quite young and ruddy of face, he became withered and pale from much fasting. At that time, the Arabs held sway over Jerusalem. It once happened that Michael’s spiritual father sent him to the town to sell some handwork. A eunuch of an Arab princess met him on the street and took him to the princess to display his wares. When the princess beheld the handsome monk, she began to burn with an impure lust, and proposed to the monk a carnal sin such as Potiphar’s wife once proposed to chaste Joseph. When Michael refused her impure suggestion and turned to flee, the enraged princess gave orders that he be beaten with staves and taken to the sultan with the false accusation of blasphemy against Mohammed. The sultan urged him to accept Islam, but he refused. They gave him strong poison, hoping to kill him, but he drank it all up with no ill-effect at all. Then the sultan commanded that he be slain with the sword in the center of Jerusalem. The monks found his body and carried it to St. Sava’s monastery, where they gave it burial. St. Michael suffered for Christ and was glorified in the 9th century.
3. Our Holy Mother Ephrosyne, Princess of Polotsk.
She was the daughter of Prince Vseslav of Polotsk. When her parents wished her to be married, she ran away to a monastery and became a nun. An angel of the Lord appeared to her three times to show her the place where she was to build a new monastery for virgins. She brought her own sister, Evdokia, into monasticism and many other young girls from the ranks of the aristocracy. One kinswoman of hers, Zvenislava, a princess of Borisov, brought all her wealth, clothing and precious jewels, and said: ‘I count all the beauty of this world as naught, and wish to give these fine things, prepared for my marriage, to the Church of the Savior. And I desire to espouse myself to Him in a spiritual marriage, and to bow my head beneath His good and light yoke.’ Ephrosyne professed her too, and gave her the name Evpraxia. In old age, Ephrosyne evinced a desire to die in Jerusalem, and prayed for this boon. God heard her prayer, and she did indeed die in the monastery of St. Theodosius in Jerusalem on May 23rd, 1173, during a visit there.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A spiritual man interprets all creation and all natural phenomena in a spiritual and symbolic way, and draws from all things something useful to his soul. Some of the brethren once came to St. John Kolovos and began to speak of how the welcome rain had come and watered the palm trees, and how the new branches on the trees had begun to swell, so that the monks would have material for their handwork. St. John became lost in thought for a while, and then said: ‘Even so does the Holy Spirit descend into the hearts of the saints, and they are renewed and put forth the shoots of the fear of God.’
June 6th – Civil Calendar
May 24th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Simeon the Stylite of the Wondrous Mountain.
This wondrous and holy man was born in Antioch in 521, in the reign of the Emperor Justin I the Elder. His father perished in an earthquake and he was left alone with his mother, Martha. When he was six years old, he went away into the desert to John, a spiritual teacher there, and under his guidance, gave himself to a strict asceticism of fasting and prayer, to the wonderment of all who saw him. Whilst enduring fearful demonic trials, he received great comfort and grace from the Lord and His angels. Christ the Lord appeared to him in the form of a handsome youth, and after this vision, Simeon’s heart was inflamed with great love for Christ. He spent many years on a pillar, praying and singing psalms. Led by God, he took himself off to the mountain called ‘Wondrous’ by the Lord Himself, and is known as ‘of the Wondrous Mountain’ because of this. The measure of his love for God was such that rare grace was given him, by the help of which he was able to heal every sort of illness, tame wild beasts and perceive the most distant regions of the earth and the hearts of men. He was taken to see the heavens, conversed with angels, harried the demons, prophesied, spent thirty days at a time without sleep and even longer without food, receiving nourishment at the hands of angels. The words of the Savior: ‘He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do’ (Jn 14:12), were completely fulfilled in him. In the year 596, at the age of seventy-five, Simeon went to the Lord, to the eternal enjoyment of the vision of the face of God in the company of the angels.
2. The Holy Martyr Meletius Stratelates, with 1218 soldiers and their wives and children.
Accused of the destruction of a pagan temple in the reign of the Emperor Antoninus, Meletius gave forth his holy soul nailed to a tree. Many solders under his command, who refused to deny Christ their Lord, suffered with honor in the second century, and went to the kingdom of Christ our God.
3. Our Holy Father Nikita the Stylite.
He lived an unrestrained and vicious life as a youth. When once he happened to enter a church, he heard the words of the Prophet Isaias: ‘Wash you (your sins), make you clean’ (1:16). The words penetrated deeply into his soul, and effected a complete change in his life. Nikita left his home, his wife and his land and entered a monastery close to Pereyaslavl, where he labored until his death in strict asceticism. He enveloped his body in chains and shut himself up in a pillar, being therefore known as a stylite. God granted him great grace, and he healed people afflicted with various torments. He healed Michael, Prince of Chernigov, of palsy. One day some evildoers saw the chains on him, and seeing them gleam, thought them to be silver, so they killed him one night, took the chains off him and carried them away. This happened on May 16th, 1186. He appeared to a certain elder, Simeon, after his death and told him to place the chains, when they were found, in the grave beside his body.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘To the pure, all things are pure,’ says the apostle. The food that a man eats cannot be called unclean in itself; however, some foods may evoke impure thoughts and desires in a man. St. Simeon the Stylite pondered beautifully on this in a conversation with his elder, John. The elder said: ‘A man cannot make either food or drink impure, because the Lord says in the Scriptures: “Even as the green herb have I given you all things” (Gen. 9:3)’. Holy Simeon replied: ‘Although food cannot make a man impure, it can cause impure thoughts to arise and darken the mind; it can give birth to the passions and flesh them out, transforming a spiritual man into a carnal, and turning his thoughts to earthly desires.’ Is not the water that falls from a cloud pure? But when too much rain falls, the crops rot because of it. Likewise, strong food brings about the corruption of a man’s spiritual and moral being.
June 7th – Civil Calendar
May 25th – Church Calendar
1. The Third Finding of the Head of St. John the Baptist.
 In the eighth century, during a period of
fierce iconoclasm, the head of St. John the Baptist was taken to Comana, the place of St.
John Chrysostom’s exile. When the iconoclast persecution ended in 850, in the time of
the Emperor Michael and Patriarch Ignatius, the honored head of St. John was taken to
Constantinople and placed in the church at the imperial court.
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2. The Hieromartyr Therapon, Bishop of Cyprus.
A monk and ascetic on the island of Cyprus, he was worthy of episcopal rank, and during a persecution of Christians, was found worthy of a yet higher crown: that of martyrdom. His body at first rested in a church in Cyprus, but during the reign of the Emperor Nikephoros, in 806, the Hagarenes fell upon Cyprus. Therapon appeared to the verger, told him that the infidel was about to attack Cyprus and ordered him to have his relics transferred to Constantinople. The verger saw to this at once. When the ship with the casket put to sea, a great storm arose, but the sea around the ship remained calm and a sweet perfume spread from the casket around the whole ship and the surrounding area. Then the verger opened it, and they saw that it was full of myrrh, which flowed from the saint’s relics. Many of the sick anointed themselves with this myrrh and were restored to health. A church was built in Constantinople over the relics of the wonder-working saint, which continued to give healing to all who gathered round them with faith. The gravest diseases were healed by St. Therapon’s relics: paralysis, cancer, hemorrhage, insanity, blindness, tuberculosis and other maladies.
3. The Holy Martyrs Pasikratees, Valention, Julius and others.
They were Roman soldiers, and suffered for Christ in about 302 in Macedonian Dorostolon (Silistra). When Pasikratees’ brother, Papianos (who had apostatised from Christ through fear), came to his brother and tried to persuade him to renounce Christ and stay alive, St. Pasikratees replied: ‘Get away from me; you are no brother of mine!’ Pasikratees and Valention (Valentine) were beheaded together. At his trial, Julius said: ‘I am a war veteran, and have served the emperor faithfully for twenty-six years. And, having been faithful till now in lesser things, how can I not be faithful in the things that are greater, to the heavenly kingdom and its King?’ Then Nikanor was brought before the prefect, Maximus. Nikanor’s wife encouraged her husband to die for the sake of Christ. ‘You stupid old woman,’ Maximus hurled at her, ‘Are you after a better husband?’ She replied: ‘If you think that of me, give the order to have me killed now, before my husband!’ Marcian also perished with Nikanor. His wife came to the place of execution, carrying their son in her arms. Marcian kissed his son and prayed: ‘O almighty God, do Thou take care of him!’ And they were all then slain and entered into the kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Some ignorant people think more about the end of the world than that of their own lives, although it is evident that, when a man comes to the end of his life, he reaches the end of the world also. A certain brother standing in the presence of St. Seraphim of Sarov was turning over in his mind how he would ask the saint about the end of the world. St. Seraphim perceived his thoughts and said to him: ‘My joy, you rate poor Seraphim too highly; how could I know when the end of the world will be, and that great day when the Lord shall judge the living and the dead, giving to each according to his works? No, no; it is impossible for me to know about it.’ And if the saints could not know, how could we poor sinners find out? And to what purpose would we know that which the Savior Himself did not find it needful for us to know? It is far better to consider that our death will come before the end of the world than to contemplate the possibility of the world’s ending before we die.
June 8th – Civil Calendar
May 26th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Carpus.
One of the Seventy, he was a follower and companion of the Apostle Paul, who installed him as Bishop of Varna in Thrace. But he also preached the Gospel in Crete, where he was host to St. Dionysius the Areopagite. St. Dionysius testifies that he was a man with an exceptionally pure mind, of great humility and guilelessness. He further relates how the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to Carpus in a vision with His angels, and how he never began the Liturgy without first receiving a heavenly vision. He endured many assaults for the name of Christ, and finally suffered at the hands of the faithless Jews and was murdered. His soul entered into the kingdom of God, to delight forever in the vision of the Lord in glory.
2. The Holy Apostle Alphaeus.
He was the father of two of the Twelve Apostles: Iakovos the son of Alphaeus, and Matthew the Evangelist. He entered peacefully into rest.
3. Our Holy Father John of Psychaita.
He left the world at an early age and retired to the Lavra of Psychaita in Constantinople, where he labored in asceticism for many years for the love of Christ. He was exiled in the eighth century for his veneration of the holy icons.
4. The Holy New-Martyr Alexander of Thessalonica.
This martyr of Christ’s was born in Thessalonica during the Turkish oppression. He was tricked by the Turks as a young man into accepting Islam, and at first his conscience did not trouble him for such an act, and he went on pilgrimage with some other Moslem pilgrims and became a dervish. But, living as a dervish in Thessalonica, he began to repent bitterly, and in his repentance the thought came to him that there was no way in which he could cleanse himself from the terrible sin except with his own blood. So, having repented and resolved on martyrdom, he appeared before the Turks dressed as a Christian. They threw him into prison and put him to various tortures. But Alexander would only cry out: ‘I was born a Christian, and as a Christian I shall die!’ Finally the Turks sentenced him to death, which filled the repentant Alexander with joy, realizing that the sentence was a sign of God’s forgiveness of his sins and acceptance of his sacrifice. He was slain by the sword in Smyrna in 1794, and was glorified in the Church both in heaven and on earth.
FOR CONSIDERATION
We must not desire the death of a sinner, but his repentance. Nothing so saddens the Lord Who suffered on the Cross for sinners as when we pray to Him for the death of a sinner and his removal from our path. It once happened that the Apostle Carpus lost patience and began to pray God to send death upon two sinful men, one a pagan and the other an apostate from the Faith. The Lord appeared to him and said: ‘Behold, here I am; ready to be crucified again for the salvation of men.’ St. Carpus related this event to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who wrote it down as a lesson for all in the Church that we must pray for the salvation of sinners and not for their destruction. For the Lord ‘is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (II Peter 3:9).
June 9th – Civil Calendar
May 27th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Therapon, Bishop of Sardis.
He brought many Greeks to the Christian Faith and was cruelly persecuted by the pagans, being starved, imprisoned and flogged. They stripped him and threw him to the ground, bound him to four posts and beat him mercilessly, until they had stripped the flesh from his bones. However, the martyr still remained alive and the four dry posts became green and grew into tall trees from which many of the sick received healing. Finally St. Therapon was slain like a lamb and entered into the kingdom, to behold the glory of God in eternity. He suffered with honor in the time of Valerian, in about 259.
2. The Holy Martyrs Theodora and Didymus.
In the reign of the wicked Emperor Maximilian, there lived in Alexandria a maiden, Theodora, well-educated and of noble lineage. She was brought to trial before the pagans for her Christian Faith. After long interrogation and torture for the Faith, the prince, her tormentor, ordered that she be thrown into a brothel and the soldiers given free access to her to indulge their carnal lusts. Theodora prayed fervently to God to save her from defilement, and when she had prayed, a soldier called Didymus came in to her and told her that he was a servant of Christ. He dressed her in his soldier’s garb and himself in her dress, then let her out and remained in the brothel himself. He was seized and brought before the judge, where he acknowledged that he was a Christian and had saved Theodora, and was now prepared to die for Christ. He was condemned to death and taken out to the place of execution. Theodora ran up to him there and cried out: ‘Although you saved my honor, I did not ask you to save me from death. Yield the martyr’s death to me!’ Didymus replied: ‘My beloved sister, do not hinder my death for Christ, nor the washing of my sins in my blood.’ Hearing this exchange, the pagans condemned them both to death, and they were beheaded and their bodies burned. They suffered with honor and received eternal wreaths of glory in Alexandria in the year 304.
3. St. David (Davit) of Garesjei.
This David is one of the thirteen Georgian fathers (see May 7th). He is thus named for the Garesjei desert near Tiflis, where he lived the ascetic life. In old age, David decided to visit the Holy Land with several of his disciples. He left the direction of the monastery to two elders, Lucian and Dodo, and set out on the way. When they came to a hill from which Jerusalem was visible, David burst into tears and said: ‘How can I dare to walk in the steps of God incarnate with these sinful feet?’ and he told his disciples to go and worship at the holy places, but he himself took up three stones and set off to return. But the Lord did not let such humility remain hidden from the world, and an angel appeared to Elias, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and said to him: ‘Send at once for the elder who is even now returning to Syria; he has taken with him three stones, and is carrying off with him all the Holy Land’s grace. One stone is a sufficient blessing for him; let him return the other two to Jerusalem. He is called Abba David of Garesjei.’ The patriarch quickly sent men off to overtake the elder. They took two stones from him, and let him go on his way. The third stone lies on his grave to this day and possesses miraculous healing power.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Physical health is undoubtedly a gift of God. But physical well-being is not at all the greatest good of this world, as so many would say and write. Because, whatever physical health may be, it is transitory; and whatever is transitory cannot be man’s greatest good. Values that do not pass away are more precious than those that do, and so eternity is more precious than time. Intransitory values are counted as spiritual health. Saint John of Kronstadt writes: ‘Oh, I myself feel that, when I am quite well and do not tire myself with work, my spirit begins to die, the kingdom of God is not within me and my body begins to master me, and when the body is in control, then the devil finds an entrance.’
June 10th – Civil Calendar
May 28th – Church Calendar
1. St. Niketas the Confessor, Bishop of Chalcedon.
He renounced the world in his youth and withdrew to follow the path of monastic asceticism. He shone like the sun with virtue and came to the attention of the ecclesiastical authorities, being raised to the episcopal throne of Chalcedon. He was, as a hierarch, particularly compassionate to the poor and cared for many orphans, widows and beggars. When the wicked Emperor Leo the Armenian made his stand against the icons, St. Niketas came courageously to their defence, denouncing the emperor and expounding their meaning. He was finally driven into exile for his confession of the Faith, and after much hardship and suffering, went to the Lord to receive a wreath of glory in the kingdom of God.
2. The Holy Martyr Heliconis.
She was born in Thessalonica and educated in Christian piety. She went to Corinth in the time of Gordian and Philip, where she outspokenly denounced all who sacrificed to idols. When the governor, Perinos, urged her to offer sacrifice to Aesculapius, Christ’s martyr said to him: ‘Hear me, and know that I am a servant of Christ; as for Aesculapius, I do not know who he is. Do what you will.’ She was brought to trial for these words and terribly tortured. She was thrown into the flames, but a great gush of blood poured from her body and extinguished it, and she remained alive. She was thrown to the lions, but they would not touch her and instead fawned round her. Thrust into a temple for at least the semblance of offering sacrifice to idols, she smashed the idols, thereby arousing still greater hatred in her tormentors. Lying in prison covered all over with wounds, she saw the Lord Himself with the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. He healed her wounds, comforting and encouraging her. Later, she was led out to the scaffold to be beheaded with the sword. Before her beheading, Heliconis raised her arms high and prayed that God accept her and bring her into the company of His flock in the heavenly fold. When she had finished her prayer, a voice was heard from heaven: ‘Come, make haste; a crown and a throne are prepared for thee.’ She was finally beheaded and received a wreath of glory from the Lord, for Whose love she was sacrificed like an innocent and pure lamb.
3. St. Ignatius (Ignaty), Bishop of Rostov.
This hierarch guided the flock of Christ for twenty-six years with great love and compassion. When he died and his body was placed in the church, some of those present saw him leave his coffin and rise up in the air above the church. He blessed the people and the city from on high, and then returned to his coffin. Many other miracles were wrought at his grave. He went to the Lord on May 28th, 1288.
FOR CONSIDERATION
From The Paradise of the Fathers: The brethren said, “If a man attaineth unto purity of heart what is the sign thereof? And when will he know himself if the heart is coming to purity?” The elder said, “When he seeth that all men are fair, and when no man appeareth to him to be unclean or polluted; whosoever is thus indeed standeth with purity. And if this be not the case, how can he fulfill the word of the apostle which saith, ‘When a man standeth wholly with purity, he will think that every man is better than he in heart and in truth,’ unless it be that he attaineth to the state of him of whom it is said, ‘He whose eyes are pure seeth not wickedness.’”
June 11th – Civil Calendar
May 29th – Church Calendar
1. Commemoration of the First Ecumenical Council.
Today we commemorate and eulogize the holy fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, which was held in Nicaea in 325 in the reign of Constantine the Great—held during the week before Pentecost, or the seventh week after Pascha. It was summoned to remove the confusion which Arius, an Alexandrian priest, had created by his false teaching. He had been spreading the teaching that Christ was created from God in time, and that He is not the pre-eternal Son of God, equal in being with God the Father. Three hundred and eighteen holy fathers took part in this council. It condemned the Arian teaching, and anathematised Arius when he would not repent. This council wrote the first half of the Creed, which was later amplified at the Second Ecumenical Council. Many bishops were present at the First Ecumenical Council, among whom the following stood out: St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia, St. Spiridon, St. Athanasius, St. Achillios, St. Paphnutios, St. Jacob of Nisibis, St. Makarios of Jerusalem, St. Alexander of Alexandria, St. Efstathios of Antioch, Evsevios of Caesarea, St. Metrophanes of Constantinople, John of Persia, Aristarchus of Armenia and many others from the East. And from the West: St. Hosius of Cordova, Theophilus the Goth, St. Cecilianus of Carthage, and others. The most important work of this council was the confirmation of the Symbol of Faith. The council also confirmed the time of the celebration of Pascha, and prescribed twenty canons.
2. The Holy Martyr Theodosia of Tyre.
One day during the reign of the Emperor Maximian, many Christians were standing bound before the praetor in Palestinian Caesarea. The pious virgin Theodosia came to comfort them and encourage them in their death by martyrdom. The soldiers heard her words and brought her also before the judge. The enraged judge ordered that a stone be tied round her neck and that she be cast into the deep. But angels carried her up onto the shore alive. When she appeared before the judge again, he gave orders to have her beheaded. The following night, Theodosia appeared to her parents in the brightest heavenly light, surrounded by many other virgins, and said: ‘Do you see how great is the glory and grace of my Christ, of which you wished to deprive me?’ She spoke thus to her parents because they had turned back from confessing Christ and from martyrdom. She suffered with honor and was glorified in the year 308.
3. Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Theodosia.
She was born after her mother’s prayers to the holy Martyr Anastasia, who appeared to her and told her that she would give birth to a child. Her parents dedicated her to God and gave her very early to a women’s monastery. At her parents’ death, she received a vast estate. She ordered three icons from a goldsmith: the Savior, the Mother of God and St. Anastasia, and gave the rest away to the poor. She suffered in the time of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, the iconoclast, and received a twofold crown: of virginity and martyrdom, in the year 730.
4. St. Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria.
He was the first to take up the struggle against Arius, and entered into rest in the year 328.
5. The Holy Martyr Nannus (John) of Thessalonica.
He suffered for the Faith at the hands of the Turks in Smyrna in 1802.
6. The Holy Martyr Andrew of Chios.
He suffered for the Faith at the hands of the Turks in Constantinople in 1465.
7. The Fall of Constantinople
Because of the sin of apostasy from Orthodoxy, God sent great calamity on the capital city of the Christian world on May 29th, 1453. The infidels had laid siege upon Constantinople, losing many thousands in their attempts to take the city. But God protected the city until the Orthodox concelebrated with the Latins in order to receive military aid. The Lord immediately abandoned the city, and it fell the next day. Sultan Mehmed II sacked Constantinople and murdered the Emperor Constantine XI.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Oh, how great was the intrepidity of holy men and women! As we read their lives, both shame and pride arise within us—shame that we are so far behind them, and pride because they belonged to our Christian race. Neither sickness nor prison, nor exile nor torments nor humiliations, nor the sword nor the abyss, nor the flame nor the gallows could shake the exalted peace of their souls, firmly fixed on Christ the Helmsman of the universe and of human history. When the Emperor Julian apostatised from the Faith and began to lay Christianity waste throughout the breadth of the entire Roman Empire, St. Athanasius the Great spoke to the faithful about this with equanimity: ‘It’s but a small cloud; it will pass!’ And the small, dirty cloud did indeed soon pass, and Christianity took yet deeper root and spread its branches further over the world. Julian’s impotent fury against Christ passed after a few quick years with Julian’s cry in his death-rattle: ‘Thou hast conquered, O Nazarene!’ Why should we, the sons of God, fear anything when God our Father fears nothing?
June 12th – Civil Calendar
May 30th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Isaac (Isaakios) the Confessor.
In the time of the Emperor Valens, the Arians persecuted Orthodoxy fiercely with the emperor’s encouragement. Isaac, a hermit somewhere in the East, heard of the persecution, left his desert and went to Constantinople to encourage the faithful and denounce the heretics. Valens arrived in the north at that very time with his army, to meet the Goths who had come down from the Danube into Thrace. Isaac went out and stood before him, saying: ‘Open the churches to those of the true Faith, O emperor, and God will bless thy path,’ but the emperor turned a deaf ear to the elder and went on his way. Isaac spoke out before the emperor on the next day also, repeating his warning, and the emperor almost hearkened to him, but one of his advisors, a follower of the Arian heresy, thwarted him. Isaac spoke before the emperor again on the third day, seizing the emperor’s horse by the reins and pleading with him to grant freedom to the Church of God and to escape divine punishment by acceding to his request. The enraged emperor ordered that the elder be thrown into a briar patch full of thorns and mud, but three angels appeared and pulled him out from his affliction. St. Isaac appeared before the emperor on the fourth day, and foretold a terrible death if he did not give the Orthodox freedom: ‘I tell thee, my emperor, that thou shalt lead thy troops out upon the barbarians, but thou shalt not be able to withstand them. Thou shalt flee before them, but shalt thyself be taken captive and burned alive.’ And so it all came to pass. The barbarians mowed the Greek force down like grass, and the emperor fled with his Arian counselor, and hid in a barn. The barbarians arrived at the spot and realized where the emperor was hiding. They surrounded the barn and set fire to it, burning both the emperor and his counselor. The Emperor Theodosios the Great then came to the throne. He heard of Isaac and of the prophecy that had been fulfilled, and sending for him, prostrated himself before him. And so peace came to reign in the Church and the Arians were banished. Isaac desired to return to his desert, but he was persuaded to remain in Constantinople. A certain influential citizen, Saturninos, built him a monastery where the elder labored in asceticism until his death, performing many wonders. The community overflowed with monks and became a great monastery. Before his death, Isaac appointed a pupil of his, Dalmatos (after whom the monastery was later named), as abbot. The elder Isaac, who had found such favor with God, entered into eternity in the year 383, to rejoice forever in the vision of the face of God.
2. St. Makrina.
The grandmother of St. Basil the Great, she was outstanding for her intellect and piety. She was a disciple of St. Gregory the Wonder-worker of Neocaesarea. In the reign of Diocletian, she abandoned her home and hid in the forests and desert places with her husband, Basil. Although their home was confiscated, they felt no pangs of regret. Stripped of everything except their love for God, they settled in an ancient forest and spent seven years there. By God’s providence, goats would come down from the mountains and provide them with food. They both died peacefully in the fourth century, after great sufferings for the Christian Faith.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The word of God is food for the soul. The word of God is both strength and light for the soul. Whoever reads the word of God provides his soul with food and strength and light. He who can read ought to read the word of the Lord in the holy Scriptures, and he who cannot read ought to listen to what is read. All the saints emphasised the necessity of reading the holy Scriptures. St. Seraphim of Sarov says: ‘The soul must keep itself nourished with the word of God; because the word of God is, as St. Gregory the Theologian says, the bread of angels that feeds the soul that is hungry for God. But, most of all, we must read the New Testament and the Psalms. The understanding is enlightened by these. It is a very good thing to read the word of God in solitude, and to read the entire Bible with understanding. God gives a man His mercy for undertaking this exercise more than for other good deeds, and He fills him with the gift of comprehension. When a man nourishes his soul with the word of God, then he is filled with the understanding of good and evil.’
June 13th – Civil Calendar
May 31st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Hermas.
One of the Seventy, he is mentioned in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (16:14). A Greek by birth, he spent a long time in Rome. He was bishop in Philippoupolis, and finished his life a martyr. He compiled the very instructive book ‘The Shepherd’ through revelations from the angels of God. Hermas was a rich man, but fell into extreme poverty through his own sins and those of his sons. A man appeared to him, clad in white and with a staff in his hand, and told him that he was the angel of repentance, sent to him before the end of his life. The angel gave him twelve commandments:
1. To believe in God.
2. To live in simplicity and innocence.
3. To love truth and flee from falsehood.
4. To guard his thoughts in chastity.
5. To learn patience and magnanimity of soul.
6. To know that a good and an evil spirit attend every man.
7. To fear God, but not the devil
8. To perform every good deed and to restrain himself from every evil one.
9. To pray to God in faith from the depths of his heart, so that his prayer might be heard.
10. To preserve himself from melancholy, the daughter of doubt, and from anger.
11. To try true and false prophecies.
12. To preserve himself from every evil desire.
2. The Holy Martyr Hermias.
He was a soldier in the imperial army till old age, when he suffered for another Emperor: Christ. The wicked judge tried in vain to make him renounce the Christian Faith and offer sacrifice to idols, then he ordered that Hermias’ teeth be broken with a stone and the skin stripped from his face with a knife. After that, he was thrown into a flaming furnace, but he remained unharmed, protected by the grace of God. He was then made to drink the strongest poison, which was given to him by a magician on the judge’s orders, but the poison did him no harm at all. When the magician saw this, he was so amazed that he confessed Christ himself, and was immediately slain with the sword. They then poked out both of Hermias’ eyes, and he said mildly to the judge: ‘Take the eyes of flesh which used to gaze upon the vanity of the world; I have other eyes in my heart with which I clearly see the true light.’ He was then hung upside down by the feet, and those who were torturing him became blind and staggered around him. St. Hermias called them to himself, laid his hands upon them and restored their sight by his prayers. Seeing all this, the judge became as furious as a lion, and drawing out his sword, cut off the head of the man of God. Christians came and took Hermias’ body in secret, and gave it burial. His relics gave healing to all the sick and wretched. St. Hermias suffered in the reign of the Emperor Antoninus, in the year 160.
3. The Holy Martyr Philosophos.
This martyr of Christ’s was born near Alexandria. During a persecution of Christians, Philosophos refused to renounce Christ the Lord before the pagan princes and judges, and they therefore inflicted terrible tortures on him. After he had been tortured in various ways, they finally placed him on a soft bed, bound hand and foot, and put a harlot in with him to entice him into sin. When Philosophos felt passion awakening in himself through the touch of the woman’s hands, he took the tongue between his teeth, bit it through and spat it out in the harlot’s face. His passion was extinguished, and the harlot was so aghast that she fled from him at once. He was afterwards beheaded with the sword, in about 252, whilst still young in years, and entered into the kingdom of eternal youth. (In the Greek Prologue, St. Philosophos is commemorated on May 1st.).
FOR CONSIDERATION
This life is a spiritual battle: to conquer or be conquered. If we conquer, we shall enjoy the fruits of victory through all eternity; but if we are conquered, we shall suffer the horrors of defeat through all eternity. This life is a duel between man and everything that sets itself against God. God is the almighty Ally of every man who whole-heartedly calls upon Him for aid. Saint John of Kronstadt says: ‘This life is neither a joke nor a plaything, although men may turn it into either. They fritter away the time given to us to prepare for eternity, disporting themselves with empty words. They go about visiting, sitting and gossiping, playing this or that game. They get together in the theaters and amuse themselves there. Life is, for them, amusement. But woe to those who do nothing but amuse themselves!’
June 14th – Civil Calendar
June 1st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher.
He was born of Greek parents in the Samaritan town
of Shechem (formerly called Nablus), about a hundred and five years after Christ. He sought
wisdom and philosophy with his whole heart, first with the Stoics, then with the Peripatetics,
the Pythagoreans and finally with the Platonists. Although Platonic philosophy did not content
him, it held him the longest, until he found something higher to attract him. By God’s
providence, he encountered a remarkable old man who began to undermine his Platonic philosophy,
reminding him that a man cannot fully know the truth about God till God reveals it to him, and
telling him that God had revealed the truth about Himself in the books of holy Scripture. Justin
began to read the Scriptures, and became an utterly convinced Christian, but he would not be
baptized or call himself a Christian until he had convinced himself of the falseness of the
accusations that pagans found to bring against Christians. Going to Rome for a philosophical
gathering, he quickly gained much respect there, and many followers. He witnessed the martyrdom
of St. Ptolemy and St. Lucian, and seeing the tortures of these innocent Christians, wrote an
Apologia for Christians and Christian teaching and gave it to the Emperor Antoninus and the
Senate. The emperor read it carefully and ordered that the persecution of Christians cease.
Justin took a copy of the emperor’s decree and went off to Asia, where he saved many
persecuted Christians by its aid. After that, he returned again to Rome. When a persecution arose
under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, he wrote a second Apologia and addressed it to the emperor.
Some disreputable philosopher, Crescens, a Cynic, denounced him as a Christian because Justin was
getting the better of him in every dispute, and Justin was thrown into prison. Desiring his
death, and fearing that judgement would not be given against him, Crescens took the opportunity
to administer poison to him in the prison. Thus this great defender of the Christian Faith
finished his earthly course and went to the blessedness of eternity, in the year 166.
2. The Holy Martyrs Justin, Chariton, Evelpistus, Hierax, Peon, Liverianus and Justus.
These all suffered in Rome in the time of Marcus Aurelius and the Eparch Rusticus. When Rusticus asked: ‘Do you think that, if you die for Christ, you will receive a reward in heaven?’ Justin replied: ‘We do not think it; we know!’ They were all then beheaded, in 163, and went to the kingdom of Christ our God.
3. Our Holy Father Agapitus of the Kiev Caves.
A natural doctor, he was a disciple of St. Anthony of Kiev. He healed people by prayer and the prescribing of cabbage, which they made into a sort of bread. Prince Vladimir Monomachus was healed in this way, and this made Agapitus famed on all sides. The prince’s doctor, an Armenian, hearing of this, began to spread slander about him. When Agapitus became ill, the Armenian came, and looking at him, said that he would die in three days and that, if he did not do so, then he, the Armenian, would become a monk. Agapitus told him that it had been revealed to him by God that he would die, not in three days but in three months. And so it came to pass. After Agapitus’ death, the Armenian went to the abbot of the Monastery of the Caves and asked him to make him a monk. He explained that Agapitus had appeared to him from the other world and reminded him of his promise. And so the one-time envier became a humble monk, by the providence of God Whose care it is that all men be saved. St. Agapitus entered into rest in about 1095.
FOR CONSIDERATION
There is a passage in the ‘Antiquities of the Jews’ by Flavius Josephus, a distinguished Jewish historian who lived at the end of the first century, which refutes the slander and malice that has at times been directed against Christ the Lord by the Jews. He writes: ‘At that time there lived one Jesus, a wise man, who was scarcely able to be called a man because of the marvellous works that he performed. He was a teacher of men, who received the truth with joy, and drew many followers to himself, both Jews and Greeks. He was the Christ. After that, when Pilate, at the deposition of the most eminent of our race, condemned him to death by crucifixion, those who had loved him did not forsake him. He showed himself to them alive after three days, as had been divinely prophesied concerning this and many other of his works. And the Christian sect, called after him, remains to this day.’ Thus wrote a man who did not believe in Christ—a writer free of bias and evil intent.
June 15th – Civil Calendar
June 2nd – Church Calendar
1. St. Nikephoros the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He was
a nobleman of Constantinople. His father Theodore, a wealthy and devout man, was a highranking
official at the emperor’s court. Nikephoros served several years at court in the same
capacity as his father, but then, seeing all the vanity of the world, he withdrew to the shore of
the Bosphorus and built a monastery there. This monastery rapidly became filled with monks and he
administered it; not, however, himself becoming a monk from a conviction of his unworthiness. He
was, in this, an example to all. He had earlier, as a layman, taken part in the Seventh
Ecumenical Council, at the request of the emperor and the patriarch, and was of great assistance
there with his intimate knowledge of holy Scripture. When Patriarch Tarasios died, Nikephoros,
much against his will, was chosen to succeed him. He was immediately professed a monk and
received the priestly orders in succession, being enthroned as patriarch in Hagia Sophia in 806.
This was in the time of the Emperor Nikephoros, who went off to war against the Bulgars very
shortly after this and was killed in battle there. His son Stavrakios reigned for only two months
before he died. After this, the good Emperor Michael, called Rangabe, came to the throne, but he
reigned only two years before Leo the Armenian attacked him and drove him into exile. When this
emperor began his reign, the patriarch sent him a book on the Confession of the Orthodox Faith
for him to sign (this being according to the custom obtaining for all Byzantine emperors,
who were regarded as sworn to uphold and defend the true Faith). The emperor did not sign it, but
set it aside until his coronation. When the patriarch crowned him, he still refused to sign the
book, and revealed himself to be an iconoclast heretic. The patriarch attempted to remonstrate
with him and bring him back to the true Faith, but in vain. The emperor exiled him by force to
the island of Prokonnesos, where he spent several years in want and privation before going to
eternity in the year 829. He governed the Church as patriarch for nine years.
2. The Holy New-Martyr Constantine.
Born a Moslem on the island of Mytilene, he was healed of a grave illness by the aid of holy water in the church, and seeing other marvels of the Christian Faith, was baptized on the Holy Mountain in the skete of Kapsokalyvia. He later fell into the hands of the Turks, who, after inflicting terrible torture on him, hanged him in Constantinople on June 2nd, 1819.
3. The Holy Martyr John the New of Sochava.
A nobleman of Trebizond, he was denounced by some envious Latin and suffered for Christ in the town of Akerman. After being tortured for not accepting the Islamic religion (for the governor of the town was of that faith), St. John was tied to a horse’s legs and dragged round the town. Some wicked Jews, seeing him thus, ran up and butchered him. That night, a burning column was seen by many people above his body, and three men bathed in light standing around it. Later the Moldavian commander, Joalexander, took his honored body and buried it in the metropolitical church, where it remains to this day and miraculously saves men from various pains and sicknesses. He suffered with honor and was glorified on June 2nd, 1492.
4. The Hieromartyr Erazmo of Ochrid.
This saint was born in Antioch and lived in the reigns of Diocletian and Maximian. He lived in strict asceticism on Mount Lebanon, and was endowed by God with great wonder-working gifts. As a bishop, he set out to preach the Gospel. Arriving at the city of Ochrid, he restored the son of a man called Anastasius to life by his prayers, and baptized him. At this time, Erazmo baptized many other pagans and tore down the idolatrous altar in Ochrid. For this he was denounced to the Emperor Maximian, who was at that time staying in Illyria. The emperor brought him before the copper image of Zeus, and ordered him to bring sacrifices and worship the idol. St. Erazmo, by his power, caused a terrible dragon to come out of the statue, which terrified all the people. The saint then worked another wonder, and the dragon died. Then the saint preached Christ and baptized 20,000 souls. The furious emperor commanded that all 20,000 be beheaded, and put Erazmo to harsh torture, before throwing him into prison. But an angel of God appeared to him, as once to the Apostle Peter, and led him out of the prison. After that, this servant of God went to Campania, where he preached the Gospel to the people, then returned again to the town of Hermelia, where he withdrew to a cave and lived in asceticism for the rest of his days. At the time of his death, he prostrated three times towards the East, and with upraised hands, prayed to God to forgive and give eternal life to all those who would, with faith, call upon his name. At the end of his prayer, a voice was heard from heaven: ‘Let it be as thou hast asked, My little healer Erazmo!’ The saint looked up once more to heaven with great joy and saw a wreath of glory descending upon him, and a choir of angels, prophets, apostles and martyrs waiting to receive his holy soul. He finally cried: ‘Lord, receive my spirit!’ and breathed his last, in about the year 303. The cave and chapel of St. Erazmo stand to this day not far from Ochrid, and from there is proclaimed to this day the great power of the man of God, Erazmo the hieromartyr.
(In the Slavonic Prologue and Menaion, St. Erazmo is commemorated on May 4th; but in the Greek on June 2nd. This latter is more correct, as the feast of this saint has been celebrated in Ochrid on June 2nd from time immemorial.)
FOR CONSIDERATION
The veneration of icons is an integral part of Orthodoxy, and cannot be divorced from it. ‘An icon is a divine thing, but it is not God,’ said St. Nikephoros to the iconoclast Emperor Leo the Armenian. He then explained that Moses had made a bronze serpent and lifted it up in the wilderness, although it had previously been commanded: ‘Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image.’ The latter was commanded so that the chosen people should be saved from the idol-worship of Egypt, and the former so that He, the one most high God, might show His power through a visible thing. Thus He allows His power to be shown forth through icons. It is His holy will and our aid to salvation. If icons were things of little meaning, why did many of the holiest men and women suffer unto death throughout history for the holy icons?
June 16th – Civil Calendar
June 3rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Lucillian and those with him: Claudios, Hypatios, Paul, Dionysius and the Virgin Paula.
Lucillian grew to old age as a pagan priest. Only as a grizzled old man did he learn the truth of Christianity and receive Baptism. His conversion to Christianity caused great excitement among the pagans of Nikomedia, and he was brought to trial for refusing to deny his new faith. He was harshly whipped, and all black and blue, thrown into prison. In the prison were four young men: Claudios, Hypatios, Paul and Dionysius, who had likewise been imprisoned for the Faith. The old man rejoiced in the company of these young men, and they in his, and they spent their time together in spiritual converse, prayer and the singing of psalms. When they were taken from the prison, they were tortured in various ways and then taken to Byzantium, where the young men were beheaded with the sword by the soldiers, and Lucillian crucified by the Jews. The wicked Jews pierced his body all over with nails. A maiden, Paula, openly took the martyrs’ bodies and gave them burial. She was denounced for this, and after torture, was beheaded, receiving a twofold wreath: of virginity and of martyrdom. Their martyrdom took place in the time of the Emperor Aurelian, between 270 and 275.
2. The Hieromartyr Lucian.
A Roman, renowned for his noble birth, wealth and learning, he was for a time a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Later, Pope Clement sent him, together with Dionysius the Areopagite, to Gaul to preach the Gospel, consecrating them bishop before they set out. Lucian sowed the seed of Christ’s teaching with great zeal, first in Gaul and then in Belgium. When the wicked Emperor Domitian began persecuting the Christians, men were sent from Rome to seek out the Christian missionaries and arrest them. They first seized and killed Dionysius, and then set off in pursuit of Lucian. Finding him in Belgium, together with his helpers, the priest Maxianus and the deacon Julian, they killed these two in one place and beheaded Lucian in another. When Lucian had been beheaded, his dead body rose from the ground, and taking its head into its hands (like St. Dionysius and St. John Vladimir), walked thus to the spot at which it wished to be buried. There it fell to the ground, and was there buried. A church was later built over his relics.
3. The Holy Martyr Dimitri, Tsarevitch of Russia.
He received a martyr’s death at the age of eight at the hands of the power-hungry Boris Godunov, in the town of Uglich in 1591. He appeared after his death to a monk and prophesied that a false Dimitri would appear, who would bring about Boris Godunov’s murder. This came to pass. Innumerable miracles were wrought at the grave of the martyred tsarevitch. His relics were dug up fifteen years later, whole and incorrupt, and were transferred solemnly to Moscow and buried in the Church of the Archangel Michael.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Oh, that we could fathom the mystery of God’s providence in the lives of men! We would be filled with fear and trembling in the face of every evil deed and every human sin. ‘I understood Thy works, O Lord, and was amazed.’ In great events, the mystery of God’s providence is clear even to men of little faith—as is shown in the end of the Tsarevitch Dimitri and the bloodthirsty and ambitious Boris Godunov. To attain the first place among the courtiers of Tsar Theodore, Godunov poisoned many of the nobles. When he had become first after the tsar, he decided to poison the tsar’s brother, the eight-year-old Dimitri. Through hired men, he several times administered the strongest poison to the young tsarevitch, who was unaffected by it. It came about by providence that the evil-doer killed his prey, though not in any way secretly: Godunov sent murderers who beheaded the tsarevitch in broad daylight, and thus Dimitri became known as a martyr and Godunov as a murderer throughout Russia. After that, a certain Dimitri arose and proclaimed himself tsarevitch (as though he were the true tsarevitch and some other had been killed), and set out with an army against Godunov. He overcame Godunov and reduced him to such desperate straits that he poisoned himself. He who had poisoned others himself ended by self-administered poison, and he who had murdered the innocent Dimitri was himself defeated by a man named Dimitri. He who has spiritual eyes to see, let him see the mystery of God’s providence!
June 17th – Civil Calendar
June 4th – Church Calendar
1. St. Metrophanes of Constantinople.
His father Dometius, brother of the Roman Emperor Probus, fled from Rome as a Christian during a persecution and went to Byzantium. The Bishop of Byzantium, Titus, ordained Dometius priest, and after Titus’ death, Dometius became Bishop of Byzantium. After Dometius’ death, his elder son Probus occupied the episcopal throne (Dometius had children from his earlier, pagan days), and Metrophanes succeeded him on his death. When the Emperor Constantine first set eyes on Metrophanes, he loved him as a father. At the time of the First Ecumenical Council, Metrophanes was a very old man, and being unable to take a full part in the council’s deliberations, appointed his assistant bishop, Alexander, as his representative. The emperor had Metrophanes raised to the rank of patriarch by the council, and he thus became the first Patriarch of Constantinople. The emperor further invited the whole council to visit the sick and aged hierarch. When the emperor asked him who he wished to succeed him on the patriarchal throne, Metrophanes named Alexander of Alexandria, after which he said to him: ‘My brother, you are my chosen successor!’ He also took Archdeacon Athanasius (later Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria) by the hand and praised him before them all. After this prophetic act, he took leave of them all, and ten days later, gave his soul to God, in 325.
2. The Holy Martyr Concordius.
He was a great ascetic and a wonder-worker during his earthly life. Arrested as a Christian under the Emperor Antoninus, he was tortured and imprisoned, and led before the stone idol of Zeus to pay it reverence. He spat on the idol, for which he was at once beheaded.
3. The Holy Martyrs Frontasius, Severinus, Severian and Silanus.
They were martyred in France in the time of the Emperor Claudius. When they had been beheaded, they rose to their feet, took their heads in their hands, crossed the river Ile and came to the church of the most holy Mother of God, where Bishop Frontanus was at prayer. Entering the church, they laid their heads at the bishop’s feet and then lay down and crossed themselves. They were buried there, and at their burial, the singing of an unseen host of angels was heard.
4. Our Holy Father Zosimas, Bishop of New Babylon in Egypt.
He lived in asceticism on Mount Sinai. Going to Alexandria in the course of his work, he was consecrated by the venerable Patriarch Apollinarios as Bishop of New Babylon. He was a good pastor of Christ’s flock, but when old age and weariness came upon him, he withdrew again to Sinai, where he gave his soul into God’s hands and received a wreath of glory among the great hierarchs. He lived and died in the 6th century.
5. The Hieromartyr Astius (Asteios), Bishop of Dyrrachium.
He suffered under Trajan. First beaten with leaden rods, he was then stripped bare and crucified on a tree. His naked body, smeared with honey, was left for the wasps and hornets to eat. St. Astius breathed his last in great torment, praising God, and received a twofold wreath: as a martyr and a hierarch. He suffered at the beginning of the second century.
6. Ss. Mary and Martha, the Sisters of Lazarus.
 After the Lord’s Ascension,
Lazarus went about preaching the Gospel, and his sisters helped him in this work. It is not
known where they died.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
It is a terrible thing to murder a man. There are no words that would suffice to express the terror that seizes upon the murderer. While a man is plotting to kill another, he reckons that it is the same thing to kill a man as it is to kill an ox, but when he has carried out his planned wickedness, he suddenly finds that he has declared war on both heaven and earth and that he is exiled, cut off from both. The slain one gives him no peace either day or night.
A notorious brigand came to St. Zosimas on Sinai, and asked him to make him a monk. St. Zosimas clothed him in the monastic schema and sent him to the monastery of St. Dorotheos in Gaza, to live the ascetic life in the community there. Nine years later, this brigand-become-monk returned to him and sought his secular clothing, handing him back his monastic schema. When asked why he was doing this, he replied that he had, for nine years, prayed to God with all his heart, fasted, kept vigil and fulfilled every obedience; that he felt many of his sins had been forgiven, but that one sin constantly tormented him. He had once murdered an innocent child, and this child appeared to him day and night, asking: ‘Why did you murder me?’ He had therefore decided to go and give himself up to the authorities, that they might execute him and he might thus pay blood for blood. Dressing himself in his former garments, he went to the town of Diospolis, where he declared his evil-doing and was beheaded, and thus, by his blood, washed away his bloody sin.
June 18th – Civil Calendar
June 5th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Dorotheos, Bishop of Tyre.
He was Bishop of Tyre from the time of Diocletian right up to the time of Julian the Apostate, under whom he was tortured and suffered for the Orthodox Faith. He lived on earth to the age of 107, and being pleasing to God, entered into eternal life in 361. He was a great scholar and wrote many learned books both in Greek and Latin.
2. Our Holy Father Theodore the Hermit, the Wonder-worker.
He purified his heart by long asceticism in the Jordan wilderness and received from God the gift of wonder-working. When he was at one time travelling by ship from Constantinople, his ship went off course and there was no drinking water left in her. When all the travellers were close to death from thirst, Theodore raised his arms to heaven, prayed to God and made the sign of the Cross over the sea. He then told the sailors to draw water from the sea and drink it; and when they did so, they found the water fresh. They all began to pay homage to Theodore, but he begged them to thank, not him, but the Lord God, Who had performed that wonder out of His love for mankind. He died peacefully in 583.
3. Our Holy Father Anoub.
One of the great Egyptian monks, he suffered greatly for the true Faith. When, at the time of his death, three old hermits visited him, he, gifted with discernment, revealed to them all the secrets of their hearts. He died peacefully some time in the second half of the 5th century.
4. Blessed Igor, Prince of Chernigov and Kiev.
Persecuted by his kinsfolk, he left the world and became a monk. The citizens of Kiev, disgusted with the Olgovitch dynasty, determined to exterminate it. They hurried to the monastery, seized the young and innocent schema-monk and killed him. For this evil-doing, much misfortune fell on the inhabitants of Kiev, but candles were several times seen to light of themselves on the grave of this blessed monk, and a fiery column appeared over the church where he was buried. This was in 1147.
5. Our Holy Father Peter of Koriša.
He was born in the village of Koriša, in sight of the monastery of St. Mark near Prizren (others suggest a village near Peć). As a young man, he ploughed with a one-eyed ox. He was unusually meek and mild of temper. With his sister Helena, he early began ascetic practices and lived long in strict asceticism. He showed himself the victor in difficult struggles with diabolical temptations. Many monks gathered round him, and he was guide to them all. Fleeing the praise of men, he hid for a time by the Black River, where St. Janik of Devič later lived in asceticism. He entered into rest in old age in his cave at Koriša. The night of his death, the light of many candles was seen in his cave, and an angelic choir was heard. King Dugan built a church over his wonder-working relics, which became a dependency of Hilandar. In more recent times, St. Peter’s relics were taken to the Black River, where they are preserved to this day.
6. Blessed Constantine, Metropolitan of Kiev.
In the days of the blessed Prince Igor, when there was great unrest and intrigue among the princes of Russia, there was also disorder in the Church and frequent changes of hierarch. Thus, after the death of Metropolitan Michael of Kiev, Prince Izyaslav took a learned monk, Klim, as metropolitan, not seeking the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople as had been the custom from the earliest times. The patriarch sent this Metropolitan Constantine to investigate the matter, and Constantine deposed Klim and exiled all the priests whom he had ordained. This led to a division among the people, some upholding Klim and some Constantine. Then, at the request of the princes, the patriarch sent a third, Theodore, and both Klim and Constantine were removed. When Constantine died, in 1159, his will was opened. In it he had written that he was not to be buried, but cast out for the dogs to eat, for he saw himself as guilty of having sown discord in the Church. Not daring to go against his wishes, but with great fear notwithstanding, they took his body and threw it outside, where it lay for three days. During these three days, there was terrible thunder over Kiev; lightning flashed, thunderbolts dropped and there were earth tremors. Eight people were killed by lightning, and three fiery columns were seen above Constantine’s body. Seeing all this, the Prince of Kiev ordered that his body be taken and buried in the church in which Igor’s tomb was situated, and the natural world immediately became calm. Thus God justified His humble servant.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Never break the fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. This fast is ordained by the Church, and is well-attested. If, at any time in your life, you break this fast, pray for forgiveness and do not sin again. Devout people do not regard themselves as dispensed from this fast either when travelling or in sickness. St. Pachomios once met some people who were carrying a corpse, and saw two angels in the funeral procession. He asked God to reveal to him the mystery of the presence of the two angels at the burial of this man. What special good had he done that two angels should escort him to the grave? Then, by the providence of God, the two angels came across to Pachomios and explained to him: ‘One of us is the angel of Wednesday, and the other the angel of Friday. As this man fasted every Wednesday and Friday right up to his death, we are giving his corpse a solemn escort. As he kept the fast up to his death, so we are here to glorify him.’
June 19th – Civil Calendar
June 6th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Bessarion.
Born and educated in Egypt, he devoted himself to the spiritual life at an early age, and ‘never soiled the spiritual garment in which he was clothed at his Baptism’. He visited St. Gerasimos by the Jordan and learned from St. Isidore of Pelusium. He conquered his flesh in strict fasting and vigils, but as far as possible, hid his asceticism from men. He once spent forty days in prayer, neither eating nor sleeping, and had one single garment that he wore summer and winter. He had a great gift of wonder-working. He had no fixed abode, but lived in the mountains and forests, healing the sick and performing many other miracles to help men and glorify God. He entered peacefully into rest in 466. (In the Greek Prologue, this saint is commemorated on February 20th.)
2. Our Holy Father Hilarion the New.
Abbot of the Dalmatian monastery in Constantinople, he was a disciple of Gregory of Decapolis and an imitator of the life of Hilarion the Great, whose name he took. Strong in prayer, enduring and courageous in suffering, he suffered much for the sake of the holy icons in the days of the iconoclast emperors, Leo the Armenian and others. Then the Emperor Leo was killed by his personal bodyguard in the very church and at the very spot where he had first scoffed at the holy icons and from which he had removed the first icon, and holy Hilarion was let out of prison—but only for a while. He was again tortured and held in prison right up to the time of the Orthodox Empress Theodora. He was gifted with insight and discernment, and saw angels of God taking the soul of St. Theodore the Studite to heaven. Being pleasing to God, he entered into rest in the kingdom of heaven in 845, at the age of seventy.
3. Our Holy Mothers, the Martyrs Archelais, Thecla and Susanna.
As pure and virginal nuns, they lived the ascetic life in an unknown monastery near Rome. When a persecution of Christians arose under the wicked Emperor Diocletian, they fled to Campania and settled near the town of Nola. Their holy life could not be concealed, and people from nearby began to come to them for counsel, instruction and help in various trials and sicknesses, and they were finally seized by the pagans and taken for trial. They publicly and freely confessed their faith in Christ. When the judge, Leontius, questioned holy Archelais about the Christian Faith, she replied: ‘It is by the power of Christ that I overcome the power of the devil and teach the people understanding and knowledge of the one, true God. By the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, it is given that, through me His servant, the sick find healing.’ All three maidens were whipped, flogged with heavy staves, left to languish in prison and finally beheaded. When they were led out to the scaffold, angels appeared to them, which were seen by some of the executioners and inspired such fear in them that they dared not lift up their swords against the holy maidens. They, however, urged the executioners to finish their task. And thus, as lambs, were they beheaded in the year 293, and went to the kingdom of Christ to rest in eternity and delight in beholding the face of God.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Rejoicing in iniquity is a filthy garment in which our souls at times take pleasure in clothing themselves. At the hour in which you rejoice at your brother’s falling into sin, you also have fallen, to the joy of the devil, who has caught two fish with one hook. Brotherhood in the flesh is a great bond, but brotherhood in the spirit is greater. If you mourn at the sins of your brother in the flesh, how can you not mourn at the sins of your brother in the spirit? If you conceal the sin of your brother in the flesh, why do you proclaim to the housetops the sin of your brother in the spirit? Who are your brethren in the spirit? All Christians; all who communicate together with you from the one Cup, receiving the one life. Oh, how great was the brotherly love of the saints! How far removed from them was rejoicing in iniquity! The following is told of St. Bessarion: Once all the monks were gathered at prayer in the church. The abbot went up to one of the brethren, who had committed some sin, and told him to leave the church. The monk went outside, and Bessarion followed him, saying: ‘I also am so great a sinner.’
June 20th – Civil Calendar
June 7th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Theodotus of Ankyra.
This martyr was a secret Christian, and as such, used to help the Church and give burial to the bodies of the martyrs. He buried the bodies of seven young maidens who had suffered for Christ. When the pagans discovered this, they attacked him and he was killed (see May 18th for more about him).
2. The Holy Martyrs Kyria, Valeria and Maria.
All three of these martyrs were from Caesarea in Palestine. When a persecution of Christians arose, they withdrew from the city to a hut, where they prayed unceasingly to God with fasting and tears that the Christian Faith might be spread throughout the entire world and that persecution might cease. As the result of slander, they were brought to trial and tortured, and died under their torments in the year 304. And so these glorious virgins were crowned with the wreath of martyrdom.
3. The Hieromartyr Marcellus, Pope of Rome.
In the reign of the Emperor Maximian, Marcellus was condemned to keep cattle in a certain place. In order to please Diocletian, who had taken him as co-emperor, Maximian began to build the Thermae, the baths in Rome, and forced the Christians to work on them as Pharaoh had once forced the Jews in Egypt. Many Christians perished there. The deacon Kyriakus, who had healed Artemia, Diocletian’s daughter, of an evil spirit (for he had great power over demons), suffered at this time. He had also healed Jovia, the daughter of the Persian king, and had baptized them both. Artemia, the deacon Sisinius, two friends of Kyriakus, Smaragdus and Largius, the deacon Aphronianus and two newly baptized Roman soldiers, Papius and Maurus, the elder Saturninus and Crescentianus, the blessed maidens Priscilla and Lucina, who used their great wealth to have graves made for the Christian martyrs—all these suffered at this time. The holy Pope Marcellus cared for the cattle for a long time, but finally became weakened from hunger and humiliation and the tortures of the soldiers, and surrendered his soul to God.
4. The Hieromartyr Marcellinus, Pope of Rome.
Marcellinus was Pope Marcellus’ predecessor on the Roman throne. When the Emperor Diocletian summoned him and threatened him with torture, he offered sacrifice to idols and was, because of this, rewarded by the emperor with a costly garment. But Marcellinus repented bitterly and began to weep both day and night for his rejection of Christ, even as the Apostle Peter had before him. A synod of bishops was held at that time in Campania, and the pope dressed himself in sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on his head, and going before the synod, confessed his sin and asked them to judge him. The fathers said: ‘Let him judge himself.’ Then he said: ‘I strip myself of the sacerdotal rank of which I am not worthy; and further, let my body not be buried after my death, but let it be thrown to the dogs.’ Having said this, he pronounced a curse on any who should dare to bury him. He then went to the Emperor Diocletian, and casting the precious garment in front of him, confessed his faith in Christ and cursed the idols. The enraged emperor ordered that he be tortured and killed outside the city, together with three other men: Claudius, Cyrinus and Antoninus. The bodies of these three were buried at once, but the pope’s body lay there for thirty-six days. Then St. Peter appeared to Marcellus, the new pope, and told him to bury Marcellinus’ body, saying: ‘Who so humbleth himself shall be exalted.’
5. Our Holy Father Daniel of Sketis.
The abbot of the famous Sketis in Egypt, he was a disciple of St. Arsenius and a teacher of many. Many of his words and teachings are like celestial signposts for monks. Once, when the barbarians were attacking Sketis, the brethren called to him to flee with them, but he replied: ‘If God does not care for me, what reason is there for me to live?’ He also once said: ‘Insofar as your body grows fat, even so does your soul wither away.’ He lived the communal life as an ascetic for forty years, and then in the year 420 took himself off to the desert. He happened to be in Alexandria when an evil man murdered his son’s wife because of her chastity. This was St. Thomaïs (see April 13th), and he buried the martyr with the help of his disciples.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A saint has a very sensitive conscience. What ordinary people may consider a small sin, a saint sees as a great crime. It is said of Abba Daniel that highwaymen attacked him on three occasions and took him off into the mountains. Twice he was rescued, but the third time, in attempting to escape, he struck one of them with a stone and killed him, and then made his escape. That murder lay on his conscience like a lead weight. In perplexity as to what he should do, he went to Timothy, the Patriarch of Alexandria, and asked his advice. The patriarch soothed him, and released him from all penance. But his conscience continued to gnaw at him, and he went to Rome, to the pope. The pope gave him the same reply as had the patriarch. Still dissatisfied, Daniel visited the remaining patriarchs in turn; going to Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem, confessing to each of them and asking for advice. But he could find no peace. So he returned home to Alexandria and declared himself to the authorities as a murderer, and was flung into prison. At his trial before the governor, Daniel told how everything had come about, and pleaded that he might be killed too, that his soul might be saved from eternal fire. The governor was amazed at the whole thing and said to him: ‘Go your way, father, and pray to God for me, even if you kill seven more!’ Still dissatisfied with this, Daniel resolved to take a leper into his cell and care for him until he died, and then find another. He did as he had resolved, and in this way brought peace to his conscience.
June 21st – Civil Calendar
June 8th – Church Calendar
1. St. Ephraim, Patriarch of Antioch.
During the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasios, Ephraim was governor of the eastern regions. He was famed for his great piety and compassion, and was much esteemed for these virtues. When the rebuilding of Antioch, which had been destroyed by earthquake and fire, was put in hand, the emperor ordered Ephraim to oversee the work. Ephraim performed this work with diligence and love. There was among the ordinary workers a certain bishop who had left his see for unknown reasons and was working as a laborer. Not a soul knew that the man was a bishop. One day he lay down to take a rest from the exhausting work with the other laborers, and fell asleep. Ephraim glanced at him, and saw a flaming pillar rising above the man and reaching up to heaven. Amazed and frightened, Ephraim summoned him and bound him under oath to reveal who he was. The man hesitated a long time, but finally admitted that he was a bishop and foretold that Ephraim would shortly be consecrated Patriarch of Antioch (the patriarchal throne having been empty since the old patriarch, Ephrasios, perished in the earthquake). Ephraim was indeed elected and consecrated as patriarch. For his goodness, purity and zeal for Orthodoxy, a great gift of wonder-working was given him by God. Once, in order to convince some heretic that Orthodoxy is the true Faith, he placed his omophorion in the flames and prayed to God. The omophorion remained unharmed in the fire for three hours. When the heretic saw this, he was afraid and cast his heresy aside. Ephraim entered peacefully into rest in 546.
2. Our Holy Father Zosimas of Phoenicia.
This saint was born in Synda, in the neighborhood of Tyre, and labored in asceticism in his monastery nearby. Having not the shadow of a cloud on his conscience, he could prophesy, see far into distant things and behold what was happening in the world. In this way he was able to witness the fall of Antioch during the earthquake, and weeping bitterly, he prostrated himself on the ground and prayed to God that the city should not be completely destroyed. It once happened that a lion met him on a path and killed and ate his mule. The saint commanded the lion to serve him in the mule’s place, and to carry the load. The lion became as meek as a lamb, took the load upon itself and carried it to the gates of Caesarea, where Zosimas gave it back its liberty and let it go. St. Zosimas entered peacefully into rest in the sixth century.
3. The Holy and Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates.
This saint is commemorated on
February 8th, and his life is recounted there. However, June 8th commemorates the translation of
his relics from Heraklion to Efchaita. St. Theodore’s last request to his servant Varus
before his martyrdom was: ‘Bury my body on the estate of my ancestors at Efchaita.’
St. Anastasios of Mount Sinai has recorded the following miracle by an icon of St. Theodore: At a
place called Karsat, close to Damascus, there was a church dedicated to St. Theodore. When the
Saracens conquered Damascus, a party of them, with their wives and children, turned the church
into their lodging. There was a fresco of St. Theodore on the wall, and one of the Saracens let
fly an arrow and struck the image of St. Theodore in the face. At once blood flowed from it. Soon
after that, the entire group of Saracens in that church died. St. Anastasios says that he had
been in that church himself, and had seen the traces of blood on the saint’s face on the
wall.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Fear of suffering and fear of an absence of suffering—this is one and the same fear, and is the fear of a spiritual man that God has departed from him. When St. Katharine was enduring many terrible torments, the Lord appeared to her and she asked Him: ‘Where wast Thou, Lord, until now, to comfort me in my great sufferings?’ and the Lord replied to her: ‘I was here, in thy heart.’ But as great a fear may overtake a spiritual man when no sufferings come his way for a long time. A monk came to a church in Alexandria and saw a woman kneeling before an icon of the Savior, weeping and crying out to God: ‘Thou hast abandoned me, O Lord; have mercy on me, O merciful One.’ When her prayer was finished, the monk asked the woman: ‘Who has so wronged you, that you are complaining so bitterly to God?’ The woman answered: ‘Until now, no one has wronged me; and for that very reason I am weeping, since God has abandoned me and has not visited me with any suffering for three years. During this time, neither I nor my son has fallen ill, neither has anything befallen my cattle or poultry.’
June 22nd – Civil Calendar
June 9th – Church Calendar
1. St. Kyril, Archbishop of Alexandria.
He was of noble birth and a close kinsman of
Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, after whose death he was chosen as patriarch. He fought
three fierce battles in the course of his life: against the Novatianist heretics, against
Nestorius and against the Jews of Alexandria. The Novatianists began in Rome, and were so called
after their leader, the heretic priest Novatian. They were filled with pride at their virtues,
went about dressed in white, banned second marriages and declared that one must not pray for
those who had committed grievous sins nor receive back into the Church those who had once fallen
away, however deeply they might repent. Kyril overcame them and drove them out of Alexandria,
together with their bishop. The battle with the Jews was harder and bloodier. The Jews had been
in the ascendant in Alexandria right from the time that Alexander the Great founded the city.
Their hatred towards the Christians was vicious and mindless. They killed Christians by
treachery, by poison and by crucifixion. After a long and difficult struggle, Kyril succeeded in
inducing the emperor to drive the Jews out of Alexandria. His battle, however, against Nestorius,
Patriarch of Constantinople, was resolved at the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus. Kyril
himself presided at this council, and also represented Pope Celestine of Rome at his request, he
being prevented by old age from attending the council. Nestorius was condemned, anathematised and
exiled by the emperor to the eastern borders of the empire, where he died. After the end of these
battles, Kyril lived in peace and guided Christ’s flock with zeal. He went to the Lord in
the year 444. It is said that he composed the hymn: ‘Rejoice, Theotokos and
Virgin.’
2. St. Kiril of Byelozersk.
Born and educated in Moscow, the son of a great house, he was tonsured in the Simonov monastery, where he lived in an asceticism that was a marvel to the other monks. To conceal his virtues, he feigned madness. He spoke face-to-face with St. Sergius of Radonezh, and learned much of great value from him. He was chosen against his will as abbot of his monastery, but constantly begged the Mother of God to show him how he could continue in his silent asceticism. One night he saw a great light and heard a voice: ‘Kiril, leave here and go to the white lake!’ So, he left the Simonov monastery with one other monk and went to the shore of the lake (Byelozersk means ‘white lake’). There, in the thick of a pine forest, he continued his ascetic life. In time, this hermitage became a large monastery. Kiril received from God the gift of working miracles, and went to the Lord, Whom he had loved enduringly with a great love, at the age of ninety in the year 1429.
FOR CONSIDERATION
We sin if we reckon that we owe it to our kinsfolk to hate those whom they hate. Such a hate infects us like a hereditary disease. Adopting the loves of our kinsmen, we also adopt their hatreds. Even great spiritual giants were sometimes given to this weakness. Patriarch Theophilus could not bear St. John Chrysostom, and remained his bitterest opponent to the end of his days. St. Kyril, his kinsman and heir on the Alexandrian throne, inherited his dislike for St. John and carried it himself for a long time. St. Isidore of Pelusium exhorted him in vain to change his mind about St. Chrysostom and inscribe him in the Diptych of saints, but Kyril was unable to overcome his ill-will. Then the holy Mother of God, for whose honor and glory Kyril had fought so fiercely against Nestorius, appeared to him in a vision, surrounded by angels and accompanied by St. John Chrysostom in great glory, and the holy and most pure one begged St. John to forgive Kyril and embrace him. This vision completely reversed Kyril’s attitude to St. Chrysostom, and he repented with shame that he had so disliked him, doing his utmost for the rest of his life to glorify him as a great saint of God.
June 23rd – Civil Calendar
June 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Timothy, Bishop of Prousa.
For his great spiritual purity, God gave him the gift of wonder-working, and he healed all manner of diseases and pains among the people. During the reign of the evil Emperor Julian, who had renounced Christ, holy Timothy was thrown into prison. The faithful visited him there to listen to the wise teaching of their bishop. When this came to his ears, Julian commanded that the executioner behead him in the prison. This was in 362, and his soul entered into Paradise while his relics remained, full of miraculous power, to help the people and declare the power of the Lord.
2. The Holy Martyrs Alexander and Antonina.
Antonina was a virgin and Alexander an imperial soldier, both from Alexandria and both Christians. Antonina was first taken before the judge and tortured. When they threw her into prison, Alexander went to it at the command of an angel of God (being up to that time a stranger to Antonina), draped her in his military cloak and told her to keep her head lowered and go out through the guardhouse in front of the gates. In this way, she escaped and he remained in the prison. They brought Alexander before the judge, and began to interrogate him for the name of Christ. When Antonina heard of this, she came before the judge herself, and he put them both to various tortures. He cut off their hands and then flayed their naked bodies, scorching their wounds with torches, and finally cast them into a fire set in a hole in the ground, covering them with earth. They suffered with honor for the name of Christ and entered into the courts of the heavenly King on May 3rd, 313. The wicked judge, Festus, became dumb at the time of the martyrs’ deaths, and an evil spirit fell on him, torturing him for seven days before killing him.
3. St. Bassian, Bishop of Lodi.
A pagan born in Syracuse of eminent and wealthy parents, he studied philosophy in Rome. At his own desire, he was baptized by the devout elder Gordianus. This offended his parents, and to escape their wrath, he went to Ravenna on the advice of St. John the Theologian, who appeared to him, and there in Ravenna made himself known to the bishop, Ursus, a kinsman of his. On the bishop’s instructions, Bassian found lodgings near the Church of the Holy Martyr Apollinarius outside the city, and there labored a long time in toil, fasting and prayer. When the Bishop of Lodi in Liguria died, Bassian was elected, not according to his own desire but through a revelation in a dream. He was consecrated by St. Ambrose of Milan and Ursus of Ravenna. He had a great gift of healing, and could even raise the dead. He was present during St. Ambrose’s last hours and heard from those holy lips how St. Ambrose had seen the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived to a great age in toil and asceticism and finished his earthly course at the age of ninety, entering into the kingdom of God in about 409. His holy relics continue to work miracles as a witness to the power of God and the greatness of His saint.
FOR CONSIDERATION
It is not the same thing to eat your meal with a blessing and to eat it without one. Every meal is eaten at God’s table which He Himself has laid for us, and we must thank God, our Host, and ask His blessing. Food which is blessed is both sweeter and more satisfying, but unblessed food is both bitter and unsatisfying—and unhealthy. The Emperor Theodosios the Younger was once walking in the outskirts of Constantinople, and seeing the little house of a monk, called in on him. The elder asked the emperor if he would like something to eat. The emperor accepted, and the elder brought him bread, oil, salt and water. The emperor ate and drank, and then asked the monk: ‘Do you know who I am?’ ‘God knows who you are,’ answered the monk. ‘I am the Emperor Theodosios.’ The monk silently prostrated before him. The emperor then said to him: ‘I am an emperor and the son of an emperor, but believe me, I have never before in my life eaten such sweet-tasting food as here today with you.’ ‘And do you know the reason?’ asked the elder, and went on: ‘It is because we monks always prepare our food with prayer and a blessing, and therefore even bad food will turn into sweet for us. They certainly take a lot of trouble over the preparation of your food, but they do not ask a blessing from God, and so the most delicious food is tasteless.’
June 24th – Civil Calendar
June 11th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Bartholomew.
He was one of the twelve great apostles. It is
generally agreed that Bartholomew and Nathaniel are one and the same person. He was a companion
of the Apostle Philip and his sister, the virgin Mariamne. He accompanied St. John the Theologian
in preaching the Gospel in Asia. He also preached the holy Gospel in India and finally in
Armenia, where he died a martyr. In Hierapolis, the holy apostles, by their prayers, killed a
great snake which had been kept in a temple and deified by the pagans. In this same town, they
restored the sight of one Stachius, who had been blind for forty years. This roused the mob
against them, and Philip and Bartholomew were crucified—Barthlomew upside down. Suddenly a great
earthquake struck, and the earth opened up and swallowed the mayor together with all the pagan
priests and a multitude of the impious. Seeing this as a punishment from God, many ran to take
the apostles down from their crosses, but Philip was already dead although Bartholomew was still
alive. After that, Bartholomew went to India, where he preached and translated the Gospel of
Matthew into the Indian language. After that, he moved to Armenia, where he cured the
king’s daughter of madness. But the king’s envious brother, Astyages, took the
apostle of God and crucified him, then had him flayed and beheaded in the Armenian town of
Ourbanopolis. His body was buried by Christians in a leaden coffin. When many miracles had been
wrought over his relics, pagans took the coffin and threw it into the sea. But the sea carried
the coffin to the island of Lipara, where the bishop, Agathon, who had been warned by revelation
in a dream, was waiting for it and buried it in the church. St. Bartholomew appeared to St.
Joseph the Hymnographer in church one day, robed in white, and blessed him with the Gospels to
sing spiritual songs, saying: ‘Let streams of heavenly wisdom flow from thy tongue!’
He also appeared to the Emperor Anastasios (491-518), and told him that he would protect the
newly-built town of Dara. Later, the relics of this apostle were translated to Benevento, and
then to Rome. Great and wondrous miracles have been wrought over them.
2. The Holy Apostle Barnabas.
One of the
Seventy, he was born in Cyprus, of wealthy parents of the tribe of Levi, and studied with
Gamaliel together with Saul. He was first named Joseph, but the apostles called him Barnabas, Son
of Consolation, because he had a rare gift for comforting men’s souls. After Saul’s
conversion, Barnabas was the first to welcome him among the apostles. After that, with Paul and
Mark, he preached the Gospel in Antioch and other places. All accounts agree that he was the
first to preach in Rome and in Milan. He suffered at the hands of the Jews on the island of
Cyprus and was buried by Mark at the western gate of the city of Salamis, holding a copy of the
Gospel of Matthew which he had transcribed with his own hand. His grave remained unknown for
several centuries, but when many people had been healed of sickness in that place, it became
known as ‘the place of healing’. In the time of the Emperor Zeno, the apostle
appeared three times, on three successive nights, to Archbishop Anthemius of Cyprus, and revealed
the whereabouts of his grave. This revelation by the apostle took place just at the time when
Peter, the power-hungry Patriarch of Antioch, was seeking to bring the Cypriot Church under his
jurisdiction. After the revealing and finding of the miraculous relics of the holy Apostle
Barnabas, it was established that the Cypriot Church, as an apostolic foundation, should be
independent, and thus the autocephaly of the Church of Cyprus was finally confirmed.
3. The Feast of the Icon: ‘Axion Estin,’ and the miracle that was wrought in front of it in the time of Patriarch Nicholas Chrysoverges.
This miracle came about thus: One night a monk was
reading the canon of the Mother of God and singing: ‘More honorable than the
cherubim...’ in the Skete of the Pantocrator (now called after the icon). The monk’s elder
had gone to Karyes. Suddenly a man appeared in the church and began to sing: ‘Axion
Estin’ (It is Verily Worthy), a hymn which till that time had been unknown in the Church.
The monk, hearing this hymn, was greatly struck both by the words and the heavenly singing. The
stranger turned to the monk and said: ‘We sing it like this at home.’ The monk
desired to have it written down, and brought a marble tablet, onto which the stranger wrote the
hymn with his finger as though the tablet were made of wax, and then suddenly disappeared. This
stranger was the Archangel Gabriel. The tablet was taken to Constantinople, and the hymn is sung
to this day in the Church.
(For those who are not familiar with the text, it is as follows: ‘It is verily worthy to bless thee, the Theotokos; the ever-blessed, the entirely blameless, and Mother of our God. More honorable than the cherubim and beyond-compare more glorious than the seraphim, who didst bear without corruption God the Logos; thee, verily the Theotokos, we magnify.’ —Translator.)
FOR CONSIDERATION
A true friend prays to God for his friend. A true friend cares about the salvation of his friend’s soul. To draw a friend back from false ways and set him on the true path—that is a precious friendship. The saints of God are a man’s greatest friends.
The two young men, Barnabas and Paul, were friends and went together to Gamaliel’s school. When Barnabas became a Christian, he persistently and with tears prayed to God that He would enlighten Paul’s understanding and turn his heart, that he, too, might become a Christian. Barnabas often spoke to Paul about Christ the Lord, but Paul mocked him and thought him misguided. But the gracious Lord did not leave Barnabas’ prayer unfruitful. He appeared to Paul, turned him from the false way and set him on the way of truth. The converted Paul fell at the feet of his friend and cried: ‘O Barnabas, teacher of the truth, now I am convinced of the truth of what you said to me about Christ!’ Barnabas wept for joy and embraced his friend. The friend saved his friend’s soul by his fervent prayers. If Barnabas had succeeded in making Paul Emperor of Rome, he would have done less than he in fact did by bringing him to the truth by his prayers.
June 25th – Civil Calendar
June 12th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Onuphrius the Great.
This holy ascetic had been living a
whole sixty years in the desert when the monk Paphnutios visited him. His hair and beard reached
down to the ground, and long hair, as white as snow, had grown all over his body during his years
of nakedness. His appearance was ascetical, unearthly and awe-inspiring. Seeing Paphnutios, he
called him by name and then recounted to him his life in the desert. His guardian angel had
appeared to him and taken him to that place. When he had survived an intensive struggle with
diabolical temptations and when his heart had become utterly established in love for God, an
angel had brought him bread to eat. And besides that, through God’s gracious providence, a
palm tree grew up at one side of his cell, that gave good dates, and a spring of water began to
flow there. ‘But especially,’ said Onuphrius, ‘my food and drink are the sweet
words of God.’ To Paphnutios’ question about his receiving of Communion, the hermit
answered that the angel of God brought him Communion every Sunday. On the next day, the old man
told Paphnutios that it was the day of his departure from this world; then he knelt down, prayed
to God and gave his spirit into God’s hands. Then Paphnutios saw a heavenly light that
illumined the body of the departed saint, and heard a choir of the angelic hosts. He buried
Onuphrius’ body with honor and returned to his own monastery, there as a living witness to
narrate to the brethren, for their edification, the wonderful life of the man of God and the
greatness of God’s providence towards those who give themselves wholly to His service.
Onuphrius died in the year 400.
2. Our Holy Father Peter the Athonite.
He was a Greek by birth, and a
soldier by profession. Being once engaged in battle against the Arabs, he was captured, chained
and thrown into prison. Peter spent a long time in imprisonment in the town of Samara on the
Euphrates, and prayed God with all his being to free him and take him to some desert place where
he could devote himself to prayerful asceticism. St. Simeon the God-receiver appeared to him in
the prison, together with St. Nicholas, and touched the iron of his chains which melted like wax.
Peter suddenly found himself in the open outside the city. He immediately set out on the road for
Rome, where he was tonsured as a monk by the pope at the tomb of St. Peter. He then set out by
ship to return to the East. The most holy Mother of God appeared to him in a dream, talking with
St. Nicholas, and she told St. Nicholas that she had set Mount Athos apart for Peter to live on
in asceticism. Peter had at that time not heard of Mount Athos. Disembarking, then, at the Holy
Mountain, Peter settled in a cave, where he spent fifty-three years in strict asceticism, in
struggles with hunger and thirst, with heat and cold and especially with diabolical powers, until
he had overcome them all by the help of God. When he had undergone the first temptations and
succeeded in the first test before God, an angel of God began to bring him bread every forty
days. The tempter appeared to him several times in the guise of an angel of light, but Peter
drove him away with the sign of the Cross and the name of the most holy Mother of God. A year
before his death, a deer-hunter passed that way and learned of the saint’s life from his
lips. He died in 734, and his relics were taken to Macedonia.
3. Our Holy Father Timothy, an Egyptian hermit.
He lived the ascetic life first in the Thebaid, then went off into the desert, where he spent thirty years. Being pleasing to God, he died peacefully.
4. Our Holy Fathers Bassian and Jonah.
Monks of the monastery of Solovki, they were drowned and cast onto the shore in 1651. A sign appeared over their graves, and a church was built there. Later, the monastery of Petrominsk was founded on the site. Once Tsar Peter I, sheltering from a storm at sea, spent three days there and made a cross, which he erected on the shore.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Communion is a great and wonderful mystery. Even solitaries and hermits sought opportunities to receive holy Communion. St. Mary of Egypt begged St. Zosimas to bring the Holy Mysteries to the Jordan and give her Communion. Our holy father Paphnutios, returning from his visit to St. Onuphrius, found four young men living the ascetic life in a very humble community. When Paphnutios asked them if they had any chance of receiving Communion, they replied that an angel of God came to them every Sunday and brought them Communion. Paphnutios remained until the following Sunday and personally witnessed this. When the Sunday dawned, the whole monastery was filled with an indescribable, heavenly fragrance. While they were at prayer, an angel of God in the form of a handsome young man, bright as lightning, appeared with the Holy Gifts. Paphnutios was terrified and fell to the ground in fear, but they raised him up, and he also received Communion at the angel’s hands. St. Onuphrius received Communion at the hands of an angel, according to his own testimony, as did many other solitaries and hermits. It is therefore a completely mistaken idea to think that solitaries and hermits did not receive Communion. God, Who provided for their bodily sustenance, did not leave them without the life-giving food of the body and blood of Christ the Lord.
June 26th – Civil Calendar
June 13th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Aquilina.
Born in the Palestinian town of Biblos of Christian parents, little Aquilina was already, at the age of seven, living as a true Christian, and by the age of ten was so filled with divine understanding and the grace of the Holy Spirit that she used to preach Christ with great power and zeal to her girl friends. When Diocletian’s persecution began, Aquilina was handed over to the imperial governor, Volusianus, who was more like a beast than a man. He ordered that she first be flogged and then that a heated rod be passed through her ears and brain. Until the last moment, the virgin Aquilina freely and clearly confessed Christ the Lord; but when her brains started flowing with her blood from her head, she fell as if dead. Believing her to be indeed dead, the governor ordered that her body be taken outside the city and thrown onto a dungheap for the dogs to eat. But, during the night, an angel of God appeared to her and said: ‘Arise and be healed!’ and the maiden arose and was restored to health, and stood a long time expressing her gratitude and praise to God and begging Him not to deny her a martyr’s death. A voice was heard from heaven: ‘Go; and it shall be to thee as thou desirest,’ and Aquilina went into the city. The city gates opened of their own accord for her, and she passed through them and went to the governor’s palace like a ghost, standing before his bed and showing herself to him. The governor was seized with unspeakable terror when he saw the maiden whom he had thought dead. On the following day, he ordered the executioner to take Aquilina out and behead her with the sword. Before her execution, she knelt in prayer and surrendered her spirit into God’s hands, leaving her dead body to be beheaded by the executioner. Her relics gave healing to many of the sick. St. Aquilina was twelve years old when she suffered for the Lord; she endured her Passion and was crowned with a wreath of martyrdom in the year 293.
2. St. Triphyllius, Bishop of Levcosia in Cyprus.
A pupil of St. Spiridon and later his fellow-bishop on the island of Cyprus, he was a merciful man, pure in thought, chaste in his life, a living fountain of tears, and a great ascetic. He governed Christ’s flock well, and when he went to his rest, received his crown among the great hierarchs in heaven. He entered peacefully into rest in 370.
3. St. Anna and her son John.
Taken as an orphan into the house of a nobleman and treated as an adopted child, she was cared for and educated in that house. The rich man considered her worthy to be married to his son. When the old man died, the family urged the son to put his wife away because of her low birth and to marry another more suited to his rank and wealth. The rich man’s son feared God and did not want to do this. Seeing her husband in difficulties with his family, Anna secretly left him and ran off to a distant island where there was not a living soul. She was pregnant, and soon gave birth to a son. They labored on the island for thirty years in fasting and prayer. Then, by divine providence, a hieromonk landed on the island. He baptized her son and named him John. Anna lived her ascetic life in the fifth century and died peacefully.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Meekness and gentleness adorned the saints and gave them the strength and the motive not to return evil for evil. When the Emperor Constantius, Constantine’s son, fell ill in Antioch, he summoned St. Spiridon to come and pray over him. In company with his deacon, Triphyllius, St. Spiridon left Cyprus, and arriving at the imperial court in Antioch, asked for admittance. He was clad in poor clothing, with a simple woven cap on his head and a palm staff in his hand, and he was clutching to his breast a small earthenware pot in which he had some oil that had been set before the Holy Cross (such being the custom among Christians in Jerusalem). Dressed in this way, worn out by fasting and the journey, the saint gave no hint of his rank and dignity. And so, when he wished to set foot in the emperor’s court, one of the imperial servants, taking him for a pauper, struck him a blow on one cheek. The meek and forgiving saint turned the other cheek to him. When he managed, with great difficulty, to reach the emperor, he placed his hand on Constantius’ head, and the emperor immediately recovered.
June 27th – Civil Calendar
June 14th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Elissaios (Elisha).
He lived nine hundred years before Christ. When the Lord willed
to take the aged Prophet Elias to Himself, He revealed to him that He had set aside Elissaios,
the son of Shaphat, of the tribe of Reuben and from the city of Abel-Menolah, to inherit his
prophetic calling. Elias made the Lord’s will known to Elissaios and draped him in his
mantle, asking God for a double portion of the grace of prophecy for him. Elissaios at once left
his home and his people and followed after Elias. When the Lord took Elias in the fiery chariot
(II Kings 2:11 KJV), Elissaios remained to carry on the work of prophecy with yet greater power
than Elias. In his purity and zeal, he was equal to the greatest prophets, and surpassed all the
others with the wondrous power given to him by God. He divided the waters of the Jordan as Moses
once divided the Red Sea; he made the bitter waters in Jericho drinkable; he brought water down
into the trenches in the war against the Moabites; he caused the widow’s jars to fill to
the brim with oil: he raised the dead son of the Shunammite woman; he fed a hundred people with
twenty small loaves; he healed Naaman, captain of the hosts of Syria, of leprosy; he blinded an
entire Syrian army and put another to flight; he foretold many events both for the nation and for
individuals, and went to his rest at a very great age.
2. St. Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople.
Born in the city of Syracuse in Sicily, he became a monk on completing his secular education and gave himself to the ascetic life in a monastery. Patriarch Nikephoros took him into his own service. During the time of the iconoclast emperors, he was renowned on all sides as a staunch defender of the veneration of icons. For this reason, the wicked Emperor Theophilus exiled him to an island, where he spent seven whole years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave. During the reign of the devout Empress Theodora and her son Michael, he was made patriarch, fulfilling an earlier prophecy of St. Ioannikios the Great. During the first week of the Great Fast, Methodius solemnly carried the icons into the church and wrote a canon in their honor. Unable to get the better of him in any way, the vile heretics hired a woman to declare that the patriarch had had physical relations with her. The whole of Constantinople was aghast at this slander. Not knowing how to prove his innocence in any other way, the patriarch overcame his embarrassment and presented himself naked before the court, voluntarily showing them his body all withered and debilitated from fasting. The court was clearly persuaded that the patriarch had been slandered. The people rejoiced at hearing this and the heretics were put to shame. Then the woman herself admitted that she had been persuaded and bribed to slander God’s saint, and thus those who sought to bring shame on Methodius unwittingly increased his fame. This great confessor of the Faith died peacefully in 847, and went to the kingdom of God.
3. St. John, Metropolitan of Efchaita.
Nicknamed ‘Mavropous’ (Blackfeet), he was a man of great scholarship and true spirituality. When the Emperor Alexios Komnenos was very old, John became Metropolitan of Efchaita. He is particularly famed because St. Basil, St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom all appeared to him (see January 30th), and revealed to him how they are, all three, equally glorified in heaven. After this vision, the bickering among the people was quieted, for they had been quarrelling about which of the three was the greatest. St. John also composed the well-known Canon to the Most Sweet Jesus and the Canon to the Guardian Angel, and he also compiled several instructive books. He entered peacefully into rest in the second half of the 11th century.
4. Our Holy Father Niphon.
Born in the region of Argyrocastra in the village of Lukov, he was the son of a priest. He was attracted in his youth by the desire for solitude and prayer. This desire finally led him to the Holy Mountain, where he at first lived out his asceticism in the cave of St. Peter the Athonite and then in the desert of St. Anne’s skete. He would not eat bread, but fed himself on grass and roots. Some envious men accused him of disdaining bread, but he easily and speedily justified himself. Finally he became associated with St. Maximos of Kapsokalyvia. For his great love towards God, Niphon was granted the gifts of wonder-working and discernment. He used to heal the sick with prayer and anointing with oil, and he clearly saw events both past and future. He foretold his own death during the Apostles’ Fast. When the day of his departure dawned, he said to the brethren around him: ‘Do not weep, but rather rejoice, because you will have someone to pray for your salvation before God.’ At the end, he said: ‘It is time for me to go,’ and he surrendered his holy soul to God. This was on June 14th, 1411.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The wise St. John Chrysostom says: ‘No place will save us if we do not do the will of God.’ It is said of a certain monk living in a monastery, that five of the brethren loved him and one offended him. Because of this brother, he moved to another monastery. But, in that one, eight of the brethren loved him and two offended him. So he ran off to a third monastery. Here seven loved him and five offended him. So he went to a fourth monastery, but on the way he fell to thinking: ‘How long shall I go running from place to place? I shall find no rest in the whole world. I would do better to learn patience.’ He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote on it in large letters: ‘I shall endure all things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ When he arrived at the fourth monastery, only one monk loved him and the rest offended him. But he began to bear their reproaches with patience. As soon as anyone offended him, he would pull out his piece of paper and read: ‘I shall endure all things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,’ and so his patience triumphed and all came to love him, and he remained in that place until his death.
June 28th – Civil Calendar
June 15th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Amos.
Born in the village of Tekoa, close to Bethlehem, he was of simple birth and lived a simple life. Amos was a herdsman for rich men in Jerusalem. But God, Who never looks into ‘who’s who,’ and judges a man by the purity of his heart and not by his external appearance, the same God Who took Moses and David from their sheep to make them leaders of the nation; this same God also took Amos to be His prophet. Amos rebuked King Uzziah and his pagan priests for their idolatry and turned the people from the worship of the golden calves, teaching them to worship the one, only and living God. When Amaziah, the chief of the pagan priests, began to persecute him, he prophesied the triumph of the Assyrians over Israel, the slaying of King Jeroboam and Amaziah’s sons and the defiling of his wife by the Assyrian soldiers before his own eyes, because Amaziah had led the nation into adultery with idols. And so it all came to pass. The son of the priest struck the prophet on the forehead with a staff so forcefully that he fell down. He was carried, barely alive, to his village of Tekoa, where he surrendered his holy soul to God. He lived in the 8th century before Christ.
2. The Holy Martyr Vitus, with Modestus and Crescentia.
St. Vitus was born in Sicily of eminent pagan parents. Modestus was his tutor and Crescentia his governess. St. Vitus was baptized early, and when only twelve years old, began to live an intensive ascetic life. Angels appeared to him, instructing him and encouraging him in his labors, and he was himself as radiant and handsome as an angel of God. A judge who beat him had the flesh of his arm wither away, but Vitus healed it by his prayers. His father was blinded when he saw twelve angels in his room ‘with eyes like stars and faces like lightning,’ but Vitus restored his sight by his prayers. When his father sought to kill him, an angel appeared to him and took him to Lucania on the bank of the River Silaris, together with Modestus and Crescentia. St. Vitus performed many miracles there for the sick and insane. He went to Rome at the summons of the Emperor Diocletian and drove out an evil spirit from his son. Far from rewarding him, the emperor tortured him cruelly when he would not bow down before mute idols, but the Lord delivered him from torture and returned him to Lucania by His invisible arm, and there he and Modestus and Crescentia entered into rest in the Lord. St. Vitus’ relics are preserved in Prague.
3. Our Holy Father Doulas.
He lived a holy life in an Egyptian monastery. Some of the brethren living in the monastery falsely accused him of blasphemy out of envy towards him, saying that he had stolen from the church things they had themselves taken. The innocent Doulas was stripped of his habit and handed over to the governor for trial. The prince had him flogged and would have cut off his hands, according to the law for such offences, but Doulas’ fellow-monks repented and declared his innocence. He returned to his monastery after twenty years of exile and humiliation, and went to his rest in the Lord on the third day. His body disappeared in a miraculous way.
4. The Holy Martyr Lazar, Prince of Serbia.
He was one of the greatest men of Serbia who ruled the kingdom after King Dušan. Upon the death of King Uroš, Lazar was crowned King of Serbia by Patriarch Ephraim. He sent a delegation to Constantinople, including a monk called Isaias, to plead for the removing of the anathema from the Serbian people. He went to war on several occasions against the Turkish pasha, finally clashing with the Turkish king, Amurat, at Kosovo on June 15th, 1389, being slain there. His body was taken to Ravanica near Ćupria, a foundation of his, and buried there, but was later taken to New Ravanica in Srem. During the Second World War, in 1942, it was taken to Belgrade and placed in the Cathedral, where it is preserved to this day, and offers comfort and healing to all who turn to him in prayer. He restored Hilandar and Gornjak, built Ravanica and the Lazarica in Kruševac and was the founder of St. Panteleimon, the Russian monastery on the Holy Mountain, as well as numerous other churches and monasteries.
5. St. Ephraim (Jefrem), Patriarch of Serbia.
The son of a priest, he had from his boyhood hungered for a spiritual and ascetic life. He ran away to the Holy Mountain when his parents wished him to marry, and returned later to live in a canyon of the River Ibar, and then at Dečani. When rivalry and fighting for precedence broke out in the state and also, unhappily, in the Church, the synod chose Ephraim as patriarch in place of the deceased Sava, in 1375. When he was informed of their choice, he broke into bitter weeping, but could not refuse. He crowned Prince Lazar in 1382, then renounced his own throne, handing it on to Spiridon, and withdrew once again into solitude. But, upon Spiridon’s death in 1388, Prince Lazar besought him to shoulder the burden once again. He led the Serbian Church through the difficult period of the defeat at Kosovo and until his death in 1400. He was eighty-eight when he went to the Lord Whom he loved. His relics are preserved in the monastery at Peć.
FOR CONSIDERATION
It is not always easy to conquer the spirit of vanity and love of praise. Only the greatest spiritual fathers have succeeded in this, by God’s grace, a ceaseless vigilance over their souls and a very delicate spiritual attention and power of discernment. Abba Nisteroes was once walking along a path with one of his brother monks. Suddenly they saw a snake on the path. The brother leapt aside, with the great Nisteroes after him. ‘Are you really afraid as well, father?’ a monk asked Nisteroes. ‘No, my child, I am not afraid; but I had to flee myself, or I would have stayed from the spirit of vanity.’ In other words: If I had remained unmoved, you would have marveled at me and I would have grown vain on that account.
June 29th – Civil Calendar
June 16th – Church Calendar
1. St. Tikhon, Bishop of Amathus.
A wonder-worker, Tikhon was chosen unanimously as bishop on the death of blessed Mnemonius, and consecrated by the renowned Epiphanios for the diocese of Amathus. The purity of his life and his zealous adherence to Orthodoxy recommended him for this rank. There were still pagans in Cyprus at that time, and Tikhon undertook with apostolic zeal to turn the unbelievers into believers, and he had great success in this. After lengthy toil in the Lord’s vineyard, he entered into the eternity of the blessed in about 425. He is named a wonder-worker because of the many miracles that he performed during his lifetime. His father was a baker, and whenever his father left him alone in the shop, he would distribute the bread to the poor without payment. His father reproached him once for doing this, so he prayed to God and their storehouse became so full of grain that they could open the door only with difficulty. Another time he planted a dry slip from a vine and the vine grew green and bore fruit in its season.
2. The Holy Martyrs Tigrios and Eftropios.
They were both priests with St. John Chrysostom. When evil men drove St. John from Constantinople, the cathedral was set on fire, the flames from it rising high and falling upon the houses of those who were persecuting this light of the Church. The people saw the finger of God at work in this event, but St. John’s enemies blamed his followers for the fire. Many of them suffered because of this, including the priest Tigrios and the reader Eftropios. The civil governor, an unbaptized Greek called Optatios, started a particularly venomous hunt for the followers of St. John. Tigrios had been the slave of a rich man in his youth and had been castrated. Set free from slavery, he had devoted himself entirely to the service of the Church and shone in that service like a ray of light. Optatios gave this ‘meek, humble, merciful and hospitable’ man over to vicious torture and then sent him into exile, to Mesopotamia, where he died while still in captivity. Eftropios, chaste and pure from his earliest youth, without vice or guile, was flogged with bull-whips and staves and finally hanged. When Christians took his body for burial, a melodious angelic chanting was heard in the sky above them.
FOR CONSIDERATION
In enumerating the miracles of the Christian Faith, we must not forget those innumerable and great miracles, the changes of heart and character in people truly converted to the Faith. How many senseless evildoers has the Faith tamed! How many bloodthirsty robbers has it turned into innocent lambs! How many debauched men into men of chaste life! How many persecutors has it made into defenders! How many self-seeking and avaricious men has it made compassionate! How many cowards has it turned onto the path of self-sacrifice! Metropolitan Philaret wrote thus about the Russian Prince Vladimir: ‘A lover of all the passions, he could not have loved them more, yet the pagan Vladimir found Christianity and became a model of pure and chaste married life. He put away from himself all the women and the concubines, and lived with Anna, a faithful and devout woman. A malicious, vengeful and bloodthirsty fratricide while a pagan, he became, as a Christian, the most compassionate friend of the deprived and unfortunate. They had free access to him, and he distributed both food and money to them with a generous hand. And he even went further than that: he said that the sick were in no state to come to the palace, so he ordered that meat and fish, bread, yeast and honey be taken round the streets. The words of the Gospel: “Blessed are the merciful”, penetrated into the very depths of his heart and became a principle of life for him.’
June 30th – Civil Calendar
June 17th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael.
These three brothers were Persians, of a pagan father and a Christian mother. Brought up in a Christian spirit and baptized, they were high officials at the court of King Balanos, and were sent to the Emperor Julian the Apostate to conduct negotiations and confirm the peace between the Persian and Graeco-Roman Empires. The apostate emperor had arranged some sort of vile celebration in honor of the idols at Chalcedon, and he went there with his nobles bearing sacrifices for the idols. The Persian delegates absented themselves from the celebration. The emperor summoned them and ordered them to take part in the festivities and offer sacrifice to the gods. They then declared that they were foreign envoys who had come from the King of Persia to establish peace between the two empires, and not for any other reason. They said that they were Christians and considered it unworthy to bow down before lifeless idols and offer them sacrifice. The emperor, in fury, had them thrown into prison. They were brought out the next day, and he began to dispute with them about the Faith, but the holy brothers were irrefutable and unwavering. They were then bound naked to trees and struck and flayed with iron flails. During their torture, they prayed to God, thanking Him for it: ‘O sweet Jesus, these pains are sent to us for love of Thee.’ An angel of God appeared to them, comforted them and took away all their pain. Contrary to all understanding of the rights of foreign envoys, the wicked Emperor Julian finally issued the order that the three brothers were to be slain with the sword. There was a great earthquake at their execution, thus making it impossible for the pagans to burn them as the emperor had commanded. The earth later gave up the martyrs’ bodies for Christians to find and bury. Many miracles were worked over their relics, bringing many pagan witnesses to the Christian Faith. When the Persian king heard of the inhuman death that Julian had provided for the envoys, he prepared for war against him. Julian set out for Persia convinced of victory, but he was beaten to his knees and perished miserably.
2. Our Holy Father Pior.
A Nitrian solitary, he was inflamed with love for God. Pior renounced the world early and went off into the Egyptian desert, where he gave himself to a life of heroic asceticism. It is said that he never sat at table to eat, but always ate standing up and working. When he was asked why he did this, St. Pior replied: ‘I do not wish to be concerned with eating as though it were an occupation. It is merely coincidental.’ When he was called to sit in judgement on a brother who had done something wrong, he arrived carrying a bag of sand on his back and a small pouch in his hand. Questioned as to their significance, the holy man answered: ‘The bag of sand on my back is my sins, which I do not see; the pouch of sand is the sin of my brother whom I have to judge.’ Then all the brethren were confounded and exclaimed: ‘This is the way of salvation!’ He lived for a hundred years and went to his rest in the Lord in the 4th century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Christ’s opponents always achieve results opposite to those that their actions against Christ would expect. Instead of blocking the river of Christianity, they widen it and deepen it, and make the roar of its flow heard the more clearly. Instead of drying it up, they produce a veritable flood of Christianity across the whole world. Where one martyr fell, a crowd of Christians was created; wherever there was a foul deed, glory sprang from it; wherever it was said that Christianity was finished, there would be an ever-thicker sowing of the Faith. In the face of all considerations and international regulations, Julian the Apostate slew the Persian peace envoys, Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael, because of his insane idolatrous fanaticism. What did Julian achieve by this? He increased the number of Christians, he enlarged the company of the holy martyrs, and he brought closer his own end and that of paganism. Indirectly and unwillingly, the Apostate aided the dissemination and strengthening of Christianity, not merely by his malicious persecution but also by his involuntary statements. For example, in a debate with some Christians he stated: ‘Christ did nothing in His lifetime to merit any glory if we ignore His healing of the lame and the sightless, and His power to drive out demons.’ Oh, wretched fellow! As if the opening of the eyes of only one blind man by words alone was not a greater thing than the subjugation of ten kingdoms! How valuable it is that the greatest betrayer of Christ since Judas had to acknowledge Christ’s miracles!
July 1st – Civil Calendar
June 18th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Leontius.
A Roman military commander in Tripoli in Phoenicia in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, he was born in Yelada, ‘of great physical stature, powerful, strong and bold in battle’. The imperial governor, Hadrian, sent a military detachment to seize Leontius, Hadrian being a fierce adversary and persecutor of Christians. The commander of the detachment, Hypatius, fell ill on the way with a grave fever and the unit had therefore to slow its pace. One night an angel of the Lord appeared to Hypatius and said to him: ‘If you desire to be healed, you and your soldiers must cry to heaven three times: “O God of Leontius, help me!”’ Hypatius told his companions about this vision, and they all shouted together as the angel had instructed him, and Hypatius was immediately healed. This miracle amazed them all, and especially a certain Theodulus. Then Hypatius and Theodulus went on ahead of the other soldiers to find Leontius. Leontius received them courteously and offered them refreshment. When he had expounded his faith in Christ, their hearts began to burn with love towards the Lord, and a bright cloud descended upon Hypatius and Theodulus, shedding dew over them. In this way the Holy Spirit of God Himself baptized these two converted souls while St. Leontius spoke the words: ‘In the name of the All-holy Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’ The evil Hadrian discovered that Hypatius and Theodulus had become Christians and ordered that they be beaten without mercy and then beheaded with an axe. In this manner Leontius’ spiritual children died. Then Hadrian ordered a most cruel torture for Leontius, but Leontius remained unwavering in his faith. His entire body was covered with wounds, but he prayed to God unceasingly to remain with him. In the midst of these most vicious torments, an angel of the Lord appeared to comfort and encourage him. At last they threw the martyr onto the ground and flogged him until he gave his soul to God. Leontius’ sufferings were witnessed by a certain Notarius, who recorded all that he saw on tablets and placed them in the martyr’s grave. St. Leontius suffered with honor in the year 73.
2. Our Holy Father Leontius the Clairvoyant.
A Greek from the Peloponnese, he lived the ascetic life for sixty years in the monastery of Dionysiou, and went to his rest in 1605 at the age of eighty-five. It is said of Leontius that he left the monastery only once in all the sixty years: he entered it when he first went to Dionysiou and left it when they carried him out to bury him. He had a miraculous gift of discernment and prophecy, and myrrh flowed from his relics after his death.
FOR CONSIDERATION
We see how carefully a scientist investigates natural phenomena, and we must investigate the appearances and acts of God’s grace with still greater care. Consider what one of our great spiritual teachers, Saint John of Kronstadt, witnesses about the act of Communion: ‘I am amazed at the grandeur and creative power of divine Communion. An old woman, who was spitting blood and was so completely exhausted that she was unable to eat, began to recover on the day she received Communion from me. A young girl close to death began to recover after Communion; to eat, drink and talk, whereas she had been earlier almost at her last breath unconscious, in convulsions and unable to eat or drink anything.’ May every priest ponder and observe the action of holy Communion with the attention of a scientist and the love of a man of prayer, as Saint John did.
July 2nd – Civil Calendar
June 19th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Jude.
One of the Twelve Apostles, he was the son of Joseph and Salome
(not the Salome from Bethlehem, but another), and brother to Iakovos the Lord’s Brother.
Joseph the Carpenter had four sons by Salome: Iakovos, Hosea, Simon and Jude. Jude is often
called ‘Jude the brother of Iakovos,’ to note his relationship with his brother (Lk.
6:16; Acts 1:13). St. Jude begins his Epistle: ‘Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and
brother of Iakovos’. Although he could call himself the Lord’s brother, just as
Iakovos did, he did not do so. This was out of humility and out of shame, because he did not
believe in Christ the Lord at the very beginning. When the aged Joseph desired to give Jesus His
portion of the property before his death, just as he was doing for his other children, all of
them were against it, including Jude, and only Iakovos voluntarily shared out his portion and
laid some aside for Jesus. Jude is also called Levi and Thaddeus. There is another Thaddeus, or
Jude, one of the Seventy (see August 21st), but this Thaddeus or Jude was one of the great
apostles. He preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Idumea, Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia
and Armenia. At Edessa, the city of Abgar, he continued and developed the preaching of the other
Thaddeus. While he was preaching in the region around Ararat, he was seized by the pagans,
crucified and shot through with arrows, that he might reign forever in the kingdom of Christ.
2. Our Holy Father Paisius the Great.
He was an Egyptian by birth and by language. After a vision in a dream, his mother dedicated him to the service of God, and he went to St. Pambo while still a youth. Pambo accepted him as a disciple, and he was a fellow disciple there of St. John Kolovos, who wrote St. Paisius’ life. To the joy of his spiritual father, Paisius piled labor upon labor one ascetic feat upon another. The Prophet Jeremias, whom he especially revered and read frequently, appeared to him often, and also the Lord Christ. ‘Peace be to thee, My beloved in whom I am well-pleased!’ the Lord said to him. By God’s great grace, Paisius had the particular gift of being able to abstain completely from food. He went for forty years without tasting a thing. He waged a tremendous war against evil spirits that sometimes appeared to him in their own form and sometimes as angels of light. But God’s servant, filled with grace, never once let himself be deceived and led astray. He was a clairvoyant and a wonder-worker famed throughout the whole of Egypt. He went to the Lord in the year 400. Isidore of Pelusium took his relics to his own monastery and buried them there.
3. The Holy Martyr Zossima.
A Roman soldier at the time of the Emperor Trajan, he courageously confessed his faith in Christ the Lord and endured many bitter torments. In the midst of his torture, a voice was heard from heaven: ‘Be of good cheer, Zossima, and sign yourself with the Cross. I am with you.’ Angels of God appeared to him in the prison. After manifold sufferings, he was beheaded with an axe in the year 116.
4. Our Holy Father John the Solitary.
He lived the ascetic life near Jerusalem in the sixth century. His asceticism brought him to a high degree of purity and spiritual power, so that the wild beasts were obedient to him. He entered into rest in the Lord in 586, at a great age.
5. Our Holy Father John (Maximovitch) the Wonder-worker of San Francisco.
He was born in the
province of Kharkov with the name Michael and graduated from the military academy. He became a
spiritual son of Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) and loved to read the lives of the saints.
During the Civil War, his family emigrated to Yugoslavia in 1921, where Michael studied at the
theological school and was later tonsured a monk with the name John. He was next ordained a
priest and taught at a Serbian seminary, where he lived a strict ascetic life of fasting, vigil,
and prayer, impressing all who saw him, including the renowned Bishop Nikolai (Velimirovic). He
served Liturgy every day, and on Pascha, he radiated the joy of the Resurrection. Father John was
consecrated Bishop of Shanghai by Metropolitan Anthony in 1934, the Feast of the Entry of the
Theotokos.
He always performed the daily services completely and unabridged, so that at Compline, five or more canons would be read, so as to honor all of the saints. St. John often walked the city barefoot, having given his shoes to some poor man. He ate once a day, at 11 o’clock at night. He often unexpectedly visited those in need, according to his clairvoyance, knowing in the Spirit when someone needed his help or Holy Communion. Bishop John rescued many children from the streets of Shanghai and put them in his orphanage dedicated to St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. In 1949, the saint evacuated his flock of five thousand and accompanied them to the Philippines, and from there to America.
In 1951 the Hierarchical Synod of the Russian Church Abroad decided to make Vladyka John Archbishop of Paris and Brussels. Here, too, he gained a reputation for holiness and miracles. St. John also collected information about many ancient Western saints and added them to the Church calendar. In 1963, the venerable one was appointed Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America but was soon plunged into a grievous temptation when some members of the parish council sued him over the construction of the cathedral in San Francisco. The holy man of God always endured persecution and mistreatment with patience and meekness. He reposed in Seattle in 1966, in the presence of the miraculous Kursk Root Icon. His body is completely incorrupt and is located in the cathedral in San Francisco. As during his life, so after St. John’s death, he has worked so many miracles that they could fill several volumes.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The monks once asked Paisius the Great: ‘Speak to us, Father, a word for salvation, and tell us how we must live to please God.’ The elder replied: ‘Go and keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the tradition of the fathers.’ The tradition of the fathers is the experience of the saints in the spiritual sphere, an experience grown immense in nearly two thousand years, the experience of thousand upon thousand of holy men and women—an incredibly rich storehouse of wisdom and an immense heap of proofs of every truth of holy Scripture. And all this good, all this wisdom, all these proofs and all this experience have been cast aside by the Protestants! Oh, what unspeakable stupidity! Oh, what an extreme of poverty!
July 3rd – Civil Calendar
June 20th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Methodius, Bishop of Patara,
He devoted himself from his youth to the ascetic life, and like a city set on a hill, was seen and called to the episcopate in the city of Patara in Lycia. Methodius was a learned and eloquent hierarch and wrote against the heresy of Origen. His words, ‘inspired by God, illumine the whole world like lightning’. The pagans rose up against him, tortured him and beheaded him in 311, in Chalkis in Syria.
2. The Holy Martyrs Aristokles, Dimitrianus and Athanasius.
Aristokles was a priest at the cathedral church in the town of Tamasus on Cyprus, and lived a life pleasing to God. Through his great zeal for the Faith, he was made worthy to hear a voice from heaven telling him to go to Salamis to receive the crown of martyrdom. The deacon Dimitrianus and the reader Athanasius joined him. On their arrival in Salamis, these men of God began to preach Christ. The pagans seized them, and after trial by torture, beheaded Aristokles with a sword, but Dimitrianus and Athanasius were cast into the flames. This was in the year 306.
3. Our Holy Father Naum of Ochrid.
 His chief festival is on December 23rd,
where his life is recorded, but June 20th is his summer feast. A great crowd gathers at the
monastery of St. Naum for this summer festival. Many of the sick come or are carried there
to receive healing through faith and prayer over the relics of this holy man. Not merely
Orthodox, but people of other faiths come seeking help from St. Naum. In 1926, a Moslem
from Resna (Resen) went there and donated a bell to the monastery in gratitude to the saint
for healing his brother and raising him from his deathbed. The donor was Jemail Zizo, and
his brother who was healed was called Suleiman Zizo. Both were eminent citizens of Resna.
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4. St. Kallistos I, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He lived the ascetic life for twenty-eight years as a disciple of Gregory the Sinaite on Mount Athos, in the skete of Magoula attached to the monastery of Philotheou. He later founded the community of St. Mamas there. He was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 1350. After four years, he left the patriarchal throne to return to Athos, but in the reign of John Palaiologos, he was again called to the throne, where he remained until his death. He died in 1363 on the way to Serres to meet the Serbian Queen Helena, who was seeking help against the Turks. He wrote the Lives of St. Gregory the Sinaite and St. Theodosius of Trnovo, as well as numerous homilies. It is interesting to note how St. Maximus of Kapsokalyvia foretold the death of Patriarch Kallistos. On his way to Serbia, Kallistos called in at the Holy Mountain. St. Maximus saw him and said: ‘This elder will not see his flock again, because I hear behind him the hymn over the grave: “Happy are the blameless in the way...”.’
5. St. Leucius, Bishop of Brindisi.
Born in Alexandria, he entered a monastery young. He was worthy of great revelations and powerful grace, sufficient to raise the dead and drive demons from men. He was at first Bishop of Alexandria, and went to Italy in response to a command from heaven. He baptized the entire pagan city of Brindisi and built a church there to the Mother of God. After intensive and successful work for the Faith, he entered into eternity in the fifth century, in the reign of the Emperor Theodosios II.
6. Blessed Studios.
A famous nobleman and consul in Constantinople, he founded in 463 the Church of St. John the Forerunner near the Golden Gates, and a monastery, named the Studion after him. This monastery became famed for its many great men, spiritual teachers, ascetics and martyrs for the Faith, among whom St. Theodore the Studite is the best-known. The Latin Crusaders destroyed this monastery in 1204, but it was restored in 1293 by the Paleologue Emperor Andronikos II. The church, for some centuries a mosque, is now in ruins.
7. Feast of the Odegetria (Directress) Icon of the Mother of God.
Luke the Evangelist painted this icon on
wood himself. When the most holy Mother of God saw it, she was pleased with it and blessed it.
St. Luke presented the icon to Theophilus, a state official for whom he wrote the Acts of the
Apostles. The icon was later taken from Antioch to Jerusalem, and sent from there by the Empress
Evdokia to Constantinople as a gift for Pulcheria, the emperor’s devout sister. Pulcheria
placed it in the Church of Vlachernai, which was her own foundation. The most holy Mother of God
once appeared to two blind men and led them into the church to her icon and restored the sight of
them both. For this reason, the icon has become known as ‘Odegetria’—
‘She who shows the way’. When the armies of the Persian king, Chozroes, and of Kagan,
leader of the Scythians, attacked Constantinople, Patriarch Sergios carried the icon around the
city ramparts, and the most holy Mother of God saved the Christians from the unbelievers. The
forces of the enemy became confused, the sea began to heave about, and the boats began to sink.
The enemy soldiers who remained alive saved themselves by fleeing. Ever since then, a
commemoration of this miracle wrought by the most holy Mother of God has been held on the
Saturday of the Fifth Week of the Great Fast, with the reading of the Akathist. During the
iconoclast period, this icon was taken to the monastery of the Pantocrator and sealed up in a
wall with a burning lamp hanging before it. It was found later, unharmed by its immuring.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Cyprian writes on immortality: ‘Whenever any famous person promises you something, you trust in his promise and do not think that he will deceive you, since he is always true to his word. But lo, O distrustful man, God Himself speaks to you and you vacillate in doubt! God has promised you immortality when you leave this world, and do you impudently doubt this promise? This means that you do not recognize God at all, it means that you insult Christ our Lord and Teacher with your lack of faith.’ What a strong faith is held by God’s saints! How clear and rational and well-attested it is by simple yet powerful examples! It is not because the unholy are rational that they doubt, but because they are unholy. The holier a man, the more rational, since he sees the truth in the undistorted mirror of his heart.
July 4th – Civil Calendar
June 21st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Julian of Tarsus.
Of a noble senatorial family, he lived in Tarsus in Cilicia and suffered in the reign of Diocletian. Although only eighteen years old when he was taken for trial for the Faith, St. Julian was already both educated and resolute in Christian Faith and devotion. The imperial governor took him from city to city for a whole year, torturing him all the while and attempting to persuade him to renounce Christ. Julian’s mother followed her son at a distance. When the governor seized her and sent her to urge her son to renounce Christ, she spent three days in the prison with him, giving him precisely the opposite advice, teaching him and giving him the strength not to lose heart but to go to his death with courage and gratitude to God. His torturers then sewed Julian into a sack of sand with scorpions and snakes and threw him into the sea, and his mother also died under torture. The waves carried his body onto the shore, and the faithful took it to Alexandria, where they buried it in 290. His relics were later taken to Antioch. St. John Chrysostom himself gave a eulogy for the holy martyr Julian: ‘A holy voice comes forth from the lips of the martyr, and with this voice is poured out a light brighter than the rays of the sun.’ He said further: ‘Take whomsoever you will, be he a madman or one possessed, and lead him to the grave of this saint, to the martyr’s relics, and you will see the demon immediately jump out and flee as from blazing fire.’ It is evident from this speech that many wonders must have been wrought at St. Julian’s grave.
2. Our Holy Fathers Julius and Julian.
Greek-born brothers, they were brought up from their youth in the Christian Faith, and vowed to live in perpetual virginity and the service of the Church. Julius was a priest and Julian a deacon. They received an imperial decree from the Emperor Theodosios the Younger to destroy the idols throughout the whole empire and build Christian churches. Like two apostles, these two brothers turned pagans into Christians in the East and the West, and built a hundred churches during their lifetime. They entered peacefully into the Lord’s rest near Milan, the inhabitants of which city invoke St. Julius’ help against wolves.
3. The Holy Martyr Archil II, King of Georgia.
He was the son of King Stefan and grandson of the great Georgian King Wachtang. An outstanding Christian and defender of Christianity, King Archil was tortured by the Moslems and beheaded for Christ on March 20th, 744. He was eighty years old when he suffered for the Lord and entered into eternal blessedness.
4. The Holy Martyr Luarsab II, Prince of Kartli.
A prince of Georgia, he was the son of George X, who suffered for the Faith and was poisoned by the King of Persia. Luarsab was then thrown into prison near Shiraz, where he languished for seven years. Then he and his two servants were hanged in the prison yard on the orders of Shah Abbas I, on June 21st, 1662. A heavenly light was seen over his grave.
FOR CONSIDERATION
When a man begins to train himself in silence, it seems to him to be something lesser than speech; however, when he is trained in silence, then he knows that speech is the lesser. St. Sisoës the monk said: ‘I should like to guard my heart, but I am incapable of so doing.’ His elder replied: ‘How can any of us guard our hearts when the gate—the tongue—stands open?’ Charillos, the nephew of Lycurgus, was once asked why his uncle issued so few laws. ‘Those who speak little require few laws,’ he replied.
July 5th – Civil Calendar
June 22nd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Evsevios (Eusebius), Bishop of Samosata.
He was a major opponent of Arianism. When the patriarchal throne of Antioch became vacant, Meletius was elected patriarch. This Meletius was a shining light in the Church and deserved the great eulogy given by St. John Chrysostom at his death. But the Arians soon drove Meletius from Antioch. When Constantius, Constantine’s evil son, died, he was followed by Julian the Apostate, a man even worse than he, as ruler of the empire. During Julian’s persecution of Christians, St. Evsevios took off his cassock, clad himself in soldier’s garb and travelled around the persecuted churches of Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine, strengthening the Orthodox Faith everywhere and creating the necessary priests, deacons and other clergy and raising some to the episcopate. After the news of Julian’s death, St. Evsevios advised Meletius to summon a council of the Church in Antioch. This took place in 363, and the twenty-seven hierarchs present denounced Arianism once again and proclaimed the Orthodox Faith as it was expressed at the First Ecumenical Council. Besides Meletius and Evsevios, St. Pelagios of Laodicea, a man of great asceticism and chastity, made a great impact at this council, which took place during the reign of the devout Emperor Jovian. But he died soon after, and the evil Valens took the throne, and the persecution of Orthodoxy began afresh. St. Meletius was banished to Armenia, Evsevios to Thrace and Pelagios to Arabia. After Valens, the Emperor Gratian came to the throne and restored freedom to the Church, returning the exiled bishops to their rightful places: Meletius to Antioch, Evsevios to Samosata and Pelagios to Laodicea. Many dioceses were vacant at that time and Evsevios was quick to find canonical pastors for the people. But when he arrived at the city of Doliche with the newly chosen bishop, Marinos, to install him as bishop and denounce the Arian heresy (which was strong in that city), a certain fanatical heretic threw a tile from the roof and gave him a mortal wound. This great zealot for Orthodoxy, this saint and martyr, died and entered into eternal life in the blessedness of Paradise in the year 379.
2. The Holy Martyrs Zeno and Zenas.
St. Zeno was a Roman officer in the Arabian city of Philadelphia, and Zenas was his servant. When a persecution of Christians began during the reign of the Emperor Maximian, St. Zeno stepped boldly before the governor, Maximus, and confessed his faith in the one, living God, counselling Maximus to give up dead idols and accept the one, true Faith. The governor was outraged and threw Zeno into prison. When the faithful Zenas visited his master in the prison, he too was seized and imprisoned. The two were thereupon tortured for Christ and finally thrown into the flames, which the pagans brought to a great heat with oil. Their souls were crowned in the kingdom of Christ while their mortal remains were buried in the Church of St. George at a place called Cyparisson.
3. St. Alban.
An English nobleman, he hid a Christian priest in his house during a persecution, and was instructed by him in the Christian Faith. He then gave his clothing to the priest and himself over to torture. Condemned to death, he converted his executioner to Christianity.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Why does the good Lord permit assaults and trials to fall on the true Faith, while heretics and pagans enjoy a delightful tranquillity? ‘Why?’ asks St. John Chrysostom, and immediately gives the answer: ‘That you should recognize their weakness (that of the heretics and pagans) when they disintegrate of themselves with no external pressure, and that you should triumph in the power of the Faith which suffers misfortunes and yet multiplies through its opponents.’ ‘Whether we quarrel with the pagans or the wretched Jews, it is quite sufficient evidence of divine power that the Faith which has been exposed to innumerable battles still holds the victory,’ even though the entire world rises against it. St. Isaac the Syrian says: ‘The wondrous love of God for man can most easily be perceived when a man is in such dire straits that his very hope is threatened. God thus demonstrates His power of salvation, for a man never acknowledges the power of God when he enjoys tranquility and freedom.’
July 6th – Civil Calendar
June 23rd – Church Calendar
1. Commemoration of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God.
 When the Tartar king, Ahmet, lay
siege to Moscow, Prince Ivan Vasillievitch came with troops to defend the city. Although
this prince’s forces were smaller in number and weaker than the Tartar army, they yet
emerged victorious, for an indescribable terror fell on the Tartars and they ran off in
confusion in all directions. All attributed this unexpected success to the icon of the most
holy Mother of God, for the whole people had begged her aid for deliverance from the
Tartars. This day, June 23rd, is set aside in the land of Russia for the commemoration of
this miracle. [The Vladimir Icon is also commemorated on May 21st, and chiefly on August
26th.]
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2. The Holy Martyr Agrippina.
St. Agrippina was born and brought up in Rome. She trained herself from childhood to live by the Gospel, expelling the stench of the passions from her heart with the sweet-smelling perfume of purity and chastity. She was betrothed to Christ the Lord, and suffered as a bride of Christ in the reign of the Emperor Valerian. She endured beating with staves until her bones were crushed. An angel of the Lord appeared to her to strengthen her, until she surrendered her soul to God under fresh tortures. Her friends, Vassa, Paula and Agathonica, took her relics to the island of Sicily and buried them there. A church was later built there in her name, where countless miracles were wrought over her relics. She entered into eternal rest and was crowned with glory in the year 275.
3. The Holy Martyrs Efstochios and Gaios, and those with them.
Efstochios (Eustochius) was a pagan priest in the time of the Emperor Maximian, but seeing the heroism of the Christian martyrs, he cast off his paganism and was baptized by Evdoxios, Bishop of Antioch. Gradually Efstochios brought his kinsfolk to the Christian Faith, and his kinsman Gaios was baptized together with his three children: Probos, Loillas and Urban. All these, and some others with them, were brought before the judge, tortured and beheaded in Lystra for the sake of their faith in Christ the Lord, and thus their souls entered into His immortal kingdom.
4. The Tale of Theophilus’ Repentance.
Consumed with envy towards his bishop, this man gave his soul to the devil and set down in writing his rejection of Christ and of His holy Mother. He then repented of his deed and wept bitterly, imploring the Mother of God for forgiveness. After forty days of fasting and tearful prayer, he received back the paper on which he had written his denial, and which he had given to the devil. He went to the church and openly confessed his sin to the bishop and the people. When the bishop had spoken the words of forgiveness and given him Communion, Theophilus’ face shone like the sun. Here is an example of how the merciful Lord not only forgives the sins of all those who repent, but also makes them into saints.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Christian patience is a meek patience, but a patience that harbors an impotent malice is scarcely distinguishable from vengeance. All our great saints possessed every virtue in the Gospel, but how great and noble were they in their meek patience! It behooves us to exercise ourselves in that virtue, since it is the one that we possess the least. When the desert fathers had gathered at one time to hear instruction from John Kolovos, several envious monks began to heckle him, saying: ‘Your vessel is full of poison.’ The meek John replied at once: ‘You say that, only seeing the outside; but what would you say if you could see the inside?’ When St. Cyprian of Carthage was taken out to be beheaded, he directed that the executioner be given twenty-five gold pieces after his death.
July 7th – Civil Calendar
June 24th – Church Calendar
1. The Nativity of St. John, the Forerunner and Baptist of Christ.
Six months before his
appearing to the most holy Virgin Mary in Nazareth, the great Gabriel, archangel of the Lord,
appeared to Zacharias the high priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. Before he revealed the
miraculous conception by a virgin who had not known a man, the archangel revealed the wondrous
conceiving by an old and barren woman. Zacharias was unable at once to believe the words of
God’s herald, and for this his tongue was bound in dumbness and remained thus until the
eighth day after John’s birth. The kinsfolk of Zacharias and Elisabeth gathered together on
that day for the infant’s circumcision and naming. When they enquired of the father how he
wished the child to be called, he, being still dumb, wrote on a slate: ‘John’. At
that moment his tongue was loosed and he began to speak. Zacharias’ house was on the heights
between Bethlehem and Hebron. The news of the angel’s appearing to Zacharias, of his
dumbness and of the loosening of his tongue at the exact moment that he wrote ‘John,’
was carried throughout all Israel, coming to Herod’s ears. So, when he sent men to kill all
the infants around Bethlehem, he sent men off to Zacharias’ family house in the hills to slay
John also. But Elisabeth hid ‘ the child in good time. The king was enraged at this and
sent an executioner to the Temple to kill Zacharias (for it was then his turn to serve in the
Temple again). Zacharias was killed between the court and the Temple, and his blood clotted and
solidified on the paving slabs, and remained as an enduring witness against Herod. Elisabeth hid
herself and the child in a cave, where she soon died. The young John remained in the wilderness
alone, in the care of God and His angels.
2. St. Nikita, Bishop of Remesiana.
A friend and contemporary of St. Paulinus of Nola (see January 23rd), he was probably a Slav* and he preached the Gospel among the Slavs in the region around Niš and Pirot. The great impression that Nikita made on the Slavs is best shown by the hymn that St. Paulinus composed in his honor:
‘Oh, what a happy change!
The hilly, impassable haunts of bloodthirsty robbers
Now shelter peace-loving dwellers,
Bandits-turned-monk.
Where once the rule of the wild beast held sway,
The choir of angels is now to be heard.
The righteous now dwell in the caves,
Where before were infamous men.’
St. Nikita’s capital was the city of Remesiana, which some people reckon to be Pirot. He wrote several books, six of them on the Faith and one on a fallen woman who awoke many to repentance. St. Nikita entered into rest in the Lord in about 414.
* Author’s Note: Philaret says in his book: ‘The Saints of the Southern Slavs,’ that Nikita was a Slav and lived in Pirot.
3. The Holy Martyrs Orentius, Pharnacius, Eros, Firmus, Firminus, Cyriacus and Longinus.
They were all brothers, Roman soldiers during the reign of the Emperor Maximian. When the Romans were waging war against the Scythians beyond the Danube, St. Orentius fought a duel with Marathom, the Goliath of the Scythians, and killed him. In thanksgiving, the Roman army offered sacrifice to idols, but Orentius and his brothers declared themselves to be Christians and therefore unable to offer sacrifice to deaf and dumb idols. With no consideration for their military valour, they were tried and sentenced to exile in the Caspian region, but all of them died on the way, one after the other, from hunger and torture, and they went to their rest in the kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
One of the differences between the eloquent philosophy of the Greeks and the faith of Christians is that the Greeks’ philosophy can be clearly expressed in words and comprehended through reading, whereas the Christian Faith cannot be fully expressed in words, and still less comprehended by reading alone. For the exposition of the Christian Faith, the example of its expounder is indispensable; and for its comprehension and assimilation, both reading and the practice of what is read are necessary to the reader. When Patriarch Photius read the writings of St. Mark the Ascetic on the spiritual life, he noticed a lack of clarity in the writer, about which he very sagely remarked: ‘This does not proceed from any obscurity of expression, but comes about because the truths here expressed are better understood by practice (rather than through words), and I cannot comprehend them through words alone.... And this,’ he added, ‘is not the case with these homilies alone or this writer alone, but is so in all the works that seek to expound the laws of asceticism, which are better understood in action.’
July 8th – Civil Calendar
June 25th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Fevronia.
She was the daughter of Prosphorus, a
Roman senator. In order to escape marriage with a mortal man, she betrothed herself to Christ and
became a nun in the East, in Assyria, in a monastery where her aunt, Bryaena, was abbess.
Lysimachus, a nobleman’s son, was desirous of entering into marriage with Fevronia, but the
Emperor Diocletian, suspecting him of being a secret Christian, sent him to the East with his
uncle, Silenus, to seize and kill the Christians. Silenus was as ferocious as a wild beast and
mercilessly exterminated the Christians wherever he could. Lysimachus, on the contrary, protected
the Christians whenever possible and hid them from his bestial uncle. Having emptied Palmyra of
Christians, Silenus came to the city of Nisibis, close to which there was the monastery of fifty
ascetic virgins in which Fevronia was a nun. Although she was barely twenty years old, Fevronia
was held in respect both in the monastery and in the city for her meekness, wisdom and restraint.
The monastery followed the rule of a former abbess, Blessed Platonida, and every Friday the nuns
would spend their time in prayer and reading sacred books, with no other work. Bryaena had
appointed Fevronia to read to the other sisters while standing behind a curtain, so that no one
would be distracted or captivated by the beauty of her face. When Silenus heard about Fevronia,
he ordered that she be brought before him. When the holy maiden refused to renounce Christ and
enter into marriage with a mortal man, he ordered them to whip her and then cut off her hands,
breasts and feet and finally to slay her with the sword. But a fearful divine punishment came
upon her tormentor that very day. A demon entered into him, and a fearful terror took hold of
him. In his terror, he struck his head on a marble pillar and fell down dead. Lysimachus ordered
that Fevronia’s body be gathered together and brought to the monastery for solemn burial,
and he, together with many of the soldiers, was baptized. Many healings were wrought through
Fevronia’s holy relics, and she herself appeared on the day of her feast, standing in her
usual place among the sisters. They beheld her with both fear and joy. St. Fevronia suffered and
went to eternal blessedness in the year 310, and her relics were translated to Constantinople in
363.
2. Our Holy Father Dionysius.
The founder of the monastery of St. John (Dionysiou) on Mount Athos, he was born in Koritza in Albania. His elder brother, Theodosius, went off to the Holy Mountain and became for a time abbot of the monastery of Philotheou. When St. Dionysius had grown up, he went to his brother at Philotheou and became a monk at his hand. By divine dispensation, when Theodosius was engaged on some business for his monastery in Constantinople, he was elected and consecrated Metropolitan of Trebizond. A wondrous light began to appear to Dionysius each night on the spot where he later built the monastery of St. John the Forerunner. Understanding the light as a sign from heaven that he was to build a monastery, Dionysius went to Trebizond to seek help from his brother and from the Emperor Alexios Komnenos. The emperor gave him both money and a Royal Charter, which is still preserved in the monastery. Dionysius founded the monastery of St. John the Forerunner in 1380. When pirates plundered the monastery, Dionysius went again to Trebizond, and there finished his earthly course at the age of seventy-two. Dionysiou still flourishes like a flower to the present day. An icon of the Mother of God known as ‘Of the Praises,’ a gift from the Emperor Alexios Komnenos to Dionysiou, can be found in the monastery. According to tradition, it was before this icon that the Akathist to the Mother of God, composed by Patriarch Sergius, was read for the first time.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Whoever desires to escape future tribulations must bear the present ones with joy,’ said St. Mark the Ascetic. People consider slander a great tribulation, and there are few who can bear it without grumbling.
But how beautiful are the fruits of tribulations borne with a good grace! Tribulation is given to us for profitable spiritual commerce, and we let the opportunity slip by and are left empty-handed in the market-place.
Consider: Ss. Athanasius, Basil, John Chrysostom, Makarios, Sisoës and thousands of other followers of the One Who was most maligned were themselves maligned. But God, Who orders all things for our salvation, so disposed that, on the thorns of slander, fragrant roses would spring up for all the slander endured for the name of Christ. If he had not been slandered, would Stephen have seen the heavens open and the glory of God appear in the sky? And did not all the slander against Joseph the Chaste serve for his still greater glory?
July 9th – Civil Calendar
June 26th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father David.
Born in Thessalonica, where he at first lived the ascetic life in a shelter he had built in an almond tree, he later continued his asceticism in Thessaly. He purified himself so greatly by fasting, prayer, and vigils that he was made worthy to receive great grace from God. Once he took a live coal in his hand, placed incense on it and censed the emperor with no sort of protection for his hand. The emperor, when he saw this, bowed down to the ground before David, who amazed the people by his countless miracles. He entered peacefully into rest in the blessedness of eternity in 540.
2. Feast of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God.
 This icon was in Constantinople in 1383, but
seventy years before the fall of that city, it suddenly appeared in the sky near the
village of Tikhvin in northern Russia. A church and a monastery were built where it came to
rest. Countless miracles were wrought through this wonder-working icon; many of the sick,
especially, receiving healing from it.
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3. Feast of the Icon of the Mother of God of Lydda or Rome.
Patriarch Gennadios sent this icon to Rome for safety during the iconoclast persecution. It floated there on the water by itself, more swiftly than any ship, and when the iconoclasts had tired of their persecution, floated back to Constantinople in the same way.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Repentance is a ceaseless necessity for Christians until their last breath. St. Mark the Ascetic says: ‘Take thought, and you will see that the mystery of devotion is created in the righteous man of God through repentance.’ Repentance is necessary up to and at one’s final hour. The following incident is recorded: an aged ascetic and known spiritual teacher was dying, and called the priest to give him the Holy Mysteries. Along the way, a robber fell in with the priest and wished to see for himself how a holy man dies. The holy elder made his Communion in peace and conversed peacefully with the priest. Then the robber burst into tears and cried: ‘How blessed are you! But what sort of death shall I merit?’ The robber returned along the road weeping and lamenting for himself, and fell down and died. A certain holy man came and was seen by the people rejoicing and singing over the repentance of the robber who reaped the fruits of repentance.
July 10th – Civil Calendar
June 27th – Church Calendar
1. St. Sampson the Hospitable.
This saint was born of rich and eminent parents in ancient Rome, where he studied all the secular wisdom of that time, devoting himself in particular to the study of medicine. Sampson was a compassionate and liberal physician, and gave the sick medicine for both soul and body, counselling each man to fulfill the requirements of the Christian Faith. He moved to Constantinople, where he lived in a tiny house from which he distributed alms, comfort, advice, hope, medicine, and all possible aid to those suffering in spirit and in body. The patriarch heard of Sampson’s great virtue and ordained him priest. At that time the Emperor Justinian the Great became ill with what his doctors believed to be an incurable disease. The emperor prayed with great fervor, and God revealed to him in his sleep that Sampson would heal him. When the emperor summoned Sampson to court, the elder had only to put his hand on the diseased place and the emperor was healed. When Justinian offered him an immense sum of money, Sampson thanked him but would accept nothing, saying to the Emperor: ‘O emperor. I had silver and gold and other riches, but I left it all for the sake of Christ, that I might gain heavenly and eternal wealth.’ When the emperor insisted on doing something for him, Sampson asked him to build a home for the poor. In that home, Sampson cared for the poor as a father cares for his children. His compassion for the poor and weak was second nature to him. This holy man, filled with heavenly power and goodness, entered peacefully into rest on June 27th, 530. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Martyr Mokios, his kinsman. After his death, Sampson appeared many times to those who called upon him for aid.
2. St. Severus the Priest.
He lived in central Italy. A man of rare holiness, he was once called to hear the confession of, and give Communion to, a man at the point of death. He tarried, working in his vineyard, and the news was brought to him there that the sick man had died. Stricken with grief, as if he had himself killed the man, he wept bitter tears over the corpse, and God raised the dead man to life again in response to his fervent prayer. Then Severus confessed him and gave him Communion, preparing him for a Christian leaving of this world, and on the eighth day the man died again.
3. St. Joanna the Myrrh-bearer.
She was the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward (Lk. 8:3). When Herod had John the Baptist beheaded, he cast his head out into an unclean place. Joanna took the head and buried it with honor on the Mount of Olives, on Herod’s land. Later, in the reign of Constantine the Great, the head was found. St. Joanna is also remembered because she was present at both the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. She died peacefully.
FOR CONSIDERATION
There is none so stupid as he who cannot see his own sins and another’s virtue. There is none so enlightened as he who can see and acknowledge his own sin and another’s virtue. St. John Chrysostom compares those who discover only another man’s faults, and criticise them, with flies that attack wounds, not to heal them but to gnaw at them. Blessed Theophilus of Kiev, who died in 1853, says: ‘God has sent us here for penance.’ The man who knows and feels that he is doing penance will immerse himself in silence and the consideration of his own sinfulness, which has brought him to do penance. This same saint said: ‘Weep also for the sins of those nearest you—for without this not one human soul shall be saved.’ Do we weep or do we spread abroad—how is it written, my son? Blessed Theophilus writes: ‘Weep, or help the devil to spread it abroad.’ On his death, Theophilus left this testament for his brethren: ‘Remember vile Theophilus!’ Such was the last testament of the holiest soul in Kiev in 1853.
July 11th – Civil Calendar
June 28th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Cyrus and John.
These holy martyrs are commemorated on
January 31st, and their lives and sufferings are described under that date. Today we commemorate
the translation of their relics from Canopus to Menuthis, and the numerous miracles associated
with them. St. Kyril, the Patriarch of Alexandria, prayed fervently for the extermination of the
abominable idolatrous practices at Menuthis, where there was a temple and where the demonic
powers held sway. An angel of God appeared to the patriarch and told him that Menuthis would be
cleansed of its impurity if he brought the relics of Ss. Cyrus and John to the town. The
patriarch did this at once. He brought the relics of the holy martyrs to Menuthis and had a
church built there in their honor. Ammonius, the son of the governor of Alexandria, Julian, was
healed of scrofula through the martyrs’ relics, and a certain Theodore was healed of
blindness. Isidore of Maiuma was healed of a wasting disease of the liver, Theodore’s wife
of the effects of poison, a certain Evgenia of dropsy, and a great many others of various
diseases and torments. All this took place in the year 412.
2. Our Holy Father Sennuphius the Standard-Bearer.
A great ascetic and wonder-worker of the Egyptian desert, he was a contemporary of Patriarch Theophilus and the Emperor Theodosios the Great. He is called ‘the Standard-Bearer’ because he once helped the Emperor Theodosios to gain a victory over enemy forces by his prayers. When the emperor summoned him to Constantinople, he replied that he was unable to go, but sent his torn and patched monastic schema and his staff. Going out to battle, the emperor put on Sennuphius’ habit and carried his staff in his hand, and returned victorious from the battle.
3. Our Holy Father Paul the Physician.
He was born in Corinth. After completing his studies, he went to a monastery and became a monk. He had a very difficult struggle with the spirit of fornication, and when he had driven it from himself by the power of the Cross, a malicious spirit was angered at his victory and sent a harlot to say that she had borne a child to Paul. Then some heretics came and took him from the monastery, thrust the child into his arms and drove him around the city for the people to spit upon. The child was only a few days old. St. Paul prayed fervently to God, and said to the people: ‘Here, let the child tell you who its father is!’ The child pulled its hand out from the swaddling clothes and pointed to a certain blacksmith, saying: ‘That man is my father, not Paul the monk!’ Paul’s opponents were shamed and repented. God gave to Paul great power of healing, so that he had merely to place his hands on the sick for them to recover. He entered peacefully into rest in great old age, having been pleasing to God in his life on earth. He lived in the seventh century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The Protestants have rejected God’s power to work miracles through created matter. They have thought to spiritualise the Christian Faith thereby, but have merely impoverished and deformed it. They have rejected the action of God’s power through icons, through the relics of the saints, through the Cross, and have even, some of them, rejected the power of holy Communion. If we were to follow along this twisted and false path, then we should have to reject the miracles which the Lord Jesus worked through His living body, because His body was also material. Likewise, we would have to reject the miracles performed by the apostles and saints, because these hands were also material; and heaven forbid that we should even talk about the rod of Moses, the robe and girdle of the most holy Mother of God, the towel of St. Paul and so forth. In their rejection of all this, the Protestants stand in opposition to the entire ancient Church. Here is one proof from among thousands that God acts through material things, particularly whenever He wishes to glorify His saints: a tall pillar was erected in Alexandria, carrying a statue of the Emperor Theodosios clad in a monk’s habit and with a monk’s staff in his hand. This was a memorial to the emperor’s victory over the enemy when dressed in St. Sennuphius’ habit and carrying his staff. When God so desires, the simple habit of a saint is sufficient to conquer the mighty forces of the unbelievers. Who would dare to limit the action or the methods by which the almighty Lord acts?
July 12th – Civil Calendar
June 29th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Peter.
The son of Jonah and brother of Andrew the First-Called, of the
tribe of Simeon and the town of Bethsaida, he was a fisherman and was at first called Simon, but
the Lord was pleased to call him Kephas, or Peter (Jn 1:42). He was the first of the disciples to
give clear expression to his faith in the Lord Jesus, saying: ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God’ (Mt. 16:16). His love for the Lord was very strong, and his faith in Him
went from strength to strength. When the Lord was put on trial, Peter denied Him three times, but
it needed only one look into the face of the Lord, and Peter’s soul was filled with shame
and repentance. After the descent of the Holy Spirit, Peter became a fearless and powerful
preacher of the Gospel. After his first sermon in Jerusalem, about 3,000 souls were converted to
the Faith. He preached the Gospel throughout Palestine and Asia Minor, in Italy and in Illyria.
He performed many wonders, healing the sick and raising the dead, and even his shadow had the
power of healing the sick. He had a major struggle with Simon the Magician, who declared himself
to be from God but was actually a servant of the devil. He finally put him to shame and overcame
him. Peter was condemned to death on the order of the wicked Emperor Nero, a friend of
Simon’s. After installing Linus as Bishop of Rome and exhorting and encouraging the flock
of Christ there, Peter went to his death with joy. When he saw the cross before him, he asked the
executioner to crucify him upside-down, because he felt himself to be unworthy to die in the same
way as his Lord. And so this great servant of the greatest Master went to his rest and received a
crown of eternal glory.
2. The Holy Apostle Paul.
Born in Tarsus and of the tribe of Benjamin, he was formerly called
Saul and studied under Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee and a persecutor of Christians. He was
wondrously converted to the Christian Faith by the Lord Himself, Who appeared to him on the road
to Damascus. He was baptized by the Apostle Ananias, named Paul and enrolled in the work of the
great apostles. He preached the Gospel everywhere with burning zeal, from the borders of Arabia
to the land of Spain, among both the Jews and the heathen, and received the title of ‘The
Apostle to the Gentiles’. His fearful sufferings were matched only by his superhuman
endurance. Through all the years of his preaching, he hung from day to day on a thread between
life and death. Filling his days and nights with toil and suffering for Christ, organising the
Church in many places and reaching a high level of perfection, he was able to say: ‘I live;
yet not I but Christ liveth in me’ (Gal. 2:20). He was beheaded in Rome in the reign of
Nero, at the same time as St. Peter.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Simon Peter and Simon the Magician: the enemies of Christianity frequently like to quote examples of great wonder-workers among the pagans in order to deceive the weak in faith, to denigrate the Christian Faith and to extol paganism, sorcery, oracles, satanism and every sort of charlatanism. There is no doubt that Satan attempts to perform miracles through his servants, but these miracles are not wrought out of love for mankind, compassion, mercy or faith in God; but from pride, selfishness, vanity and hatred for mankind. Christians should learn from the stories of the apostles to differentiate between divine miracles and satanic deceptions and fantasies. Let them recall the Apostle Peter and Simon the Magician. Let them compare Peter’s miracles with the seeming miracles of Simon. The apostle turned the stony hearts of men into noble and devout hearts, he healed the sick, raised the dead—and all this through prayer and faith in the living God. Simon the Magician, on the other hand, made the people marvel with his illusions. Peter the Apostle was a friend of God. Simon the Magician was a friend and protege of the debauched Nero, who ended his life by suicide. The miracles of the pagan fakirs fall into the same category as the illusions and deceptions of Simon the Magician. Just as sand in a heat-haze resembles water, so the ‘miracles’ of the fakirs resemble the life-giving miracles of Christianity.
July 13th – Civil Calendar
June 30th – Church Calendar
1. The Assembly of the Holy, Glorious and All-praised Apostles.
Although each of the Twelve
Apostles has his own feast day during the year, the Church has set aside this day for a general
feast of all of them together, including St. Paul. The names and feast days of the Twelve
are:
Peter—June 29th and January 16th.
Andrew—November 30th.
Iakovos the Son of Zebedee—April 30th.
John the Theologian—September 26th and May 8th.
Philip—November 14th.
Bartholomew—June 11th and August 25th.
Thomas—October 6th.
Matthew the Evangelist—November 16th.
Iakovos the Son of Alphaeus—October 9th.
Thaddeus (or Jude the brother of Iakovos)—June 19th.
Simon the Zealot—May 10th.
Matthias—August 9th.
Paul—June 29th.
Let us also remember here how these most holy and selfless men in the history of the world died and finished their earthly course:
Peter was crucified upside-down.
Andrew was crucified.
Iakovos was beheaded.
John the Theologian died peacefully in a miraculous way.
Philip was crucified.
Bartholomew was crucified, then flayed and beheaded.
Thomas was pierced with five spears.
Matthew was burned by fire.
Iakovos the Son of Alphaeus was crucified.
Thaddeus was crucified.
Simon the Zealot was crucified.
Matthias was stoned, then beheaded with an axe when dead.
Paul was beheaded.
2. Blessed Peter the Heir.
A Tartar by race and the nephew of the Tartar King Berkai, he once listened to a sermon on salvation by Kiril, Bishop of Rostov, and the words embedded themselves deeply in his heart. When he saw the miraculous healing of Berkai’s son by Kiril’s prayers, he secretly left the Cossack (Golden) Horde and ran off to Rostov, where he was baptized and devoted himself heart and soul to the ascetic life and to training himself in faith and devotion. Once he spent the night on the shore of a lake, and the Apostles Peter and Paul appeared to him in his sleep and told him to build a church dedicated to their memory on that spot, giving him the money he would need to accomplish this. Peter built a beautiful church there, and was there made a monk in old age, after the death of his wife. He finished his earthly course peacefully on June 29th, 1290, and his church became and remains the Petrovski monastery.
3. Our Holy Father George the Georgian.
Born in Iberia or Georgia in 1014, he was a kinsman of the Georgian king, Bagrat. He received a good classical education in his early years, but his heart ever drew him towards the spiritual life. He labored in asceticism under the renowned spiritual teacher George on the Black Mountain. He then went off to the Holy Mountain and continued his asceticism in the monastery of Iviron, becoming the abbot of that monastery. With the assistance of the Byzantine emperor, Constantine Monomachus, he restored Iviron and roofed the church with lead. This same leaden roof remains to this day. He translated the holy Scriptures, the Prologue and the books for divine services into Georgian. Bagrat summoned him back to Georgia to teach the people, and he received a royal welcome in his homeland. He travelled far and wide, instructing the clergy and the people. Reaching old age, he desired to depart this life on the Holy Mountain and set out on the road, but death overtook him in Constantinople in 1067. His relics were taken to Iviron. Although he died on May 24th, the Georgians celebrate his memory on June 30th, counting him as equal to the apostles.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Concern for the good of all men. Such concern filled the exalted spirits and noble hearts of the apostles to overflowing. St. John Chrysostom wrote about the Apostle Paul, calling him ‘the father of all the world, as if he himself had given birth to all men, for he was so concerned and strove so greatly to bring all into the kingdom’. ‘Father of all the world’ is indeed a very high title, and if there is anyone, under God, to whom this title should be given, it is the apostles of Christ. Having the concern of a parent for the whole world, they were truly ‘fathers of all the world’. There are many mothers in the world who care less for their own children than did the apostles for the good of their persecutors and adversaries. The Apostle Peter twice saved his most bitter adversary, Simon the Magician, from death; once when the crowd wanted to set fire to him and once when a dog tried to tear him to pieces. Just think of the way that the world paid its debt to these workers of good! As if they were the greatest robbers and evil-doers! How true are St. Cyprian’s words: ‘While we are in the body, we Christians look the same on the surface as pagans. The difference lies in the spirit.’
July 14th – Civil Calendar
July 1st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Cosmas and Damian.
Unmercenary doctors and wonder-workers, these two
saints were brothers. Born in Rome, baptized as children and given a Christian education, they
were endowed by God with the gift of healing, generally by the laying-on of their hands, of both
men and animals. They sought no reward for their work, only urging the sick to faith in Christ
the Lord. Inheriting great wealth, they compassionately divided it among the poor and needy. The
Emperor Galerius was on the throne in Rome at that time. Persecutors of the Christian Faith
brought these two holy brothers, bound in chains, before him. After prolonged interrogation, the
emperor charged them to deny Christ and offer sacrifice to idols. Cosmas and Damian not only
refused to obey the Emperor; they urged him to forsake dead idols and come to the knowledge of
the one, true God. ‘Our God is not created, but is the Creator of all, and your gods come
of the imaginings of men and the hands of artists. If there were no artists to make your gods,
you would have nothing to worship.’ After a miracle was performed on the emperor
himself—healing him of a grave infirmity—the emperor declared his faith in Christ and let the
holy brothers go in peace. They continued to glorify Christ our God and to heal the sick, and
were themselves glorified on all sides by the people. A doctor, a former teacher of theirs,
envying their fame, lured them into the hills on the pretext of collecting herbs and stoned them
to death. They suffered with honor for the Christian Faith in 284. Their memory endures in the
Church on earth, and their souls went to the kingdom of the Lord, to live eternally in glory and
joy.
2. Our Holy Father Peter the Patrician.
This saint was a nobleman of Constantinople and a military commander in the time of the Emperor Nikephoros I (802-811). In a war against Bulgaria, the emperor was killed and Peter, together with fifty other Greek generals and princes, was captured and cast into prison. He was miraculously delivered from prison by St. John the Theologian. He then forsook all worldly glory, left his wife and son and withdrew to Mount Olympus, where, as a monk and a disciple of St. Ioannikios the Great, he lived in monasticism for thirty-four years. After the deaths of his wife and son, he settled in Constantinople, where he spent eight further years in fasting and prayer and entered into rest in the Lord in 865, at the age of seventy-seven.
3. The Holy Martyr Potitus.
A thirteen-year-old youth from Sardinia, he endured many trials for the sake of Christ, both from his father and from the official persecutors of Christianity. Potitus was beheaded in the time of the Emperor Antoninus (138-161), after healing and baptising the emperor’s daughter, Agnes.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Christians affirm the link between this world and the next in their prayers and alms for the dead. The Church in this world and the next is one Church, one body, one being; as the root of a tree beneath the earth is one organism with its trunk and branches above the earth. From this it is clear how we, being part of the Church on earth, can receive help from the saints in the Church in heaven, and that departed sinners can, in the other world, receive help from us on earth. St. Athanasius says, ‘As with wine inside a barrel, which, when the vineyard flowers, senses it and flowers together with it, so it is with the souls of sinners. They receive some release from the bloodless Sacrifice, offered for them in charity,’ wrought for the sake of their peace. St. Ephraim the Syrian uses the same example of wine and vineyard, then concludes: ‘And thus, when there exists such mutual sensitivity even among plants, do not the departed feel yet more keenly the prayers and sacrifices made for them?’
July 15th – Civil Calendar
July 2nd – Church Calendar
1. The Deposition of the Vesture of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Vlachernai Church in Constantinople.
In the time of the Emperor Leo the Great (457-474) and the Empress Verina and Patriarch Gennadios, two Constantinopolitan nobles, Galbios and Candidos, were travelling in the Holy Land to venerate the holy places there. In Nazareth, they stayed in the house of a Jewish girl who had the vesture of the Mother of God kept in a secret place. Many of the sick and wretched had received healing through prayer and the touching of this vesture. Galbios and Candidos took this holy relic to Constantinople and informed the emperor and the patriarch of its existence. It was the cause of great rejoicing in the imperial city. The vesture was ceremonially placed in the Vlachernai church (a church built by the Emperor Marcian and Empress Pulcheria on the shore of a bay, and named ‘Vlachernai’ after a General Vlacheran from Sketis, who was killed there), and this commemorative feast was instituted.
2. St. Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
A contemporary of Efthymios, Theodosios, Gerasimos, Simeon the Stylite and other great lights of the Church, he took part in two ecumenical councils—the third in Ephesus and the fourth in Chalcedon, striving with great power and zeal against the blasphemous heretics—at Ephesus against Nestorius, who spoke of the Mother of God as Mother of Christ, denying that Christ is God and Man in one Person, and at Chalcedon against Eftyches and Dioscoros, who taught that Christ has only one nature, divine but not human. After the victory of Orthodoxy at both these councils, Juvenal returned to his see in Jerusalem. But, though the heresies were condemned, the heretics were not subdued. By the plots and violence of one Theodosios, a friend of Dioscoros, Juvenal was driven from his episcopal throne and Theodosios installed in his place. The Empress Evdokia-Athenaïs, widow of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger, first gave her assistance to this heretic while she was staying in Jerusalem. The hesitant and meddlesome empress went at length to St. Simeon the Stylite, to ask him where the truth lay. This saint of God denounced the heretical teaching and instructed the empress to keep to Orthodox teaching as upheld by the councils. The empress obeyed him, repented and herself condemned the false Patriarch Theodosios. Marcian and Pulcheria were at that time on the throne in Constantinople. A letter was sent from the emperor to the governor, instructing him to exile Theodosios and re-instate Juvenal, which the governor did without delay. Juvenal governed the Church in Jerusalem as its hierarch for thirty-eight years and went to the Lord in great old age, in 458, to receive at His hands the reward for the manifold sufferings he had endured for the truth’s sake.
3. St. Photius (Fotii), Metropolitan of Moscow.
A Greek by birth, he governed the Russian Church wisely for twenty years, entering into rest in 1430. A week before his death, an angel of God appeared to him and revealed to him the precise time of his departure from this world.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Every contrivance that men grasp at as an invention of their own minds is in fact a revelation of God’s providence; and every invented contrivance has two designations: a physical and a spiritual. A clock is a marvelous invention, and exists not only to indicate to us the time of day or night but also to keep us mindful of death. The latter is its spiritual role. When the large hand has passed through the seconds and minutes, then the small hand arrives at the required hour, and the clock ticks on. So will the clock of our life tick away as it counts the days, months and years. Therefore, St. Tikhon of Zadonsk counsels every Christian to consider:
1. How the time of our life is passing.
2. How it is impossible to recall time.
3. How the past and the future are not within our control, but only the time through which we are living.
4. How the end of our life is unknown.
5. How we must be ready for death at every moment.
6. How, because of that, we must ever be in a state of repentance.
7. How we must at every moment be in that state of repentance and spiritual readiness that we would wish to be in at the moment of death.
July 16th – Civil Calendar
July 3rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Hyacinth.
A young man, a courtier at the court of the Emperor Trajan, he was a secret Christian. Once, when the emperor and all his court were offering sacrifice to idols, Hyacinth stood apart from these abominable ceremonies. He was therefore denounced and brought to trial before the emperor. The emperor urged him to deny Christ and sacrifice to idols, but Hyacinth remained firm as diamond and said to the Emperor: ‘I am a Christian. I revere Christ and worship Him, and I bring my living self to Him as a sacrifice.’ Whipped, spat upon and flayed, this holy martyr was flung into prison. By order of the emperor, he was given nothing to eat but food that had been sacrificed to idols. Hyacinth would not eat this, and died in prison after eight days. The warder saw two shining angels in the prison, one covering the martyr’s body with his own glorious vesture and the other placing a wreath of glory on his head; and the whole prison was filled with light and radiance. The young Hyacinth suffered with honor and was crowned with a wreath of glory in the year 108.
2. St. Anatolios, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He was at first a priest in Alexandria, but after the death of Patriarch Flavian in 449, he was elevated to the patriarchal throne in Constantinople. In his time, the throne of Constantinople was declared to be equal with that of Rome, at the Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon in 451. He strove mightily for the purity of the Orthodox Faith, suffered much at the hands of heretics and was in the end killed by them in 458, in the reign of Leo the Great. He governed the Church for nearly nine years, and went to join the holy hierarchs in the kingdom of God.
3. Our Holy Father Alexander.
Born in Asia and educated in Constantinople, he went into the army after completing his studies and became an officer. Reading the holy Scriptures, he came upon the Savior’s words: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me’ (Matt. 19:21). These words made such an impression on him that he sold and gave away all that he had, and went off to the desert. After long asceticism and striving for purification, he founded the community of the ‘Unsleeping Ones’ (Akoimetoi) with a special rule. According to this rule, the services in the church continued day and night in unbroken sequence. The brethren were divided into six groups, each having its appointed hours of day or night to go to church and take over the reading and singing from the previous group. He travelled a great deal all over the East, bringing people to faith in Christ, disputing with heretics, working miracles by God’s grace and growing old in the service of the Lord Jesus. He finished his earthly course in Constantinople in the year 430, where his relics revealed the miraculous power and glory with which God had glorified His holy servant.
4. Our Holy Father Isaias the Solitary.
He lived in asceticism at Sketis in Egypt and then in Palestine, dying in Gaza in about 491. He is mentioned in Barsanuphius and John’s book as a man of outstanding holiness (Answers: 240, 252, 311, etc.). He wrote much that was instructive for monks and solitaries, but few of his writings are extant, the majority having been destroyed by Moslems. St. Isaias said: ‘The mind, before it awakens from the sleep of laziness, is with the demons.’ ‘The crown of all good works consists in this: that a man place all his hope in God, that he flee to Him once and for all with all his heart and strength, that he be filled with compassion for all and weep before God, imploring His help and mercy.’ What is the sign that a man’s sin is forgiven? ‘The sign that a sin is forgiven is that the sin has no further action in your heart, and that you have so utterly forgotten it that, in speaking of such a sin, you feel no inclination to it but regard it as something totally outside you. That is the sign that you are forgiven.’ Prayer and asceticism are useless to a man who conceals within himself malice towards his neighbor and the desire for revenge. ‘Watch with all your strength that your mouth does not speak one thing and your heart contain something quite different.’ ‘The crown of good works is love; the crown of the passions is the justifying of one’s sins.’
FOR CONSIDERATION
Love is almighty. It can, among other things, soften the judgement on the souls of departed sinners. The Orthodox Church deliberately emphasises this, and strives to offer prayers and alms for the dead. Most rich in all spiritual experience, the Church knows that prayers and alms for the dead help them in the other world. St. Athanasia the Abbess (April 12th) commanded her nuns to prepare a table for the poor and needy for forty days after her death. The nuns observed this only for ten days, then stopped it. The saint then appeared, accompanied by two angels, and said to the nuns: ‘Why have you not carried out my instructions? Know that by alms and the prayers of the priest for the souls of the departed during the forty days, the mercy of God is invoked. If the departed souls are sinful, they receive through these alms God’s forgiveness of their sins; and if they are sinless, then they are efficacious for the forgiveness of those who do the alms.’ She is, of course, thinking here of alms and prayers linked with a great love for the souls of the departed. Such alms and prayers are indeed of help.
July 17th – Civil Calendar
July 4th – Church Calendar
1. St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete.
Born in Damascus of Christian parents, he was dumb until
the age of seven. When his parents took him to church for Communion, the power of speech was
given to him. Such is the divine power of Communion. He went to Jerusalem at the age of fourteen
and was tonsured in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified. He surpassed many of the older
monks in his understanding and ascesis, and was an example to all. The patriarch took him as his
secretary. When the Monothelite heresy, which taught that the Lord had no human will but only a
divine one, began to rage, the Sixth Ecumenical Council met in Constantinople in 681, in the
reign of Constantine IV. Theodore, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was not able to be present at the
council, and sent Andrew, then a deacon, as his representative. At the council, Andrew showed his
great gifts: his articulateness, his zeal for the Faith and his rare prudence. Being instrumental
in confirming the Orthodox Faith, Andrew returned to his work in Jerusalem. He was later chosen
and enthroned as archbishop of the island of Crete. As archbishop, he was greatly beloved by the
people. He was filled with zeal for Orthodoxy and strongly withstood all heresy. He worked
miracles through his prayers, driving the Saracens from the island of Crete by means of them. He
wrote many learned books, poems and canons, of which the best-known is the Great Canon of
Repentance which is read in full on the Thursday of the Fifth Week of the Great Fast. Such was
his outward appearance that, ‘looking at his face and listening to the words that flowed
like honey from his lips, each man was touched and renewed’. Returning from Constantinople
on one occasion, he foretold his death before reaching Crete. And so it happened. As the ship
approached the island of Mytilene, this light of the Church finished his earthly course and his
soul went to the kingdom of Christ, in about the year 740.
2. St. Martha.
She was the mother of St. Simeon of the Wondrous Mountain (see May 24th). Utterly consecrated in her soul, she had no thought of marriage. When her parents betrothed her to a young man, she planned to leave their home and retire from the world, but St. John the Baptist appeared to her and counselled her to fulfill the desire of her parents and marry, which she did. From this marriage was born the great St. Simeon, the ascetic of the Wondrous Mountain. She followed the practice of rising at midnight for prayer; she gave help to the needy with great compassion, visiting the poor and serving the sick. A year before her death, she saw a host of angels with candles in their hands, and learned from them the hour of her death. Learning this, Martha gave herself yet more fervently to prayer and good works. She entered peacefully into rest in 551, and was buried near the pillar of her son Simeon. She appeared a number of times after her death, to teach people and to heal the sick, and appeared in the following way to the superior of Simeon’s community: after her funeral, the abbot kept the lamp burning on her grave, intending never to let it go out. But, after a certain time, the monks became lazy and the lamp went out. Then the superior was taken ill, and the saint appeared to him and said: ‘Why are you not lighting the lamp on my grave? Know that the light of your candles is not needful to me, because God has made me worthy of His eternal, heavenly light, but it is needful for you. When you burn a light on my grave, you urge me to pray to the Lord for you.’ From this it is clear that the goal of our veneration of the saints is to remind them, who are worthier than we, to pray to God for us and for our salvation.
3. The Holy Tsar-martyr Nicholas II and the Royal New-martyrs of Russia.
The son of Tsar
Alexander III (1881-1894), Nicholas was anointed as the Orthodox king of Russia in 1896. He was
married to Princess Alix of Hesse (Germany), who became the Tsaritsa Alexandra. Tsar Nicholas II
was a kind and compassionate soul, who took his role seriously as the father of an Orthodox
empire, always seeking to strengthen the faith of his people. He built innumerable new churches,
hospitals, and other places to assist the poor. Seeking to restore the traditional culture of his
country, which had been abandoned by the Westernizing intelligentsia, he offered money and
support to monasteries and churches (whose number reached 57,000). The tsar commissioned the
painting of large numbers of icons in the Byzantine and Old Russian styles, and he encouraged the
building of temples in the ancient architectural styles. The Empress Alexandra, likewise, was a
devout Christian and liked to read the Church fathers and discuss theological topics. She
sometimes went incognito to the Kazan Cathedral to pray in the midst of the common people.
The tsar was a promoter of peace and tried to facilitate agreements for disarmament among the European nations. He was exceedingly merciful, and Nicholas pardoned criminals, even revolutionaries, and gave away vast quantities of his own land and money to the peasants. He subsidized the relocation of farmers to Siberia, and by 1913, the peasants owned 100% of the arable land in Siberia and Asian Russia, and 90% in European Russia. Government workers per 100,000 people was 163. Wages were high, labor laws were progressive, and taxes and the cost of living were low, making Russia one of the most egalitarian and prosperous countries in the world. During twenty years of Tsar Nicholas’ reign, the population increased by 63 million. Industry grew rapidly, and the Russian Empire was on the verge of becoming the world’s greatest superpower. There was no reason for any revolution.
The royal couple had five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and their youngest and only son was Alexei, who had the disease of hemophilia and was weak and sickly. The boy often suffered from painful attacks and hemorrhages, which tortured his compassionate mother to watch, but Alexei patiently endured his affliction and became more philosophical thereby.
Through Jewish agitation, a revolution was first instigated in 1905; although it failed, revolutionaries and hooligans continued to perpetrate violence in the years that followed. Tsar Nicholas remained an extremely popular king and was impeccable in his conduct, but the media tried to slander him and sully his reputation, a practice that continues among Western historians to this day. At that time, St. John of Kronstadt prophesied that if the Russian people did not repent of their sins, God would take away the pious tsar and the whole land would be filled with blood and tears. When World War I erupted, Tsaritsa Alexandra and her four daughters served as nurses for the wounded, and the tsar himself constantly went to the front together with Alexei to encourage the troops. In 1917, the atheist, Jewish-controlled Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and financed by American bankers, initiated the Russian Revolution and dethroned the tsar, who was betrayed by most of those in his inner circle. The communists imprisoned the royal family under heavy guard at Tsarskoye Selo. The saints endured all with undaunted patience and attended church services daily, praying fervently for the sake of their suffering nation. Tsar Nicholas and his family and their suite were later moved to Yekaterinburg and confined to the house of a sleazy Jewish gold merchant named Gelfin (mistakenly known as the “Ipatiev” House). The Red soldiers tormented and mocked the royal sufferers with the utmost inhumanity. At last, on July 4, 1918, the royal family and their attendants were brought to the basement of the house and cruelly murdered by ten Jewish Bolsheviks. Masonic and occult symbols were drawn on the walls with the tsar-martyr’s blood after the ritual murders. It was a Jewish ritual sacrifice to Lucifer in exchange for power. The symbols, translated, read: “Here, on orders from unseen forces, the king was sacrificed to destroy his kingdom. All peoples are notified of this.” Those killed were: Tsar Nicholas II, Tsaritsa Alexandra, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and the Crown-prince Alexei; Eugene Botkin, the tsar’s physician; Anna Demidova the tsaritsa’s chambermaid, the cook Ivan Mikhailovich Kharitonov, the servant A. E. Trupp, the sailor Clement Nagorny, who had looked after the tsarevich since early childhood, and Ivan Sednev, the servant of the grand duchesses. They were killed because they were Orthodox Christians and leaders of the sacred monarchy, “that which restraineth” (2 Thess. 2:6) the forces of evil and the coming of Antichrist. The death of the last Orthodox king signals the beginning of the apocalyptic era. The royal martyrs all received crowns of martyrdom and eternal glory in the kingdom of Christ. They have performed many miracles for those who call upon them in faith.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If the whole of your life has passed smoothly and without cares, weep for yourself. For both the Gospel and human experience assert with one voice that no one has, without great sufferings and trials, left behind him any great work on earth or been glorified in heaven. If your earthly road has been bathed in sweat and tears for the attaining of righteousness and truth, rejoice and be glad, for your reward will indeed be great in heaven. Never entertain the foolish thought that God has forsaken you. God knows exactly how much you can bear, and measures your sufferings and trials accordingly. ‘When men know,’ says St. Nil Sorsky, ‘how much weight a horse can carry, or a donkey or a camel, and load them according to their strength; when a potter knows how long to leave the clay in the kiln for it to be neither shattered nor undercooked, how could God not know how much temptation a soul can bear to make it ready and fitted for the kingdom of heaven?’
July 18th – Civil Calendar
July 5th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Athanasius the Athonite.
Born in Trebizond of
God-fearing parents, he was early left destitute, but by the providence of God, a high-ranking
army officer took him, removed him to Constantinople and had him educated there. He was beloved
by all his contemporaries for his meekness and humility. In their childish games, they appointed
one of themselves to be emperor, another commander and so forth. Athanasius was always chosen
Abbot, as if in prophecy. Finishing his schooling, Athanasius (called Abraham until his
tonsuring) retired to Mount Kyminas in Bithynia, where he lived in asceticism as a disciple of
the famous Michael Maleinos. Desiring yet stricter asceticism, he moved to the Holy Mountain, to
live in silence. Many, desirous of the ascetic life, began to gather round him and he was
constrained to build the famous Lavra. The Byzantine emperors gave him generous help in this,
especially Nikephoros Phokas, who himself had the intention of retiring and becoming a monk.
Later, John Tzimiskes also gave him great help. Manifold temptations were visited upon
Athanasius, from demons and from men, but he, as a valiant soldier of Christ, resisted and
overcame them all by his immense humility and unceasing prayer to the living God. Filled with the
grace of God, he was found worthy to behold the most holy Mother of God, who miraculously brought
forth water from a rock and promised him that she would evermore be the abbess of his monastery.
Athanasius surpassed his brethren in work and in prayer, and loved them all with the love of a
spiritual father and shepherd. Death came to him suddenly. He, together with six of his monks,
had climbed up onto a newly-constructed part of the church to inspect a wall that was in building
when the dome fell in and buried them all. So died this great light of monasticism in 1003. He
appeared a number of times to his brethren after his death, to console or rebuke them.
2. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Cyprian the New.
Born in the village of Klitzos in Epirus, Cyprian went off to the Holy Mountain after the death of his devout parents. He became a monk there and gave himself to asceticism in a cell near the monastery of Koutloumousiou. He heaped labor upon labor on himself, asceticism upon asceticism, until he became known and respected all over the Holy Mountain. But he was not satisfied. He was tormented by the thought that he could not be saved but by martyrdom for Christ. He therefore left the Holy Mountain and went to Thessalonica, appeared before the Pasha of Thessalonica and urged him to discard the false, Mohammedan faith and receive the true Faith of Christ. The pasha ordered that he be whipped and driven out of the city. Dissatisfied with such little suffering for Christ, Cyprian went to Constantinople and wrote a letter to the grand vizier in which he set down the falseness of Mohammed and the truth of Christ the Lord. The enraged vizier sent him to Sheik ul-Islam, and the latter heard all that Cyprian had to say, then ordered that he be beheaded. Cyprian was filled with joy beyond measure, and went to the scaffold as to his wedding. Thus this godly man suffered for Christ on July 5th, 1679, and fulfilled his strong desire.
3. Our Holy Father Lampados.
Loving Christ with a strong love from childhood, Lampados withdrew to the desert near Irenopolis, where he gave himself to asceticism. Having overcome all passions and fleshly desires, his soul was made resplendent with heavenly light and an inexpressible peace not of this world. He was a wonder-worker both in his lifetime and after his death. He lived the monastic life probably in the 10th century.
4. New-martyr Great Princess Elizabeth and Nun-martyr Barbara.
Elizabeth, affectionately called “Ella,” was the older sister of Tsaritsa-martyr Alexandra and a daughter of Prince Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was the most beautiful princess in Europe at the time but was even more lovely in her virtuous Christian spirit, gentle heart, compassionate soul, and moral nobility. In 1884 she married Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich and thereafter lived as a devout Orthodox Christian. The saint always considered Orthodoxy “the genuine and true Faith, the only faith which has remained undistorted down the centuries and has retained its original purity.” During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the great princess organized sewing workshops for the needs of the army, equipped several hospital trains at her own expense, provided for camp churches equipped with everything necessary for the divine services, and daily visited hospitals. Then tragedy struck in 1905 when a revolutionary terrorist murdered her husband Sergius with a bomb in Moscow. Great Princess Elizabeth, with a true Christian spirit, visited the murderer in prison and forgave him, although the wretched man showed no signs of repentance. Afterwards, Elizabeth devoted herself entirely to the service of God and her neighbor, opening two hospitals and dividing her property among the poor. She embraced the monastic life, and with the blessing of the elders of the Zosima Hermitage, she founded the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary in Moscow, which included a hospital for helping the destitute. The sisterhood was devoted to charitable activities and selfless service to the needy. Their Abbess Elizabeth afflicted herself with ascetic exploits yet still summoned the strength to treat all the hospital patients as a loving mother, encouraging them with kind words and remaining at their side when they suffered unbearable pain. When the revolution broke out in 1917, the saint was invited to flee to Germany, but she refused, submitting herself to the will of the Lord. In 1918, she wrote, “We on this earth must look to that heavenly homeland with understanding and say with resignation, ‘Let Thy will be done.’ Great Russia is completely destroyed, but Holy Russia and the Orthodox Church, which ‘the gates of Hades cannot overcome,’ still exist and exist more than ever.” On the third day of Pascha, the communists arrested Mother Elizabeth and her cell-attendant Barbara. They took them, together with other royal prisoners, to Alapayevsk in the Urals. On the night of July 4th/5th, just one day after the martyrdom of the royal family, the prisoners were taken to a nearby abandoned mine and thrown into a deep mine shaft. Some of them died from their injuries, and the rest starved to death. Mother Elizabeth remained alive for a long time and the guards could hear her chanting. The new-martyrs also included Nun Barbara, the Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, Princes Ioann Konstantinovich, Konstantin Konstantinovich, Igor Konstantinovich, and Vladimir Pavlovich Paley; and the secretary Fyodor Remez. They were all crowned with incorruptible crowns in the heavenly kingdom.
FOR CONSIDERATION
How did Moses, with a blow from his staff, draw forth water from the rock? How did God rain down manna from heaven and feed the Israelites in the wilderness? So question those who have a very weak notion of the power of almighty God. They wonder why such miracles do not happen now, to bring all men to belief in God. But the Israelites saw with their own eyes the innumerable wonders of God, and even they did not believe. However, God renews the great wonders of old as and when they are needed. When there was, at one time, a famine in Saint Athanasius’ Lavra, the brethren scattered in all directions. Athanasius, in distress, set off also to find some other place. ‘Where are you going?’ asked a Woman he met on the way. ‘Who are you?’ Athanasius asked her, amazed to see a woman on the Holy Mountain, where the presence of women is forbidden. ‘I am she to whom you have dedicated your community. I am the Mother of your Lord.’ ‘I am afraid to believe you,’ said Athanasius, ‘for a demon can make himself appear an angel of light. How will you assure me of the truth of your words?’ Then the holy Mother of God said to him: ‘Strike this rock with your staff, and learn who it is that talks with you. Be assured that I will always remain abbess of your Lavra.’ Athanasius struck the rock with his staff, at which the rock shook and cracked as if struck with a thunderbolt, and a gush of water came forth from it. In great fear, Athanasius turned to bow down to the all-holy one, but she had already disappeared. He returned to his lavra, and to his even greater amazement, found all his granaries filled with wheat. Here are renewed the great wonders by which the faithful are confirmed in their faith.
July 19th – Civil Calendar
July 6th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Sisoës the Great.
An Egyptian by birth, he lived
at first in Sketis then, after St. Anthony’s death, settled on the desert mountain on which
Anthony had earlier lived in asceticism and which was named after him. He learned humility
through great struggles with himself, becoming meek and guileless as a lamb. Therefore God gave
him the great gifts of healing the sick, driving out unclean spirits and raising the dead.
Sisoës lived in the desert for sixty years, and was a fount of living wisdom for all the
monks and lay folk who came to him for advice. At the time of his death, his face shone like the
sun. The monks stood around him and marvelled at this sight, and when the saint gave up his soul,
the whole chamber was filled with a wonderful fragrance. He entered into rest in great old age,
in about 429. St. Sisoës taught his monks: ‘When temptation comes to a man, that man
must give himself over to the will of God, and acknowledge that the temptation comes upon him
because of his sins. If something good comes to pass, he must acknowledge that it comes about by
the providence of God.’ A monk asked him: ‘How can I please God and be saved?’
The saint replied: ‘If you desire to please God, withdraw from the world, separate yourself
from the earth, leave aside creation and draw near to the Creator, unite yourself to God with
prayers and tears, and you will find rest in this world and in the next.’ A monk asked
Sisoës: ‘How can I acquire humility?’ The saint replied: ‘When a man
learns to regard every man as better than himself, he thus acquires humility.’ Ammon
complained to Sisoës that he could not memorise the wise sayings that he had read, to be
able to quote them in conversation with others. The saint replied: ‘It is not necessary.
That which is necessary is to acquire purity of mind and to speak from this purity, placing
one’s hope in God.’
2. The Holy Martyrs Marinus and Martha, with their sons Audifax and Habakkuk, the Priest Valentine, Cyrinus, Asterius and many others.
They all suffered in the time of the Emperor Claudius Flavius in Rome, in the year 269. Marinus and Martha were rich Persians, who had sold all their goods in Persia and gone with their sons to Rome to venerate the relics of the holy apostles and other martyrs. When the emperor asked them why they had come such a distance, forsaking their household gods to seek the dead in Rome, they replied: ‘We are servants of Christ, and are come to venerate the holy apostles whose immortal souls are alive with God, that they may be our intercessors with Christ our God.’ Cyrinus was thrown into the Tiber, whence Marinus retrieved his body and buried it. The priest Valentine was committed to a General Asterius, whose task it was to urge him to deny Christ. But Valentine healed Asterius’ daughter, who had been blind for two years, by his prayers, and then baptized Asterius and his whole household. These all, in diverse ways, received torture and death for Christ the Lord, Who welcomed them into His immortal kingdom to rejoice eternally.
3. The Finding of the Relics of St. Juliana the Virgin.
The daughter of a prince of Olshansk, Juliana died in about 1540, as a girl of sixteen. Two hundred years after her death, some men digging a grave near the great church in a monastery in Kiev found the relics of this holy virgin, whole and incorrupt as though she had just fallen asleep. Many wonders were worked over these relics, and Juliana herself appeared several times to various people. The famous Peter Moghila was one of those who saw her.
4. The Holy Martyr Lucy.
The barbarian King Austius made her a slave in Campania. He wanted to have her live with him, but she resisted. The king left her in peace, to live in asceticism. She brought the king to the Faith because, by her prayers, he was victorious in battle. Later, they both suffered for Christ in Rome, in about 300.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Whence do we know that there is life after death? We know from Christ the Lord, on the foundation of His words, His Resurrection and His appearances after His death. Philosophers who recognize life after death accept it on the foundation of their own reasoning, but we recognize it on the foundation of experience, especially the experience of holy men and women who were unable to proclaim a lie. When St. Sisoës lay on his deathbed, his face was suffused with light. The monks, his disciples, stood around him. Suddenly the saint’s gaze became intent, and he said: ‘Behold, the prophets are coming!’ His countenance became yet more radiant, and he said: ‘Behold, the apostles are coming!’ Then he said: ‘Behold, the angels are coming to take my soul!’ Finally, his face shone like the sun and all were in great fear, then the elder said: ‘Behold, the Lord is coming; look, all of you! Listen! He’s saying: “Bring Me the chosen vessel from out of the wilderness”!’ After this, the saint gave up his soul. How many similar visions have there been—and all by reliable witnesses!
July 20th – Civil Calendar
July 7th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Kyriake (Dominica).
In the time of the Emperors
Diocletian and his son-in-law Maximian, both adversaries of Christ, there lived in Anatolia two
elderly, devout souls, Dorotheos and Evsevia. They were devoted Christians, rich but childless.
With unceasing prayer, they besought God for a child, and their prayers were answered in this
holy Kyriake. She consecrated herself to God from her childhood, holding herself apart from the
activities of carefree children. When she had grown up, beautiful in body and soul, she had many
suitors but refused them all, saying that she had betrothed herself to Christ the Lord and
desired nothing other than to die a virgin. One of these rejected suitors denounced Kyriake and
her parents to the Emperor Diocletian as Christians. The emperor ordered that her parents be
tortured, and after torture had them exiled to the town of Melitene, where they died under
further torture. Diocletian sent Kyriake to Maximian for trial. When she affirmed her faith in
Christ the Lord before Maximian, he ordered that she be thrown to the ground and flogged with
bull-whips. Then the emperor handed her over to the generals—firstly to Hilarion and then, after
his death, to Apollonius. They tortured her bestially in all possible ways, but in vain. While
holy Kyriake lay in prison wounded all over, Christ the Lord appeared to her, healed her and said
to her: ‘Don’t be afraid of the torture, Kyriake; My grace is with thee.’ And
indeed Christ’s grace saved this martyr from fire and from wild beasts, which the godless
torturers were certain would bring about her death. Seeing the miraculous saving of Kyriake from
such a death, many of the pagans came to belief in Christ. All were beheaded. Kyriake said to
Apollonius: ‘There is no way that you can turn me from my faith. Throw me into the fire—I
have the example of the Three Children; throw me to the wild beasts—I have the example of Daniel;
throw me into the sea—I have the example of Jonah the prophet; put me to the sword—I shall
remember the honored Forerunner. For me, to die is life in Christ.’ Then Apollonius ordered
that she be beheaded. Kyriake knelt and raised her hands to heaven in prayer to God, that He
would have mercy on and save all those who would celebrate her memory, and that He would give
rest to her soul and those of her parents. Finishing her prayer, she gave her soul to God before
the sword descended on her head. She suffered with honor in Nikomedia and went to eternal joy in
the year 289.
2. Our Holy Father Thomas of Malea.
This Thomas was a general, famed for his courage and wealth. He was massive of body and a source of fear to his enemies. But, when he came to love Christ more than the world or anything in the world, he left everything and retired to the desert, where he became a monk and gave himself to asceticism. The Prophet Elias appeared to him and led him to the mountain called Malea, near the Holy Mountain. There he lived in solitude, alone with God, in unceasing prayer day and night. Although he hid from the world, he could not succeed in concealing himself. Learning of the holiness of his life, people began to go to him, bringing their sick. St. Thomas healed them of all ills and weaknesses. When he went to God (in the tenth century), his relics continued to give aid to all who drew near to them in faith.
3. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs Epictetus and Astius.
Epictetus, a priest, brought Astius, the only son of his parents, to the Christian Faith, baptized him and made him a monk. They then went off eastwards, to the region of Scythia, and settled in the Scythian town of Almirida (now Ramzina), at the mouth of the Danube on the Black Sea. They were tortured and killed for the Christian Faith in about 290. They both appeared after their deaths in great light to St. Astius’ parents, Alexander and Marcellina, who turned to Christ and were baptized by Bishop Evangelus, who was himself then executed for Christ; ‘Evangelus, another angel,’ as is sung of him.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The example of St. Kyriake, a beautiful maiden, and of St. Astius, a rich young man, who both gave themselves over to torture and death for the sake of Christ the Lord, leads us to the thought that there is no equal in history to the power of Christ, by Whose aid young people conquer themselves, and through that conquest, conquer all else. Victory over oneself is the greatest victory. The Church counts such victors in their thousands, in their many thousands. St. Cyprian, writing on virginity, says: ‘To be victorious over pleasure is the greatest pleasure, and there is no greater victory than victory over one’s desires. He who has overcome an enemy shows himself stronger than the other, but he who has overcome his desires shows himself stronger than himself. Every other evil is easier to overcome than pleasure, for all other evils are repulsive, while pleasure is an attractive evil. Those who free themselves from their desires are freed also from fear, for desire is the root of fear.’
July 21st – Civil Calendar
July 8th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Prokopios.
He was born in Jerusalem of a Christian
father and a pagan mother, at first bearing the name Neanias. After his father’s death, his
mother brought him up entirely in the spirit of Roman idolatry. When he had grown up, the Emperor
Diocletian saw him at some time and was so pleased with him that he took him to court to serve in
the army. When this wicked emperor launched a persecution of Christians, he ordered Neanias to go
with a detachment of soldiers to Alexandria and exterminate the Christians there. But, on the
road, there happened to Neanias something similar to that which happened to Saul. At three
o’clock in the morning there was a violent earthquake, the Lord Jesus appearing to him and
saying: ‘Neanias, where are you going, and against whom are you rebelling?’ In great
fear, Neanias replied: ‘Who art Thou, Lord? I cannot recognize Thee.’ Then a
brilliant Cross, as of crystal, appeared in the sky and a voice came from the Cross: ‘I am
Jesus, the crucified Son of God.’ The Lord went on: ‘By this sign that you have seen,
overcome your enemies, and My peace will be with you.’ This event utterly changed Neanias’
life. He caused a cross such as he had seen to be made, and instead of moving against the
Christians, set off with his soldiers against the Hagarenes, who were attacking Jerusalem. He
entered Jerusalem victorious and told his mother that he was a Christian. Brought to trial, he
took off his army belt and sword and cast them before the judge, demonstrating by this that he
was a soldier only of Christ the King. After harsh torture, he was thrown into prison. There
Christ the Lord appeared to him again, baptising him and giving him the name Prokopios. One day
twelve women came to the window of his cell and said to him: ‘We also are the servants of
Christ.’ Arrested for this, they were thrown into the same prison, where St. Prokopios
instructed them in the Christian Faith and carefully prepared them to receive the crown of
martyrdom.* These twelve women were then harshly tortured. Beholding their sufferings and
courage, Prokopios’ mother also came to faith in Christ, and then all thirteen were put to death.
When St. Prokopios was led to the scaffold, he raised his hands towards the East and prayed to
God for all the poor and needy, the destitute and the widowed, and especially for the holy
Church, that it might grow and spread and that Orthodoxy might shine to the end of time. He was
assured from heaven that his prayer was heard, after which he joyfully laid his head under the
sword and went to his Lord, to eternal joy. St. Prokopios suffered with honor in Palestinian
Caesarea, and was crowned with an eternal wreath of glory, on July 8th, 303.
* Author’s note: Therefore those in the married state (‘crowned’), invoke St. Prokopios, together with the God-crowned Constantine and Helena.
2. St. Procopius (Prokopy) the Fool for Christ.
A wonder-worker of Ustiug, who died in 1303, he was of German origin and was a well-known merchant. Arriving in Novgorod in the course of his work, he was entranced by the beauty of Orthodoxy and embraced the Orthodox Faith. He desired to be a perfect Christian, to which end he gave away all his goods to the poor and exercised himself in the practice of all the other virtues. He feigned madness to avoid the praise of men, had insight into their hearts and destinies and was also able to predict natural occurrences. By his tearful prayers before the icon of the most holy Mother of God, he stopped a terrible hailstorm over the town of Ustiug, and thus brought the sinful town to repentance. His dead body was found in the road, covered with snow. A church was built over his wonder-working relics.
3. Our Holy Father Theophilus the Outpourer of Myrrh.
A Macedonian by birth, from the village of Ziki, he was a very learned man and a great ascetic. By order of Patriarch Niphon of Constantinople, he travelled to Alexandria to ascertain whether it was true that Patriarch Joachim could move mountains and drink poison without harm, being driven to this by the Jews and Moslems. Convinced of the truth of these marvels, Theophilus returned to the Holy Mountain, where he lived in asceticism first at Vatopedi, then at Iviron and finally in St. Basil’s cell near Karyes. Urged to accept the archbishopric of Thessalonica, this holy man refused. Through profound silence, meditation and heartfelt prayer, he succeeded in purifying his mind from all passionate thoughts, and thus became a pure vessel of the Holy Spirit, indwelt by Christ. At the time of his death, he ordered his disciple, Isaac, not to bury him when he was dead but to tie a cord round his feet and drag him away to a nearby stream, and there throw him in. With great fear, the disciple did this. But, by the providence of God, St. Theophilus’ relics were discovered, and when they were taken to his cell, a miraculous myrrh began to flow from them. He entered into rest on July 8th, 1548.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Anthony teaches: ‘Be fearful of becoming famed for anything that you may do. If men begin to praise you for your deeds, do not rejoice at it or find sweetness therein. Keep your deeds as secret as possible and do not make it necessary for any to speak of them.’ How much more peace and joy would there be among men on earth if even half of them would take these words to heart! St. Theophilus, although he lived withdrawn on the Holy Mountain as a simple monk, was famed among all the Eastern patriarchs both for his learning and for his asceticism and good works. It happened at one time that Theoleptos, Patriarch of Constantinople, visited Thessalonica. At that time the archiepiscopal throne in Thessalonica was vacant. The Christians of Thessalonica begged the patriarch with one voice to give them Theophilus as archbishop. The patriarch, a fellow-countryman and friend of Theophilus, wrote to him with his own hand, inviting him to accept the archiepiscopal throne. The humble Theophilus, fearing the praise of men but not finding it easy to refuse the patriarch, immediately received the Great Habit,* and then informed the patriarch, adding: ‘If God wills, we shall meet again in the heavenly kingdom.’ Thus did spiritual giants, proclaimed saints by the Church, shun vanity and the praise of men.
* Translator’s note: The reception of the Great Habit, the strictest order of monasticism, according to one tradition, precludes a man from holding office in the Church.
July 22nd – Civil Calendar
July 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Pancratius, Bishop of Taormina.
This holy hierarch was born in Antioch at the time that the Lord Jesus walked as a Man among men on earth. Hearing of Christ’s miracles, Pancratius’ parents desired to see the Lord, the Wonder-worker. They came to Jerusalem, bringing Pancratius, where they saw Jesus, heard His words and witnessed His miracles. There Pancratius met the Apostle Peter. After the Lord’s Ascension, both parents and their son were baptized in Antioch. Pancratius retired to a cave in Pontus, where the Apostle Peter found him, and in consultation with the Apostle Paul, installed him as bishop of Taormina in Sicily. St. Pancratius worked great wonders in that town. He destroyed idols, baptized the unbaptized and instructed the baptized, and governed the Church of God. A pagan general, Aquilinus, hearing that the whole town of Taormina had become Christian, set out with an army to the town to destroy it. Holy Pancratius encouraged the faithful to be fearless, and he himself went out from the city with the clergy, carrying in his hands the unconquerable sign of the precious Cross. When the soldiers drew near to the town, a darkness fell on them and they were seized with great terror. A great confusion arose, so that they fell over one another and were stabbed and cut about by their own swords. Thus that godly man, Pancratius, saved his city and his flock by the power of his prayers before God. He was finally stoned to death by some envious and wicked pagans, and entered into rest in the Lord. His holy relics are preserved in Rome.
2. The Hieromartyr Kyril, Bishop of Gortyna in Crete.
As an old man of eighty-four, he was tortured for Christ during Decius’ reign. Cast into the flames, he was saved by the providence of God. Then the judge pronounced this sentence: ‘Just judgement cannot tolerate that Kyril, having been delivered from fire, remain among the living. I therefore command that he be killed with the sword.’ The elder joyfully laid his head under the sword and was beheaded, to live eternally in the kingdom of Christ.
3. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs Patermuthius and Copres.
Both were Egyptians, martyred by the Emperor Julian the Apostate. The first was seventy-five and the second forty-five years old. The emperor succeeded in turning Copres from the Christian Faith to idolatry. The apostate Copres cried: ‘I am Julian’s, not Christ’s!’ When old Patermuthius rebuked him and brought to his mind the thought of eternal torment, Copres was distressed and cried out before the Emperor: ‘I am Christ’s, not Julian’s!’ They were both beheaded. One of the emperor’s soldiers, Alexander, who saw their courage in suffering and himself became a Christian, suffered together with them. They suffered with honor for Christ, and went to Christ in the year 361.
4. Our Holy Fathers Patermuthius and Copres.
Although they have the same names, these two are different from the above. This Patermuthius was at first a robber leader, but after a wondrous vision, he turned to the true Faith. What happened was this: he had climbed onto the roof of a house belonging to a devout woman, with the intention of getting into the house that way and stealing. Sleep fell on him, and he saw in a dream an angel in the form of a young man who commanded him to cease doing evil and repent. He was not only baptized but also became a monk.
Both of them were great wonder-workers. By God’s grace, they healed men of every pain and ill, brought sinners back to the true path and had the gift of prophecy. A sinner lying on his deathbed begged Patermuthius to prolong his life that he might repent. The saint prayed, and then told him that God had given him three years more. The sinner repented, and died exactly three years later. They entered into rest in the Lord in great old age, at the end of the fourth century.
5. St. Theodore, Bishop of Edessa, and others with him.
He became a monk at the age of twenty, and spent thirty-six years as a monk. Then, in the time of the Emperor Michael and Empress Theodora, he was chosen as Bishop of Edessa. He died in 848. Together with him are commemorated his teacher, St. Theodosios the Stylite of Syria, his brother St. John, and St. Aderus, a rich nobleman who left his wife and became a monk.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Many ask themselves why God takes young men, girls and children from this life and does not leave them to grow old, and then take them through death to the other world. It is God’s plan, His dispensation, the holy desire of His providence. But there are some examples, in the enormous experience of the Church, when God sometimes does the former in conformity to the desire and prayers of those pleasing to Him in the other world, or of kinsfolk. St. Aderus (in monasticism, Athanasius) appeared to his wife, whom he had suddenly left with three children when he went off to a monastery where he died. When his wife reached despair from worry about her frail children and from concern about her husband, not knowing where he was, he appeared to her in a dream from the other world, with a radiant face and shining garments, and said to her: ‘Stop crying and railing against me; I will take two of the children to myself; but you, if you wish, stay and grow old for the salvation of your soul.’ At the same time and in the same way he appeared to St. Theodore the Stylite and said to him: ‘In three days’ time, an old nun in a monastery near you will go to the Lord. Put my wife there in her place, that she may live in asceticism as a nun in that cell. Let the youngest child stay with her until it is grown up; he will follow in my footsteps and will inherit the apostolic throne in Jerusalem.’ And, indeed, all came to pass as he had said. The old nun died on the third day, and also Aderus’ two elder children. His wife took over the old nun’s cell with her youngest son, who, when he grew up, became Patriarch of Jerusalem.
July 23rd – Civil Calendar
July 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Forty-Five Holy Martyrs: Leontius, Maurice, Alexander, Sisinius and the rest.
In the time of the wicked Emperor Licinius, who ruled over the eastern half of the Roman Empire, there was a great persecution of Christians. In Armenian Nicopolis, Leontius came before the imperial governor, Lysius, together with several of his friends, and told him that he was a Christian. ‘And where is your Christ?’ asked Lysius. ‘Was He not crucified and did He not die?’ To this, St. Leontius replied: ‘If you know that our Christ died, know that He also rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.’ After much harassment for their faith, Lysius had them whipped and thrown into prison, where they were given neither food nor drink. A noble Christian woman, Viassiana, brought them water and gave it to them through the window of the prison, and an angel of God appeared to them there, to comfort and encourage them. When their trial was held, two of their warders came before Lysius as Christian converts, and many others, numbering forty-five in all. The judge condemned them all to death, ordering that their arms and legs be hacked off and that they then be thrown into the flames. This vicious punishment was carried out, and the souls of the holy martyrs flew off to their Lord, to eternal life. They suffered with honor and inherited the kingdom in the year 319.
2. Our Holy Father Anthony of the Kiev Caves.
The renewer and father of monasticism in
Russia, he was born in a little place called Lubetch, near Chernigov. He left his home while
still a boy and went to the Holy Mountain, where he became a monk and lived in asceticism at
Esphigmenou. In response to a vision, the abbot sent him to Russia, to found the monastic life
there. He chose a cave near Kiev. When a group of men desiring the monastic life settled round
him, he installed Theodosius (Feodosy) as their abbot and himself remained in his cave in
silence. By the grace of God, the monastery grew and became the mother of Russian monasticism.
Anthony endured much evil from men and from demons, but he overcame all by his meekness. He had a
great gift of discernment, and was able to heal the sick. He went to the Lord in 1073 at the age
of ninety, leaving his spiritual nursery, which would, through the ages, yield good fruit for the
Orthodox peoples of Russia.
3. The Translation of the Precious Vesture of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At the time of our Lord’s suffering for the human race, there was to be found in the ranks of the Roman army in Jerusalem a Georgian, Elias, from the town of Mtskheta. His mother had heard of Christ, and believed in Him in her heart. Sending her son into the army in Palestine, she exhorted him to do nothing against Christ. When the Lord was nailed to the Cross, the sound of the hammering on Golgotha came to the ears of Elias’ mother in Mtskheta. Hearing this sound, she cried out: ‘Woe is me that I did not die before this hour, that death might deliver me from this terrible sound!’ And, thus saying, she fell dead. Elias was at that time underneath the Cross, and with the other soldiers, was casting lots for Christ’s vesture. The vesture fell to him, and he took it to Mtskheta, making a gift of it to his sister Sidonia. She, hearing of the Lord’s death and learning that her brother had a hand in the shedding of innocent blood, fell dead with the Lord’s vesture in her hands, in such a way that no one could take it from her and they were constrained to bury it with her. A cedar grew up over her grave, from which flowed a healing myrrh. In time, the cedar fell and the place was forgotten. St. Nina found it by the aid of a pillar of fire on that spot, in response to her prayers. King Mirian, when he had been baptized, built a church there to the Holy Apostles. In 1625, Shah Abbas took this vesture and sent it to Moscow as a gift to Prince Michael Feodorovich and Patriarch Philaret. The vesture was then placed in the Cathedral of the Dormition in Moscow.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The thought of death is like a cold shower that quenches the coals of passion. The psalmist says: ‘For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away for himself, nor shall his glory descend with him (Ps. 48:17)’. Who would not be ashamed, seeing that unbelievers often have a better grasp of our earthly nothingness than do some Christians? When Caliph Saladin died, the herald, acting on the caliph’s instructions, came out before the coffin with a spear, to which was affixed one of the imperial shirts, in his hand, and he cried: ‘Great Saladin, who conquered the whole of Asia and caused many nations to go in fear of him, and conquered kings; lo, of all his glory and all his servants, there remains to him nothing but this poor shirt!’
July 24th – Civil Calendar
July 11th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Ephemia.
This saint is commemorated on September 16th,
the day on which she suffered. On this day is commemorated the miracle wrought by her precious
relics, revealed at the time of the Fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon. This council was
called together in the reign of the Emperor Marcian and the Empress Pulcheria, in 451, after the
death of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger, and was summoned because of the heresy of Dioscoros,
Patriarch of Alexandria, and Eftyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, who had disseminated
the false teaching that there were in Christ not two natures, divine and human, but only one, a
divine nature. At this council, the chief role was played by Anatolios, Patriarch of
Constantinople, and Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Because, through the quarrels and evidence
on both sides, no decision could be reached, Patriarch Anatolios suggested that the Orthodox and
the heretics each write down their confession of faith, and that they be put into the reliquary
that contained the relics of St. Ephemia. All agreed to this. Two confessions of faith, then,
were written and placed in the hands of the great martyr. The reliquary was closed and sealed
with the imperial seal, a watch then being set over it. They then all spent three days in fasting
and prayer. On the fourth day, when the tomb was opened, they saw the Orthodox confession of
faith above the saint’s head and the heretical one beneath her feet. Thus was the conflict
resolved by God’s power, on the side of Orthodoxy. In the time of the Emperor Herakleios,
the relics of St. Ephemia were translated from Chalcedon to Constantinople, to the church
dedicated to her near the Hippodrome. The iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian ordered that her
relics be thrown into the sea; but by a wonderful act, the reliquary was brought to the island of
Lemnos and placed in the church of the Holy Martyr Glykeria. Then, in the time of the Empress
Irene, the reliquary with its relics was again taken to Constantinople, to its former place.
Blood has flowed from these relics from time to time, to the succour of the sick and the
feeble.
2. St. Elena (Olga).
A great Russian princess, the wife of Prince Igor, she was called Olga before her Baptism. She was baptized in Constantinople by Patriarch Polyefktos, and was greatly zealous for the Orthodox Faith in Russia. She entered into rest in 969.
3. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Nikodemos (Nicodemus).
Born in Elbasan, he was married and had children. Duped by the Turks, he embraced Islam and forced his children to do likewise, with the exception of one son who fled to the Holy Mountain and became a monk. Nikodemos went to Athos to take his son back, but the place made such an impression on him that he repented, returned to the Christian Faith and became a monk himself. He bewailed his apostasy for three years, then decided to return to Albania, to expiate his sin there where he had committed it. He therefore returned, informed the Turks that he was a Christian and was beheaded on July 11th, 1722. His wonder-working relics are preserved today whole and incorrupt.
4. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Nectarios.
Born in Vryoulla in Asia Minor, he was forced to accept Islam at the age of seventeen. His outcome was similar to that of St. Nikodemos. When he showed himself to his mother as a Turk, she cried at him: ‘Get away from me! I don’t know you. I bore you as a Christian, not as a Turk!’ He repented bitterly, went to the Holy Mountain and there, in the skete of St. Anne, became a monk. Having resolved to die for Christ and thus take away his sin, he went again to Vryoulla, where he suffered. He was beheaded for Christ by the Turks in his birthplace on July 11th, 1820, at the age of twenty-one.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A change of fortune hits hardest when it comes unexpectedly. But, to him who is prepared for the blow and is armed against it, can it be unexpected? The Emperor Charlemagne ensured that his sons learn some craft and his daughter to weave, so that they should have something to live on if their fortunes changed. The renowned Belissarios, a great general and conqueror, was slandered to the king by some malicious men, and on the foundation of this slander, was blinded and stripped of all his goods. The blind Bellisarios sat at the gate of Rome and begged for alms, saying to the passers-by: ‘Give to Bellisarios, whom fortune raised up but envy struck down and deprived of his sight!’ ‘Is not man as a soldier in arms on earth?’ says Righteous Job (7:1). One must be as a vigilant watch-man, ready for anything that may happen. What is there that cannot happen to a man? One must have hope in God in every suffering. Righteous Job, on his dung-heap, cried out from among the filth: ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!’ (13:15).
July 25th – Civil Calendar
July 12th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Proklos and Hilarion.
These martyrs were born in Kallippi in Asia, Proklos being Hilarion’s uncle. They suffered in the time of Trajan. The judge asked Proklos: ‘Of what race are you?’ Proklos replied: ‘I am of the race of Christ, and my hope is in my God.’ When the judge threatened him with torture, he said: ‘When you are afraid to transgress the emperor’s commands and risk falling into temporal punishment, how much more do we Christians fear to transgress against God’s commands and fall into eternal torment!’ While Proklos was being tortured, Hilarion came up to the judge and said: ‘I too am a Christian!’ After many tortures, the two of them were condemned to death, Proklos being crucified and Hilarion beheaded with the sword. They both entered into the joy of their Lord.
2. Our Holy Father Michael Maleinos.
He was a wealthy man of noble birth. Scorning worldly goods in his youth, he withdrew to Mount Kyminas in Bithynia, where he lived in asceticism, purifying his heart by fasting and prayer. He later had many disciples, of whom the best-known is St. Athanasius the Athonite. He died peacefully in the middle of the tenth century.
3. St. Veronica.
This is the woman with the issue of blood, whom the Lord healed (Matt. 9:20). In gratitude to the Lord, her healer, Veronica caused a statue of the Lord Jesus to be made, before which she prayed to God. By tradition, this statue was preserved up to the time of Julian the Apostate, when it was altered to become a statue of Zeus. This is one of the very rare occasions that a statue has been used in the Eastern Church. St. Veronica remained faithful to Christ till death, and entered peacefully into rest.
4. The Holy Martyrs Theodore and John.
Father and son, they settled after their Baptism in the pagan city of Kiev. The infuriated pagans pulled their house down about their ears, and the two of them perished for the sake of Christ. Their relics are preserved in St. Anthony’s caves. The barren and women who miscarry pray especially to them.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The fabric of righteousness is finer than silk, but is enduring and indestructible and embraces both worlds, while the fabric of unrighteousness and violence is thick and easily rent. In the time of the Kievan Prince Vladimir, there lived in Kiev only one Christian family, Theodore and his son John. When there was a wicked, idolatrous festival, the pagans of Kiev, urged on by demons, plotted to offer John, Theodore’s son, as a sacrifice to the idols. When some of them went to Theodore to demand his son in the name of their ‘gods,’ he said to them: ‘If your gods are alive, let them come themselves and take my son!’ The furious pagans rushed to Theodore’s house, destroyed it and left the bodies of the godly Theodore and his son John in the ruins. Thus far did the fabric of unrighteousness extend. But the fabric of righteousness went further: Prince Vladimir was baptized soon after this, and also baptized the nation, and on the very spot where the house and grave of Theodore and John had been, the church of the most holy Mother of God was built.
July 26h – Civil Calendar
July 13th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Archangel Gabriel.
This great archangel of God is commemorated on March 26th. On
this day his appearances and marvels through the whole history of the salvation of mankind are
commemorated. It is reckoned that this observance was first instituted on the Holy Mountain in
982, during the patriarchate of Nicholas Chrysoverges (979-91), and was occasioned by the
Archangel’s appearing in a cell near Karyes, where, with his finger, he wrote the hymn to
the Mother of God: ‘Axion Estin’ (It Is Verily Worthy). As a result of this
occurrence, the cell was named, and is called to this day, ‘Axion Estin’. Linked with
this, other appearances of the Archangel Gabriel are commemorated, such as his appearing to Moses
when he revealed to this great man, chosen by God, how the world was created and all the rest
that Moses later wrote down in the Book of Genesis; his appearing to Daniel and the imparting of
the mystery of the kingdoms to come and the coming of the Savior; his appearing to St. Anna and
the promise of a daughter, the most blessed and pure Virgin Mary; his appearing to the holy
Virgin while she was living in the Temple in Jerusalem; his appearing to Zacharias the high
priest and the news of the birth of John the Forerunner, and the punishing of the same with
dumbness because he did not believe the angel’s words; his appearing once again to the holy
Virgin in Nazareth, and the annunciation of the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ;
his appearing to righteous Joseph, to the shepherds near Bethlehem, to the Lord Himself in the
Garden of Gethsemane when he strengthened the Lord, as Man, before His Passion: his appearing to
the myrrh-bearing women, and his other appearances.
2. St. Julian, Bishop of Cenomanis (Le Mans).
Some think that he is none other than that Simon the Leper whom the Lord healed. The Apostle Peter made him bishop and sent him to pagan Gaul, where St. Julian endured great privation, but succeeded in bringing many of the people to the Christian Faith. When the prince, Defenson, was baptized, many of his subjects embraced the true Faith. By the grace of God, Julian worked many miracles: healing the sick, driving out demons and raising the dead. He departed this life peacefully, and at the time of his death, appeared to Prince Defenson in full daylight, while the latter was at lunch.
3. The Holy Martyr Golinduc.
A Persian, she married a Persian noble and lived three years in wedlock. She then had a vision of an angel, who revealed the other world to her: the torment of sinners and unbelievers and the joy of the righteous. She left her husband and received Baptism, being given the name Maria. As a result of her husband’s persecution, she was condemned to lifelong imprisonment and spent eighteen years in prison, being steadfast in the Faith. She was then thrown into a pit, but was saved by God; then before a venomous snake, but the snake did not harm her. When some wicked youths were sent to her to defile her, God made her invisible to their eyes. Amazed at her sufferings, many Persians were converted to the Christian Faith. She visited Jerusalem, where she denounced the Severian heresy which taught that Christ’s divinity suffered, and therefore recited the Trisagion in this form: ‘Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Who was crucified for us, have mercy on us.’ Preaching the true Faith up to the end of her life, she died peacefully near the town of Nisibis in 587.
4. Our Holy Father Stephen of St. Sava’s.
Nephew to St. John Damascene, he lived in asceticism in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified, and is therefore known as ‘of St. Sava’s’. He was a great imitator of the life of St. Sava and a resplendent star among the monks of Palestine. He entered into rest in the Lord in 794, at the age of sixty-nine.
5. Our Holy Mother Sarah the Egyptian.
She embraced asceticism as a young girl, and thus spent sixty years on the bank of the Nile not far from Alexandria. By her example, she drew many women to the monastic life. She entered into rest in the Lord in 370.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A man adorns simple clothing, but magnificent clothing adorns a man. Simple clothing attracts attention to the man, but magnificent clothing attracts attention only to itself. A passion for magnificent clothing simply dries up and consumes a man’s soul. This is the reason why the Church has always stood against magnificence in dress and urged simplicity. Among the innumerable horde of Christian saints, there is not one commemorated who was helped to sanctity by the magnificence of his apparel. Many great and wise kings, Christian and pagan alike, have loved simplicity of dress. Thus, it is said of the Emperor Augustus Octavius, during whose reign the Lord Jesus was born, that he wore one single garment, woven by his wife, his sister or his daughter. Of the Emperor Charles V it is said that he wore such simple clothing that ordinary citizens, his subjects, were better-dressed. The famous Greek general, Philopomenes, was once invited to lunch by some man, into whose house he had never previously been. Philopomenes arrived rather early. His host had not yet arrived, and his hostess, not knowing him personally and seeing this man in such simple garb, thought that he must be one of Philopomenes’ servants whom he had sent ahead to warn the household of his coming with his host. She therefore set him to chop wood. Philopomenes obeyed willingly, and began to chop the wood. When his host arrived and saw his honored guest thus employed, he was horrified, and asked him: ‘Who ventured to give such a task to Philopomenes?’ The general replied quietly: ‘My clothes.’
July 27th – Civil Calendar
July 14th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Aquila.
One of the Seventy, he was a Jew living in Italy with his wife
Priscilla. When the Emperor Claudius decreed the exile of all Jews from Rome and Italy, Aquila
moved to Corinth, where the Apostle Paul first made his acquaintance, staying eighteen months in
his house and baptising him and his wife. Burning with zeal for the Christian Faith, Aquila and
Priscilla accompanied Paul to Ephesus and helped him in his apostolic work. From Ephesus, Paul
wrote his first Epistle to the Corinthians, in which he says at the end: ‘Aquila and
Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house’ (16:19).
After the death of Claudius, Jews were permitted to return to Italy, and Aquila and Priscilla
went back to Rome. Writing the Epistle to the Romans from Corinth after this, the apostle sends
greetings to his old friends and fellow-workers: ‘Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in
Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks,
but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their
house’ (16:3-5). We later see Aquila again in Ephesus, where he is working with St.
Timothy. In chains in Rome, Paul wrote to Timothy in Ephesus: ‘Greet Priscilla and
Aquila’ (II Tim. 4:19). As a bishop, Aquila baptized many and consecrated them to the
Faith, destroyed idols, built churches, made priests and spread among the people the glory of the
incarnate Son of God. He was finally murdered by wicked pagans, and went to the kingdom of
Christ.
2. Our Holy Father Hellius.
An Egyptian monk of the fourth century, he devoted himself from early youth to monastic asceticism in the desert. He made monks and lay-folk marvel by his life and great miracles, and although he fled from human praise, he could not hide himself. He had fierce struggles with diabolical delusion, most especially during a long fast. The devil set before him sometimes honey and sometimes delicious apples, but he would not be enticed. He had insight into the hearts of men, revealing their passions and thoughts, and this not to make a parade of his inner knowledge but to set them on the right path.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Christians must arm themselves against the immorality of this world. They must be armed against every assault and temptation, so that all that is evil may rebound from them. Armour is not made in a day or two, but is carefully and laboriously forged by a lengthy process. What are all our virtues worth if we succumb at the first temptation? Speaking of this, St. Gregory of Nyssa cites as an example a monkey in Alexandria, saying: ‘In Alexandria, an expert taught a monkey to perform a very nimble parody of a dancer on the stage. Visitors to the theater praised the monkey which, dressed as a dancer, danced to the tempo of the music. But, while the audience was occupied in watching this new spectacle, some comic decided to show everyone that the monkey was nothing but a monkey. While all were applauding the trained animal, the comic threw onto the stage the sort of sweets that a monkey especially loves. As soon as the monkey set eyes on them, it forgot the dance, the applause and its fine clothes and hurried with outstretched paw for the sweets. When its skirts hindered it, it began to tear at them with its nails, frenziedly ridding itself of them. And, in place of the praise and wonder, the audience was convulsed with laughter.’ The monkey was revealed under the torn mask of the ‘dancer’.
July 28th – Civil Calendar
July 15th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Kyrikos and Julitta.
Holy Julitta was of noble
birth. She was widowed young, and left with a newborn child, Kyrikos (Cerycus). She lived in
Iconium, a city of Lykaonia, and was a very devout Christian. She had her son baptized
immediately after his birth, and when he was three years old, instructed him in the Faith and
taught him to pray insofar as a child of that age is capable of learning. When Diocletian
launched a persecution of Christians, much innocent blood was shed in the city of Iconium.
Julitta took her son and hid from the wrath of the pagans in the town of Seleucid, but things
were no better there. Julitta was arrested as a Christian and brought to trial. Seeing Julitta so
courageously proclaim her faith in the Lord Jesus, the judge, to distress her and make her waver,
took the child in his arms and began to kiss it. But Kyrikos shouted: ‘I am a Christian;
let me go to my mother!’ and he began to scratch the judge, turning his face away from him.
The judge was furious, threw the child to the ground and kicked it, and the child rolled down the
stone steps and gave his holy and innocent soul to God. Seeing how Kyrikos suffered before her,
Julitta was filled with joy and gave thanks to God that her son had been counted worthy of the
wreath of martyrdom. After harsh torture, Julitta was beheaded, in the year 304. The relics of
Ss. Kyrikos and Julitta have wonder-working power to this day. A part of the relics of these
saints is to be found in Ochrid, in the Church of the Holy Mother of God, the Healer.
2. St. Vladimir, Great Prince of Russia.
Vladimir was the son of Prince Svyatoslav, and
grandson of Igor and Olga, and was at first completely pagan in faith and life. Learning of the
existence of various faiths, he began to examine them, to decide which was best. He sent envoys
throughout the world to examine all of the major religions, and to report back to him what they
had found. The envoys who examined the Indian, Moslem, Jewish, and Latin faiths were not
impressed; but the envoys who visited the Orthodox in Constantinople, told the prince that they
had been at a service in the Orthodox Church of Hagia Sophia, and that they had been ‘out
of ourselves, not knowing if we were on earth or in heaven’. This inspired Vladimir to be
baptized, receiving the name Vasily (Basil), and to baptize his people. The chief idol, Perun,
was dragged off the hill of Kiev and thrown into the Dnieper. Embracing the Christian Faith,
Vladimir utterly changed his way of life and devoted all his labor to the perfect fulfilling of
the demands of his faith. He decreed that churches be built throughout the land on the places
where the idols had been pulled down, and himself built a beautiful church in Kiev to the most
holy Mother of God. This church was built on the same spot where St. Theodore and his son John
suffered martyrdom for Christ (see July 12th). With the same irresistible force with which
Vladimir earlier upheld idolatry, he now spread Christianity. He entered into rest in the Lord in
1015.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Hospitality exists among other faiths, but Christianity has stressed hospitality as a duty and an obligation. Gratitude for hospitality is no less a duty and an obligation for the Christian. He who learns to be grateful for hospitality will also be grateful to God for His hospitality, for what are we here on earth but God’s guests? What else are the angels in heaven? The following is told of King Philip of Macedon, who harshly punished one of his courtiers for ingratitude: The king sent this courtier overseas to carry out a certain piece of work. The courtier completed it and set off home by ship. A storm destroyed the ship, and the courtier found himself among the waves. Fortunately, this was not far from land, and a fisherman saw the man drowning and brought him to land. When he had recovered and rested, the courtier returned to the king, and told him of his calamity in the storm at sea. The king, desiring to reward him, asked him what he desired. The courtier mentioned the fisherman, and told the king that his greatest desire was that the king should give him the farm of that fisherman by the sea. The king immediately did as he asked. When the courtier had taken possession of the farm of his greatest benefactor, the latter went to the king and related the whole story with great lamentation. He told how he had saved the courtier’s life and how he had driven the fisherman from his home. Hearing this, the king was furious with the ungrateful courtier, and ordered that he be branded on the forehead with the words: ‘An ungrateful guest’.
July 29th – Civil Calendar
July 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Athenogenes, Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia.
He lived in a monastery near the town with ten of his disciples. In the time of Diocletian, a fierce persecutor of Christians called Philomarchus came to Sebaste. He arrested and killed many of the Christians in the town. When he saw Athenogenes and his disciples, he told the elder to sacrifice to idols, that they should not perish as had the other Christians. Athenogenes replied: ‘O torturer, those whom you describe as having perished have not perished, but are in heaven and make merry with the angels!’ There was a touching moment when a deer, which had been hand-fed by the compassionate Athenogenes, ran up to him, and seeing him in such straits, shed tears. Wild animals of the hills had more pity on the martyrs than did the pagans! After harsh torture, during which an angel of God comforted them, they were all beheaded, first the priests and fellow-workers of Athenogenes and then Athenogenes himself, and went to their heavenly home in the year 311.
2. The Holy Martyr Julia the Virgin.
She was born in Carthage of noble parents. When the
Persians overran Carthage, many of the people were taken into slavery. St. Julia was one of
these, and was given to a Syrian merchant, who was a pagan. Seeing that Julia was a Christian, he
urged her many times to deny Christ and become of one faith with him, but Julia steadfastly
refused. As Julia was faithful and reliable in her work, the merchant left her in peace and spoke
no more about faith. One day, the merchant loaded his ship with goods, took Julia with him and
set off across the sea to a distant land to ply his trade. When they arrived at Corsica, there
was a pagan festival in progress, and the merchant took part in the foul idolatry while Julia
remained in the ship, weeping that so many people lived in foolish error, not knowing the truth.
The pagans somehow came to know about her, dragged her off the ship in spite of her owner’s
efforts to prevent them, and began to torture her in terrible ways. They cut off her breasts and
threw her onto the rock, then crucified her, at which Julia gave her soul to God. Her death was
revealed to some monks on the nearby island of Margarita (or Gorgona), and they went and buried
the martyr’s body. Many miracles were worked over St. Julia’s grave through the ages,
and she herself appeared to various people from the other world. She suffered with honor and went
to the kingdom of God in the sixth century.
After many years had passed, the faithful wanted to build a new church in honor of St. Julia in another place, because the old church was small and dilapidated. They prepared the materials: the stone, bricks, sand and everything else that was needed, on the new site. But it happened that, at night, on the night before the day on which the foundations were to be laid, that the materials were carried by invisible hands back to the old church. In great perplexity, the people carried them to the new site again, but again the same thing happened: the materials were taken to the old site and left beside the church. The night watchman saw a maiden bathed in light, using white oxen to carry the materials to the old church. By this, they understood that St. Julia did not wish her church to be built in another place, so they pulled down the old church and built the new one on the same spot.
3. The Fifteen Thousand Holy Martyrs of Persia.
They were beheaded for the Christian Faith in Persia.
4. The Holy Martyr Athenogenes.
The composer of the Vespers hymn ‘O Joyous Light,’ he perished for Christ in the flames and was made worthy of eternal glory in the kingdom of God.
July 30th – Civil Calendar
July 17th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Marina.
Born in Pisidian Antioch of pagan parents, Marina only heard of the Lord Jesus at the age of twelve, of His incarnation of the most pure Virgin, His many miracles, His death by crucifixion and His glorious Resurrection. Her little heart was inflamed with love for the Lord, and she vowed never to marry, and further, desired in her soul to suffer for Christ and be baptized with the blood of martyrdom. Her father hated her for her faith, and would not regard her as his daughter. The imperial governor, Olymbrios, hearing of Marina and learning that she was a Christian, at first desired her for his wife. When Marina refused, he ordered her to sacrifice to idols. To this, Marina replied: ‘I shall not worship nor offer sacrifice to dead idols, lacking the breath of life, which have no awareness of themselves and are not even aware of our honoring or dishonoring them. I will not give them that honor that belongs to my Creator alone.’ Then Olymbrios put her to harsh torture, and threw her into prison all wounded and bleeding. Marina prayed to God in the prison, and after she had prayed, there appeared to her first the devil in the form of a terrible serpent, which twined itself about her head. When she made the sign of the Cross, the serpent split asunder and disappeared. Then she was bathed in heavenly light; the walls and roof of the prison disappeared and a Cross was revealed, resplendent and lofty. On the top of the Cross was perched a white dove, from which there came a voice: ‘Rejoice, Marina, thou dove of Christ, daughter of the Sion that is on high, for the day of thy joy is drawing near!’ and Marina was healed by the power of God of all her wounds. The demented judge tortured her the next day by fire and water, but Marina endured it all as if not in her own body. She was finally sentenced to death by beheading. At the moment of her death, the Lord Jesus appeared to her, accompanied by angels. She was beheaded in the time of the Emperor Diocletian, but remains alive in soul and in power in heaven and on earth. One of her hands is preserved in the monastery of Vatopedi on the Holy Mountain. Even in Albania, in the Langa mountains overlooking Lake Ochrid, there is a monastery of St. Marina with some of her wonder-working relics. Numerous miracles have been wrought in this monastery and still occur today, witnessed not only by Christians but also by Moslems. The Turks have such a veneration for this holy place that they have never laid hands on either the place or the monastery’s possessions. At one time, a Turk was caretaker of the monastery.
2. Our Holy Father Leonid.
This Russian saint lived in asceticism from his youth in several monasteries: in Solovki, Mirozh and others. He finally founded his own monastery on the River Luza in the province of Vologda. He lived in strict asceticism and his soul was filled with the grace of the light and power of the Holy Spirit. A great light, he drew many to the ascetic life. Being pleasing to God, he went peacefully to his reward on July 17th, 1653. His relics are preserved in his monastery.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Until Christ becomes to the soul all that has any lasting and unchanging worth; until then a man cannot come to suffer for Christ. How was St. Marina, a fifteen-year-old girl, able to follow this path? Because Christ was everything to her. How was St. Julitta able to rejoice, seeing her three-year-old son, Kyrikos, killed for the Christian Faith? Again, because Christ was everything. Here is how St. Tikhon of Zadonsk speaks, in detail and in the form of a conversation between Christ and man, of how Christ is everything to man: ‘Do you desire good for yourself? All good is in Me. Do you desire blessings? All blessings are in Me. Do you desire beauty? What is lovelier than I? Do you desire noble birth? What birth is more noble than that of the Son of God and the Virgin? Do you desire rank? Who is of higher rank than the King of heaven? Do you desire glory? Who is more glorious than I? Riches? All riches are in Me. Wisdom? I am the Wisdom of God. Friendship? Who is a greater friend than I—I Who laid down My life for all? Help? Who can help but I? Happiness? Who can be happy without Me? Do you seek consolation in distress? Who will console you but I? Do you seek peace? I am the peace of the soul. Do you seek life? In Me is the fount of life. Do you seek light? I am the light of the world.’
July 31st – Civil Calendar
July 18th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Emilian.
In the time of Julian the Apostate, in the town of Dorostolon (Silistra) in Thrace, there lived the young Emilian, a servant of the governor. When the Emperor Julian began to persecute the Christians with fire and the sword throughout the Roman Empire, the imperial delegate arrived in Dorostolon to kill the Christians. But he did not find a single one there. Delighted by this, he gave a great feast for the citizens of Dorostolon and ordered the offering of sacrifices to the idols, and merrymaking day and night throughout the town. That night, holy Emilian went round the temples, squares and streets of the town, and with a hammer, smashed all the idols. On the following day, the whole town was in an uproar; everyone was searching for the destroyer of their gods. A villager, who was seen passing near the temples that morning, was arrested and Emilian, seeing that an innocent man would suffer, said within himself: ‘If I conceal my action, what sort of use has it been? Shall I not stand before God as the slayer of an innocent man?’ He therefore presented himself before the imperial legate and confessed the whole matter. The legate, in a rage, questioned Emilian, asking him on whose instructions he had done such a thing. Christ’s martyr replied: ‘God and my soul commanded me to destroy those dead pillars that you call gods.’ Then the judge ordered that he be flogged, and after flogging and other tortures, be burned. Thus St. Emilian finished his earthly course and moved to the heavenly life, on July 18th, 362.
2. Our Holy Father Pambo.
An Egyptian ascetic on the Nitrian mountain, he was a contemporary of St. Anthony the Great and himself great in monastic asceticism. He had two characteristics by which he was especially known: by long training, he sealed his lips, so that no unnecessary word passed them, and he never ate any bread other than that which he gained by his own labor, plaiting rushes. He was like an angel of God, and in old age, his face shone as did the face of Moses in ancient times, so that the monks could not look on it. He did not give a quick answer even to a simple question, without prior prayer and pondering in his heart. At one time, Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, was visiting the Nitrian monks. The monks begged Pambo to ‘give a word’ to the patriarch. The silent Pambo replied: ‘If my silence is of no help to him, neither will my words be.’ St. Pambo was once travelling around Egypt with some monks. When they came to a group of people who remained seated as the monks passed them, St. Pambo said to them: ‘Get up and greet the monks, and ask their blessing, for they converse unceasingly with God and their lips are holy.’ This wonderful saint had clear discernment into the destiny of the living and the dead. He entered into rest in the Lord in the year 374.
3. Our Holy Fathers Paisius and Isaias.
Brothers, sons of wealthy parents, they were both monks. One devoted himself to asceticism in the desert and the other to works of mercy among men. St. Pambo saw them both in Paradise. Through this, a dispute among the monks as to which is better: asceticism or works of mercy, was settled. Both the one and the other, when performed in the name of Christ, lead to Paradise.
4. Our Holy Father John the Long-suffering.
An anchorite in the Caves of St. Anthony in Kiev, he was tormented for thirty years by a spirit of carnality, against which he struggled incessantly until he overcame it with the help of God and by touching the relics of St. Moses the Hungarian (see July 26th). Conquering this foul passion, St. John was bathed inwardly with heavenly light, by which he was enabled to see as clearly at night as in the daytime.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Which is the more pleasing to God: asceticism in the desert or works of mercy? Men of prayer in the desert think that a man among men, even if he does good works, can only with difficulty keep his heart pure and his mind fixed on God. Those who do good works among men say that a man who withdraws to the desert is too occupied with his own salvation, and does not devote himself to the salvation of others. Two Egyptians, two brothers born, Paisius and Isaias, inherited great possessions from their parents, sold them all and each took his half of the money. One of them immediately gave his share to the poor, and becoming a monk, he withdrew to the asceticism of the desert so that, by endurance, fasting and prayer and the purifying of his mind from all evil thoughts, he might save his soul. The other brother also became a monk, but did not go into the desert. He built a small monastery near the town, and also a hospital for the sick, a refectory for those in want and a resthouse for the weary. In this way, he gave himself utterly to the service of others.
When both brothers died, a dispute arose among the monks in Egypt as to which fulfilled the law of Christ. Being unable to reach agreement, they went to St. Pambo and asked him about this. St. Pambo replied: ‘They are both perfect before God; the receiver of guests is like hospitable Abraham and the hermit is like Elias the prophet, who were both equally pleasing to God.’ But they were not all satisfied with this answer. Then St. Pambo prayed to God to reveal the truth to him. After several days of prayer, St. Pambo said to the monks: ‘As God is my witness, I say to you, I have seen both brothers, Paisius and Isaias, together in Paradise.’ And thus the dispute was settled and they were all content.
August 1st – Civil Calendar
July 19th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother Makrina.
The eldest sister of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa, she was as a girl betrothed to a young nobleman, and when her betrothed died, Makrina vowed never to enter into marriage, saying: ‘It is not right for a girl, having once been betrothed, to turn to another; according to natural law there must be one marriage, as there are one birth and one death.’ She justified this by her belief in the resurrection of the dead, regarding her betrothed not as dead, but as alive in God. ‘It is a sin and a shame,’ she said, ‘if the spouse does not keep faith when the partner goes to distant climes.’ Then, with her mother Emilia, she became a nun in a monastery of virgins, where she lived in asceticism with the other nuns. They lived by the work of their hands, devoting the greater part of their time to pondering on God, to prayer and to a ceaseless lifting-up of their minds to Him. After a time, her mother died, and then her brother Basil. In the ninth month after Basil’s death, Gregory came to visit his sister and found her on her deathbed. At the time of her death, Makrina made this prayer to God: ‘Thou, O Lord, givest rest to our bodies in the sleep of death for a little time, then Thou wilt waken them again with the last trumpet. Forgive me, and grant that, when my soul is parted from my body, it may be presented before Thee stainless and without sin, and that it may be as incense before Thee.’ She then made the sign of the Cross on her brow, eyes, face and heart, and breathed her last. She entered into rest in the Lord in 379.
2. Our Holy Father Dios.
Born in Syrian Antioch of Christian parents, he was trained in his youth by godly men for the ascetic path of monasticism. He endured a lengthy and hard struggle with the devil and with fleshly lusts, and God rewarded him with great wonder-working gifts. In his prayers, he most frequently turned to the Holy Trinity. He worked great miracles by the power of his prayers, making a dry stick bud forth, a dry well fill with water and an unbelieving man die and return to life. After a twofold heavenly vision, he left Antioch and moved to Constantinople, resuming his ascetic life near the city. His fame quickly spread, to such an extent that the Emperor Theodosios the Younger paid him a visit to ask his advice, and Patriarch Attikos was impressed by him and ordained him priest. Having lived many years, he prepared for death, received Communion, gave his last teaching to the brethren, lay down on his bed, and to the eyes of all, was dead. The news of his death brought many people: Patriarch Attikos came, with Patriarch Alexander of Antioch. But, when they went to bury him, he suddenly got up as if waking from sleep, and said: ‘God has given me fifteen more years of this life.’ St. Dios lived exactly fifteen years longer, and set many on the way of salvation, healed many, gave aid to many in diverse needs and weaknesses, and then finally gave his soul to the Lord Whom he had served faithfully all his life. He entered into rest in 430, in great old age.
3. St. Milica (Militsa), Princess of Serbia.
Wife of the holy Prince Lazar, she ruled the people after her husband’s death at Kosovo until her son Stefan came of age. She then retired to her foundation of Lubostinja, and as the nun Evgenia (later Ephrosynia, on taking the Great Habit), lived in great wisdom and devotion. She died on November 11th, 1405.
4. Commemoration of Stefan the Tall, son of Prince Lazar and Princess Milica.
A protector of Christianity in the Balkans in the most difficult days, he was the founder of the beautiful monasteries of Manasija and Kalenić. After many labors and trials, he died on July 19th, 1427.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A woman’s greatest beauty is modesty, as immodesty in a woman is the most unnatural and repulsive vice in the world. A wonderful example of womanly modesty is given by St. Makrina. In her youth, she received a serious wound in the breast. Although her mother urged her to show this wound to a doctor and seek medicine, Makrina would not do so. She was utterly consecrated to God, and could not even entertain the thought of baring her body before others, even before her own mother. One night, Makrina was praying quietly to God. Tears spilled from her eyes onto the dust in front of her. With firm trust in God, she mixed the dust and tears together and anointed the wound with them, and the next day she was completely healed. When her mother, with great concern, went in to see her daughter, Makrina did not want to tell her that the Lord had healed her (from humility, hiding the wonder that she herself had worked through prayer), but begged her mother, saying: ‘I shall be healed, Mother dear, if you lay your hand on my bosom and make the sign of the Cross over the place where it hurts.’ Her mother stretched out her hand and made the sign of the Cross over the place, but did not find the wound—only the scar of the healed wound. Thus St. Makrina hid her body through modesty and her miracles through humility.
August 2nd – Civil Calendar
July 20th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Elias (Elijah).
A man who saw God, a wonder-worker and a zealot for faith in God,
Elias was of the tribe of Aaron, from the city of Tishba, whence he was known as ‘the
Tishbite’. When Elias was born, his father Sabah saw angels of God around the child,
swaddling it with fire and feeding it with flames. This was a foreshadowing of Elias’ fiery
character and his God-given fiery powers. He spent his whole youth in prayer and meditation,
withdrawing often to the desert to ponder and pray in tranquillity. At that time, the Jewish
Kingdom was divided into two unequal parts: the Kingdom of Judah consisted only of the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin, with its capital at Jerusalem, while the Kingdom of Israel consisted of the
other ten tribes, with its capital at Samaria. The former kingdom was ruled by the descendants of
Solomon, and the latter by the descendants of Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon’s. The prophet
Elias came into the greatest conflict with the Israelite king, Ahab, and his evil wife Jezebel,
for they worshipped idols and turned the people from the service of the one, living God. On top
of this, Jezebel, being a Syrian, persuaded her husband to build a temple to the Syrian god,
Baal, and appointed many priests to the service of this false god. Elias performed many miracles
by the power of God: he closed the heavens, that no rain should fall for three years and six
months; called down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice to his God, while the priests of
Baal were unable to do this; brought rain from the heavens at his prayers; miraculously
multiplied grain and oil in the widow’s house at Sarepta (Zarephath), and restored her dead
son to life; prophesied to Ahab that the dogs would lick up his blood, and to Jezebel that the
dogs would devour her—which came to pass; and performed many other miracles and foretold many
events. He talked with God on Horeb and heard His voice in the gentle breeze. At the time of his
departure, he took Elissaios and appointed him his heir as a prophet; he parted the Jordan with
his mantle and was finally borne to heaven in a fiery chariot drawn by fiery horses. He appeared
together with Moses to our Lord Jesus Christ on Tabor. At the end of the world, Elias will come
again, to break the power of Antichrist (Rev. 11).
Author’s note: In the Greek Lives of the Saints, the following miracle of the holy prophet Elias is recorded: a certain Paisius, abbot of the monastery of St. Elias in Jerusalem, went to Constantinople and from Constantinople to Belgrade at the time that Patriarch Paisius was staying there. At that time, there was an Orthodox Christian living in Belgrade, married to a Latin wife. On St. Elias’ day, the wife planned to make bread, but her husband said to her: ‘You must not work.’ His wife replied that the feast had been two days earlier (according to the Roman Calendar). And so a dispute arose between them. The stubborn woman kneaded the dough, but then a marvel! The dough became stone in her hands! At that, the neighbors gathered round, and each of them took a piece of the stone. Paisius took a piece of it, as a witness to God’s miracle, and took it with him to Jerusalem. He laid this piece of stone in front of the icon of the holy Prophet Elias in his monastery. (This is recorded in Dositheus Book XII, Ch. 11, Para. 2, p. 1192.)
2. St. Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and St. Flavian, Patriarch of Antioch.
Great zealots for the Faith and defenders of Orthodoxy, they both died in exile, driven there by the heretical Emperor Anastasios. They foresaw precisely the death of Emperor Anastasios and their own deaths. They wrote to each other at the same time from widely different places: ‘Anastasios the emperor is dying today; let us go to God’s judgement with him.’ After two days, both these holy hierarchs died, in the year 518.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Writing about the life of his sister Makrina, St. Gregory of Nyssa refrained from enumerating her miracles, saying: ‘...that I may not bring weak men to the sin of unbelief’. He calls those weak who do not believe. And, indeed, there is none weaker than the man without faith. A man without faith believes in the power of dead things, but does not believe in the power of God or of the men of God. That is spiritual obtuseness, and that obtuseness is equivalent to spiritual death. Thus souls that believe are alive and those that do not are dead. Living souls believe in the mighty miracles of the Prophet Elias; these miracles delight and encourage them, for they know that they are revelations of the power of God. If God can reveal His power through dead things and elements, can He not reveal it through living and holy men? That which gives the greatest joy to the believer is that the Prophet Elias appeared alive on Mount Tabor at the time of the Lord’s Transfiguration. During his earthly life, this great prophet gave proofs of the existence of the one, living God, and several hundred years after his bodily translation, his appearing on Tabor gave to men a living proof of life beyond this world.
August 3rd – Civil Calendar
July 21st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Ezekiel.
The son of a priest from the city of Sarir, he was taken into
captivity in Babylon with King Jehoiachin and many other Israelites. Living in captivity, Ezekiel
prophesied for twenty-seven years. He was a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremias. As Jeremias
taught and prophesied in Jerusalem, so Ezekiel taught and prophesied in Babylon. Jeremias’
prophecies were known in Babylon, as were Ezekiel’s in Jerusalem. Both these holy men were
in agreement in their prophecy, and they were both ill-treated and tormented by the faithless
Jewish people. Ezekiel had vivid and indescribable visions. By the River Chebar, he saw the
heavens open, and a cloud like fire and lightning, and four living creatures like molten copper.
One of the living creatures had the face of a man, the second that of a lion, the third that of a
calf and the fourth that of an eagle. The human face signified God incarnate as man, the
lion’s face His divinity, the calf’s His sacrifice and the eagle’s His
Resurrection and Ascension. In another image, he was shown the resurrection of the dead. The
prophet saw a valley filled with the dry bones of the dead, and when the Spirit of God came upon
them, they came to life and stood on their feet. He also saw the terrible destruction of
Jerusalem, when the wrath of God cut down all except those who had earlier been marked with the
mark, that of the Greek tav, our letter ‘T,’ which is also the sign of the
Cross. The malice of the Jews did not spare this holy man. Embittered against him for having
denounced them, the Jews bound him to the tails of horses and he was torn asunder. He was buried
in the self-same place in which Shem the son of Noah was buried.
2. Our Holy Fathers Simeon and John.
These two young men left their homes and
kinsfolk in Syria: Simeon his old mother and John his wife, and were made monks in the community
of St. Gerasimos, at the hands of Abbot Nikon. They went off into the desert, where they spent
many years in the strictest asceticism. They mortified their bodies with this ascesis until they
were like two pieces of dry wood. One day, Simeon said to John that, at God’s command, he
must leave the desert and return to the company of men, there to serve God as a fool-for-Christ.
John gave him this advice: ‘Keep your heart from all that you see in the world. Whatever
there may be that touches your hand, let it not take hold of your heart. When food passes your
lips, let not your heart be sweetened by it. If your feet have to move, let there be peace within
you. Whatever you do outwardly, let your mind remain tranquil. Pray for me, that God may not part
us from each other in the world to come.’ Holy Simeon accepted his friend’s advice,
embraced him and then left the desert and went among men, to teach them through folly and turn
them to the Christian Faith. He made himself appear mad to men, but his heart was a temple of the
Holy Spirit, a temple of unceasing prayer. He had abundant gifts from God, having discernment
into all men’s secrets, both close at hand and afar off, and healed men of evil spirits and
other infirmities. Dancing through the streets like a madman, he drew near to people and
whispered their sins in their ears, calling them to repentance. He appeared to sinners in dreams,
reprimanding them for their sins and calling them also to repentance. Thus St. Simeon appeared in
a dream to a pagan actor, Bali, who publicly mocked the holy things of the Christians. He rebuked
him and threatened him, and Bali repented and became a good Christian. A dissolute youth went out
of his mind with lust. Seeing him, St. Simeon, feigning madness, struck him a blow on the face,
and said: ‘Do not commit adultery!’ At that moment, the unclean spirit left the young
man and he was healed.
3. St. Victor.
He suffered in Marseilles in the third century. After harsh torture, he was thrown into prison, where he converted the guards to the Christian Faith. He died by crucifixion.
FOR CONSIDERATION, From “My Life in Christ”—St. John of Kronstadt.
When you are struck by other people’s suffering, and the contraction of their souls, so that you are induced to pray for them with a pitying and contrite heart, pray to God to have mercy upon them and to forgive them their sins, as you would pray for the forgiveness of your own sins—that is, implore God with tears to pardon them; likewise pray for the salvation of others as you would pray for your own salvation. If you attain to this and make it a habit, you will receive from God an abundance of spiritual gifts, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Who loves the soul that cares for the salvation of others, because He Himself, the most Holy Spirit, wishes to save us all in every possible way, if only we do not oppose Him, and do not harden our hearts. “The Spirit Himself intercedeth for us with unutterable groanings (Rom. 8:26).”
August 4th – Civil Calendar
July 22nd – Church Calendar
1. St. Mary Magdalene.
One of the myrrh-bearing women, and equal to the apostles, she was born
in Magdala by the Lake of Gennesaret, of the tribe of Issachar. She was tormented by seven evil
spirits, of which she was freed and healed by the Lord Jesus. Now she was tormented by these
spirits not because she was a sinful woman, but rather, because she was a very virtuous woman,
and the devil thought that she was going to be the one to bear our Savior. Isn’t it ironic
that she came to be close to our Virgin Mary, the Theotokos? She was a faithful follower and
servant of the Lord during His earthly life, and also stood beneath the Cross on Golgotha and
lamented bitterly with the most holy Mother of God. After the Lord’s death, she visited His
tomb three times; and when He rose again, she saw Him twice, once alone and the other time with
the other myrrh-bearing women. She travelled to Rome, went before Tiberias Caesar and presented
him with a red egg, greeting him with the words: ‘Christ is risen!’ At the same time,
she denounced Pilate to Caesar for his unjust condemnation of the Lord Jesus. Caesar listened to
her, and moved Pilate from Jerusalem to Gaul, where this unjust judge died under imperial
displeasure after a terrible illness. After that, she returned from Rome to Ephesus, to St. John
the Theologian, whom she helped in his task of preaching the Gospel. With great love for the
risen Lord and with great zeal, she proclaimed the holy Gospel as a true apostle of Christ. She
died peacefully in Ephesus and was buried, according to tradition, in the same cave in which the
seven young men (see August 4th) had been in a charmed sleep for a hundred years. They came to
life, and then died. St. Magdalene’s relics were then taken to Constantinople. Near the
Garden of Gethsemane, there is a beautiful Russian church dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene.
2. The Hieromartyr Phokas.
Today we commemorate the translation of his relics from Pontus to Constantinople in about 404. The chief commemoration of this saint is on September 22nd, where an account of his life and sufferings is set down. Today, a particular miracle by this saint is also commemorated. A man, Pontinus, was taken by Arabs, who fettered him, tied his hands behind his back and left him to die. Lying on his face on the ground and being incapable of movement, Pontinus cried out: ‘Holy Martyr Phokas, have mercy on me and save me!’ Thus saying, he fell asleep, and saw Phokas in a dream, coming to him, taking him by the hand and saying: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ forgives thee!’ When the man awoke, he found himself free from all his bonds. He got up and went home, and took St. Phokas as his family patron.
3. Our Holy Father Cornelius of Pereyaslavl.
Made a monk at the age of fifteen by an elder called Paul, he later withdrew to the desert in quest of silence. He spent thirty years in silence, never speaking a word to anyone, so that many thought that he was dumb. He was so emaciated from fasting that he looked like a skeleton. He received the Great Habit just before his death, and entered into rest on July 22nd, 1693.
4. The Holy Martyr Markella.
 This saint is greatly venerated on the island of Chios. In
her church, miracles are performed throughout the years. Markella was a young girl who was
left motherless very young. Her pagan and bestial father desired to live with his daughter
as though she were his wife. Markella fled from her father, but he, infuriated like a wild
beast, found her and cut her to pieces. Near her church there are several rocks which on
her feast day become saturated with blood. The people take these rocks to the church, pray
to St. Markella and then touch the sick with them, and they are healed.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Blessed are they that weep,’ said the Lord. Blessed are they who weep, seeking the kingdom of God. Blessed are they who weep, suffering for the Christian Faith. Blessed are they who weep, repenting of their sins. There is no true repentance without tears. With what shall we be able to wash away our sin, save by tears or by blood (the blood of martyrdom)? The monks of Nitria begged great Makarios to come to them, so that they would not all have to go to him. Makarios went in obedience. The monks sat round him and asked him for a word of instruction. Makarios burst into tears, and through his tears, said: ‘My brethren, may your eyes flow with tears before you go to that place where our tears would scald our bodies.’ Then all the brethren began to weep.
August 5th – Civil Calendar
July 23rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Trophimus and Theophilus and thirteen others with them.
They suffered in Lycia, in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. Because they would in no way deny Christ nor offer sacrifice to idols, they were put to manifold tortures: they were stoned, flayed with iron flails, their knees were broken, and thus tortured and more dead than alive, they were thrown into the flames, in which the power of God kept them unharmed. They were then taken from the fire and beheaded. The Lord glorified them both on earth and in His heavenly kingdom. They suffered with honor in Lycia at the beginning of the fourth century.
2. The Hieromartyr Apollinarius.
He was a disciple of the Apostle Peter and was born in the city of Antioch. St. Peter took him with him from Antioch to Rome, and in Rome, consecrated him Bishop of Ravenna. Arriving in Ravenna, Apollinarius went into the house of a soldier, Irenaeus, whose blind son he healed and by this brought the whole family to the Christian Faith. He also healed the wife of the military governor of Ravenna of a grave infirmity, and baptized his whole household. At the governor’s request, Apollinarius remained in his house as his guest. Here he formed a house-church, and lived in that house for twelve years, preaching the Gospel and baptising unbelievers. He was grievously tormented in various ways by the pagan elders, but the strong right hand of God upheld him and preserved him. He was finally condemned to exile in Illyria in the Balkans. But the boat in which he was sailing capsized in a storm, and from among all the travellers, only St. Apollinarius, together with two soldiers and three of his priests, was saved. Saved so miraculously, the soldiers came to believe in the power of Apollinarius’ God and were baptized. Then Apollinarius began preaching the Gospel throughout the Balkans, travelling as far as the Danube. He then went to Thrace, where he spread the Gospel against great opposition. After three years of working in the Balkans, he was driven back to Italy. He went to Ravenna, where the faithful welcomed him with great joy. Hearing of this, the pagan elders wrote to Emperor Vespasian about Apollinarius, calling him a magician and asking if he should be put to death as an opponent of their gods. The emperor replied that it was not necessary to kill him, but that he should be made to sacrifice to idols or driven from the city, for, he said: ‘It is not seemly to take revenge on someone on behalf of the gods, for they can themselves be revenged on their enemies if they are angered.’ But, in spite of this imperial decree, the pagans assaulted Apollinarius and stabbed him with daggers. This servant of God died of his wounds and went to the kingdom of God. His relics are preserved in Ravenna, in the church dedicated to him.
3. The Pochaev Icon of the Theotokos.
In the summer of 1675 during the time of the Zbarazhsk
War with the Turks, during the reign of the Polish king Jan Sobesski (1674-1696), regiments
composed of Tatars under the command of Khan Nurredin via Vishnevets fell upon the Pochaev
monastery, surrounding it on three sides. The weak monastery walls, just like some of the stone
buildings of the monastery, did not offer much defense against a siege. The hegumen, Iosif
(Dobromirsky), urged the brethren and laypeople to turn themselves to heavenly intercessors: to
the most holy Mother of God and the Monk Job of Pochaev (Oct. 28). The monks and the laypeople
prayed fervently, prostrating themselves before the wonderworking image of the Mother of God and
the reliquary with the relics of the Monk Job. On the morning of July 23, with the rising of the
sun, as the Tatars were holding a final meeting about an assault on the monastery, the hegumen
ordered the singing of an Akathist to the Mother of God. With the first words, “O Queen of
the Heavenly Hosts”, suddenly there appeared over the church the most holy Mother of God
herself, in “an unfurled gleaming-white omophorion”, with heavenly angels holding
unsheathed swords. The Abbot Job was beside the Mother of God, bowing to her and beseeching for
the defense of the monastery. The Tatars took the heavenly army for an apparition, and in
confusion they began to shoot arrows at the Theotokos and the Monk Job, but the arrows fell
backwards and wounded those who shot them. Terror seized the enemy. In a flight of panic and
without looking, they trampled upon and killed each other. The defenders of the monastery pursued
them and took many prisoner. Some of the prisoners afterwards accepted the Christian Faith and
remained at the monastery thereafter.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The greatest teachers of the Church endeavored to teach great truths to men not only by words, but also by visual examples. Thus Abba Isaias, in order to teach the monks that no one would receive a reward from God Who did not toil in this life for Him, led his disciples to a threshing floor, where a laborer was gathering the threshed wheat. ‘Give me some of that wheat!’ Isaias said to the laborer. ‘Have you been reaping as well, father?’ ‘I haven’t,’ replied the elder. ‘Then you’ve got a hope of some wheat, if you’ve not gathered it!’ To this, the elder said: ‘There’s no wheat for him who has not gathered it?’ ‘No,’ replied the laborer. Hearing this reply, the elder went away in silence. When his disciples asked him to explain his actions to them, he said: ‘I did that deliberately, in order to show you that no one will receive the reward from God who has not labored in asceticism.’
August 6th – Civil Calendar
July 24th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Christina.
Born in the city of Tyre, she was the daughter of
the imperial governor, Urban, an idolater. Her father made her live secluded on the top floor of
a high tower. He went to great efforts to ensure that she would never learn of our Savior,
carefully selecting her servants to ensure no word of Christ would ever reach her ears. He gave
her every comfort—slaves and gold and silver idols to which to offer daily sacrifice. But the
soul of the young Christina was weighed down and suffocated in this idolatrous atmosphere.
Looking out of the window by day at the sun, and by night at the wonderful constellations of
shining stars, she came, through her natural understanding, to a firm belief in the one, living
God. God, in His great mercy, seeing her yearning for the truth, sent His angel to her, who
signed her with the sign of the Cross, named her the bride of Christ and instructed her fully in
the things of God. Then Christina smashed all the idols in her rooms, incurring her
father’s terrible wrath. He brought her to trial and had her tortured and thrown into
prison, intending that she be beheaded on the following day. But that night, Urban, in full
health, gave up the spirit and went to the grave before his daughter. After that, two of the
governors, Dion and Julian, continued the interrogation of this holy maiden. Christina’s
courage in suffering and the marvels which were performed by the power of God brought many of the
pagan inhabitants of Tyre to Christianity. During Christina’s torture, Dion suddenly fell
dead among the people. His successor, Julian, cut off Christina’s breasts and cut out her
tongue. The martyr took her tongue in her hand and threw it into Julian’s face, and he was
instantly blinded. Finally, her sufferings for Christ were ended under a sharp sword, but her
life went on in the immortal kingdom of the angels. St. Christina suffered with honor in the
third century.
2. Our Holy Father Polycarp, Abbot of the Kiev Caves.
He was filled with ‘love for God and his neighbor, joy from a pure conscience, peace from the overcoming of all the passions, patience with the fallen and destitute, gentleness and humility to all, charity to the poor, undoubting faith in the fulfilling of the commandments, truth in the fulfilling of his vows, meekness in freedom from anger, long-suffering and so forth...’. He governed the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev so well that no worthy successor could be found after his death (for any who were worthy were prevented by humility from accepting the abbacy), and the brethren were forced to have a secular priest, Basil, as their abbot. St. Polycarp entered into rest in the Lord in 1182.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The Christian Faith enlightens and illumines the Christian soul most especially when the preachers of that faith enlighten and illumine others by their lives. Blessed Polycarp, abbot of the Caves, was a man utterly illumined by the Christian Faith in his words, his acts and the whole of his being. Because of this, his teaching was heeded, not only by the simple but also by princes and nobles. Seeing and hearing this man of God, Prince Rostislav Mstislavitch of Kiev was so illumined by the Christian Faith, and so imbued by it and fruitful in his observance, that he became an example both to his close associates and to the whole people. He received Communion every week in the Great Fast, and sought out the destitute and weak on all sides, that he might succour them. He finally resolved to receive the monastic schema, and on this subject, said to St. Polycarp: ‘Holy father, to rule in this world without sin is impossible, and it has already soured and drained me.’ Polycarp replied: ‘If this (the monastic state) is your heart’s desire, may God’s will be done.’ The prince suddenly fell mortally ill in Smolensk, and asked to be taken quickly to Kiev, to be made a monk before his death, but he died before fulfilling his desire.’
August 7th – Civil Calendar
July 25th – Church Calendar
1. Saint Anna, the Mother of the Most Holy Mother of God.
 Today is the commemoration of
her falling asleep; her main feast is on September 9th, where her life is written. Anna was
of the tribe of Levi, and was the daughter of Matthan the priest. After a long life
pleasing to God, she entered into rest at a great age.
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2. St. Olympias the Deaconess.
Olympias was born in Constantinople of very eminent parents. Her father, Anysios Secundos, was a senator and her mother was the daughter of the famous aristocrat Evlavios, who is mentioned in the life of St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker. When Olympias was fully grown, she was betrothed to a nobleman who died before his marriage to this honored maiden. The emperor and others exhorted her to take another husband, but in vain; she refused them all and devoted herself to a life pleasing to God, giving of her inherited wealth great gifts to the Church and alms to the poor. She served in the Church as a deaconess, first in the time of Patriarch St. Nectarios, and after his death, under St. John Chrysostom. When Chrysostom went into exile, he advised Olympias to remain in the Church as before and serve it, whichever patriarch should succeed him. But, immediately after the exile of this great hierarch, the church of Hagia Sophia caught fire, and the conflagration took hold of many of the public buildings in the capital in a miraculous way showing God’s displeasure. St. Chrysostom’s enemies accused this holy woman of being a malicious fire-raiser. Olympias was exiled from Constantinople to Nikomedia, where she entered into rest in 408, leaving instructions that her body be placed in a coffin and cast into the sea, and that she be buried wherever the waves threw the coffin up. The coffin was cast up at a place called Vrochthoi, where there was a church dedicated to the Apostle Thomas. Great miracles of healing have been performed through the centuries by her relics. The exiled St. Chrysostom wrote beautiful letters to the exiled Olympias, which to this day serve to give support to all who suffer for God’s justice. Among other things, Chrysostom wrote to Olympias: ‘Now I am deeply joyful, not only because you have been delivered from sickness, but even more because you are bearing adversities with such fortitude, calling them trifles—a characteristic of a soul filled with power and abounding in the rich fruits of courage. You are not only enduring misfortune with fortitude, but are making light of it in a seemingly effortless way, rejoicing and triumphing over it—this is a proof of the greatest wisdom’ (Letter 6 of the seventeen that have come down to us).
3. Our Holy Mother Efpraxia the Virgin.
She was the daughter of a Constantinopolitan nobleman, Antigonus, and a kinswoman of the Emperor Theodosios the Great. With her mother, a young widow, she went to Egypt and travelled around the monasteries, giving alms and praying to God. The seven-year-old Efpraxia, in fulfillment of her burning desire, received the monastic schema in a women’s monastery. As she grew older, she took on herself harsher and harsher asceticism, once fasting for forty days. She entered into rest in the year 413, at the age of thirty. She had great grace from God to heal the gravest sicknesses.
4. Commemoration of the Fifth Ecumenical Council.
This council was held in Constantinople in the time of the Emperor Justinian the Great, in 553. All the Monophysite heresies were condemned at this council, and also the heretical writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoretus of Kyros and Origen (his writings against the resurrection of the dead).
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘As virginity is better than marriage, so a first marriage is better than a second.’ Thus writes St. John Chrysostom to the young widow of the deceased Constantinopolitan noble Tarasios, advising her not to contract a second marriage. Efpraxia the elder, mother of St. Efpraxia and kinswoman of the Emperor Theodosios the Great, was left a widow while still a young woman, on the death of her husband Antigonus, with whom she had lived in wedlock for only two years, and one further year, by a common vow, as brother and sister. The emperor and empress urged her to marry another nobleman, but she refused to do this, and took her daughter Efpraxia off to Egypt. And what shall we say of St. Olympias and of St. Efpraxia? Also of St. Makrina, and those who were only betrothed as maidens and then, when their affianced husbands died, regarded themselves as widows and did not entertain the thought of entering upon another marriage. What purity of heart! What faithfulness to the betrothed! What fear of God! What a steadfast faith in the life to come, in which the betrothed hope to meet again!
August 8th – Civil Calendar
July 26th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Hermolaus.
He was a priest in Nikomedia in the time of the Emperor Maximian, and was with the twenty thousand martyrs condemned by the emperor to be burned in their church (see December 28th). Hermolaus somehow escaped death on that occasion, together with two other priests, Hermippus and Hermocrates. Hermolaus baptized St. Panteleimon, with whom he was brought to trial, tortured and finally beheaded. Hermippus and Hermocrates suffered with them, and they were all crowned with wreaths of victory and glory in the kingdom of Christ. They suffered with honor in about 304.
2. Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Paraskeve.
Born in Rome of Christian parents, she was brought
up from her earliest youth in the Christian Faith and gave herself wholeheartedly to the
fulfilling of God’s commandments in her life. She brought others to the Faith by means of
her true and deep faith and devout life. When her parents died, Paraskeve gave all her goods away
to the poor and received the monastic schema. As a nun, she preached the truth of Christ with
ever more burning zeal, not hiding from anyone, even though the Christian Faith was at that time
subject to bloody persecution by the Roman authorities. Wicked Jews denounced Paraskeve for
preaching a forbidden faith, and she was brought to trial before the Emperor Antoninus. All the
emperor’s flattery was unavailing in shaking the faith of this servant of God. She was then
put to torture by fire, and a white-hot helmet was placed on her head, but God saved her
miraculously and she escaped and left Rome. She again began to go from city to city, there to
bring the pagan people to the true Faith. In two more cities she was brought before princes and
judges, and tortured for her Lord, performing on these occasions great miracles by the power of
God and quickly recovering from her wounds. The pagans, as ever, called her miracles magic, and
ascribed her recovery to the power and mercy of their gods. St. Paraskeve once said to a prince
who was torturing her: ‘It is not your gods, O prince, who heal me, but my Christ, the true
God.’ She was finally beheaded by a Prince Tarasios. Thus gloriously ended the fruitful
life of this holy woman. Her relics were later taken to Constantinople. She suffered for Christ
in the second century.
3. Our Holy Father Moses (Moisey) the Hungarian.
He was at the court of the young Prince Boris of Russia. Then, when the godless Svyatopolk murdered Boris, Moses escaped and fled to Kiev. A little later, he was taken to Poland as a slave by King Boleslav, and sold for 1,000 gold pieces to a young and depraved widow, the wife of one of Boleslav’s dead generals. This wicked woman tried to turn Moses to debauchery, but he would not be turned, having vowed to live chastely before the Lord. She then suggested marriage to him, but he refused. Moses secretly received monastic profession from a monk of the Holy Mountain, and appeared before his owner in his monastic schema. She bound him, and ordered that he be flogged and his private parts cut off. He spent five full years in hopeless enslavement to this evil woman, five years of pain and torture. But suddenly King Boleslav perished in a rebellion, in which this woman was also killed. Then Moses was free to go back to Kiev, where, with St. Anthony, he gave himself to prayer and silence. Overcoming all his vices, he helped many to free themselves from theirs; and his holy relics helped many (see the life of St. John the Long-suffering on July 18th). After ten years of silence in the Caves, St. Moses entered into rest on July 26th, 1043, and went to the eternal and virginal kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
No passion is overcome without a great struggle. The holy fathers called the passion of concupiscence a mortal passion. When a dissolute man is saved from this passion, he is like a dead man raised to life. For those who live in the world, this passion is roused mainly through sight, but for those living in the desert it is roused mainly through thought and imagination. St. Sarah, that great ascetic, was tormented by the passion of lust for thirty years in the desert. She always succeeded, through prayer, in overcoming it and driving it from her. Once, this passion appeared to her in bodily form, and said to her: ‘You have overcome me, Sarah!’ Sarah humbly replied: ‘It is not I who have overcome you, but the Lord Christ.’ And, from that time, lustful thoughts left her forever. When St. Poemen was asked how a man could fight against lustful passions, he replied: ‘If a man guards his stomach and his tongue, he will be able to conquer himself.’ St. Anthony says that there are in the body three kinds of impulse: ‘...one natural, one from lack of restraint in food, and one from the demons’. Others have, further, spoken of lust taking its strength from anger and pride. But they were all in agreement that, alongside man’s sobriety and toil, God’s help is essential for a man to uproot the passion entirely. That it is possible for a man to keep himself pure is witnessed, among many others, by St. Moses the Hungarian, who lived fifty years in the world and ten in a monastery, sixty years in all, in utter, virginal purity.
August 9th – Civil Calendar
July 27th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Panteleimon.
Born in Nikomedia of a Christian mother, Evoula,
and a pagan father, Efstorgios, he studied medicine as a young man. The priest Hermolaus
befriended him, instructed him in the Christian Faith and baptized him. Panteleimon miraculously
healed a blind man whom other doctors had treated in vain: he healed him by the name of Christ
and baptized him. From jealousy, the doctors denounced Panteleimon as a Christian, and he went
before the Emperor Maximian for judgement. ‘He stood before the earthly ruler in the body,
but in his mind he stood before the heavenly King.’ He freely declared himself to be a
Christian before the emperor, and in front of his eyes, healed a paralytic of a long infirmity.
This miracle brought many of the pagans to the Christian Faith. The emperor put him to torture,
but the Lord appeared to him on several occasions and delivered him whole and uninjured. Then St.
Hermolaus suffered, along with Hermippus and Hermocrates. Condemned to death, St. Panteleimon
knelt in prayer. At that, the executioner gave him a blow on the neck with his sword, and the
sword broke as if made of wax. The executioner could not kill him until he had finished his
prayer and had himself given the word to behead him. Panteleimon was beheaded under an olive
tree, which after that became laden with fruit. ‘Panteleimon’ means
‘all-merciful’. God the all-merciful received his righteous soul, and glorified him
among His greatest saints, his relics remaining incorrupt. This wonderful martyr suffered with
honor as a youth for Christ on July 27th, 304. St. Panteleimon is invoked in the prayers at the
blessing of water and the blessing of oil, together with St. Hermolaus and the other
unmercenaries and wonder-workers. The loveliest church and monastery dedicated to him are to be
found on the Holy Mountain.
2. St. Clement, Archbishop of Ochrid.
He was a disciple of Saints Methodius and Kyril. After St. Methodius’ death, Clement, under pressure from the Germans, left Moravia for the south. With Gorazd, Naum, Sava and Angelarius—together called the Five Companions—he crossed the Danube, stayed with King Boris Michael and then went to the Ochrid region. He first founded a monastery at Belica, which he made his first episcopal seat, and later moved to Ochrid, from which center he covered a large area with his episcopal and teaching labors. In Ochrid, St. Clement built a church to St. Panteleimon. He had many followers, who copied books in Slavonic script for the use of the Slav people, being especially helped in this work by St. Naum. He performed miracles both during his lifetime and through his relics, which have healing power down to the present day. They lie in the church formerly dedicated to the Mother of God, which was later re-dedicated to St. Clement. After great labors and faithful service of God, he entered peacefully into rest in 916.
3. Blessed Nicholas.
A fool for Christ of Novgorod, he was the son of wealthy parents. He left his riches, and ran as a fool through the streets, teaching the people through his madness. His companion in the same ascesis was Blessed Theodore. Running at one time in the sight of the people, they both crossed a river on the surface of the water. Blessed Nicholas entered into rest in the Lord in 1392.
4. Our Holy Mother Anthusa.
After long asceticism in solitude, she founded a monastery of ninety nuns. During the iconoclast persecution under Constantine Kopronymos, all ninety nuns were murdered, and after that, St. Anthusa herself died, in 759.
5. The Hundred and Fifty Three Martyrs.
They were drowned in the sea in Thrace.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If you give alms to the poor, know that, insofar as you do good to your neighbor, you do it, and more, to yourself. St. Anthony says: ‘Life and death come to us through our neighbor,’ and St. Peter of Damascus writes: ‘As the poor are bounden to thank God and love the rich, who do good to them, so still more must the rich thank God and love the poor, because they are saved, in the providence of God, both now and in the world to come, by their alms. For, without the poor, not only do they not receive the salvation of their souls, but are unable to flee the temptations of their riches.’ Alms that are given from vanity, or with scorn, are worthless. In former days, the rich took gold to the hermits and begged them to accept it. It rarely happened that the hermits received alms gladly, and when they received it, they did so out of compassion for the rich. The poorest of men received alms out of compassion!
August 10th – Civil Calendar
July 28th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostles Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon and Parmenas.
All four were of the number of the seven deacons and the
seventy apostles. The other three deacons were Stephen, Philip and Nicholas. Stephen, the first
martyr, is commemorated on December 27th, and Philip on October 11th. Nicholas was not included
in the ranks of the saints because of heresy. These first four have no separate commemoration,
and are commemorated together on this day. Prochorus was consecrated by the Apostle Peter as
Bishop of Nikomedia. He served for a time with St. John the Evangelist, and on the island of
Patmos, wrote down the Revelation that he heard from St. John’s lips. After that, he
returned to Nikomedia, where he made great efforts to bring the people to the Faith. He died a
martyr in Antioch, where he was murdered by unbelievers. Holy Nicanor suffered in Jerusalem on
the same day as St. Stephen the Archdeacon, quickly followed by two hundred others, killed by the
wicked Jews. Timon was bishop in Arabia, and was crucified for Christ. Parmenas died before the
eyes of the apostles, and was mourned and buried by them.
2. The Holy Martyr Julian.
In the time of the Emperor Antoninus (138-161), St. Julian went from Dalmatia to Campania in Italy. He was a handsome young man, utterly consecrated to God in his soul. On the way, he met a group of imperial soldiers, who were on their way to round up Christians. ‘Peace be to you, my brethren!’ said Julian to them. By such a greeting and by the meekness of the young man’s face, the soldiers deduced that he was a Christian. To their query, Julian replied: ‘I am a Christian, born in Dalmatia.’ He openly admitted to them that he was travelling with the aim of turning idol-worshippers to the one, living God. The soldiers beat him mercilessly and then cast him into a pit, where he spent seven days with no earthly food. An angel of God appeared to him, nourishing him with heavenly food. Brought to trial, Julian remained firm as diamond in the Faith. Seeing his courage and steadfastness in the Faith, thirty men turned to Christ the Lord. Condemned to death, St. Julian knelt and raised his prayer to God, thanking Him for the gift of martyrdom and praying Him to have mercy on all who would keep his memory. He was beheaded with an axe, and gave his soul to God.
3. Our Holy Father Paul of Xeropotamou.
The son of the Emperor Michael Kyropalates, he was endowed with profound learning and a rare wisdom, conjoined with meekness. Prokopios, as he was called at first, was, in his early years, a marvel to the whole of Constantinople. The Emperor Romanos the Elder called him ‘the greatest of the philosophers’. But, fearful lest his soul be made proud and fall through the praise of men, this glorious youth clad himself in the garb of a poor man and went off to the Holy Mountain, where he received the monastic schema from the famous hierarch Kosmas. After a long period of solitary asceticism, he re-founded the monastery of Xeropotamou, and shortly after that, built the new monastery of St. Paul, where he died in old age. When this monastery was consecrated, Emperor Romanos sent as a gift a large piece of the Precious Cross, which is kept there to this day. It is said of this saint that he preached the Gospel in Macedonia and Serbia. He endured much torment from the wicked Emperor Leo the Armenian, the iconoclast, and entered into rest in 820. At the time of his death, St. Paul said to the brethren: ‘Lo, the hour has come that my soul has always desired, and which my body has always dreaded.’
4. The Holy Martyr Efstathios (Eustathius).
This martyr of Christ was a soldier in Ankyra. Taken for trial, he feared no torture but freely glorified the name of the Lord Christ. The commander, Cornelius, ordered that his feet be drilled through and threaded with rope. After doing this, they dragged the man of God to a river and threw him in. Saved by the power of God and healed of his wounds, he showed himself alive and well to the commander. When the commander saw him alive, he was so filled with fear that he drew his sword and killed himself. Efstathios lived some time longer, and entered into rest in the Lord in 316.
FOR CONSIDERATION
On goodness, St. Nilus of Sinai writes: ‘Strive, my son, always to be simple and good. Do not have one thing in your heart and another on your tongue, for that is guile and falsehood. Be truthful and not deceitful, for a lie is of the guileful one. Do not return evil for evil, but if someone does evil to you, forgive him, that God may forgive you. If you are tormented by the thought of evil done to you, pray to God with your whole heart for that brother (the evil-doer), and you will drive the memory of the evil from you.’
It is told how a young man set himself to serve a very peevish elder, simply that God would forgive him his sins. He persevered in this martyring service for twelve years, and went to God. A great spiritual elder saw the young man’s soul in Paradise, where he was praying for the wicked elder: ‘Lord, as Thou hadst mercy on me for his sake, have mercy on him also, after Thy great goodness, for the sake of me Thy servant!’ After forty days, the peevish old man breathed his last, and again the elder saw the soul of this old man in peace in the heavenly kingdom. How beautiful and truly wonderful was the goodness and patience of this young man!
August 11th – Civil Calendar
July 29th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Kallinikos.
Born in Cilicia and brought up in Christian piety, he left all and began to preach the Gospel. He was arrested in Ankyra by the pagan governor, Sacerdos. When the governor, in fury, threatened him with torture if he would not worship idols, St. Kallinikos replied: ‘Every torture for my God is as welcome to me as bread is to a hungry man.’ After harsh torture and beating, the governor shod him with iron shoes, with the nails sticking inwards, and ordered that he be driven out to the town of Gangra, for he did not dare to have him further tortured or killed in Ankyra, as many men, beholding the heroic endurance of the man of God, were turning to the Christian Faith. On the way, the soldiers became thirsty and there was no water. St. Kallinikos prayed to God and brought forth water from a rock. When they arrived in Gangra, the torturers threw Kallinikos into a fiery furnace. The saint prayed to God, saying: ‘I thank Thee, O heavenly Father, that Thou makest me worthy in this hour to die for Thy holy name!’ He then went into the fire. When the fire was extinguished, his dead body was found whole and untouched by the flames. He suffered with honor, and was crowned with a wreath of eternal glory, in about 250.
2. The Holy Martyr Seraphima.
A maiden from Antioch, she lived in the house of one Sabina, wife of a senator, whom she brought to the Christian Faith. Hearing of her, Virilos, a torturer of Christians, ordered that she be brought before him. As Seraphima remained steadfast in her faith, the torturer ordered that she be cast into prison, and he sent some young men to spend the night with her and defile her. Seraphima was praying to God in the prison when the young men arrived at the door. There, suddenly, an angel of God appeared in light before them with a sword in his hand, and they fell as dead, utterly without consciousness and incapable of movement. The following day, a torturer begged Seraphima to restore the young men to consciousness by her prayers. Dismissing all this as magic, Virilos ordered that this holy maiden be burned with torches and then beaten with rods. When they were beating her, a piece of rod broke off and flew through the air, striking Virilos in the eye and blinding him. Finally, this handmaid of Christ was beheaded and gave her soul to God. The devout Sabina buried her body, from which a healing myrrh began to flow. St. Seraphima suffered during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138).
3. The Holy Martyr Theodotia.
A young widow with three children, Theodotia labored in the service of God in Thessalonica, together with St. Anastasia (see December 22nd). In the time of Diocletian’s persecution, she was condemned to death and thrown into a fiery furnace together with her three children. Their holy souls soared up to their heavenly abode.
4. The Holy Martyr Eustathius (Evstati) of Mtskheta.
A Persian, born in the village of Arbuket, he went to the town of Mtskheta at the age of thirty, and seeing the life and faith of the Christians, received Baptism. He was tortured for Christ and beheaded in Tiflis in 589. His relics are preserved in the cathedral at Mtskheta, and give healing to the faithful.
FOR CONSIDERATION, From “My Life in Christ”—St. John of Kronstadt.
Our God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.” He is not a God of torments and punishments. Our torments are the fruit of our sins and the work of the incorporeal fallen spirits. Therefore if you suffer grievously, only blame your sins and the devil, but chiefly yourself, because the devil would not do you any harm if he did not find anything in you that he could fasten on to.
August 12th – Civil Calendar
July 30th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostles Silas, Silvanus, Crescens, Epaenetus and Andronicus.
These are all among the
Seventy. St. Silas was sent from Jerusalem to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, to settle a quarrel
among the faithful concerning circumcision: namely, whether or not it was necessary to circumcise
pagans who had embraced Christianity (Acts 15:22). After that, Silas travelled with Paul around
Asia and Macedonia, and was installed as Bishop of Corinth, where he died peacefully. Silvanus
helped the two greatest apostles (I Pet. 5:12; II Cor. 1:19). As bishop in Thessalonica, he
labored much and suffered much, until he exchanged the earthly life for the heavenly. Crescens
was a fellow-worker with the Apostle Paul (II Tim. 4:10), and then bishop in Galatia and a
missionary in Gaul, where he died a martyr for Christ under Trajan. St. Epaenetus is mentioned by
the Apostle Paul (Rom. 16:5), and became Bishop of Carthage. Andronicus (Rom. 16:7), Bishop of
Pannonia, is also commemorated separately on May 17th.
2. The Hieromartyr Valentine.
He was bishop in the Italian town of Interamna. He healed the brother of the Roman tribune Frontanus of an illness. When Cherimon, the son of the eminent philosopher Craton, fell ill, Craton, at Frontanus’ advice, asked Bishop Valentine to come to Rome. Cherimon was all cramped-up, so that his head was caught between his knees. Valentine shut himself in the room with the sick boy and spent the whole night in prayer. The following day, he brought Cherimon out in full health, and gave him to his father. Then Craton was baptized, with his whole household and those of his pupils. Cherimon left his father’s house and went with Valentine. Then Abundius, son of the Roman eparch, was baptized. Infuriated by this, the eparch took Valentine, and after torturing him, had him beheaded. Three pupils of Craton: Proclus, Abibus and Apollonius, were beheaded at the same time. Abundius took their bodies and buried them. They all suffered in 273, and became citizens of the heavenly kingdom.
3. The Hieromartyr Polychronius, Bishop of Babylon.
When the Emperor Decius conquered Babylon, he arrested Polychronius, together with three priests, two deacons and two baptized princes, Eudin and Senis. Polychronius would make no reply before the emperor, but kept silent, while St. Parmenius, one of the priests, spoke for them all. The emperor took the bishop and priests to Persia, to the city of Kordoba, and had them beheaded with an axe, but he took the princes with him to Rome, threw them first to the wild beasts and then had them slain with the sword. They all suffered with honor in 251.
4. St. John the Soldier.
He was a secret Christian. Sent by Julian the Apostate to slaughter Christians, he did not kill them but helped them to hide. Julian had him thrown into prison in Constantinople. When the wicked emperor perished, John gave himself to the ascetic life, living with purity and holiness. He entered peacefully into rest in old age. After his death, he appeared to various people who needed his help. His prayers are of aid in the tracking-down of thieves.
5. Our Holy Mother Angelina.
Wife of a Serbian despot, her relics lie in the monastery of Krušedol.
FOR CONSIDERATION
It is necessary to distinguish between the sinner and the penitent. If you have taken on yourself the role of denouncing a sinner, take good care that you do not denounce a penitent. How dear a repentant sinner is to God is seen in the story of the Prodigal Son. So you also must hold dear him who has become dear to God.
It happened at one time that a monk fell into sin, because of which he was driven out of his monastery. This monk went to St. Anthony, confessed his sin, repented and stayed some time with him. Then St. Anthony sent him back to his monastery, but they would not receive him there and drove him out again. The penitent went again to St. Anthony. St. Anthony sent him back again to the monastery with the following message to the fathers: ‘A ship suffered shipwreck and lost its cargo. Only with great difficulty did it get to the harbor and you want to drown that which has been saved from drowning!’ Hearing this wise message, the fathers received their repentant brother into the monastery with joy.
August 13th – Civil Calendar
July 31st – Church Calendar
1. St. Evdokimos (Eudocimus).
He was born in Cappadocia of devout parents, Basil and Evdokia. In the time of the Emperor Theophilus (829-842), Evdokimos was a young army officer. Even as a soldier, he endeavored with his whole heart to live according to the precepts of the Gospel. He kept his purity unstained and avoided converse with any woman except his mother. He was liberal to the poor, assiduous in the reading of holy books and yet more assiduous in prayer to God. He fled vain chatter and idle talk. ‘Among all the chaos and vanity of the world, he was like a lily among thistles, and like gold in the furnace.’ For his rare virtues, the emperor made him military governor of Cappadocia. In this high state, Evdokimos strove to be righteous before God and man. By God’s providence, he died early, at the age of thirty-three, and his relics were found to have healing power. An insane man touched his tomb and was healed, and a paralytic child stood upright and was made whole. After eighteen months, his mother opened his coffin, and found his body as though still alive, with no mark of corruption—and a wonderful fragrance arose from the saint’s body. His relics were later translated to Constantinople and buried in the new church of the holy Mother of God, built by Evdokimos’ parents.
2. The Holy Martyr Julitta.
From Caesarea in Cappadocia, she was involved in a quarrel with her neighbor over some land. The neighbor went to the judge and denounced her as a Christian, which put her at that time outside the protection of the law. St. Julitta was more willing to give up her land than her faith. But the wicked pagans were not willing even then to leave her in peace, but tortured her and finally burned her, in the year 303. Thus this handmaid of Christ sacrificed both her lands and her body for the sake of the eternal salvation of her soul.
3. St. Joseph of Arimathea.
 Noble Joseph, a rich man, a member of the Jewish sanhedrin and a secret
follower of Christ (Matt. 27:57; Jn 19:38), took Christ’s body down from the Cross
together with Nicodemus, and laid it in his own new tomb. For this, he was fettered by the
Jews and cast into prison. The risen Lord appeared to him and brought him to belief in His
Resurrection. The Jews then released him from prison and drove him from his fatherland. He
travelled around the world, preaching the Gospel of Christ, and took this Good News to
England, where he entered into rest in the Lord.
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4. St. John (Ioan) the Exarch.
A well-known Bulgarian priest and theologian in the time of the Emperor Simeon (893-927), he translated St. Basil’s ‘On the Six Days of Creation’ and St. John of Damascus’ ‘Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith’ into Slavonic. He entered peacefully into rest in the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Ascetics in the desert labor to break their own wills and live according to the will of God. Some may think, mistakenly, that a hermit lives completely alone. No hermit thinks that. He lives in the company of God and of His angels, and of the departed saints. Where a man’s mind is, there is his life. A hermit’s mind is set on the greatest, most pure and most numerous company in which a man can be. Once, Abba Mark reproached St. Arsenius the hermit thus: ‘For what cause do you flee our society and discourse?’ Arsenius replied: ‘God knows that I love you, but it is not possible to be with God and with men. In heaven, thousand upon thousand have but one will, but the wills of men are many and varied. That is why I cannot leave God and be with men.’
August 14th – Civil Calendar
August 1st – Church Calendar
1. The Seven Maccabees, their Mother Solomonia and Eleazar the Priest.
They all suffered for the purity of the Israelite faith under King Antiochus, called by some ‘Epiphanes’— God manifest—and by others, ‘Epimanes’—mad. For the great sins of Jerusalem, and especially for the wresting-away of the high-priestly power and the wickedness that ensued, the Lord let loose great calamity on the holy city. Antiochus desired after that to bring the Jews to idolatry in place of their faith in the one, living God, and did all he could to this end. He was helped in his intention by several disaffected high priests and elders of Jerusalem. The king once came himself to Jerusalem and commanded that all Jews eat pork, which was against the law of Moses and was therefore a recognizable sign of apostasy from the Jewish faith. The elder Eleazar, a priest and one of the seventy translators of the Old Testament into Greek, refused to eat pork. He was therefore tortured and burned. Returning to Antioch, the king took the seven young men, the Maccabees, and their mother Solomonia (II Macc. 6:18-7:41). The seven Maccabean brothers were called: Avim, Antonius, Eleazar, Gurius, Evsebon, Achim and Marcellus. Before their mother’s eyes, the wicked king tortured her sons one after the other, flaying the skin from their faces and then throwing them into the flames. They all endured torture and death with courage, remaining steadfast in their faith. Finally their mother, when she saw her three-year-old son in the fire, threw herself into the flames and perished, giving her soul into God’s hands. They all suffered with honor for their faith in the one, living God in about 167 B.C.
2. The Procession of the Precious Cross.
This feast was established jointly by the Greeks and
Russians in the time of the Greek Emperor Manuel and the Russian Prince Andrei, as a memorial of
the simultaneous victories of the Russians over the Bulgars and the Greeks over the Saracens. In
both battles, the soldiers carried crosses, from which a heavenly radiance shone forth, with the
army. It was therefore instituted that, on August 1st, the Cross be carried from the Church of
Hagia Sophia, first around the interior of the church and then through the streets, to give the
people the chance to venerate it, as a memorial of the miraculous help given by the Cross in
earlier wars. This was not just any cross, but the true Precious Cross itself, which was kept in
the church of the imperial court. On July 31st, the Precious Cross was taken from the imperial
court to Hagia Sophia, and thence carried through the streets, to consecrate the earth and the
air. Finally, on August 14th, it was taken back to the church in the imperial palace.
3. The Nine Holy Martyrs: Leontius, Attus, Alexander, Cindeus, Mnesitheus, Cyriacus, Menaeus, Catunus and Eucieus.
The first was a carpenter and the others workers of the land. For their bold confession of the Christian Faith and for their destruction of the temple of Artemis, they were harshly tortured and beheaded in Perga of Pamphylia in the time of Diocletian, in about 300, and became inheritors of the kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A weak man habitually defends himself by hypocrisy and a strong man by tyranny, but no man can protect his life before God either by hypocrisy or tyranny. This is clearly shown to us by the example of the holy elder Eleazar and King Antiochus. When the tyrannical king brought Eleazar out for trial and urged him to eat pork, desiring to preserve his life, Eleazar firmly refused. Then some of Eleazar’s friends handed him a piece of some other meat, not pork, begging him to eat that in front of the king and thus save his life and salve his conscience. The elder rejected this suggestion, saying to his friends: ‘It would not be fitting for me, an old man, to be a stumbling-block to the young by hypocrisy,’ and the elder perished in the flesh, but saved his soul. God’s punishment came upon the tyrannical king even in this life. A terrible internal illness fell on him; his body was infested with worms and the stench spread far. In his despair, he called to mind the shedding of the innocent blood of the thousands of human beings who had, on his orders, been inexcusably slaughtered. Fear of God came upon him, and he began to confess the one God, Whom he had formerly persecuted in persecuting His faithful ones. But there was no sign from heaven towards him.
August 15th – Civil Calendar
August 2nd – Church Calendar
1. The Finding and Translation of the Relics of St. Stephen, the Archdeacon and Protomartyr.
When the wicked Jews stoned St. Stephen to
death, they left his body for the dogs to eat. But God’s providence disposed otherwise. The
martyr’s body lay in an open place outside the town a night and two days; then, on the
second night, Gamaliel, Paul’s teacher and a secret follower of Christ, came and took his
body to Caphargamala, and there buried it in a cave on his own land. Gamaliel buried his friend
Nicodemus, who died lamenting over Stephen’s grave, in the same cave. He also buried his
godson Abibus there, and in accordance with his wishes, was buried there himself. Centuries
passed, and no one living knew the whereabouts of Stephen’s grave. But in 415, in the time
of Patriarch John of Jerusalem, Gamaliel appeared three times in a dream to a priest, Lucian, in
Caphargamala, and told him in minute detail about the burial of all the above mentioned,
indicating precisely the forgotten place of their burial. Moved by this dream, Lucian informed
the patriarch, and with his blessing, went with a group of men and dug up the four graves,
Gamaliel having already told him in the dream which grave was which. A strong and fragrant aroma
from the relics of these saints filled the cave. St. Stephen’s relics were solemnly
translated to Sion and there buried with ceremony, and the relics of the others were taken to a
hill above the cave and laid to rest in a church there. Many healings of the sick were performed
in those days over the relics of St. Stephen. Later, they were taken to Constantinople. Thus the
Lord crowned with great glory him who first shed his blood for His name.
2. The Hieromartyr Stephen, Pope of Rome and others with him.
He was pope in Rome from 254 to 257, and fought against the heretic Novatius. Healing Lucilla, the daughter of the tribune Nemesius, he baptized them both. He suffered in the time of Valerian with twelve of his priests, being beheaded during a celebration of the Liturgy.
3. Blessed Basil, the Fool for Christ of Moscow.
His father was called Jacob and his mother Anna. At the age of sixteen, he gave himself to the ascesis of folly for Christ, and persevered in that hard asceticism for seventy-two years, living to the age of eighty-eight. He went barefoot, bareheaded and in tatters, and had no settled shelter. He set sinners on the right way, reprimanded the nobles and had true insight into distant events. Suffering greatly from hunger, from cold and from the insults of men, Blessed Basil gave his holy soul to God. Tsar Ivan IV the Great was at his funeral, with the metropolitan. He was buried in the Moscow church of the most holy Mother of God, later renamed for him.
FOR CONSIDERATION
We must be patient and merciful towards sinners if we want our long-suffering God to be merciful to us. The great compassion of Blessed Alexander, Patriarch of Antioch, became proverbial. One of his scribes stole some gold from him and fled to the Thebaid. In the desert, some robbers seized him and took him off with them. Coming to know of this, Alexander sent 85 gold pieces to the robbers as a ransom. It was therefore said: ‘The mercy of Alexander cannot be overcome by any sin.’ St. John the Merciful writes: ‘Long-suffering is of God, being changeless, and His mercy is kind.... How many criminals who set out to do murder or to steal does He conceal, to avoid their being seized and put to torture? Pirates roam the seas, and He does not command the seas to drown them. How many falsely swear by the holy Mysteries, and He is patient, not repaying the evil here. Brigands rob on the highway, and He does not give them to the wild beasts to devour.... Immoral men go off with harlots, and He is patient. Why all this? He waits for repentance and conversion. Truly, God does not will that a sinner perish.... Therefore, my brethren, let us be ashamed before our most gracious Lord God.’
August 16th – Civil Calendar
August 3rd – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Fathers Isaac, Dalmatos and Faustos.
Isaac is commemorated separately on May 30th. St. Dalmatos was first an officer under the Emperor Theodosios the Great, who held him in great honor, but when his spirit awakened within him, he scorned all that is of this world, abandoning his rank, and took his only son Faustos off to the outskirts of Constantinople, to St. Isaac’s community, where they were both tonsured as monks. Dalmatos consecrated himself utterly to please God in his life, which was a joy to the elder, Isaac (Isaakios). When Isaac came to the hour of death, he installed Dalmatos as abbot in his place, and the community later came to be called after Dalmatos. He sometimes fasted for forty days at a time, conquering by his fasting the invisible power of the demons. He took part in the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, and battled against the Nestorian heresy. Being pleasing to God, he entered peacefully into rest in the 5th century. His son Faustos supported his father in everything, and after a godly life, died peacefully in that community.
2. Our Holy Father Kosmas the Eunuch.
A monk of the monastery of Pharan, he was very learned in the holy Scriptures. He so valued the works of St. Athanasius the Great that he said to his disciples: ‘When you hear something quoted from the writings of St. Athanasius, if you have no paper by you, write them on your handkerchief.’ In old age, he came to Antioch, to Patriarch Gregory (†596), and there ended his days. One particular man often came to Kosmas’ grave, and honoring the saint, prayed there. Asked why he did this, he explained that he had been paralysed for twelve years, and that St. Kosmas had healed him.
3. Our Holy Father Anthony the Roman.
He was born in Rome in 1086 of devout and affluent parents. At that time, the Roman Church broke away from the Eastern Church, and all who remained faithful to the Eastern Church were persecuted by the Roman clergy. Anthony was among those persecuted. He gave away all his goods and became a monk. Standing on a rock in the sea, he lived in asceticism for fourteen months. The rock meanwhile parted from its base, and by a strange providence, floated through the water to Novgorod. In Novgorod, Archbishop Nikita received him with kindness and helped him to build a church to the holy Mother of God, later to become a monastery. Anthony lived long as abbot of this monastery, and revealing great power by the grace of God through many miracles, died peacefully in 1148 and went to the courts of the Lord.
4. St. Salome the Myrrh-bearer.
The mother of the holy Apostles Iakovos and John, the wife of Zebedee and daughter of Joseph, the betrothed of the most holy Mother of God, she served the Lord during His earthly life, and was made worthy to be among the first bearers of the tidings of His Resurrection.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Holy souls were wont to read the holy Scriptures with great diligence, considering every word with care and placing themselves before the mirror of the word of God as before the Dreadful Judgement. Their diligence in this was so great that some undertook long journeys to come to some man of spiritual wisdom who would interpret for them some word or sentence in holy Scripture. Wherever it was possible, this took place through correspondence. Hence there remain various collections of letters of the saints, such as those of Ss. Basil, Gregory, Chrysostom, Isidore of Pelusium, Nilus of Sinai and many others. St. Kosmas was pondering one day on the words of the Lord Christ, when, in Gethsemane, He asked His disciples if they had a sword. When His disciples said to Him: ‘Here are two swords,’ He said to them: ‘It is enough’ (Luke 22:38). Being unable to explain these words himself, Kosmas decided to go through the desert to the distant monastery of Pirga, to the famous Abba Theophilus, to ask him. It was only with great difficulty that he reached his goal. Theophilus explained to him: ‘The two swords denote the twofold state of a godly life: labor, and a mind steeped in thoughts of God and in prayer. He who has these two is perfect.’
August 17th – Civil Calendar
August 4th – Church Calendar
1. The Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus.
There was a great persecution of
Christians under the Emperor Decius. The emperor himself went to Ephesus, and there prepared a
riotous festival in honor of dead idols and also a vicious slaughter of Christians. Seven youths,
all of them soldiers, held themselves apart from the foul offering of sacrifice, and
wholeheartedly begged the one God to save the Christian people. They were the sons of the most
eminent nobles in Ephesus, and their names were: Maximilian, Iamblichus, Martinian, John,
Dionysius, Exacustodian, and Antoninus. When they were accused before the emperor, they hid on a
hill called Ochlon outside Ephesus, concealing themselves in a cave. When the emperor discovered
this, he commanded that the cave be walled-in. God then, in His far-seeing providence, let a
miraculous and long-lasting sleep fall on the young men. The imperial courtiers Theodore and
Rufinus, secret Christians, caused a copper catafalque with leaden plaques to be made, on which
were written the names of these young men and their death by martyrdom under the Emperor Decius.
One hundred ninety-four years then passed. In the time of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger
(408-450), there arose a great dispute about the resurrection of the dead, for there were some
who doubted the resurrection. Emperor Theodosios was greatly grieved at this dispute among the
faithful, and prayed God that He would in some way reveal the truth to the people. At that time
of altercation in the Church, some shepherds of a certain Adolios, who owned Ochlon, began
building pens for their sheep and took stone after stone from this cave. Then the youths awoke
from their sleep, young and in full health as they had fallen asleep. This marvel was noised
abroad on all sides, and Theodosios himself came with a great retinue and spoke apart with the
young men. After a week, they prayed to God to take them from the clamor of the world, and again
entered into sleep, the sleep of death, to await the general resurrection. The emperor wanted to
place their bodies in golden coffins, but they appeared to him in a dream and told him to leave
them in the earth, as they had been.
2. The New-Hieromartyr Kosmas, Equal to the Apostles.
 Born in Aitolia, in the village of
Megadendron (Great Tree), he went off to the Holy Mountain as a young man and there, in the
monastery of Philotheou, was tonsured as a monk. But, urged by a constant desire to preach
the Gospel to the people, he went to Constantinople, where he asked the blessing of
Patriarch Seraphim II for this. He visited all the Danube area, preaching the Gospel,
working especially in Albania, where he suffered at the hands of a certain Kurt Pasha, who
was stirred up by the Jews against Kosmas. Kosmas was strangled by the Turks and then cast
into a river, in 1779. His wonder-working relics are preserved in the village of
Kalikontasi, in the church of the holy Mother of God, not far from the town of Berati. He
suffered for his Lord at the age of sixty-five.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Keep on asking, and it shall be given you,’ says the Lord (Matt. 7:7). As parents give to their children all that they ask for that is good for them, so our God, in His love for mankind, gives to men all that they ask of Him that is of aid to their salvation. St. Kosmas, as a monk of the Holy Mountain, begged two things of God: to preach the Gospel to the people and to suffer a martyr for the Faith. For a monk of the Holy Mountain, linked by obedience to his monastery, these two desires might have seemed unlikely of fulfillment. But God is almighty. God perfectly fulfilled both of Kosmas’ desires. His joy when he received the patriarch’s blessing to leave the Holy Mountain and go among the people to preach the Gospel was indescribable, and he had another similar moment of joy when the servants of the Turkish pasha announced that, according to the pasha’s orders, he must die. Full of joy, the saint fell to his knees, thanking God for having fulfilled this wish also, and he gave his body to death and his soul to the living God.
August 18th – Civil Calendar
August 5th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Efsignios (Eusignius).
He was a soldier under the Emperor Maximian, the Emperor Constantine the Great, and Constantine’s sons, and was present at the martyrdom of the holy martyr Vasiliskos (see May 22nd). He saw many angels, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as He received the soul of this holy martyr from the angel’s hands. He was a general under Constantine, and saw the Cross that appeared to the emperor. Spending a full sixty years in military service, he withdrew from it in the time of Constantine’s sons and went to Antioch, his hometown. There he lived a godly life of fasting, prayer and good works. In the time of Julian the Apostate, two men at variance in the street called him to judge between them. He adjudged right to the righteous, at which the one at fault became enraged, went to the emperor and denounced Efsignios as a Christian. The emperor summoned him to trial, at which he fiercely denounced the emperor for his apostasy from the Faith and rebuked him by citing the shining example of the great Constantine. The proud Julian ordered that he be beheaded. Efsignios suffered in great old age, in the year 362, and went to the kingdom of heaven.
2. The Hieromartyr Fabian, Pope of Rome.
A Roman by birth, Fabian was first a village priest, but then, when a white dove was seen to descend on him during a papal election, he was chosen. He was meek and kindly. He gathered the bodies of the holy martyrs for burial with great diligence, and built churches over their graves. He also built chapels and shrines in the caves where the martyrs had hidden during fierce persecutions. He baptized the Emperor Philip and his son and heir, also called Philip, and with the help of the senator, Pontius, who was also baptized, destroyed many idols and temples. But, when the wicked Decius became emperor, a terrible persecution of Christians arose in which Fabian suffered, being beheaded in the year 250. This Fabian established the custom of the blessing of oil on Holy Thursday.
3. The Holy Martyr Pontius the Senator.
Pontius was the son of the senator Marcus and his wife Julia, who was barren for twenty-two years before giving him birth. Baptized by Pope Pontianus, along with his friend Valerius (who wrote his life), he succeeded in bringing his father, Marcus, the Emperor Philip and his son, and many other eminent Romans to the Christian Faith. He gave great protection and help to the Church as a senator, and was a close friend of Pope Fabian. When Decius’ persecution began, Pontius fled from Rome and hid in the Alps, but in the time of Valerian, he was taken and put to harsh torture, during which many miracles of God were revealed and many turned to Christ. There happened to be many Jews there, who cried to the judge: ‘Kill him; kill this magician at once!’ At this, Pontius raised his hands to heaven and said: ‘I give thanks to Thee, O my God, that the Jews also cry against me, as their fathers once cried against Christ: “Crucify Him; crucify Him!”’ He was beheaded in 257 and was buried by his friend Valerius.
4. St. Nonna.
The mother of St. Gregory the Theologian, she was a Christian and a mighty wonder-worker through prayer. By her prayers, she brought her husband back from the folly of idolatry to the Christian Faith, and he later became bishop of the city of Nazianzus. By her prayers, St. Nonna also saved her son, Gregory the Theologian, from a storm. She entered peacefully into rest as a deaconess in 374.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Valerian thus begins the Life of his friend Pontius: ‘Who can believe, except by the gift of God? Who can embark on spiritual endeavor except with God’s help? Who can receive the wreath (of martyrdom) except it be given by Christ?’ God desires, and can perform, all that is needful for the salvation of men, but only if men ask Him. By her prayers, St. Nonna brought her husband Gregory and her son Gregory the Theologian to the Christian Faith. By his prayers, Basil brought his teacher Evoulios to Christ. By prayer, King Hezekiah prolonged his life for fifteen years. By prayer, St. Simeon the Stylite turned back the Persians and Scythians, that they should not strike a blow against the land of Greece with the armies they held in readiness. For the rest, all the stars in heaven could more easily be counted than all the wonders in the world performed by prayer.
August 19th – Civil Calendar
August 6th – Church Calendar
1. The Transfiguration of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.
In the third year of His
ministry, the Lord Jesus spoke more frequently to His disciples of His coming Passion, but linked
it always with His glory after His suffering on the Cross. That His coming suffering should not
utterly shatter His disciples, so that they fall away from Him, He, the all-wise, decided to show
them, before His Passion, something of His divine glory. He therefore, taking with Him Peter,
Iakovos and John, went up onto Mount Tabor and was there transfigured before them. ‘And His
face shone as the sun, and His raiment became white as snow,’ and there appeared beside Him
Moses and Elias, the great prophets of the Old Testament. And the disciples saw and were amazed,
and Peter said: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if Thou wilt, let us make here three
tabernacles: one for Thee, one for Moses and one for Elias.’ While Peter was still
speaking, Moses and Elias disappeared and a bright cloud came and overshadowed the Lord and the
disciples, and a voice came out of the cloud: ‘This is My Son, the Beloved, in Whom I am
well pleased; be hearing Him.’ Hearing this voice, the disciples fell prostrate on the
ground as though dead, and remained thus lying in fear until the Lord came to them and said:
‘Arise, and cease being afraid’ (Matt. 17). Why did the Lord take only three
disciples with Him onto Tabor, and not all of them? Because Judas was not worthy to behold the
divine glory of the Master Whom he was to betray, and the Lord did not want to leave him alone at
the foot of the mountain, that the betrayer should not thus work his betrayal. Why did Moses and
Elias appear? To shatter the Jewish fallacy that Christ was one of the prophets—Elias, Jeremias
or one of the others. This was why He revealed Himself as King over the prophets, and why Moses
and Elias appeared as His servants. Up to this moment, the Lord had many times shown His divine
power to His disciples, but on Tabor He showed them the glory of His divine nature. This vision
of His divine energies and the hearing of the heavenly witness to Him as the Son of God must have
been of support to the disciples in the days of the Lord’s suffering, for the strengthening
of a steadfast faith in Him and His final victory.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Why did the Lord not reveal His divine glory on Tabor before all the disciples, but only before the three? First, because He Himself had given the law through Moses: ‘At the mouth of two witnesses or...of three, shall the matter be established’ (Deut. 19:15). Three witnesses were, then, enough. There was, though, a special reason for choosing these three disciples. The three of them represented the three chief virtues: Peter—faith, for he was the first to proclaim his faith in Christ as the Son of God, Iakovos—hope, for it was with hope in the promise of Christ that he was the first to lay down his life for the Lord, being the first killed by the Jews; John—love, for he lay on the Lord’s breast and stayed beneath the Lord’s Cross till the end. God is not the God of the many but the God of the chosen: ‘I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob’. God has often valued one faithful man more highly than a whole people. On several occasions, He intended to exterminate the Jewish people, but at the prayers of righteous Moses, He left the people alive. God hearkened to Elias more than to all the royalty of the faithless Ahab. At the prayers of one man, God often saved both towns and men. Thus the sinful town of Ustiug would have been destroyed by fire and hail if the one righteous man in it, St. Procopius the Fool for Christ (see July 8th), had not saved it by his prayers.
August 20th – Civil Calendar
August 7th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Dometius.
Born a pagan in Persia in the time of the Emperor Constantine, he came to know the Christian Faith as a young man, forsook his paganism and received Baptism. He was so enchanted with the true Faith that he left all worldly things and became a monk in a monastery near the town of Nisibis. He lived among the brethren for some time, then withdrew into silence, going to Archimandrite Urbel, of whom it is said that, for sixty years, he never ate anything cooked. Urbel made him a deacon, but when he wanted to make him a priest, Dometius fled to a distant mountain and settled in a cave there. He attained such perfection through fasting, prayer, vigils and meditation that he was able to heal the sick. When Julian the Apostate came to that place, he heard of Dometius and sent men to wall him up alive in the cave, with two of his disciples. Thus died this saint of God, in 363, and went to the kingdom of God.
2. Our Holy Father Or.
A solitary of the Thebaid, he achieved great perfection through very great asceticism. When he had become established in stability and dedicated to solitude, he founded several monasteries one after the other, and was an outstanding spiritual guide and the instructor of many monks. Rufinus, who visited him, writes thus of him: ‘In appearance, he is like an angel of God; an elderly man of ninety with a long, snow-white beard. The impression left by his presence is delightful. His gaze is imbued with a more than human radiance.’ He strove never to tell a lie, saw angels of God many times and also underwent great temptations from demons, but soberly and courageously overcame them all. He received Communion every day. Once, one of his disciples reminded him that Pascha had come, and that he must celebrate it. Hearing this, he went outside, raised his hands to heaven and spent three days in unbroken prayer. Then he explained to his disciples: ‘This is the monk’s celebration of Pascha: the lifting up of the mind to unity with God.’ He entered into rest in great old age in about 390.
3. The Holy Martyrs Marinus and Asterius.
The first was a soldier and the second a Roman senator. In the time of the Emperor Gallienus, holy Marinus was serving as a soldier in Caesarea in Palestine. He was beheaded for his Christian Faith. The senator Asterius was watching his suffering, himself being a Christian. He took off his toga, wrapped the martyr’s body in it, took the body on his shoulders and bore it away to give it burial. Pagans who witnessed this beheaded him also. They suffered with honor for Christ in about 260.
4. Our Holy Father Pimen the Much-Ailing.
He was sickly from his youth, and from his youth desired monasticism. Brought to the Monastery of the Caves for healing, he remained there till his death. He prayed more for sickness than for health. One night, angels appeared to him and tonsured him as a monk, telling him at the same time that he would be sick until his death, and would be healed at that moment. And so it was; he lay sick for twenty years, working wonders even during his lifetime and being possessed of a rare gift of discernment. At the time of his death, he got up from his bed completely healed, immediately prepared his grave and entered into rest in the Lord, in the year 1110.
5. The Hieromartyr Narcissus, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
He was beheaded in the time of Antoninus, in the year 211, at the age of a hundred and sixteen.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Do not either fret yourself about the righteous or be envious of sinners. Remember always that the Lord Jesus Christ, by His Resurrection, triumphed over a shameful death and that Herod, Judas, Nero, Julian the Apostate, Valerian, Leo the Armenian and other of Christ’s opponents, obliterated forever by a shameful death their transitory success and victory. St. Narcissus the patriarch was slandered by envious men, who spread abroad that he had lost his chastity. The innocent Narcissus went off into the desert and spent many years in silence and patient waiting on God, for Him to bring about His will. Three patriarchs followed him, and only then did men come forward to give clear proof of his innocence, and he was urged by everyone to return from the desert to his throne. Thus God justified the righteous man.
The bloody Emperor Valerian slaughtered Christians throughout the world with satanic passion. And how did he end? In battle with the Persians, he was overcome and captured by King Sapor. Sapor did not choose to kill him at once, but used him as a mounting-block when he rode out on horseback. Every day, servants brought Valerian along with the horses, and Sapor amused himself by standing on the neck of the Roman emperor in order more easily to spring onto his horse. He who sows an evil seed will reap an evil harvest.
August 21st – Civil Calendar
August 8th – Church Calendar
1. St. Emilian the Confessor, Bishop of Kyzikos.
He was bishop in Kyzikos in the time of the wicked Emperor Leo the Armenian, the iconoclast. Refusing to carry out the imperial directive on the removal of icons from the churches, he was, along with other Orthodox bishops, sent into exile. He spent five years in exile, enduring many ills and much humiliation for the sake of Christ. He died in 820, and joined the company of the citizens of heaven.
2. St. Myron the Wonder-worker, Bishop of Crete.
He was at first married, and was a laborer of the land, sharing the fruits of his farm joyfully and abundantly with the poor. He once caught some unknown thieves on his threshing-floor, stealing grain. Not saying who he was, St. Myron helped the thieves to fill their sacks, lift them onto their backs and escape. For his outstanding virtues, he was ordained priest and later consecrated bishop. He was a great wonder-worker and did many good and mighty works in the name of the Lord Jesus. He entered into rest in about 350, at the great age of a hundred.
3. Our Holy Father Gregory the Sinaite.
He was named ‘the Sinaite’ because he became a monk on Mount Sinai. In the time of the Emperor Andronikos Palaeologos, in about 1330, he went to the Holy Mountain to visit the monasteries and discover more about mental prayer and contemplation. But these two spiritual exercises were little known at that time among the monks of the Holy Mountain. The only one who was experienced in them and practised them perfectly was St. Maximus of Kapsokalyvia. Gregory spread his teaching on mental prayer through all the cells and monasteries of the Holy Mountain. His most famous pupil was Kallistos, Patriarch of Constantinople, who wrote Gregory’s life. After that, Gregory went to Macedonia and to other parts of the Balkans, and founded communities in which the monks engaged in mental prayer, thus helping many to deepen their prayer and come to salvation. His writings on mental prayer and asceticism are found in the Philokalia. Among other things, he wrote the hymn to the Holy Trinity: ‘It is meet and right...,’ which is sung in the Midnight Office on Sundays. He stands among the most famous ascetics and spiritual teachers of the Balkans. He entered peacefully into rest in 1346, after a life of great toil, and went to the kingdom of Christ.
4. The Holy New-Martyrs Triandaphyllos and Spaso.
Triandaphyllos was born in Zagora and Spaso in Radoviste, in the diocese of Strumica. They were both Slavs, both young and simple men. But the love of Christ drew them out of the world and out of this life. They gave their lives, and remained faithful to Christ, suffering under the Turks for their faith: Tryandaphyllos in Constantinople in 1680 and Spaso in Thessalonica in 1794.
5. The Holy Martyr Gormizdas.
He was a noble at the court of the Persian King Yazdgird. Because he refused to deny Christ, the king sadly deprived him of his rank and possessions and sent him to look after the animals, being convinced that Gormizdas would soon grieve for his rank and possessions, and would worship idols. Gormizdas peacefully minded the cattle and remained faithful. The king therefore put him to harsh torture, which succeeded only in weakening the body of Christ’s martyr without affecting his soul. Finally, Gormizdas was killed, in 418, immediately after the martyrdom of St. Abdus the Bishop (see March 31st). He suffered on earth, and was glorified in heaven.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Lo, I have set before you life and death,’ said Moses to the sons of Israel, ‘therefore choose life, that...you may live’ (Deut. 30:19). There are decisive moments in men’s lives, when a man is truly left to choose life or death. Judas, in the moment of decision, was so overcome by the lust for silver that he chose death, the death of cupidity. When the miltary governor wanted to make Marinus the soldier (see August 7th) an officer, an envious man denounced him as a Christian. The governor gave him three hours to think and choose life or death, to deny Christ or to die. Marinus, hearing the words of his superior, went to the local bishop, Theotechnos, to ask his advice. The bishop took him into the church, stood him before the Gospel and then, indicating first the Gospel and then the sword that Marinus was wearing, said to him: ‘Choose, brave man, one of these two: either carry a sword and serve the transient king, being lost eternally at your death, or become a soldier of the King of heaven and lay down your life for His holy name, recorded in this book, and reign with Him in immortal life.’ Marinus at once made up his mind, kissed the holy Gospel and went out—to go through death to eternal life.
August 22nd – Civil Calendar
August 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Matthias.
Born in Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah, he was a pupil of St.
Simeon the God-Receiver in Jerusalem. When the Lord began preaching the kingdom of God, Matthias
was among those who loved the Lord with all their hearts, heard His words and saw His works with
delight. Matthias was at first included among the seventy, lesser apostles of Christ, but after
the Lord’s Resurrection, because the place of Judas the betrayer fell vacant, the apostles
chose this Matthias by lot in Judas’ place as one of the twelve great apostles (Acts 1:23).
Receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Matthias began to preach the Gospel, first in Judea then
in Ethiopia, where he suffered greatly for the sake of Christ. It is held that he preached also
in Macedonia, where they tried to bind him, but he became invisible to his tormentors and thus
escaped danger. When he was imprisoned, the Lord appeared to him, gave him courage and set him
free. He finally returned to work in Judea. There he was arrested and taken for trial before
Ananias the high priest, before whom he fearlessly witnessed to Christ. Ananias (the same who had
earlier killed the Apostle Iakovos) condemned Matthias to death. They took Matthias out and
stoned him to death, then cut off his head with an axe (the Roman way of executing those
condemned to death. The hypocritical Jews used this method on the dead man, to prove to the
Romans that he had opposed Rome). So died this great apostle of Christ, and went to the eternal
joy of his Lord.
2. The Holy Martyr Anthony.
He was a citizen of Alexandria. Brought before the pagan governor, he freely declared his faith and was tortured—whipped and flogged—but would not deny Christ. He was finally cast into the flames, from the midst of which he said to the people: ‘My beloved brethren, do not be enslaved by your bodies, but give thought to your souls, given to you by God and kin to God and to the heavenly powers.’ He thus instructed the people, and being burned in the fire, gave his holy soul to God.
3. The Holy Martyrs Julian and Marcian, and others with them.
They suffered at the hands of the iconoclasts under the wicked Emperor Leo the Isaurian, in 726, and were crowned with unfading glory.
FOR CONSIDERATION
To take another’s sin on oneself is a form of martyrdom, and a sign of very great love for one’s neighbor. As the wages of sin is death (cf. James 1:15), to take another’s sin on oneself is to add a second death to one’s own. But God rewards with resurrection those who, from love, take another’s sin on themselves. There are many examples among the saints of this taking of a neighbor’s sin on oneself. Thus, it is said of St. Ammon: a brother fell into sin, then came to Ammon and told him that, because of his sin, he must leave the monastery and return to the world. Ammon told him that he would take the sin on himself, and urged the brother to remain in the monastery. The brother stayed, and the elder Ammon stood offering repentance and prayer to God. After a short time, the elder received a revelation from God that the sin was forgiven because of his love for the brother. When St. Makarios, St. Simeon the Fool for Christ, St. Theodore and others were accused of immorality, they did not defend themselves, but taking the sin of others on themselves, took also the harsh punishment for sin and patiently endured until God revealed their innocence to men.
August 23rd – Civil Calendar
August 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Laurence the Archdeacon and Pope Sixtus, and others with them.
When Pope Stephen (see August 2nd)
was killed, St. Sixtus was installed in his place. Sixtus was an Athenian, first a philosopher
and later a Christian. At that time, the Roman bishops were being killed one after the other in
such quick succession that to be made Bishop of Rome was tantamount to a death sentence. The
Emperor Valerian was determined to stamp out Christianity, and Pope Sixtus was quickly brought to
trial with two of his deacons, Felicicius and Agapitus. When they were being taken off to prison,
Laurence said to the pope: ‘Where are you going, father, without your son? Whither, O
bishop, without your archdeacon?’ The pope consoled him with the prophecy that he would
undergo yet greater suffering for Christ, and follow him very soon. And indeed, as soon as Sixtus
and the two deacons had been beheaded, Laurence was arrested. He had been inspired to set in
order both his own affairs and those of the Church. As treasurer, he had taken all the
Church’s valuables to the house of a widower, Cyriacus. At that time, he healed Cyriacus of
terrible pains in the head by the touch of his hand, and restored the sight of a blind man,
Crescention. Thrown into prison, Laurence there healed an elderly prisoner, Lucillus, of
blindness and baptized him. Seeing this, the warder, Hippolytus, also received Baptism, and later
suffered for Christ (see August 13th). As Laurence would not deny Christ, but strongly counselled
the Emperor Valerian to abandon his false gods, he was beaten on the face with stones and on his
body with scorpions (chains with poisoned teeth). A soldier, Romanus, who was present at the
torture, came to belief in Christ and was immediately beheaded. They finally put Laurence on an
iron grid and lit a fire underneath. Roasting in the fire, Laurence gave thanks to God, and
mocked the emperor for his paganism. When he had given his pure and heroic soul to God,
Hippolytus took his body by night, first to the house of Cyriacus and then to a cave, where he
buried it. St. Laurence suffered, together with the others, in 258.
2. St. Hiron.
He was a Christian philosopher. St. Gregory the Theologian mentions him in his books. He entered peacefully into rest and went to the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
How can we overcome the enmity of our adversaries? By renunciation, meekness and prayer, surrender of all but faith, purity of life and meekness and prayer forever and always. St. Ambrose writes: ‘This is the weapon of the righteous man: to win while retreating, as skilled archers are able, while in retreat, to hit those stronger than themselves.’ A brother was insulted by his friend, but desiring peace with him, went to him to be reconciled. But the other would not open the door to him, and abusing him from within, drove him away from the house. The brother complained to a spiritual elder, who said to him: ‘In going to make peace with your brother, you have, all along the way, condemned him in your thoughts and justified yourself. I advise you, if your friend sins against you, to order your thoughts as though it were you who had sinned against him, and then go to him, justifying him and condemning yourself in your thoughts.’ The brother did this, and what happened? As soon as he drew near to his brother’s house, the latter opened the door wide, ran to him and embraced him, and peace was made between them.
August 24th – Civil Calendar
August 11th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Euplus.
He was a deacon from Catania in Sicily. The Emperor Diocletian sent a commander, Pentagurus, to Sicily to exterminate any Christians that he found there. Pentagurus did not find a single Christian, for they had hidden from the persecutor and did not show themselves. Then someone accused Euplus of taking a book to some secret Christians and reading to them. This book was the holy Gospel. He was therefore soon taken for trial, and with the book hung round his neck, put in prison. After seven days of imprisonment and hunger, he was put to torture. When they whipped him with iron flails, Euplus mockingly said to the torturing judge: ‘You fool; don’t you see that these tortures are, to me, like a cobweb? If you can, find other, harsher tortures, as these are like playthings.’ Finally, they led Christ’s martyr to the scaffold. Then St. Euplus opened the holy Gospel and read from it to the people for a long time. Many turned to the Christian Faith, and St. Euplus was beheaded, in the year 304, and went to the heavenly kingdom. His wonder-working relics lie in a village near Naples called Vico della Batonia.
2. The Holy Martyr Susanna the Virgin, and others with her.
The daughter of Gavinius, a Christian priest in Rome, she was niece to Pope Gaius, of blood and kin with the reigning emperor, Diocletian. This emperor had an adopted son, Maximian Galerius, who wanted to marry Susanna, but she was utterly dedicated to Christ the Lord and had no desire for marriage, especially with an unbaptized man. Susanna brought those who had requested her for the emperor’s son, the patricians Claudia and Maxima, to the Christian Faith with all their households. Infuriated by this, the emperor issued orders and the executioners took Claudia and Maxima, with their families, to Ostia, where they were burned and their ashes cast into the sea. Susanna was beheaded in Gavinius’ house. The emperor’s wife, Serena, a secret Christian, took Susanna’s martyred body by night and buried it, and Pope Gaius turned the house where Susanna was killed into a church and held services there. Soon after this bride of Christ suffered, her father Gavinius and Pope Gaius also suffered. They all suffered with honor for the Lord, and received wreaths of glory, in the years 295 and 296.
3. St. Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople.
Born in Greece, he became a monk in his youth and lived in asceticism, first away from the Holy Mountain and then on it in various monasteries, staying longest in Vatopedi and Dionysiou. He was beloved by all on the Holy Mountain, both for his rare wisdom and for his meekness. He was made Bishop of Thessalonica against his will, and two years later, went to Constantinople in the course of his work and was there chosen for the vacant patriarchal throne. He was banished by the sultan to Jedrene, where he lived in exile. Prince Radul of Wallachia asked the sultan for him, and made him his archbishop. Because of Radul’s transgressions, Niphon left the province of Wallachia and went to the Holy Mountain, to the community of Dionysiou, where he lived in asceticism till the age of ninety, going to the kingdom of God in 1508. He compiled the ‘Prayer at Departing’ that is read at funerals.
4. Our Holy Fathers Basil (Vasily) and Theodore (Feodor) of the Kiev Caves.
They both died under the tyranny of the covetous Prince Istislav, in 1098. The life of St. Theodore is especially instructive to the covetous. Theodore was very rich, but he gave all his wealth to the poor and became a monk. He then repented and grieved for his riches, and was greatly tempted by a spirit of covetousness, from which he was freed by St. Basil.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If a man sets off on the right path, let him follow that path with both feet and not have one foot on the right path and the other on the wrong. For the Lord said through the prophet about the righteous who work unrighteousness: ‘The righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned; in his trespass that he hath trespassed and in the sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die’ (Ezekiel 18:24). The Wallachian Prince Radul was a righteous man and did many good works. He brought St. Niphon out of exile in Jedrene and made him archbishop in Bucharest. But he suddenly committed a grievous sin: he gave his sister to be wife to the foul Moldavian prince, Bogdan, while Bogdan’s wife was still alive, and refused to heed Niphon’s protests. Niphon prophesied an evil end to him, drove him publicly out of the Church and left the province. Immediately after this, there was a drought and a great famine in the region, and Radul fell into an incurable sickness, his whole body being one great, suppurating sore which no one could come near to for the stench. When they buried him, his grave shook for three days, like the grave of the Empress Evdoxia, the persecutor of St. John Chrysostom.
August 25th – Civil Calendar
August 12th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Aniketas and Photius.
The Emperor Diocletian at one time visited the city of Nikomedia with the evil intention of utterly exterminating the Christians there. But, when he began his merciless torture of the Christians, St. Aniketas, one of the governors of the city, presented himself before him and courageously confessed before the emperor his faith in Christ the Lord, God incarnate in the flesh for our salvation. Aniketas also denounced the worship of idols as that of deaf and dumb stones, unworthily worshipped by ignorant men. The furious emperor commanded that his tongue be cut out, but Aniketas, by the power of God, continued to speak. Then a lion was let loose on him, which fawned about him. At that moment, the Temple of Hercules fell down. Photius, a kinsman of Aniketas,’ seeing the wonders and his kinsman’s endurance, embraced him, confessed that he himself was a Christian and cried out to the Emperor: ‘You should be ashamed, you idolater; your gods are nothing!’ The emperor ordered that he be beheaded immediately, but the executioner, lifting up his hand against St. Photius, gave himself a blow with his sword and died. After harsh torture, the two of them were thrown into prison, where they remained for three years. They were then taken out and thrown into an enormous burning furnace. Many other Christians, men, women and children, went into the flames voluntarily after them, and the prayers of the Christians were heard rising from the flames, thanking God for their death by martyrdom. They all suffered in about 305. St. Aniketas and St. Photius are invoked in the prayers at the blessing of oil and water.
2. The Hieromartyr Alexander, Bishop of Comana.
He lived in the town of Comana near Neocaesarea as a simple charcoal-burner. When the Bishop of Comana died, St. Gregory of Neocaesarea, the Wonder-worker (Nov. 17th), was invited to preside over the council to choose a new bishop. At the council there were both clergy and laymen. They were unable to come to agreement on one person, estimating the candidates they selected according to their outward worth and behaviour. St. Gregory told them that they must not give so much weight to the outward impression as to the soul and the spiritual aptitude. Then some wag called out mockingly: ‘Then let’s choose Alexander the charcoal-burner as bishop!’ and there was general laughter. St. Gregory asked who this Alexander was. Thinking that his name would not have come before the council except by the providence of God, he commanded that he be brought. Being a charcoal-burner, he was black with soot and in rags, and his appearance provoked further mirth in the council. Then Gregory took him aside and asked him to tell the truth about himself. Alexander told him that he had been a Greek philosopher, enjoying great honor and position, but that he had set it all aside, demeaned himself and made himself as a fool for Christ from the time that he had read and understood the holy Scriptures. Gregory commanded that he be bathed and clad in new clothes, then went into the council with him, and before them all, began to examine him in the Scriptures. All were filled with amazement at the wisdom and grace of Alexander’s words, and were quite unable to recognize the former charcoal-burner in this wise man. With one voice, they chose him as bishop, and he received the love of his flock for his holiness, his wisdom and his goodness. He died a martyr for Christ under Diocletian.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Learn to respect and love lowly and simple people. They are the greatest on earth, and are also the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They have no pride, that basic folly from which the rich and powerful of this world suffer. They often accomplish their purpose in this world perfectly, and it seems odd to them that any should praise them for it, while the great on earth seek recognition for their least act, often not performed perfectly. St. Alexander was an eminent philosopher, but he left everything, hid himself from exalted company and earthly praise and mingled with the lowliest and the simplest as a charcoal-burner among charcoal-burners. In place of his former eminence and honor, he joyfully endured having children run after him, laughing at his soot and his rags. He was not the only one who elected to live with the lowly and the simple. Many kings and princes, coming to know the sweetness of the Christian Faith, have taken off their crowns and fled the vanity of noble birth among simple people. Did not the King of kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, reveal Himself among shepherds and fishermen? St. Zeno advises: ‘Do not choose a place of fame in which to live, nor associate with men of eminent name.’
August 26th – Civil Calendar
August 13th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Hippolytus.
Hippolytus was a military supervisor and prison governor in Rome, born and brought up a pagan. When St. Laurence the archdeacon was thrown into prison, Hippolytus was ordered by the emperor to keep a strict eye on this prisoner. Hippolytus saw with his own eyes how Laurence restored the sight of the blind Lucillus and how he healed many other of the sick, and he became a Christian. When St. Laurence baptized him, Hippolytus had a heavenly vision and said: ‘I see innocent souls in great joy’. He then took Laurence into his own home, and all those in it were baptized, including his old nurse Concordia, nineteen souls in all. When Laurence was slain for Christ, Hippolytus took the martyr’s body by night, wrapped it in a winding-sheet and buried it. This somehow came to the ears of the Emperor Valerian, and on the third day after Laurence’s death, Hippolytus was arrested and taken before the emperor. Refusing to deny the true Faith, he was struck on the mouth with stones. The emperor then ordered that he be stripped and flayed. Naked before the emperor, Hippolytus said to him: ‘You have not stripped me, but have begun to clothe me!’ They then threw him to the ground and flayed him mercilessly, but Hippolytus only cried out: ‘I am a Christian!’ The emperor, hearing that Hippolytus and his whole household were Christians, ordered that they all be brought. Old Concordia said: ‘We prefer to die in honor in the Christian Faith with our master than to live in dishonor with you.’ She was killed first, and then the other eighteen, all before Hippolytus’ eyes. Finally, Hippolytus was bound behind a wild horse and dragged hither and thither, until the martyr gave his soul to God.
2. St. Tikhon of Zadonsk.
Born in 1724 in the village of Korotsk, in the Novgorod region, into a simple, peasant family, he received the monastic schema at the age of thirty-four and very soon, because of his ascesis and spiritual wisdom, was given higher and higher service until he was consecrated Bishop of Voronezh. He served as bishop for a little under seven years and then, because of ill-health, retired to the monastery of Zadonsk and entered into rest there in 1783. His wonder-working relics are kept there to this day. A great ascetic of the Russian Church, he was a rare shepherd, a man of prayer and the writer of beautiful spiritual works. In his wisdom, his holiness and asceticism, he could be counted an equal of the great fathers of the Orthodox Church of former times. Because of the many witnessed miracles that were performed over his relics, he was first proclaimed a saint by the people, and then officially by the Church in 1861.
3. Our Holy Mother, the Empress Irene, in monasticism, Xenia.
She was the wife of the Emperor Kalo-John (John II Komnenos, 1118-1143). Apart from her monastic asceticism and good works, she is famed for having founded the Monastery of the Pantocrator in Constantinople, one of the most famous and most beautiful monasteries in that city. St. Stefan of Dečani later lived there in asceticism.
4. Our Holy Father Seridos.
Famed for founding a community near Gaza in Palestine, in which famous men such as St. Barsanuphius, St. John, Abba Dorotheos, Dositheos and others lived the ascetic life, St. Seridos departed this earthly life in the sixth century and went to the eternal joy of his Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Give thanks to the Lord and do not forget His great ones, the poor and needy; they can do much for the Lord God.’ These are the words of the great Russian ascetic of the nineteenth century, Father Nazariah, abbot of Valaam. He spoke these words to the wife of a high dignitary in St. Petersburg who had fallen under the tsar’s displeasure because of some serious accusation. The accused official fell ill from anxiety and lay in bed. Hearing that Father Nazariah was in St. Petersburg, the wife of this official hurried off to find him, recounted to him the misfortune that had befallen and begged him to pray for her husband. ‘Have you got any small change?’ asked Father Nazariah. The woman brought some and gave it to him, and Father Nazariah went away. He returned the same evening and gladdened the woman with this news: ‘Glory to God! All those close to the tsar have promised their prayers!’ The woman naturally thought of Tsar Alexander Pavlovitch and his courtiers, while the elder was thinking of the beggars in the streets, among whom he had distributed the coins and whom he had set to pray for this woman’s husband. The news came that the tsar had ordered that the matter of this official be put to debate. This was just what the official had desired. When his wife began to thank Father Nazariah, he said: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, and do not forget His great ones, the poor and needy; they can do much for the Lord God.’
August 27th – Civil Calendar
August 14th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Micah the Second.
Of the tribe of Judah and from the village of Morasth, from which
he took the name ‘the Morasthite,’ he was a contemporary of the prophets Isaias, Amos
and Hosea, and the Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He denounced the vices of his people
and denounced also the prophets who prophesied ‘of wine and strong drink’. He
foretold the fall of Samaria, which would come about because the city’s elders take a bribe
and the priests teach for hire, and prophets divine for money. ‘Therefore shall Sion for
your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps’. But, of all his
prophecies, the most important are those of the Messiah, and especially of the place of His
birth. He named Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah, ‘whose goings-forth have been
from of old, from everlasting’ (5:2). It is not known certainly whether this prophet was
killed by the Jews or died peacefully (see Jer. 26:18-19), but it is known that he was buried in
his village, and that his relics were found, together with the relics of the Prophet Abbakum, in
the time of the Emperor Theodosios the Great, by a mysterious revelation received by the Bishop
of Eleftheropolis.
2. The Hieromartyr Markellos, Bishop of Apameia.
Born in Cyprus of rich and eminent parents, he was well-educated, and married and had children. After coming to an agreement with his wife and children, now grown, he withdrew to follow the monastic life in Syria. He became known for his compassion, meekness and spiritual learning, because of which the people of Apameia chose him as their bishop. As a bishop, he labored with zeal to bring pagans to the Christian Faith. When an idolatrous temple was burned down, the idolaters seized Markellos, and on the pretext of his having caused it, threw him into the fire, in about 389. We find in St. Markellos’ ‘Life’ that the blessing of water is mentioned, and its use.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Keep yourself from a parental curse, for it is a terrible thing. Value and seek your parents’ blessing, for it will accompany you throughout your life. The wise Sirach says: ‘The blessing of the father establisheth the houses of the children; but the curse of the mother rooteth out foundations’ (Sirach 3:9). The curse with which Noah cursed the descendants of Ham has stayed with them to this day, but the sons of Jacob have had fortune in life, according to their father’s blessing. St. Sergius, as a young man, asked his parents’ blessing to become a monk. His aged parents begged their son to wait and stay with them till their death, and then become a monk. Bishop Hermogenes speaks of an occasion when a son ill-treated his wife. When his mother, in tears, began to chide him for this, the son set on his mother, beat her and cracked her head against the wall. The despairing mother cried out: ‘Lord, let my son be accursed, and receive no blessing from Thee or from me!’ That same day, he began to tremble all over his body, and lived in this state for thirteen whole years, unable even to lift a spoon to his mouth. After thirteen years, he confessed and received Communion, and after that became a little eased and very soon died.
August 28th – Civil Calendar
August 15th – Church Calendar
1. The Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God.
The Lord Who, on Sinai, gave the Fifth
Commandment: ‘Honor thy father and thy mother,’ showed by His own example how one
must reverence one’s parents. Hanging in agony on the Cross, He remembered His Mother, and
indicating the Apostle John, said to her: ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ and to John:
‘Behold thy mother!’ And with this concern for His Mother, He breathed His last. John
had a home on Sion in Jerusalem, where he settled the Mother of God and left her to pass her
remaining days on earth. By her prayers, her kindly advice, her meekness and patience, she was of
immense help to her Son’s apostles. She spent virtually the rest of her life in Jerusalem,
often going round the places that reminded her of the great events and the great works associated
with and performed by her Son. She especially visited Golgotha, Bethlehem and the Mount of
Olives. Of her journeys farther afield, her visit to St. Ignatius the God-Bearer is recorded, as
are those to St. Lazarus the Four-days-dead, Bishop of Cyprus, to the Holy Mountain, to which she
gave her blessing, and her stay in Ephesus with the Apostle John during a fierce persecution of
Christians in Jerusalem. In old age, she often prayed to her Lord and God on the Mount of Olives,
on the spot from which He ascended, to take her from this world. One day, the Archangel Gabriel
appeared to her and revealed that she would enter into rest in three days’ time, and the
angel gave her a palm-branch to be carried in her funeral procession. She returned home with
great joy, with the heartfelt hope that she would see Christ’s apostles once more in this
life. The Lord fulfilled her desire and all the apostles, brought by angels and clouds, gathered
together at St. John’s house on Sion. It was with great joy that she saw the holy apostles,
and she encouraged, advised and upheld them, then peacefully gave her soul into God’s hands
without the slightest physical pain or struggle. The apostles took the coffin containing her
body, from which an aromatic fragrance arose, and accompanied by many Christians, took it to the
Garden of Gethsemane, to the grave of Ss. Joachim and Anna. By God’s providence, they were
hidden from the wicked Jews by a cloud. A Jewish priest, Anthony, touched the coffin with his
hand, intending to overturn it, but at that moment an angel of God cut off both his hands. He
cried out with the pain, begging the apostles’ help, and was healed in confessing his faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was left to the Apostle Thomas, who was delayed, again by
God’s providence, to reveal a new and glorious mystery about the holy Mother of God. He
arrived on the third day, and desired to embrace the body of the holy and most pure. When the
apostles opened her grave, he found only the winding-sheet—the body was not in the grave. That
evening, she appeared to the apostles, surrounded by a multitude of angels, and said to them:
‘Rejoice; I will be with you always!’ It is not known exactly how old the Mother of
God was at the time of her falling-asleep, but the prevailing belief is that she had reached the
age of seventy.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Oh, how much there is for every one of the faithful to learn from the life of the Virgin Mother of God! Let us consider here only two things. She had the habit of going frequently to Golgotha, to the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and Bethlehem, and to other places to which her Son had given special meaning. In all these places, and especially on Golgotha, she prayed to God. She thus gave the first example and impetus to the faithful of the practice of visiting the holy places out of love towards Him Who, by the presence of His suffering and glory, made them holy and famous. Secondly, we see how she, in prayer for her swift departure from this life, prayed that her soul, at its parting from the body, might not see the punishment of darkness and its terrors, and shielded from the overshadowing of darkness, might not encounter the power of Satan. If she who bore the Harrier of Hades and herself had a tremendous power over demons could thus pray, what then of us? In her great humility, she commended herself to God, not trusting to her own works. So much the less should we trust in our own works, and so much the more should we commend ourselves to God’s hands, beseeching His mercy most especially in that moment of the soul’s parting from the body.
August 29th – Civil Calendar
August 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Icon of our Lord Jesus Christ Not-made-with-hands.
In the time that our Lord was preaching the Gospel and healing every
disease and every infirmity among the people, there was in the city of Edessa, on the banks of
the Euphrates, a certain Prince Avgar, who was riddled with leprosy. He heard of Christ, the
Healer of every pain and sickness, and sent a portrait-painter, Ananias, to Palestine with a
letter to Christ, in which he begged the Lord to come to Edessa and heal him of his leprosy. In
the event of the Lord’s not being able to come, the prince commanded Ananias to paint His
likeness and bring it, believing that the portrait would heal him. The Lord replied that He could
not come, as the time of His Passion was at hand, and He took a napkin and wiped His face,
leaving a perfect reproduction of His most pure face on the napkin. The Lord gave this napkin to
Ananias, with a message to say that the prince would be healed by it, but not entirely, and He
would therefore send him later an envoy who would rid him of the remainder of the disease.
Receiving the napkin, Avgar kissed it and the leprosy fell from his body, with just a little
remaining on his face. Later, the Apostle Thaddaeus, preaching the Gospel, came to Avgar, healed
him secretly and baptized him. Then the prince smashed the idols that stood at the city’s
gateway and placed the napkin with the face of Christ above the entrance, stuck onto wood,
surrounded with a gold frame and ornamented with pearls. The prince also wrote above the icon on
the gateway: ‘O Christ our God, no one who hopes in Thee will be put to shame’.
Later, one of Avgar’s great-grandsons restored idolatry, and the Bishop of Edessa came by
night and walled-in the icon above the gateway. Centuries passed. In the time of the Emperor
Justinian, the Persian King, Chozroes, attacked Edessa, and the city was in great affliction. The
Bishop of Edessa, Evlavios, had a vision of the most holy Mother of God, who revealed to him the
secret of the icon, walled in and forgotten. The icon was found, and by its power the Persian
army was defeated. It was taken to Constantinople in 950 to heal the emperor, and was kept there
for the veneration of countless multitudes of Christians. It was lost in the Fourth Crusade to
undisciplined crusaders.
2. The Holy Martyr Diomedes.
A doctor from Tarsus of eminent parents, he taught the people the Christian Faith as he healed them. The Emperor Diocletian ordered that he be beheaded in Nicaea in 298. Those who beheaded him and took his head to the emperor were blinded, and when they restored the head to his body, with prayer, they were healed.
3. Our Holy Father Joachim of Osogovsk.
He lived the ascetic life in the second half of the eleventh century on the mountain of Osogovsk, in a cave in a place called Sarandopor. In that place another ascetic, Theodore of the Sheepfield, to whom St. Joachim appeared in a dream, built a church. Many miracles have been performed throughout the centuries over the relics of St. Joachim, and are being performed even to this day.
4. The Holy Martyr Stamatios.
He was a villager, born in Volos in Thessaly. When some inhuman agha collected the imperial tax from the people and left them in a terrible plight, Stamatios went to Constantinople with several companions, to complain to the vizier. The sultan’s nobles bore Stamatios a grudge for his stern accusation, and they arrested him. They first tried to convert him to Islam by flattery, promising him riches, glory and honor. Then the Turks tortured him and finally beheaded him in front of Hagia Sophia, in 1680. Thus this soldier of Christ was crowned with the wreath of martyrdom.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The Orthodox Church surpasses all other so-called “Christian” groups in the richness of her Tradition. Protestants look only to the holy Scriptures, but the Scriptures can only be interpreted within the Tradition. The Apostle Paul himself commands: ‘Brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle’ (II Thess. 2:15). The tradition concerning Prince Avgar is doubtless an apostolic tradition, although it is not referred to by any of them in their epistles. The Apostle Thaddaeus wrote nothing, and therefore, according to Protestant thinking, he said nothing, and gave nothing to the faithful. Why was he then an apostle of Christ? The tradition about Prince Avgar is mentioned by St. John Damascene in his defence of the veneration of icons.
How marvellous and touching is Avgar’s letter to Christ! Having been inspired to write to Him, telling Him that he had heard of His miraculous power to heal the sick, and having begged Him to come and heal him, he continues: ‘I hear this also, that the Jews hate You and prepare some sort of wickedness against You. I have a city; it’s small but beautiful, and abounds in every good thing. Come to me here and live with me in my city, which will provide for all the needs of us both.’ Thus wrote a pagan prince, at the time that the princes of Jerusalem were preparing death for the Lord, the Lover of mankind.
August 30th – Civil Calendar
August 17th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Myron the Priest.
He was a priest in Achaia, of rich and eminent parents, by nature kind and meek, and loving towards God and man. In the time of the Emperor Decius, on the Feast of the Nativity itself, pagans rushed into the church, dragged Myron away from the service and put him to torture. While he was being tortured by fire, an angel appeared to him and strengthened him. The torturers then cut off his skin in strips from head to foot. The martyr took one of these strips, and with it, struck the torturer on the face. The torturer, as though possessed, took a sword and killed himself. Myron was finally taken to the town of Kyzikos and there killed with the sword, in 250.
2. The Holy Martyr Patroclus.
A citizen of the city of Trychasia, the present-day Troyes in Gaul, he inherited great wealth from his parents, and as a true Christian, used it for daily alms to the poor. He himself lived as an ascetic, taking food only once a day after sunset. For his holiness of life, the Lord gave him healing power, and he became known everywhere as a wonder-working healer. The Emperor Aurelian, coming to Gaul, commanded that Patroclus be brought before him. Holy Patroclus confessed his faith in Christ, concealing nothing. ‘If, O king, you desire some of my goods, I will give them to you, for I can see your wretchedness,’ St. Patroclus said to the emperor. To this, the emperor replied: ‘How do you call me, the emperor, wretched, having immeasurable wealth?’ St. Patroclus said: ‘You have earthly, transitory riches, but you are wretched, for you are not only not in possession of yourself; you have no faith in Christ in your heart.’ He was condemned to death and handed over to the soldiers, with orders that he be taken to a swampy spot and beheaded, his body being left in the mud. But the saint prayed to God that his body should not be left thus in the mud, and by God’s power, he suddenly became invisible to the soldiers and taken across to the other side of the river. After seeking him at some length, the soldiers found him and beheaded him in that dry place. Two beggars, to whom Patroclus had often given alms, came along this way, and recognising the body of their benefactor, buried it. He died at the end of the third century.
3. Our Holy Father Elias of Calabria.
A Greek by birth, he was superior of the monastery of Mellicia in southern Italy. At the time of the iconoclast controversy in the East, many eastern monks fled with their icons to Calabria. In time, the monastic life spread very widely there. The Calabrian monks were distinguished for their learning and the strictness of their lives. At one time, there were so many Orthodox monasteries and monks there that Calabria was likened to Egypt in former times. Orthodox Calabria was later put under the administration of the Archbishop of Ochrid. Our holy father Elias entered into rest in Thessalonica in the year 903.
4. Our Holy Father Alypy the Iconographer of the Kiev Caves.
 Making copies of the
faces of the saints on wood, he copied their virtues in his own soul. He healed a man of
leprosy, saw an angel of God and died peacefully in the Lord in old age, in 1114.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
The Lord does not let His faithful servants be put to shame. It often happens that Christ’s martyrs, mocked and sneered at by their judges, suddenly work some wonder that brings terror to the godless. Idols have fallen, thunderbolts have destroyed pagan temples, unexpected downpours have put out fires prepared for their burning, stones and staves have turned back on the torturers themselves, and other similar things have happened. Thus Antipater, the torturer of St. Myron, during the torturing of this man of God, suddenly went out of his mind.
St. Alypy (Alypius) the Iconographer was already near the end of his life when he received an order to paint an icon of the dormition of the most holy Mother of God. As the feast drew near, the man returned several times, to see if the icon was finished. But it was not even begun on the Eve of the Dormition itself, when it should have been placed in the church. When this man had gone home in despair, a young man suddenly appeared in Alypy’s cell, sat down and began to work on the icon. He worked very quickly and with great skill. When the icon was ready, it shone like the sun. Showing it to the amazed Alypy, the young man took the icon and went to the church for which it had been ordered. On the following day, the man who had ordered it came to the church, and in sheer astonishment, saw the icon in its place. The man then went to the monastery, and together with the abbot, went into Alypy’s cell. ‘How was this icon painted, and by whom?’ asked the abbot. The sick Alypy replied: ‘It was painted by an angel, and he is standing here, waiting to take me.’ Thus saying, he breathed his last.
August 31st – Civil Calendar
August 18th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father John of Rila.
This great ascetic and light of the Orthodox Church was born
near Sophia, in a place called Skrino, in the time of the Emperor Boris. He was born of poor but
worthy parents. After their death, he became a monk and withdrew to a high mountain, where he
began to live the ascetic life in a cave. He endured many assaults both by demons and men, from
robbers and from his kinsmen. He afterwards moved to the mountain of Rila, and there took up
residence in a hollow tree. He ate only the herbs and berries that grew, by God’s
providence, in the vicinity. He saw no man’s face for many years until, again by
God’s providence, he was found by a herdsman searching for his lost sheep. The saint then
became known among men, and people began to come to him, seeking help in sickness or trouble. The
Bulgarian king, Peter, himself visited him, to ask his advice. Many who were seeking the
spiritual life settled near to John, and a church and monastery were soon built there. St. John
entered into rest in the Lord on August 18th, 946, at the age of seventy, and appeared to his
disciples after his death. His relics were first taken to Sophia, then to Hungary, to Trnovo and
finally to the monastery of Rila, where they are preserved to this day. The monastery of Rila
has, through the ages, been a lighthouse and a place of wonder-working power and spiritual
support to the Christian people of Bulgaria, most especially during the time of slavery under the
Turks.
2. The Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus.
Brothers in both the flesh and the spirit, they were both zealous Christians, and stonemasons by craft. They lived in Illyria. Some pagan prince set them to build a pagan temple. It happened during the course of their work that a fragment of stone splintered off and flew into the eye of the pagan priest’s son, who was watching the building work with curiosity. Seeing his son blinded and bleeding, the priest shouted at Florus and Laurus and tried to thrash them. Then the holy brothers told him that, if he would believe in the God in Whom they believed, his son would be restored to health. The priest promised. Florus and Laurus prayed to the one, living Lord with tears and made the sign of the Cross over the child’s stricken eye. The child was healed instantly and his eye became whole as it had been before. Then the priest, Merentios, and his son were baptized, and they both very soon suffered for Christ in the flames. But Florus and Laurus, when they had finished the temple, put a Cross on it, called together all the Christians and consecrated it in the name of the Lord Jesus with an all-night vigil of hymns. Hearing of this, the governor of Illyria burned many of these Christians by fire and had Florus and Laurus thrown alive into a well, which was then filled with earth. Their relics were later discovered and taken to Constantinople. These two wonderful brothers suffered for Christ, and were glorified by Him, in the second century.
3. The Hieromartyr Emilian the Bishop.
He was born in Armenia. He sought martyrdom, and went to Italy to preach Christ in the time of Diocletian, being chosen as bishop in Trevi. Through the many miracles associated with his martyrdom, about a thousand pagans came to faith in Christ. He was slain with the sword along with his spiritual father, Hilary, and two brothers, Dionysius and Hermippus.
FOR CONSIDERATION
It is not a rare occurrence, especially in our day, for parents to be responsible for their children’s spiritual death. Whenever a child aspires to the spiritual life and its asceticism in monasticism, and the parent resists this aspiration instead of encouraging it, such a parent is the murderer of his child. And such children—as a punishment to their parents—often go to the other extreme and become dissolute. A child called Luke, nephew to St. John of Rila, heard of his uncle, and urged by a desire for the spiritual life, visited him on his mountain. John received him with love, and began to instruct him and accustom him to asceticism. But Luke’s father appeared one day at John’s cave, and furiously began to scold the saint for keeping his son in this desert place. John’s words and advice were of no avail. The father withdrew his son by force and took him home. On the way, a snake bit the boy and he died. The cruel father came to see the punishment of God in this, and repented, but it was all too late. He returned to John with grief and self-accusation, but the saint only told him to bury the child and return whence he had come.
September 1st – Civil Calendar
August 19th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Andrew Stratelates.
He was an officer, a tribune,
in the Roman army in the time of the Emperor Maximian. A Syrian by birth, he served in his native
land. When the Persians attacked the imperial Roman army, this Andrew was entrusted with the
command in the battle against the enemy whence his title: commander, stratelates. A secret
Christian, although as yet unbaptized, Andrew commended himself to the living God, and taking
only the cream of the army, went to war. Before the battle, he told his soldiers that, if they
all called upon the aid of the one true God, Christ the Lord, their enemies would become as dust
scattered before them. All the soldiers, fired with enthusiasm by Andrew and his faith, invoked
Christ’s aid and attacked. The Persian army was utterly routed. When the victorious Andrew
returned to Antioch, some jealous men denounced him as a Christian and the imperial governor
summoned him for trial. Andrew openly proclaimed his steadfast faith in Christ. After harsh
torture, the governor threw Andrew into prison and wrote to the emperor in Rome. Knowing
Andrew’s popularity among the people and in the army, the emperor ordered the governor to
set Andrew free, but to seek another occasion and another excuse (not his faith) to kill him. By
God’s revelation, Andrew came to know of this imperial command, and taking his faithful
soldiers (2,593 in all) with him, went off to Tarsus in Cilicia, where they were all baptized by
the bishop, Peter. Persecuted here also by imperial might, Andrew and his companions withdrew
deep into the Armenian mountain of Tavros. There in a ravine, while they were at prayer, the
Roman army came upon them and beheaded them all. Not one of them would recant, all being
determined on death by martyrdom for Christ. On the spot where a stream of the martyrs’
blood flowed down, a spring of healing water sprang forth, healing from every disease. The
bishop, Peter, came secretly with his people and buried the martyrs’ bodies in that same
place. They all suffered with honor at the end of the third century and were crowned with wreaths
of eternal glory, entering into the kingdom of Christ our God.
2. Our Holy Father Theophanes.
Born in Ioannina, he left everything as a young man and went to the Holy Mountain, where he became a monk in the monastery of Docheiariou. In fasting, prayer, vigils and the stripping away of all that was unnecessary, he stood out among all the monks, and was consequently chosen in due time as abbot. Later, through some disagreement with the monks, he left the Holy Mountain, and with his nephew, went to Berea in Macedonia, where he founded a monastery dedicated to the most holy Mother of God. When this monastery began to flower with the spiritual life, he left his nephew in charge and went to Naousa, where he founded another monastery, in honor of the Holy Archangels. He died peacefully some time in the fifteenth century. His wonder-working relics rest today in Naousa, and reveal God’s great power.
3. The Holy Martyrs Timothy, Agapius and Thekla.
They suffered for Christ in the time of the wicked Emperor Diocletian. Timothy was burned by fire, and Agapius and Thekla thrown to the wild beasts.
FOR CONSIDERATION
When some unexpected trouble falls upon us guiltless, we should not immediately bemoan the fact, but seek God’s providence in it, which can, through this trouble, bring us something new and helpful. The great Theophanes, abbot of Docheiariou, one day received the shocking news that the Turks had seized his sister’s son, forced him to embrace Islam and then taken him to Constantinople. Theophanes immediately went himself to Constantinople and succeeded, with God’s help, in locating his nephew and taking him secretly to his monastery on the Holy Mountain. There, he brought him back to the Christian Faith and made him a monk. But the brethren grumbled against their abbot and his nephew, from fear of the Turks, for they were afraid that the Turks would hear of it and would come and destroy the monastery. Not knowing what else to do, St. Theophanes took his nephew and withdrew secretly, not only from Docheiariou but from the Holy Mountain, and went to Berea. The later activities of Theophanes in Berea and Naousa prove how useful misfortune can be to the Church. That which Theophanes would never have achieved on the Holy Mountain, he achieved in these other places to which he had fled: he founded two monasteries in which, in due time, many monks found salvation and many people were upheld. Also, added to this, his holy relics among the people became a source of healing, for the strengthening of the Faith in unbelievers and in those of little faith. Thus God, in His wisdom, guides the destinies of men through unexpected ills, which seem to men at the time to be for their loss.
September 2nd – Civil Calendar
August 20th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Samuel.
The fifteenth and last of the Judges of Israel, he lived eleven
hundred years before Christ. He was of the tribe of Levi, born of Elkanah and Hannah in a place
called Ramatha or Arimathea, where noble Joseph was later born. The barren Hannah besought Samuel
of the Lord with tears, and dedicated him to God when he was three years old. Living in Shiloh
near the Ark of the Covenant, Samuel, at the age of twelve, had a true revelation from God of the
punishment which would come upon the house of the high priest, Eli, because of the worthlessness
of his sons Hophni and Phineas. This revelation was swiftly fulfilled: the Philistines routed the
Israelites, slew both of Eli’s sons and captured the Ark of the Covenant. When the
messenger brought these bad tidings to Eli, he fell dead on the ground, breathing his last at the
age of ninety-eight, and the same thing happened to his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas.
Israel was under the Philistine yoke after this for twenty years. When this time had elapsed, God
sent Samuel to the people to preach repentance to them as the one means of their salvation from
their enemies. The people repented and cast out the foreign idols which they had served,
accepting Samuel as prophet, priest and judge. Then Samuel set out with the army against the
Philistines, and with God’s help, put them to confusion and slew them, freeing the land and
the people. After that, Samuel judged the people in peace to old age. Seeing him growing old, the
people asked him to give them a king in his place. In vain, Samuel urged the people against this,
saying that God was their only king, but the people remained adamant in their desire. Although
this desire was not pleasing to God, He commanded Samuel to anoint Saul the son of Kish, of the
tribe of Benjamin, as king. Saul reigned a short time, and God rejected him for impudence and
disobedience, and then commanded Samuel to anoint David the son of Jesse as king in Saul’s
place. At the time of his death, Samuel gathered all the people together and took leave of them,
and when he died all Israel wept for him and buried him solemnly in his house at Ramah.
2. The Hieromartyr Philip, Bishop of Heraklion, with the Priest Severus and the Deacon Hermes.
It is almost certain that they were Slavs. They served God in Thrace, and were there first put to torture for Christ. When the pagans were running to set fire to a Christian church, Philip courageously said to their leaders: ‘Do you think that God is shut within walls? He lives in men’s hearts.’ The church was gutted, all the books burned and the clergy taken to Jedrene, where, after imprisonment and torture, they were thrown half-burned into the River Maritsa. Thirty-eight other Christians died a martyr’s death with them. It is thought that they suffered in the time of Diocletian.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Repent before death closes the door of your life and opens the door of the Judgement. Repent before death, and because you do not know the hour of your death, repent today, this instant, and stop repeating your sin. St. Ephraim the Syrian prayed thus to God:
‘Before the wheel of time comes to a stop in my life, have mercy on
me!
Before the wind of death blows, and sickness, the herald of death, appears in
my body, have mercy on me!
Before the majestic sun in the heavens becomes darkened for me, have mercy on
me; and may Thy light shine for me from the heavens and drive out the fearful darkness of my
mind.
Before the earth returns to earth and becomes corruption, and before the
destruction of all the features of its beauty, have mercy!
Before my sins are revealed at the Judgement to my shame before the Judge, O
most gracious Lord, have mercy on me!
Before the armies come forth, escorting the King’s Son, to gather our
miserable race together before the Judge’s throne, have mercy!
Before the sound of the voice of the trumpet heralds Thy coming, spare Thy
servant and have mercy, O our Lord Jesus!
Before Thou shuttest Thy door to me, and before I become food for the
unquenchable fires of Gehenna, have mercy on me!’
September 3rd – Civil Calendar
August 21st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Thaddaeus.
One of the Seventy, he was not that Thaddaeus who was one of the Twelve. St. Thaddaeus first saw and heard John the Baptist, and then saw the Lord Jesus and followed Him. The Lord included him among His seventy, lesser apostles, whom He sent two and two before His face (Luke 10:1). After His glorious Resurrection and Ascension, the Lord sent Thaddaeus to Edessa, Thaddaeus’ birthplace, in fulfillment of His promise to Avgar, which He made when He sent him the napkin with the imprint of His face. By kissing this napkin, Avgar was healed of his leprosy, though not entirely; a little of the leprosy remained on his face. When St. Thaddaeus visited Avgar, the latter received him with great joy. Christ’s apostle instructed him in the true Faith and then baptized him. When the baptized Avgar came up out of the water, the remaining leprosy fell from him and he was completely healed. Glorifying God, Prince Avgar desired that his people should come to the knowledge of the true God and glorify Him. The prince called together all the citizens of Edessa before the holy Apostle Thaddaeus, to hear him preach about Christ. Hearing the apostle’s words and seeing their miraculously-healed prince, the people cast away their idols and their unclean living, embraced the Christian Faith and were baptized, and the city of Edessa became resplendent with the Christian Faith. Prince Avgar brought much gold and offered it to the apostle, but Thaddaeus said to him: ‘Having abandoned my own, do I accept another’s?’ St. Thaddaeus preached the Gospel throughout Syria and Phoenicia, and entered into rest in the Lord in the Phoenician city of Beirut.
2. The Holy Martyr Vassa and her children: Theognios, Agapios and Pistos.
Vassa was the wife of a pagan priest, but she was secretly a Christian and brought her sons up in a Christian spirit. Her husband hated her for her faith, and handed her over to the judge for torture, together with her sons. After harsh torture, her sons were beheaded (it is thought, in Edessa in Macedonia). Vassa was filled with joy to see her sons thus gloriously finish their martyrs’ course for Christ, and herself went with yet greater desire from torture to torture. When she was thrown into the sea, angels appeared to her and took her to an island in the Sea of Marmara, where she was slain with the sword under Maximian. Thus holy Vassa was in a twofold manner made worthy of the kingdom of Christ: as a martyr and as the mother of martyrs.
3. Our Holy Father Abraham (Avraamy) of Smolensk.
Born in the town of Smolensk at the prayers of his parents, he early embraced the monastic state and gave himself to strict asceticism, emulating the holy fathers of the desert. He later founded the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Smolensk. He underwent many temptations from demons and from men, enduring them with great fortitude and thanksgiving to God. At a time of great drought, he brought rain by his prayers. Living fifty years in asceticism, he entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in about 1220.
4. Our Holy Forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
   They are also
commemorated on the Sunday of the Forefathers before the Nativity of Christ, as righteous
and pleasing to God.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
Great-souled forgiveness of slanderers and prayer for them is a distinctive mark of the Christian saints, who regard slander against themselves as sent, not by men but by demons, the greatest instigators of every slander, as of every sin in general. St. Abraham of Smolensk was slandered to the prince and the bishop by his envious priests as an imposter, a magician and a hypocrite. The slanderers sought nothing less than that he should be burned. The prince and bishop believed the slanderers, and Abraham was driven out of Smolensk and forbidden to celebrate the divine Mysteries. During the whole time of his exile and condemnation, Abraham repeated the prayer of St. Stephen the first martyr: ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge’ (Acts 7:60). It was later established that Abraham’s accusers were false and slanderous. The furious prince sought to punish the slanderers severely, and the bishop to excommunicate them, but holy Abraham fell on his knees before the bishop and begged him with tears to forgive them. He would not return to his monastery or begin again the celebration of the divine Mysteries until his slanderers had been pardoned and set free.
September 4th – Civil Calendar
August 22nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Agathonikos and Zotikos, and others with them.
St. Agathonikos was a citizen of Nikomedia and a Christian. He turned the Greeks from idolatry with great fervor, and instructed them in the true Faith. The imperial governor, on orders from the Emperor Maximian, was persecuting Christians with great harshness. In this persecution, he seized St. Zotikos in a place called Carpe, crucified his disciples and took him off to Nikomedia, where he also seized and bound Agathonikos, Princeps, Theoprepios, Akyndinos, Severianos, Zeno and many others. They were taken, securely bound, to Byzantium. On the way, Zotikos, Theoprepios and Akyndinos died from exhaustion and of their wounds. Severianos was killed near Chalcedon and Agathonikos and the others were taken to Thrace, to a place called Silybria, where, after torture before the emperor himself, they were beheaded with the sword and entered into eternal life and the joy of their Lord.
2. The Holy Martyr Eulalia.
At the time of a terrible persecution of Christians in Spain, there was a maiden called Eulalia, born of Christian parents in Barcelona. Utterly consecrated to Christ her Bridegroom, and steeped in the holy Scriptures, she applied herself steadfastly to voluntary asceticism of soul and body. When the torturer, Dacian, who was mercilessly slaughtering Christians in Spain, came to Barcelona, Eulalia slipped away from her parents by night, came before the torturer, and in the presence of many of the people, denounced him as a murderer of innocent people, and also pulled down idols, openly confessing her faith in Christ the living Lord. Dacian commanded in fury that she be stripped and beaten with rods, but the holy maiden showed that she did not feel the pain of the torture for her Christ. Then the torturer had her tied to a tree in the form of a Cross, and ordered that her flesh be burned with torches. The torturer asked her, where was her Christ to save her? Eulalia answered: ‘He is here with me, but you cannot see Him because of your impurity.’ Under great torture, Eulalia gave her soul to God, and when she breathed her last, the people saw a white dove emerge from her mouth. Then a sudden snowstorm came and covered the naked body of the martyr like a white garment. On the third day, St. Felix came, and in grief, wept before the hanging body of Eulalia, and a smile appeared on the saint’s dead face. Her parents came, and together with other Christians, buried the body of the holy maiden. She suffered for her Lord and entered into eternal joy at the beginning of the fourth century.
3. The Holy Martyr Anthusa, and others with her.
The daughter of rich, pagan parents in Seleukeia in Syria, Anthusa heard of Christ and believed in Him with all her heart. She went secretly to Bishop Athanasius, who baptized her, and an angel of God appeared at that moment. After that, Anthusa went off to the desert to live in asceticism, not daring to return to her parents. She lived in the desert for thirty-three years, until, while kneeling in prayer on a rock, she gave her soul into God’s hands. She was buried, at her prior request, under this rock. Athanasius and two of Anthusa’s servants, Charismus and Neophytus, were beheaded for their faith in Christ in the time of the Emperor Valerian, in about the year 257. They suffered with honor and were crowned with wreaths.
FOR CONSIDERATION
When once a man has truly repented, he must think no more of the sins committed, lest he fall again into sin. St. Anthony advises: ‘Guard yourself, that your mind be not fouled with the memory of former sins, and that the memory of them be not renewed within you.’ And, in another place, he says: ‘Don’t establish the sins that you have formerly committed in your soul by pondering on them, lest they be renewed in you. Be assured that they are forgiven from the moment that you turn to God in repentance. Be in no doubt about this.’ It was said of St. Ammon that he achieved such perfection that, in his great goodness, he no longer recognized the existence of evil. When he was asked what was the ‘narrow and hard’ way, he replied: ‘It is the curbing of one’s thoughts and the mortifying of one’s own will for the fulfilling of the will of God.’ He who curbs sinful thoughts thinks neither of his own sin nor of another’s, nor of anything corruptible or earthly. The mind of such a man is constantly in heaven, where there is no evil. Thus, little by little, evil is cast out from us, even in our thoughts.
September 5th – Civil Calendar
August 23rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Loupos.
This holy man was a servant of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica. When St. Demetrius was killed by being pierced with spears by order of the Emperor Maximian, Loupos dipped the hem of his garment and his ring in the martyr’s blood. Loupos worked many miracles in Thessalonica with this garment and ring, healing people of every pain and infirmity. The Emperor Maximian, who was still staying in Thessalonica, discovered this, and commanded that Loupos be tortured and killed. But the soldiers who drew their weapons on Loupos turned one on the other and wounded one another. After harsh torture, he was beheaded and entered into the heavenly kingdom.
2. The Hieromartyr Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons.
He was sent by St. Polycarp from Asia Minor to preach in Gaul. He became the first Bishop of Lyons and brought many pagans to Christianity. At the time of a persecution of Christians in the year 177, Pothinus was taken for trial; carried there, as he was ninety years old. ‘Who is the Christian God?’ the proconsul asked him. ‘You will find out, if you are worthy,’ old Pothinus answered him. The pagans assaulted him with sticks and stones, and belabored him without mercy. Thrown into prison, St. Pothinus died of the beating and entered into the heavenly kingdom.
3. The Hieromartyr Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons.
He was in his youth a pupil of St. Polycarp, the disciple of the apostles, who sent him to preach in Gaul. After St. Pothinus’ death by martyrdom, Irenaeus was made bishop. In his numerous writings, Irenaeus both expounded the Orthodox Faith and defended it against heretics. He suffered for Christ in the time of the Emperor Severus, in 202, along with nineteen thousand Christians.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The mysterious power of the Cross, however inexplicable, is true and indisputable. St. John Chrysostom speaks of the custom that obtained in his time, of placing the sign of the Cross ‘on the imperial diadem and the soldiers’ accoutrements, and of making it on parts of the body: the head, the breast and the heart, both at the table of sacrifice and on lying down in bed.’ ‘If,’ he says, ‘we are striving to drive out demons, we use the Cross, and it is also of aid in healing sickness.’ St. Benedict made the sign of the Cross over a glass containing poison, and the glass shattered as if struck by a stone. St. Julian made the sign of the Cross over a cup of poison brought to him, and drank the poison, suffering no bodily harm from it. The holy martyr Vasilissa of Nikomedia protected herself with the sign of the Cross and stood in the midst of the flames, remaining completely untouched. The holy martyrs Audon and Senis crossed themselves when ravening wild animals were let loose on them, and the beasts became docile and meek as lambs. The sign of the Cross has been the most powerful weapon against great temptations from demons, from the early ascetics down to the present day. The most ferocious of the devil’s devisings are dispersed into nothing, like smoke, when a man signs himself with the Cross. Thus it was the good will of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that the erstwhile sign of wickedness and shame, the cross, should, after His crucifixion on the wood of the Cross, be the vehicle of all-conquering power and might.
September 6th – Civil Calendar
August 24th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Eftyches.
One of the lesser apostles, born in Sebastopol, he was a disciple and friend of the Apostles John the Theologian and Paul. Although he was not included in the Seventy, he was called an apostle by virtue of having been a disciple of the great apostles, and because he showed true apostolic zeal in the service of the Gospel. Consecrated as a missionary bishop, St. Eftyches travelled widely, having an angel as a companion, and he also received heavenly bread from an angel while in prison. When his body was flayed with serrated iron rods, his blood ran down mingled with a sweet myrrh. He was thrown into the flames and before wild beasts, and was finally beheaded with the sword in Sebastopol.
2. The Holy Martyr Tation.
Born in Mantinaeas near Claudioupolis in Bithynia, he suffered under Diocletian. After harsh torture, he was buried alive and thus gave his holy soul into God’s hands.
3. The Holy Martyr Syra.
A kinswoman of St. Golinduc (July 12th), she was a Persian, the daughter of an eminent priest of fire-worship. Brought up in paganism, the maiden Syra heard of Christ from some godly Christian woman, and her little heart became inflamed with love for the Lord. In a time of sickness, while still unbaptized, she begged dust from the church of the Christian priest, but he refused to give it to her in her unbaptized state. Then she, with great faith, touched the priest’s garments and was healed. This miraculous healing confirmed her yet more fully in the Christian Faith. Her soulless father put her to harsh torture, during which she received encouragement and support from heavenly visions. Cruelly strangled with a cord and then drowned, in 558 at the age of eighteen, in the time of the Persian King Chozroes I, this holy maiden thus gloriously finished her earthly course and entered into the heavenly community of the angels.
4. Our Holy Father Arseny of Komel.
Born in Moscow of noble parents, he received the monastic schema as a young man in the community of St. Sergius of Radonezh. A model monk, he was chosen as abbot, but he yearned for a life of prayerful solitude and withdrew to the forest of Komel, where he lived in asceticism till his death, fighting courageously with great diabolical temptations. He entered into rest in the Lord in 1550.
5. St. George Limniotes (“of the Lake”).
A confessor and a great ascetic of Olympus, he suffered in about 216, at the age of ninety-five.
In the Greek Great Synaxarion, St. Dionysius, Archbishop of Aegina, who died in 1624, is also commemorated (translation of his relics). Many miracles have been wrought over his relics.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If you ask many people why they do not go to church, they usually reply: ‘I haven’t got time; I must work.’ Look at these people, who only work and never go to church, devoting themselves only to their work, and compare them with people who set aside time both for work and for prayer, and you will soon be convinced that these latter are different. They are better-off, and which is more important, more contented. It is told of two neighbors who were tailors that they were very different in their work and in their prayer, in their possessions and in their contentment. One of them had a large family and the other was single. The first had the habit of going to church each morning, and the lone one never went to church. The first not only worked less, but was a less skilled workman than the other, but he had all he needed and the other was in straitened circumstances. The latter asked the former how it was that he had everything although he worked less. The prayerful man replied that he went to church every day, and found some gold on the way. He invited his neighbor to go with him to pray, promising that they would share the gold that they found. His neighbor began going regularly to church, and they both soon became one in their abundance and their contentment. They found no gold on the road, but the gold of God’s blessing increased the abundance of these true men of prayer. To those who ‘seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,’ God will add the increase of all that is necessary to them for their bodily life.
September 7th – Civil Calendar
August 25th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Bartholomew.
Today is the commemoration of the translation of St.
Bartholomew’s relics, while his main feast falls on June 11th. When this great apostle was
crucified in Ourbanopolis in Armenia, Christians took his body and buried it in a leaden coffin.
When numerous miracles had been wrought over the apostle’s grave, especially healings of
the sick—which led to an increase in the number of Christians—the pagans took the coffin
containing Bartholomew’s relics and cast it into the sea. At the same time, they threw in
four other coffins with the relics of four martyrs: Papian, Lucian, Gregory and Acacius. By
God’s providence, the coffins did not sink, but floated, carried by the waves, to various
places: Acacius’ to the city of Askalon, Gregory’s to Calabria, Lucian’s to Messina,
Papian’s to another place in Sicily and Bartholomew’s to the island of Lipara. By
divine revelation, the Bishop of Lipara, Agathon, learned of the approach to Lipara of the relics
of St. Bartholomew. Agathon, with his clergy and people, went out to the shore and awaited the
coffin with great joy. On that occasion, many of the sick were healed by the holy apostle’s
relics. They were placed in the church of St. Bartholomew and lay there until the time of
Theophilus the Iconoclast (about 839), then, when the Moslems threatened the Liparites, the
apostle’s relics were taken to the town of Benevento. Thus God glorified His apostle by
miracles, both during his lifetime and after his death.
2. The Holy Apostle Titus.
One of the Seventy, he was born in Crete and educated in Greek
philosophy and poetry. Led by a dream, he read the Prophet Isaias and came to doubt all Hellenic
learning. Hearing of Christ the Lord, he went to Jerusalem with some other Cretans, and himself
heard the words of the Savior and saw His mighty works. His youthful heart clave utterly to
Christ. He was later baptized by the Apostle Paul, whom he served in the works of the Gospel as a
son serves his father. Paul loved Titus so greatly that he sometimes called him his son (Titus
1:4), and sometimes his brother (II Cor. 12:18). Titus travelled widely with the great apostle of
the nations, and was by him made Bishop of Crete. At the time of Paul’s suffering in Rome,
Titus was there, and buried the body of his teacher and spiritual father. He then returned to
Crete, where he had great success in baptising the pagans, and wisely governed the Church to
great old age. He entered into rest at the age of ninety-four.
3. The Holy Confessors of Edessa.
They suffered greatly in imprisonment and exile for the Orthodox Faith in the time of the Emperor Valens, who held the Arian heresy. They were freed under the Emperor Theodosios.
4. St. Menas, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He governed the Church wisely from 536 to 552. Before that, he ran the Home of St. Sampson for the poor and needy (see June 27th). Pope Agapetus, who had come to Constantinople at that time to oppose and depose the heretical Patriarch Anthimos, participated in Menas’ consecration as bishop there. It is said that the following marvel came to pass in Constantinople in the time of Patriarch Menas: a Jewish boy went to church with his friends, and following their example, received holy Communion. The boy’s father, a glassblower, when he heard of his son’s action, seized him and threw him into the red-hot kiln that he had prepared for the firing of glass. The boy remained shut in this kiln for three days and nights, but when the kiln was opened, he was found alive and unharmed, preserved by God’s providence.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The superhuman courage of our Christian forbears and their readiness to undergo all manner of sufferings and voluntary death for Christ was a source of terror to their torturers. The Emperor Maximian, a fierce and shameless persecutor of Christians, commanded his proconsul in Antioch to set St. Andrew Stratelates free from prison, for fear that the people, who had more respect for Andrew than for the emperor, would revolt. The Emperor Valens commanded his eparch in Edessa to slay all the Christians who were opposed to Arius. The eparch had more human compassion than the emperor, and warned the Christians secretly by night not to leave the city the following day for the fields where they usually held their services (for the Arians had seized all the churches), or they would be slaughtered. Heedless of this warning, the Christians all went to the field in the morning with great joy, rejoicing that they would suffer for the true Faith. The eparch, coming out of the city with his soldiers, saw a Christian woman with a child in her arms, hurrying past the soldiers near the field. The eparch said to her: ‘Have you not heard that the eparch is coming with all his soldiers, to kill everyone he finds?’ The woman replied: ‘I have; and that is why I’m hurrying to die for Christ with the others.’ The eparch continued: ‘But why are you taking that child with you?’ The woman replied: ‘I want my child to be made worthy of martyrdom along with me.’ Seeing and hearing this, the eparch returned in fear to the city and informed the emperor. The emperor was filled with fear, and withdrew his order to massacre.
September 8th – Civil Calendar
August 26th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Adrian and his wife Natalia.
Husband and wife, they were both of noble and wealthy families in Nikomedia. Adrian was the governor of the Praetorium and a pagan, and Natalia was a secret Christian. They were both young, and had lived in wedlock for thirteen months in all before their martyrdom. When the wicked Emperor Maximian visited Nikomedia, he ordered that the Christians be seized and put to torture. There were twenty-three Christians hidden in a cave near the city. Someone handed them over to the authorities and they were cruelly flogged with leather whips and staves, and thrown into prison. They were then taken from prison and brought before the Praetor for their names to be noted. Adrian looked at these people, tortured but unbowed, peaceful and meek, and he put them under oath to say what they hoped for from their God, that they should undergo such tortures. They spoke to him of the blessedness of the righteous in the kingdom of God. Hearing this, and again looking at these people, Adrian suddenly turned to the scribe and said: ‘Write my name along with those of these saints; I also am a Christian.’ When the emperor heard this, he asked him: ‘Have you lost your mind?’ Adrian replied: ‘I haven’t lost it, but found it!’ Hearing this, Natalia rejoiced greatly, and when Adrian sat chained with the others in prison, came and ministered to them all. When they flogged her husband and put him to various tortures, she encouraged him to endure to the end. After long torture and imprisonment, the emperor ordered that they be taken to the prison anvil, for their arms and legs to be broken by hammers. This was done and Adrian, along with the twenty-three others, breathed his last under the vicious tortures. Natalia took their relics to Constantinople and there buried them. After several days Adrian appeared to her, bathed in light and beauty and calling her to come to God, and she peacefully gave her soul into her Lord’s hands.
2. Our Holy Father Tithoes.
A disciple of St. Pachomios and great among the Egyptian ascetics, he was abbot of Tabennisi. He spent his whole life in absolute purity. One of the brethren once asked him: ‘What path leads to humility?’ To this Tithoes replied: ‘The path to humility is abstinence, prayer, and the considering of oneself as the least of all creatures.’ He reached a very high peak of perfection, and whenever he raised his hands in prayer, his spirit entered into ecstasy. He entered into rest in the fourth or fifth century. Our Holy Father Ibistion is commemorated together with him.
3. St. Zer-Jacob.
A great Christian missionary in Abyssinia.
Under today’s date in the Greek Synaxarion is also found the life of St. Ioasaph, the heir of the King of India. In the Slav Prologues, though, as in this one, he is to be found under November 19th.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Sometimes the godless word is heard among Christians: ‘God cannot help here!’ There is no danger in which God cannot help, and no enemy who could, in his own strength and without God’s permission, gain the victory. Do not ask how God will crush the power of the armies of our enemies—that is easier to God than the act of breathing is to us. Read how God once, by a hallucination, terrified the Syrian army, so that it was scattered and Israel was saved (II Kings 7:6). Read how Jerusalem was saved from the might of the armies of Babylon without the slightest effort on the part of King Hezekiah other than his weeping before God and his prayers (II Kings 19:35). God did not work such wonders only in former times, but does in every age when the faithful pray to Him. So, in 1395, the Tartar king, Tamerlane, besieged Moscow with a force too vast to number. The Russians took the miraculous icon from the city of Vladimir to Moscow, and the whole people began with tears to pray to the holy Mother of God. Suddenly the Tartar army, for no visible reason, began to withdraw in disorder. What had happened? Tamerlane had had a vision in a dream: a cloud of saints had carried him to the heavens, where, in their midst, stood the Mother of God as Queen, surrounded by a host of angels. The Mother of God had severely reprimanded Tamerlane and commanded that he immediately leave the land of Russia, and the saints threatened him with their scepters. Amazed at this dream, Tamerlane, as soon as day broke, ordered the army to decamp.
September 9th – Civil Calendar
August 27th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Poemen the Great.
He was an Egyptian by birth and a great Egyptian ascetic. As a boy, he visited various spiritual teachers and gathered proven experience as a bee gathers honey from flowers. Poemen once begged the elder Paul to take him to St. Paisius. Seeing him, Paisius said: ‘This child will save many; the hand of God is on him.’ In time, Poemen became a monk and drew two of his brothers to monasticism. Their mother once came to see her sons, but Poemen would not allow her in, asking through the door: ‘Which do you want more: to see us here and now, or in the other world in eternity?’ Their mother went away joyfully, saying: ‘If I will see you for certain there, I don’t need to see you here.’ In the monastery of these three brothers, governed by the eldest, Abba Anoub, the rule was as follows: at night, four hours were passed in manual work, four hours in sleep and four in reading the Psalter. The day was passed, from morning to noon, in alternate work and prayer, from midday to Vespers in reading and after Vespers they prepared their meal, the only one in the twenty-four hours, and this usually of some sort of cabbage. Poemen himself said about their life: ‘We ate what was at hand. No one ever said: “Give me something else”, or “I won’t eat that”. In that way, we spent our whole life in silence and peace.’ He lived in the fifth century, and entered peacefully into rest in great old age.
2. Our Holy Father Poemen of Palestine.
He lived the ascetic life in Rouba, in the Palestinian desert, in the time of the Emperor Maurice (582-602), and was a shepherd in his youth. Once his dogs fell on a man and tore him to pieces, and he, from capriciousness, did not try to save him. It was revealed to him that, because of this, he would, in the end, be devoured by wild beasts. So it came to pass: he was so devoured, and gave his soul into God’s hands.
3. St. Hosius of Cordova.
He governed the Church in Spain as Bishop of Cordova for over sixty years, and played a prominent part in the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea. He also presided at the local Council in Sardica in 343. He was so zealous for Orthodoxy that, at the time of his death, he renewed the anathema against the Arian heresy.
4. The Hieromartyr Kuksha and Poemen the Faster.
They were both monks of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev. Kuksha was successful in preaching the Gospel to the Wallachians and in baptising them. One day, pagans fell on him and killed him, together with his disciple. At that moment, Poemen the Faster was standing in the church in the Monastery of the Caves, and seeing in his spirit the death of his disciple and friend Kuksha, cried out: ‘Our brother Kuksha has today been killed for the Gospel!’ Thus saying, he also breathed his last. This was in 1113.
In the Greek Great Synaxarion, the Holy Martyr Phanurios is
also commemorated. Who he was and when he lived is not known, but he is much venerated in Rhodes
and Crete. In about 1500, some Arabs discovered amid the ruins of an ancient church several
icons, and other artifacts. All of the icons were severely decayed and in near ruins except for
one, which appeared new and fresh. The Arabs discarded the icons as useless. Some monks in hiding
who were watching the Arab marauders waited for them to leave, and then rushed to reclaim this
fantastic image in its remarkable state of preservation. The icon’s lettering spelled out
“Phanurios”, and depicted the saint as a young soldier holding a cross in his right
hand and a burning candle in his left, along with twelve scenes from his martyrdom. The scenes
depicted Phanurios being stoned, on the rack, being slashed, behind bars, standing before a
judge, tied to a frame, being burned with candles, tied to a post, thrown to wild animals,
crushed by a boulder, holding hot coals, and a demon hovering against a background of flames. All
of these horrors conveyed that Phanurios was apparently an indestructible instrument of God.
There is a pious tradition that his mother was a great sinner, whom not even he could convert. But his filial love for his mother was great beyond measure, and he prayed more for his mother’s salvation than his own. When the pagans stoned him to death for Christ, St. Phanurios prayed to God: ‘For the sake of these my sufferings, Lord, help all those who will pray to Thee for the salvation of my sinful mother.’ In Egypt, many Christians pray thus: “O Lord, save Phanurios’ mother and help me, a sinner”—and many receive help through this prayer. St. Phanurios is a great aid in locating lost articles; and many people, upon finding their lost possessions from the aid of St. Phanurios, in thanks to him, say a special prayer for his mother.
FOR CONSIDERATION
As those who clamber up a steep mountainside and scrabble with hands and feet to make one yard of progress, utterly forgetful of self—such were the great ascetics of Orthodoxy on their exhausting climb to the kingdom of God. Truly, their efforts and their detachment were marvellous. St. Poemen would not see his mother when she came to visit him. Some prince desired to see Poemen, but the latter refused. Then the prince thought up a devious way of forcing the elder to see him: he seized the son of Poemen’s sister and told her that he would let her son go only if Poemen himself came to speak with him. The sister went off to the desert, and tapping on the door, begged her brother to come and save her son. But Poemen did not come out. Then his sister began to abuse him and curse him. Hearing of this, the prince commanded that a letter be written to Poemen, saying that if he, Poemen, would put in writing (as he would not do so orally) a request to the prince to let his nephew go, the prince would do so. Poemen replied: ‘O powerful prince, be sure to enquire closely into the boy’s guilt. If his guilt be such that he is deserving of death, let him die, that he may by temporal punishment escape torment in eternity. If his guilt does not merit capital punishment, punish him according to the law, and then let him go.’ Reading this impartial and detached letter, the prince was greatly amazed and let the boy go, and his respect for Poemen was deepened.
September 10th – Civil Calendar
August 28th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Moses the Black.
An Ethiopian, he was at first a robber and the leader of
a robber band, but he then became a penitent and a great ascetic. As a slave, Moses escaped from
his owner and became a robber. Because of his great physical strength and recklessness, the
robbers chose him as their leader. Suddenly his conscience was filled with remorse and repentance
for the crimes he had committed. He left the band, went to a monastery and gave himself entirely
to obedience to his spiritual father and to the rule of the monastery. He made great use of the
teaching of Saints Makarios, Arsenius and Isidore. Later, he withdrew to solitude in a cell,
where he gave himself utterly to physical labor, prayer, vigils—and pondering on God. Tormented
by the demon of lust, he confessed to his spiritual father, Isidore, and received from him the
advice to fast as much as possible, and never to eat his fill. When this proved to be of no help,
he, at the elder’s advice, began to keep night-vigils and to pray standing; he then got
into the way of carrying water from a distant well for the older monks. After six years of
terrible striving, St. Isidore finally healed him miraculously of the lustful thoughts,
imaginings and dreams visited on him by the demon. He was ordained priest in old age. He founded
a monastery of his own, and had seventy-five disciples, himself living to the age of
seventy-five. He foresaw his own death, and one day told his disciples to flee, as barbarians
were coming to attack the monastery. When his disciples urged him to flee as well, he told them
that he must perish in the attack, for he had himself at one time done violence, according to the
words: ‘All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword’ (Matt. 26:52). So
he stayed, with six of his brethren. The barbarians came and ran them through. One of the
brethren, hiding nearby, saw seven shining wreaths descend upon the seven martyrs.
2. Our Holy Father Sava of Pskov and Krypetsk.
A Serb by birth, he lived first in asceticism in the monastery of the holy Mother of God in Pskov, and was abbot of that monastery. But he was praised, so he fled from the glory of men and withdrew to an island in the lake of Krypetsk, where he founded a new community dedicated to St. John the Theologian. However, he was not able there, either, to hide from praise and eminence. Prince Yaroslav of Pskov visited him with his wife. Sava would not allow the woman to enter the monastery, but blessed her and prayed for her outside it, healing her of an infirmity. This godly saint entered into rest in 1495, and his relics had wonder-working power. Of those he received at Krypetsk, Abbot Dositheus is the best-known.
FOR CONSIDERATION
True Christians flee the praise of men. They not only flee it; they have a real fear of it. St. Sava of Pskov left his abbacy, the monastery and the good brethren in it, and went to a barren region, only to escape the praise of men. For the praise of men steals our hearts. A devout prince, hearing of the ascetic feats of St. Moses the Black, set off to the desert with his retinue to see him. Moses was informed that the prince was coming to his monastery. He ran out quickly, to escape and hide somewhere, but unexpectedly came on the noble visitors. ‘Where is Abba Moses’ cell?’ asked the prince’s servant, not suspecting that this was Moses himself. Moses opened his mouth and said: ‘What can he do for you? He is a foolish man, given to lying, and of unclean life.’ The visitors were amazed at these words, and went on their way. When they arrived at Moses’ cell, they asked for the elder and were told that he was not there. The visitors then related what a monk had told them on the way about Moses. The monks were greatly saddened, then asked: ‘What was he like, this old man who spoke such scurrilous words about the holy man?’ When they said that he was very dark-skinned, tall and poorly-clad, the monks exclaimed aloud: ‘That was Abba Moses!’ This incident was of great spiritual help to the prince, and he went home rejoicing.
September 11th – Civil Calendar
August 29th – Church Calendar
1. The Beheading of St. John the Baptist.
Herod Antipas, son of the Herod who slew the young
children in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of the Lord Jesus, was ruler of Galilee when John
the Baptist was preaching. This Herod was married to the daughter of Aretas, an Arabian prince.
But Herod, an evil branch of evil stock, put away his lawful wife and took Herodias, his brother
Philip’s wife, to live with him. John the Baptist stood up against this lawlessness and
strongly denounced Herod, at which Herod threw him into prison. At the time of a birthday feast
at his court in Sebastia in Galilee, Salome, the daughter of Herodias and Philip, danced for the
guests. Herod, in his cups and carried away by her dancing, promised her whatever she asked, even
to the half of his kingdom. Instructed by her mother, she asked for the head of John the Baptist.
Herod commanded that John be beheaded in the prison and his head brought on a platter.
John’s disciples took the body of their teacher by night and buried it, but Herodias tore
out John’s tongue with a needle and then buried his head in an unclean place. What later
happened to John’s head is recorded and can be read under February 24th.
God’s punishment was quickly visited upon this group of evildoers. Prince Aretas, to avenge his daughter’s honor, attacked Herod with his army and brought him to his knees. The defeated Herod was condemned by the Roman Caesar, Caligula, to exile first in Gaul and then in Spain. As exiles, Herod and Herodias lived in need and debasement until the earth opened and swallowed them up. Salome, Herodias’ daughter, came to a bad end in the River Sikaris (Sula).
The death of John took place before the Passover, but its commemoration on August 29th was instituted because it was on this day that a church, that had been built over his grave in Sebastia by the Emperor Constantine and the Empress Helena, was consecrated. In this church were also placed the relics of John’s disciples, Eliseus and Audius.
2. Our Holy Mother Theodora of Thessalonica.
A wealthy and devout woman, she lived on the island of Aegina, but when the Arabs over-ran the island, she moved to Thessalonica. There she gave her only daughter to a monastery, where she received the monastic name Theopista. Her husband Theodorinos died very soon, and then Theodora became a nun. She was a great ascetic. She often heard angelic singing, and would say to her sisters: ‘Don’t you hear how wonderfully the angels are singing in heavenly light?’ She entered into rest in 879, and a healing myrrh flowed from her body, which gave healing to many.
3. The Holy Martyr Vasilissa.
She suffered for Christ in Srem.
4. The Holy Martyr Anastasios.
A young man from Radoviste in the diocese of Strumica, he learned a trade in Thessalonica. The Turks tried to force him to become one of them, but he refused firmly. For this he was tortured and finally hanged, on August 29th, 1794.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If you notice how men die, you will see that a man’s death usually reflects his sin. As it is written: ‘He who takes the sword shall perish by the sword’ (Matt. 26:52). Every sin is a sword, and men are usually run through by the sin that they first committed. Salome, the foul daughter of Herodias, who asked for and received the head of St. John the Baptist on a platter from Herod, offers us an example of this. Living in Spain, in the town of Lerida, with the exiled Herod and Herodias, she began one day to cross the frozen Sikaris River. The ice broke and she fell into the water up to her throat. Pieces of the ice held her by the throat, and she struggled, dancing with her legs in the water as she once danced in Herod’s court. She could neither raise herself nor sink, and in the end a fragment of ice decapitated her. The water carried her body away, but her head was taken on a platter to Herodias, as had earlier been the head of John the Baptist. See how a terrible death reflects the sin committed!
September 12th – Civil Calendar
August 30th – Church Calendar
1. Ss. Alexander, John and Paul, Patriarchs of Constantinople.
Alexander took part in the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, in place of the aged Patriarch Metrophanes, whom he then succeeded. When certain philosophers tried to dispute with him about faith, he said to one of them: ‘In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to remain silent!’ and the philosopher became dumb from that moment. By his prayers, also, Arius’ life was shortened. Alexander died at the age of ninety-eight, in the year 340.
St. John III Scholastikos governed the Church in the time of Emperor Justin II and added the canons of Sardica and of St. Basil the Great to the Church’s collection of canons. He reposed in 577.
St. Paul IV governed the Church for five years and eight months and renounced the throne to receive the Great Habit secretly, to repent of his sins when he first supported the iconoclasts. He was the predecessor of the great Tarasios, and entered into rest in the time of Irene and Constantine, in 784.
2. The Assembly of the Enlighteners and Teachers of Serbia.
On this day are commemorated, not all the saints of Serbia in
general, but several archbishops and patriarchs:
St. Sava, the first Archbishop of Serbia, called equal to the apostles.
Arsenius, St. Sava’s successor, a great hierarch and wonder-worker.
Sava II, son of King Stefan the First-Crowned, who lived a long time in Jerusalem and was called ‘like to Moses in meekness’.
Nicodemus, who lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain, and was abbot of Hilandar and archbishop of ‘all the Serbian and maritime lands’.
Ioannikios, archbishop and then, from 1346-1349, patriarch.
Ephraim, an ascetic who, in 1376, was chosen against his will as patriarch in the time of Prince Lazar. He crowned Lazar and then renounced the patriarchal throne and withdrew into solitude.
Spiridon, Ephraim’s successor, who died in 1388.
Macarius, who restored many old foundations, printed Church books in Skadar, Venice, Belgrade and other places, built the famous refectory in the monastery at Peć, and did much for the advancement of the Church with the help of his brother, Mehmed Sokolović. He entered into rest in 1574.
Gavrilo (Gabriel), by birth a nobleman of the Rajić family, who took part in the Moscow Council under Patriarch Nikhon, because of which he was tortured by the Turks for treason and hanged in 1656.
As well as these, there are also commemorated Eustace, Jacob, Danilo, Sava III, Gregory, John, Maxim and Nikhon. Many of them lived the ascetic life on the Holy Mountain, and all were ‘gentle and faithful servants, good laborers in the Lord’s vineyard’.
3. Our Holy Father Christopher.
An ascetic of the sixth century in the community of St. Theodosios in Palestine, he saw in a vision that the lamp of the monk who labored was burning, and the lamp of the lazy monk was not.
4. St. Evlalios, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia.
One of St. Basil’s predecessors, he deprived his son of his priesthood for wearing clothing unsuited to his spiritual calling.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Noisy heretics perish with hubbub and disgrace, and their deaths themselves show God’s wrath towards them for the lies that they spread and that disturbed the Church of God. Arius, after being condemned at Nicaea, came one day to the Emperor Constantine and begged that he might be received back into the Church. Constantine asked him if he believed the Nicene Creed and he, cunningly carrying in his bosom a paper on which his heretical creed was written, indicated his breast with his hand, and said to the Emperor: ‘Thus I believe.’ The emperor believed that Arius had repented and sent him to Patriarch Alexander to be reconciled with the Church. Alexander was unwilling to receive Arius, knowing that he was lying, but the emperor fixed a certain Sunday on which Arius was to be brought into the Great Church. The evening before that day, the holy patriarch begged God to take his soul before the blasphemous heretic was brought into the church. When the appointed Sunday dawned, the patriarch was in church at the service, and Arius, with the emperor’s men and his fellow-heretics, set off for the church. When they reached the Square of Constantine, he was suddenly seized by pains in the spirit and the body, and sought a place to relieve himself. There, in the square, was such a place, and he went there. His companions waited a long time for him, and became impatient. When someone went to see what was the matter, he found him dead in that filthy place, lying in foulness and blood.
September 13th – Civil Calendar
August 31st – Church Calendar
1. The Feast of the Belt (Cincture) of the Holy Mother of God.
At her dormition, the most holy Mother of God left her belt to the holy Apostle Thomas. This belt was later taken to Constantinople and kept there in a sealed casket in the church of the Mother of God at Vlachernai, founded by the Empress Pulcheria. This casket was never opened until the time of the Emperor Leo the Wise (886-912). Leo’s wife, the Empress Zoe, was taken sick in soul, and as the result of a mysterious vision, desired that the belt of the holy Mother of God be placed upon her. The emperor asked the patriarch, and the casket was opened. The belt was taken out and placed upon the sick empress, who immediately recovered. This feast was instituted as a memorial of this wonder. One part of this belt is to be found in Georgia, in Zugdid. This came about as follows: The daughter of the Emperor Romanos was healed by the aid of this belt, and later, when her father gave her to King Abuchaz of Georgia, she took a part of this belt with her. By order of the Russian Tsar Alexander I, a special church was built in Mingrelia in Zugdid, where this piece of the wonder-working raiment of the holy Mother of God is kept.
2. St. Gennadios, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He followed St. Anatolios as patriarch, and was a contemporary of St. Marcian (Jan. 10th) and St. Daniel the Stylite (Dec. 11th). The famous monastery of the Studion was founded in his time, thus named for the Roman senator Studius, who came to Constantinople, and with Patriarch Gennadios’ blessing, built the church of St. John the Forerunner and the monastery beside it. Gennadios was very gentle and abstinent. He was never willing to ordain any man who did not know the whole Psalter by heart. He presided at a local Council in Constantinople at which simony in the Church was anathematised. He worked miracles, and learned of his death in a vision. He governed the Church for thirteen years, and went peacefully to the Lord in 471.
3. The Hieromartyr Cyprian.
He was born of unbelieving parents, and was himself reared in paganism. He became known in Carthage as a teacher of philosophy and rhetoric. He was married, but when he became a Christian, he stopped living with his wife and gave himself to an unceasing study of the holy Scriptures and the perfecting of his character. For his rare virtues, he was ordained priest and very soon consecrated bishop. He was both compassionate to Christians and firm with heretics. He wrote a number of learned books, guided by the Spirit of God, writing especially strongly against idolatry, Judaism and the Novatian heresy. His writings on virginity, martyrdom, alms, patience, prayer to God and so forth are beautiful and gentle. He suffered in the time of Valerian, in 258. At the time of his death, he prayed to God, blessed the people and left twenty-five gold pieces for the executioner who would behead him. See the matchless generosity and greatness of a true Christian!
4. St. John, Metropolitan of Kiev.
A Bulgarian, he went to Kiev in 1080 and at once achieved such eminence that he was quickly raised to the rank of metropolitan. He wrote a letter to Pope Clement, in which he denounced him for certain practices that the Roman Church had introduced. He governed the Church for eight years, and entered peacefully into rest in 1089.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Christians do not believe in kismet, in fate. Though God determines the chief lines of our life, He is willing, by our prayers and virtue, to change them. Thus, He prolonged King Hezekiah’s life by fifteen years (Is. 38), and our holy father Dios (July 19th) also had his life lengthened by a similar period. God extended the life of Basil the Great by one day, at the saint’s prayers, so that he could baptize his Jewish doctor, Joseph. But, as God can, in response to prayer, lengthen life, so He can, through sin, shorten it.
September 14th – Civil Calendar
September 1st – Church Calendar
1. The Beginning of the Church’s Year.
The First Ecumenical Council decreed that the Church’s year should begin on September 1st. The month of September was, for the Jews, the beginning of the civil year (see Exodus 12:2), the month of the gathering of fruits and the bringing to God of sacrifices of thanksgiving. It was at the time of this feast that the Lord Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth, opened the Book of the Prophet Isaias (Isaiah) and read the words: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; because He hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance’ (Is. 61:1-2; cf. Luke 4:16-21). This month of September is also noted in the history of Christianity because it was during September that Constantine the Great was victorious over Maxentius, the enemy of the Christian Faith, a victory followed by the granting of freedom of confession of the Christian Faith throughout the whole Roman Empire. For a long time, the civil year in the Christian world was reckoned in the same way as the Church’s year, from September 1st, but it was later changed to January 1st, first in western Europe and then also in Russia in the time of Peter I.
2. Our Holy Father Simeon the Stylite.
Born in Syria of peasant parents, he fled from them at
the age of eighteen and became a monk. He gave himself to the strictest asceticism, sometimes
fasting for forty days. After that, he followed a particular ascesis, until then unknown:
standing day and night on a pillar in unceasing prayer. His pillar was at first three meters
high, then one of six meters was built for him, then eleven, eighteen and finally twenty. His
mother, Martha, came to see him twice, but he would not receive her, saying to her from his
pillar: ‘Don’t disturb me now, mother dear, if we are to be worthy to meet in the
next world.’ St. Simeon endured innumerable assaults from demons, overcoming them all by
prayer. He worked great miracles, healing the sick by his prayers and his words. People from all
sides gathered around his pillar: rich and poor, kings and slaves. He helped them all, restoring
bodily health to some, giving comfort and instruction to others and denouncing some for their
heretical faith. The Empress Evdokia-Athenaïs was thus turned from the Eftychian heresy back
to Orthodoxy. Simeon lived in asceticism during the reigns of the Emperors Theodosios the
Younger, Marcian and Leo the Great. This first Christian stylite and great wonder-worker, St.
Simeon, lived for seventy years, and entered into rest in the Lord on September 1st, 459. His
relics were taken to Antioch, to the church dedicated to his name.
3. Rt. Jesus (Joshua) the Son of Navee.
Jesus was the leader of the Jewish people after the death of Moses. Only he and Caleb, of the several hundred thousand Jews that left Egypt, entered the Promised Land. Read of his faithfulness to God, his works and his wonders in the Book of Joshua. He lived for a hundred and ten years, and died in about 1440 B.C.
FOR CONSIDERATION
We must, while we are in this world, make use of all that is at hand for the formation of our souls, for, when death plucks us out of it, we shall take nothing to the other world except our souls as they have been formed in this. St. Simeon the Stylite, while still a young man of eighteen, fell flat on his face on the ground one day and breathed a prayer to God that He would show him the way of salvation. Lying there thus long in prayer, he had this vision: he was digging a trench as a foundation for something, and stopped digging to have a rest. At that, he heard a voice: ‘Dig deeper!’ He began to exert himself to dig deeper, but the voice came again: ‘Dig deeper!’ and he began again with a yet more intensive effort. The voice then said: ‘Stop; that’s enough. Now you must build, but you will not get anywhere without effort.’ Those who make little effort and build the life of their soul on sensual shallows build their building on sand, and such a building cannot stand in this transitory world—and even less in the world that endures.
September 15th – Civil Calendar
September 2nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Mamas.
He was born in Paphlagonia of eminent Christian parents, Theodotus
and Rufina, who were thrown into prison for the name of Christ. In the prison, Theodotus was the
first to die, and Rufina, after giving birth to a son, soon followed her husband, and the newborn
child was left in the prison beside the bodies of his parents. God the Provider sent His holy
angel to a noble widow, Ammia, whom the angel told in a dream to go to the prison and take the
child. Ammia asked the city governor’s permission to bury the dead and take the child into
her own home. The child was dumb until the age of five, and then his first word was
‘Mama,’ because of which he was given the name Mamas. At school, he showed an unusual
brightness, and being brought up at home in a Christian spirit, did not conceal his faith but
confessed it before his contemporaries, mocking at the idols. In the time of the Emperor
Aurelian, there was a vicious persecution of Christians, and the pagans did not spare even
Christian children. Mamas was fifteen years old when he was taken before the emperor. The emperor
told him to deny Christ only with his lips. To this Mamas replied: ‘I shall not deny my God
and King Jesus Christ either in my heart or with my lips.’ The emperor ordered that he be
beaten, burned with torches and finally thrown into the sea, but an angel of God saved him and
took him to a high mountain near Caesarea. There he lived in solitude and prayer, and fierce wild
beasts were tamed by his holiness. He was eventually found there by the persecutors and put again
to torture. Overcoming both the power of fire and the fierceness of wild beasts, holy Mamas was
stabbed with a trident by a pagan priest. He thus gave his holy soul to the God to Whom he had
remained faithful in all his sufferings. Many of the sick have been healed by his relics.
2. St. John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople.
St. John is also commemorated on August 30th. He was a goldsmith at first, then, by God’s providence and for his great virtues, was ordained priest. As a young man, St. John was once walking with an old monk from Palestine, Evsevios. Suddenly, a voice came to Evsevios from some invisible source: ‘Father, don’t walk on the right of great John!’ This, the voice of God, was predicting the high service to which John was soon to be called. After blessed Eftychios’ death, John was chosen as Patriarch of Constantinople. He was most unwilling to accept, but was overawed by a heavenly vision and thus gave his consent. He was a great faster, a man of prayer and a wonder-worker right up to his death, entering into rest in 595. After his death, his only possessions were found to be a wooden spoon, a linen shirt and an old cassock. His writings on repentance and confession are well-known.
3. St. Eleazar.
The son of Aaron and second high priest in Israel, he helped Moses to number the Israelites and Jesus the son of Navee to apportion the Promised Land among the twelve tribes. He faithfully guarded the Ark of the Covenant in Shiloh, and died peacefully.
4. Feast of the Miracle of the Kaluga Icon of the Mother of God.
This is recorded in the passage for consideration below.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The Orthodox Church has, within her experience, innumerable examples of almighty God’s showing of His power through natural and mortal things, especially through those which serve as signs of the incarnation, life and suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ: the Cross, icons of the Mother of God and the saints, holy water, oil, myrrh and so forth. Thus was there wrought a miracle by an icon of the holy Mother of God in 1748, in the house of a boyar, Chitrov, near the town of Kaluga in Russia. Two of the boyar’s serving girls, turning out junk in the attic one day, found a piece of folded linen on which was a beautiful painting of a woman’s face. The face was full of light and devotion. One of these girls was modest and serious, but the other was vain and given to gossip. The former looked at the face on the linen and gave it the name `the abbess,’ but Evdokia, for that was the name of the gossipy one, would not have that, but jeered at her modest companion. To give more force to her words, she spat on the image, and at that moment fell to the ground, her whole body contorted. She became blind and dumb, and began to foam at the mouth. That night, the Mother of God appeared to the parents of the afflicted girl, related to them what had happened to their daughter, and told them to call the priest to pray before the discovered icon and sprinkle the girl with holy water, and she would then be healed. When this had been done, Evdokia was restored to health, and from that time, her character changed and she became serious. Thus it was discovered that this was the miraculous face of the Mother of God. The icon was taken to the church in Kaluga, where it is found today, still working wonders.
September 16th – Civil Calendar
September 3rd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Anthimos.
Born in Nikomedia, he was brought up from childhood as a true Christian. ‘His body was mortified, his spirit humble; jealousy was uprooted, anger tamed, sloth banished.... He had love for all and was at peace with all, had a good understanding with all, was filled with zeal for the glory of God and was open to all.’ It is not surprising that a man of such virtues was made a bishop. St. Anthimos worked as a bishop in Nikomedia at the time of a harsh persecution of Christians under the two wicked Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Streams of Christian blood were spilled, especially in Nikomedia. One year, on the feast of the Nativity of Christ, twenty thousand martyrs were burned in one church (see Dec. 28th). This happened during Anthimos’ episcopate. The persecution did not end with this, but continued, and many Christians were thrown into prison and kept there for torture and death. St. Anthimos withdrew to a village, Omana, not to escape death but to be able thence to strengthen his flock in the path of martyrdom, that none should draw back through fear. One of his letters to the Christians in prison was seized and taken to the Emperor Maximian. The emperor sent twenty soldiers to find Anthimos and take him. The grey-beard, discerning this, went out to meet the soldiers, brought them into his house as his guests and only then revealed that he was Anthimos. The soldiers, amazed at his kindness, urged him to hide, and said that they would tell the emperor that they had been unable to find him, but Anthimos replied that he dared not allow God’s law to be violated by a lie in order to save his life. So he set out with the soldiers. On the way, all the soldiers came to faith in Christ and were baptized by Anthimos. Brought before the emperor, Anthimos was submitted to harsh and long-drawn-out torture, and was finally beheaded with an axe. He glorified God and entered into rest in the Lord at the beginning of the fourth century.
2. The Holy Martyr Vasilissa.
A nine-year-old girl, she suffered in Nikomedia not long after the death of Anthimos. The torturers covered her whole body with wounds, but she remained faithful to Christ. God preserved her unharmed in fire and before wild beasts. Her torturer, Alexander, seeing these wonders, repented and became a Christian. Vasilissa went out into a field, fell on her knees and prayed to God, thanking Him for her endurance under torture, and while thus praying, gave her soul into God’s hands. This was in the year 309.
3. St. Ioannikios (Joanikije), Archbishop and First Patriarch of Serbia.
Born in Prizren, he served at first as secretary to King Dušan. He became archbishop in 1339, and in 1346 was raised to the rank of patriarch. He was a zealous pastor, and brought order to the Serbian Church, being ‘a great upholder of the Church’s laws’. He entered into rest on September 3rd, 1349, and his relics are preserved at Peć.
4. Our Holy Father Theoktistos.
A faster and fellow-ascetic of St. Efthymios the Great, Theoktistos was abbot of Efthymios’ monastery six miles from Jerusalem, on the road to Jericho. He was in all things a disciple of Efthymios, governing the monastery under his guidance to the age of ninety. He led a godly life, and entered into rest in the middle of the fifth century, in the time of Patriarch Anastasios of Jerusalem.
FOR CONSIDERATION
He who desires to be saved must be absolutely obedient to his spiritual superior. Without this obedience, a man can perish, even with the greatest possible desire for salvation. The great saints, who held obedience to be a condition for salvation, themselves perfectly fulfilled obedience. When St. Simeon chose his ascesis on the pillar, this startled the other ascetics as being something new. They, not knowing if this way of asceticism was of the Spirit of God or the spirit of pride, sent various desert fathers and spiritual guides to discover this. Sending them, they told them to command Simeon in their name to come down from his pillar. If he refused, that would mean that his being raised up on the pillar was from the spirit of pride. If he heeded the command and was willing to come down from the pillar, then he must be left to stay where he was, because his readiness to obey showed that his ascesis was from the Holy Spirit. When the delegation arrived and told St. Simeon that the council of the desert fathers commanded him to come down from his pillar, Simeon immediately began to climb down the ladder. Seeing this, the fathers called out joyfully to him: ‘Don’t come down, holy father; stay where you are! We now see that your ascesis is from God!’
September 17th – Civil Calendar
September 4th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Babylas.
This ‘great and wonderful man, if one can call him a man,’ as St. John Chrysostom expresses it, was archbishop in Antioch in the time of the wicked Emperor Numerian. This Numerian made a peace-treaty with some barbarian king, who was of better character and a greater lover of peace than himself. As a sign of his sincere desire for a lasting peace, the king gave his little son to be brought up at Numerian’s court. One day, Numerian butchered the boy and offered him as a sacrifice to the idols. Still hot from his wicked shedding of innocent blood, this evildoer went to a Christian church to see what was happening there. Holy Babylas was at prayer with the people. He heard that the emperor was coming with his retinue and intended to enter the church. Babylas stopped the service, went out in front of the church and told the emperor that, as an idolater, he was not permitted entry to the holy church where the one, true God was worshipped. Speaking of Babylas, St. Chrysostom says: ‘Who else in the world would he fear, having with such authority withstood the emperor? By this he taught kings not to spread their power further than the measure given them by God, and also showed the clergy how to use their authority.’ The shamed emperor turned back, but planned revenge. The following day, the emperor summoned Babylas, and began to berate him and bid him to offer sacrifice to idols, which the saint, naturally, steadfastly refused to do. The emperor then bound him with chains and threw him into prison. He also tortured three children: Urban, aged twelve, Prilidian, aged nine and Hippolinus, aged seven. Babylas was their spiritual father and teacher, and they had stayed near him out of love for him. They were the sons of a Christian woman, Christodoula, who herself suffered for Christ. The emperor first ordered that each child be beaten with the number of blows that totaled his age, and then had them thrown into prison. Babylas, in bonds, was present at the beheading of the children, giving them courage, and then laid his honored head under the sword. He was buried by Christians, in the chains in which he was bound at his death, in one grave with the three children. Their holy souls flew off to the company of heaven, and their wonder-working relics remained to be of support to the faithful, along with the enduring witness of their heroism in the Faith. They suffered in about 283.
2. The Holy Prophet Moses, who beheld God.
 A great leader and lawgiver of Israel, he was born in Egypt
in about 1550 B.C. He spent forty years in Egypt at Pharaoh’s court, forty years as a
shepherd in meditation on God and the world, and his last forty years he led the people
through the wilderness to the Promised Land, which he saw but did not enter, having at one
time sinned against God (Numbers 20:12). He entered into rest at the age of a hundred and
twenty. He appeared from the other world on Tabor at the Lord’s Transfiguration, and
according to the testimony of St. John of the Ladder, appeared to the monks of Sinai.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
The power of the saints after their death is much stronger than during their lifetime. ‘This is why God has left us the relics of the saints,’ says St. Chrysostom in a matchless sermon on St. Babylas. Babylas was buried in Antioch. At that time, the Emperor Gallius, brother of Julian the Apostate, was reigning in harness along with Constantine’s son, Constantius. Urged by a sense of devotion, Gallius brought Babylas’ relics to the outskirts of Daphne, built a small church there and placed the martyr’s relics in it. There was a famous temple of Apollo in Daphne, built on the place where, according to a pagan legend, a young girl turned into a tree (daphni—laurel), to save herself from the god Apollo, who was pursuing her with uncontrollable lust. The idol of Apollo stood here, and was reputed to tell the future to all who consulted it. From the time that Babylas’ relics were buried near the temple, the demon in the idol remained silent and stopped prophesying. When the Emperor Julian the Apostate later set out on his ruinous war against the Persians, he came to this temple to consult the idol on its outcome. The idol replied timidly that it could not give a clear answer ‘because of the dead’ buried in the vicinity. This referred to Babylas, the presence of whose body had silenced the demon. Julian ordered that Babylas’ relics be taken back to Antioch. As soon as the martyr’s relics were removed, fire fell from heaven and consumed the temple of Apollo, destroying it for all time. Julian marched against the Persians, and died a terrible death in punishment for his blasphemous life. Such was the power of the martyr of Christ after his death: he silenced demons and called down fire from heaven to destroy the idolatrous temple, and the godless, apostate emperor was punished with a dishonorable death.
September 18th – Civil Calendar
September 5th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Zacharias.
Father of St. John the Forerunner, he was the son of
Barachias, of the tribe of Aaron, a high priest in descent from Abia, and held the eighth degree
of service in the Temple in Jerusalem. His wife Elisabeth was sister to St. Anna, the mother of
the holy Mother of God. In the reign of King Herod, the child-slayer, Zacharias was serving one
day in his turn in the Temple in Jerusalem. An angel of God appeared to him in the altar, and
Zacharias was afraid. But the angel said to him: ‘Fear not, Zacharias’ (Luke 1), and
informed him that his wife Elisabeth would bear a son, for Zacharias and Elisabeth were both old.
When Zacharias doubted the words of the heavenly messenger, the angel told him: ‘I am
Gabriel, the one who standeth before the face of God,’ and Zacharias was made dumb from
that moment, and did not speak until his son was born and he had written on a tablet: ‘His
name is John.’ Then his mouth was opened, and he glorified God. Later, when the Lord Christ
was born and Herod began killing the children in Bethlehem, he sent men to find Zacharias’
son and kill him, for he had heard of all that had happened to Zacharias and how John was born.
Seeing the soldiers, Elisabeth took John in her arms—he was eighteen months old at that time—and
fled from the house with him to a rocky and desert region. When she saw where the soldiers had
driven them, she cried out to the mountain: ‘O mountain of God, receive a mother with her
child!’ and the rock opened and hid the mother and child inside itself. Herod, furious that
John had not been killed, ordered that Zacharias be cut down before the altar. Zacharias’
blood spilled over the marble and became as hard as stone, remaining thus as a witness to
Herod’s wickedness. At the place where Elisabeth hid with John, a cave opened and a spring
flowed forth, and a fruit-bearing palm grew up by God’s power. Forty days after
Zacharias’ death, blessed Elisabeth also entered into rest. The child John stayed in the
wilderness, fed by an angel and guarded by God’s providence, until that day when he
appeared by the Jordan.
2. The Holy Martyrs Juventius and Maximus.
Little is known about the lives of these two holy men, but their suffering for Christ is known from a sermon in their praise by St. John Chrysostom. They were soldiers in the time of the Emperor Julian the Apostate. In conversation at an army festival, they condemned the emperor for his persecution of Christians. Someone told the emperor of this, and he had them thrown into prison. Some of the emperor’s men visited them, with the intention of turning them from the true Faith, telling them how many of their friends had denied Christ. To this, these great men replied: ‘We must therefore stand firm and with courage, and offer ourselves in sacrifice for their apostasy.’ They were beheaded with the sword under cover of darkness, but their relics were found and discovered to have wonder-working power.
3. The Seventy Holy Martyrs of Nikomedia.
Together with Urban, Theodore and Medimnus, these men were chosen by the Christians of Constantinople in the time of Valens’ persecution of Orthodoxy, to go as the most honored and eminent citizens of Constantinople to Nikomedia and beg the emperor (an Arian) to leave at least their lives to the Orthodox Christians. The emperor was furious and told them to go back home, but secretly ordered the sailors to set fire to the ship when they got out to sea, and save themselves in a small boat. The wicked servants of their yet more wicked master did this. The bodies of these glorious seventy were burned and drowned in the sea, but their souls swam off to the haven of eternal blessedness.
4. Our Holy Father Athanasius (Afanasy).
The holy New-martyr Athanasius was born in 1596 to a poor nobleman's family in the province of Minsk, Belarus. He became a monk and a zealous defender of the holy Orthodox Faith, struggling against the Latin Unia in the western reaches of Russia and Ukraine. Because of his strict monastic life he was ordained to the priesthood, eventually becoming the abbot of the St. Simeon Monastery of Brest-Litovsk. The faithful shepherd of the Lord's flock spent his time teaching and admonishing everyone in true Orthodox doctrine, writing and publishing educational materials and the writings of the holy fathers, and exposing the false union. The Polish Latins perpetrated despicable crimes against the Orthodox who lived within their territories, with the participation and encouragement of the Jesuits: tortures, burnings, brandings and other persecutions aimed at pressuring the Christians to deny their Faith. Only Roman Catholic heretics could engage in such violent behavior, since forced conversions are foreign to the Orthodox Faith. In 1645 Saint Athanasius was arrested and imprisoned for two years, as a new wave of persecution more brutal than previous ones broke out. Again, in 1648, the Latins apprehended Father Athanasius and tortured him both physically and psychologically. Transferring him to a Jesuit concentration camp, the authorities inflicted excruciatingly painful tortures on him, burning him with hot coals and branding him with iron rods. They flayed his flesh and burned him alive, though he somehow survived. At last he was dragged into a forest where he was shot twice and immediately surrendered his soul to God. The malicious Jesuits, unsatisfied with the death of the saint, continued to afflict his lifeless body, beheading him and then irreverently forcing his body into a narrow pit in the earth. Sometime later, a child miraculously found his body, and the local peasants unearthed his incorrupt relics with amazement, carrying the martyr’s body to the church of his own monastery, where many miracles have been performed at his sepulcher.
FOR CONSIDERATION
It is in vain that men try to find that which God deliberately hides from them. If God had not permitted it, men would never have found gold and silver under the earth, nor power made from steam nor a spark of electric light. In vain did Herod slay many children in Bethlehem in an effort to kill the One, for this One was hidden from the sight and sword of Herod. In vain did Herod seek John—and here is a mystery. The soldiers hastened after old Elisabeth, who fled with John in her arms, and could not catch her. Herod, in a rage, summoned Zacharias and shouted at him: ‘Give me your son John!’ But the old priest meekly replied to the king: ‘I am in the service of the Lord God of Israel. As for my son John, I do not know where he is.’ Maddened with rage, Herod ordered that Zacharias be murdered in place of John. The king’s servants went to the Temple and asked Zacharias: ‘Where have you hidden your son? Give him to us; the king demands this. If you do not give him to us, you will die yourself.’ Zacharias replied: ‘You may kill my body, but the Lord will receive my soul.’ Zacharias was slain, but Herod was not content with that. The wicked king had no peace day or night, being tormented with the foreboding that the newborn King proclaimed by the Magi must be none other than John. But he tried in vain to find him whom God deliberately concealed from him.
September 19th – Civil Calendar
September 6th – Church Calendar
1. The Commemoration of the Miracles of the Holy Archangel Michael.
There was in Phrygia a place called Chonae,
not far from Hierapolis, and in that place there was a miraculous spring of water. When the
Apostle John the Theologian, together with Philip, was preaching the Gospel in Hierapolis, he
looked at this place and foretold that a spring would gush forth in it, a spring of healing water
from which many would be restored to health, and that the place would be visited by Michael, the
great archangel of God. This prophecy was very soon fulfilled: a spring of water appeared, which
became known far and wide for its miraculous power. A pagan in Laodicea had a dumb daughter,
which caused him great grief, but the Archangel Michael appeared to him in a dream and urged him
to take his daughter to this spring, that she might be restored to health. The father immediately
obeyed, took his daughter and there encountered many people who had come to seek deliverance from
various ills. They were all Christians. The man asked how he should seek healing, and the
Christians told him: ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
you must beg the Archangel Michael.’ The father made his petition accordingly and dipped
his daughter in the water, and the girl began to speak. Then this pagan was baptized along with
his daughter and his whole household, and built a church to the Archangel Michael over the
spring.
Later, a young man called Archippos settled there. Pagans did him much malicious harm, for they did not want such power to be felt from a Christian holy place and many people be drawn to it. In their wickedness, they altered the course of a nearby river, so that it would inundate the church and the spring. But, at the prayers of Archippos, the Archangel Michael appeared and opened a fissure in the rock at the end of the church, through which the flooding river plunged. So the place was saved, and became known as Chonae—“plunging”—from the river’s plunge through the opened fissure. St. Archippos lived there in asceticism till the age of seventy, and entered peacefully into rest in the Lord.
2. The Holy Martyr Romulus, and the 11,000 soldiers.
When the Emperor Trajan was waging war in the East, he once ordered a count of the Christians in his army, and it was found that there were eleven thousand Christians in the imperial army. The emperor ordered that they all be dismissed from the army and sent to Armenia. St. Romulus was an official at the emperor’s court. He went to the emperor and chided him for these dismissals, acknowledging that he himself was a Christian. The emperor ordered that Romulus be beheaded. Of the exiled soldiers, ten thousand were crucified and the others died under various tortures.
3. St. Evdoxius.
A commander in the Roman army, he suffered for Christ in the time of Diocletian, being judged and tortured by the governor of Melitene in Armenia. With him suffered his friends Zeno and Macarius, and 1,104 other soldiers whom Evdoxius had brought to the Christian Faith. After his death, he appeared to his wife Vasilissa, who was faithful to Christ till her death and entered peacefully into rest.
4. Our Holy Father David.
He was a robber leader near Hermopolis in Egypt, and only in his later years came to himself, repented and became a monk. He entered peacefully into rest in the sixth century, being worthy of the kingdom of God through his great asceticism.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Christianity has uprooted many barbaric customs from human society, but some of these customs, praiseworthy from the pagan point of view and shameful from the Christian, have remained to the present day as a hidden putrefaction from seemingly-healed wounds. One of these customs was the seizing and carrying-off of girls. St. Basil writes strongly about this to one of his priests on the occasion of such an occurrence: ‘Do all in your power, when you find this girl, to take her away and return her to her parents, and deprive the abductor of participation in worship, and also those who helped him, according to my earlier direction—each of them with his whole house to be debarred from participation in worship for the space of three years. Any village that receives an abducted girl and hides her, and even holds her by force, is also deprived of such participation, and also anyone who encourages others to do this; that the abductor, like a snake or some such wild beast and universal enemy, may be driven from among them, and that we may show protection to the abused.’
September 20th – Civil Calendar
September 7th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Sozon.
Born in Lykaonia, Sozon was a shepherd and lived by the law of God, teaching his brothers and sisters, and his friends, his devout faith. He learned in a vision that he would suffer martyrdom for Christ. At that time, there was a great persecution of Christians near the city of Pompeiopolis on the part of Maximian, the governor of Cilicia. In the city, there was a golden idol which was worshipped by the pagans. Sozon left his sheep, went to the city, entered the pagan temple and knocked an arm off the golden idol, melting it down and giving the gold to the poor. There was a great outcry in the city because of this, and the pagans began to search for the guilty man. That no one else should suffer for his action, Sozon went to the governor and declared himself to be a Christian and the performer of that act. The torturers first beat him, then chained him to a tree and flogged him with iron flails. When he was at his last breath, they cast him into the flames, where holy Sozon gave his soul to God. He suffered in about 304. His relics were found to be wonder-working, and a church dedicated to him was built over them.
2. The Holy Apostles Evodus and Onesiphorus.
These apostles were among the Seventy. St. Ignatius the God-Bearer mentions St. Evodus in glowing terms in his Epistle to the Antiochians. Evodus was a disciple of the Apostle Peter, and his successor at his hands as Bishop of Antioch. Evodus wrote a work on the holy Mother of God, in which he expounds how the holy Virgin was taken to the Temple at the age of three, how she stayed there for eleven years and was given into Joseph’s keeping at the age of fifteen, and how she gave birth to the Lord at that age. He wrote another work under the title ‘The Lighthouse,’ but both these works were destroyed during a time of persecution of Christians. He was killed for Christ during one of the Emperor Vespasian’s visits to Antioch.
St. Onesiphorus is mentioned by the Apostle Paul (II Tim. 1:16— 18) as his sincere friend and helper. He suffered for Christ in Colophon, where he had been bishop. It is said that he was bound behind wild horses and torn asunder. Thus these faithful soldiers of Christ served with honor on earth and entered into the joy of their Lord.
3. The Holy Martyr Efpsychios (Eupsychius).
Son of Dionysius, a senator, he was brutally tortured for Christ, whipped and flogged and then flung half-dead into prison, where an angel of God appeared to him and healed him. Freed from prison, he gave away all his possessions, some to the poor and some to his slanderers. Arrested afresh, he was flogged until he gave his soul to God. Milk and water flowed from his wounds in place of blood. He suffered in the time of the Emperor Hadrian (117-38).
4. St. John (Ioann), Archbishop of Novgorod.
He was first a married priest and then, from 1163, bishop in Novgorod, building seven churches during his lifetime. He had a vision of the holy Mother of God and a rare power over demons, making them obey him, and he once miraculously preserved Novgorod from an attack by seventy-two princes. He suffered from diabolical temptations, but overcame them all by the power of the Cross and by prayer. Retiring to a monastery in old age, he received the Great Habit and entered peacefully into rest in the Lord on September 7th, 1185.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Victory over anger is one of the greatest Christian victories. We generally become angry either with those whom we desire to turn from sin or with our calumniators. In relation to this, we forget that anger is a mortal sin and that, in seeking the salvation of another, we risk losing our own, in the words of St. Makarios. Anger against an enemy usually involves some other evil sentiment, and that is the desire for revenge. St. Efpsychios had so conquered the passion of anger within himself that, in the face of death, he gave half of his possessions to the poor and half to his slanderers, because of whom he was being tortured and killed. He regarded his slanderers as his benefactors. St. Chrysostom writes: ‘Let us clip the wings of anger, and evil will not gain any height. Anger,’ he says, ‘is an evil sickness that can destroy our souls. Anger is a terrible fire that devours everything. If an angry man could see himself in the moment of anger, he would need no other counsel to cease from anger, because there is nothing more unpleasant than an angry face.’ Abba Ammon confessed of himself: ‘I spent fourteen years in Sketis, praying to God day and night to give me victory over anger.’
September 21st – Civil Calendar
September 8th – Church Calendar
1. The Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God.
The holy Virgin Mary was born of her aged
parents, Joachim and Anna. Her father was of the tribe of David and her mother of the tribe of
Aaron, and so she was of royal blood from her father and priestly blood from her mother. By this,
she foreshadowed Him Who would be born of her as King and High Priest. Her parents were already
old and had no children, and because of this, were ashamed before men and humble before God. In
their humility, they prayed with tears that God would bring joy to their old age with the gift of
a child, as He had once given joy to the aged Abraham and Sarah, giving them their son Isaac.
God, almighty and all-seeing, gave them a joy far exceeding all their expectations and their
wildest dreams, for He gave them not just a daughter, but the Mother of God; He illumined them
not only with temporal joy but with eternal. God gave them just one daughter, who later gave them
just one grandson—but what a daughter and what a Grandson! Mary full of grace, blessed among
women, the temple of the Holy Spirit, altar of the living God, table of living bread, ark of
God’s holy things, tree of the most delicious fruits, glory of the human race, praise of
womanhood, fount of virginity and purity—this was the daughter given by God to Joachim and Anna.
Born in Nazareth, she was after three years taken to the Temple in Jerusalem, whence she returned
again to Nazareth and shortly afterwards heard the tidings of the holy Archangel Gabriel
concerning the birth of the Son of God, the Savior of the world, from her most pure and virginal
body.
2. The Feast of the Kalishto Icon of the Holy Mother of God.
In the monastery of the most holy Mother of God near the village of Kalishto, to the west of Struga, the holy Mother of God revealed her power and mercy through numerous miracles. Many of the sick were miraculously healed, and robbers that intended plundering or desecrating the monastery were fiercely punished by an unseen power. The miraculous icon of the most holy Mother of God stands in the church, and nearby are two healing springs—of St. Peter and St. Ananias. Not far from the main church, in a cave, stands the chapel of St. Athanasius.
3. The Feast of the Pochaev Icon of the Holy Mother of God.
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In the province of Volinsk there
stands the famous monastery of the Mother of God in Pochaev, where she first appeared in
about 1340 to two monks who were living the ascetic life in a cave. From that time, the
place became an inexhaustible fount of innumerable miracles.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Dionysius the Areopagite writes of the immeasurable joy, the outer and inner radiance and the indescribable fragrance that he sensed in the presence of the holy Mother of God when he visited her in Jerusalem. In his enthusiasm, he says that if he did not acknowledge the one, true God, he would acknowledge her, the holy Virgin Mary, as God. The holy Virgin made such a strong and deep impression even during her earthly life, and she received an incomparably greater power after her physical death when, by God’s will, she was exalted above the hosts of angels. Her power comes from her ceaseless prayer to God for the faithful, for all who turn to her for help. St. John of Novgorod, when he and his people prayed to her for help against an enemy army, knew that, at that moment, she was praying to God with tears for them, and Novgorod was miraculously saved. As she was in travail at the crucifixion of her Son, so she is in travail for all the weak who turn to her for help. It can be said that the whole earth is protected by the miracles of her mercy. There lives in Belgrade today a cafe proprietor, C.J., born in the village of Labunishte near Struga, whose mother took him, blind, to the monastery of Kalishto and where, after the priest had prayed over him before the icon of the holy Mother of God, he had received his sight. The first monk at Pochaev saw a flaming pillar stretching from earth to heaven, and in this flaming pillar he saw the holy Mother of God. She was standing on a rock, and a healing spring arose at that spot, and today gives healing to many of the sick.
September 22nd – Civil Calendar
September 9th – Church Calendar
1. Ss. Joachim and Anna.
St. Joachim was of the tribe of Judah, and a descendant of King
David. Anna was the daughter of Matthan the priest, of the tribe of Levi as was Aaron the high
priest. This Matthan had three daughters: Mary, Zoia and Anna. Mary was married in Bethlehem and
bore Salome; Zoia was also married in Bethlehem and bore Elisabeth, the mother of St. John the
Forerunner; and Anna was married in Nazareth to Joachim, and in old age gave birth to Mary, the
most holy Mother of God. Joachim and Anna had been married for fifty years, and were barren. They
lived devoutly and quietly, using only a third of their income for themselves and giving a third
to the poor and a third to the Temple, and they were well provided for. Once, when they were
already old and were in Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, the high priest, Issachar, upbraided
Joachim: ‘You are not worthy to offer sacrifice with those childless hands.’ Others
who had children jostled Joachim, thrusting him back as unworthy. This caused great grief to the
two aged souls, and they went home with very heavy hearts. Then the two of them gave themselves
to prayer to God that He would work in them the wonder that He had worked in Abraham and Sarah,
and give them a child to comfort their old age. God sent them His angel, who gave them tidings of
the birth of ‘a daughter most blessed, by whom all the nations of the earth will be
blessed, and through whom will come the salvation of the world.’ Anna conceived at once,
and in the ninth month gave birth to the holy Virgin Mary. St. Joachim lived for eighty years and
Anna for seventy-nine, and they both entered into the kingdom of God.
2. Commemoration of the Third Ecumenical Council.
This council met in 431 in Ephesus, in the time of the Emperor Theodosios the Younger. Two hundred fathers gathered at it. The council condemned Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, for his heretical teaching on the most holy Virgin Mary and the birth of the Lord. Nestorius would not call the holy Virgin the Mother of God, but only the Mother of Christ. The holy fathers, in condemning Nestorius’ teaching, confirmed that the holy Virgin be called the Mother of God. Besides this, it confirmed the decisions of the First and Second Councils, especially the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, laying down that no one may add anything to, or take anything from, this Creed.
3. The Holy Martyr Severian.
He was a nobleman of Sebaste. At the time of the martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (March 9th), he succoured them in prison, encouraging and serving them. After their glorious death, he was also arrested, whipped and tortured for Christ, and finally hanged from a tree with a heavy stone round his neck and another hanging from his feet. Praising God for everything, he breathed his last in the reign of the Emperor Licinius, in the year 320.
4. St. Theophanes, Confessor and Faster.
After a life pleasing to God, in which he underwent much suffering for Christ, he died peacefully in the year 299.
5. St. Niketas the Man of God.
He lived in Constantinople in the twelfth century. His life was so pleasing to God that the doors of the church opened of themselves before him, and the icon lamps lit spontaneously. At the desire of Sozon, a deacon, and at Niketas’ prayers, a priest with whom Sozon had quarreled and with whom he remained estranged, appeared from the other world. There appeared first a row of priests robed in white, then a row in red vestments. Sozon recognized his adversary among them, and made his peace with him. This happened at night in the church at Vlachernai.
FOR CONSIDERATION
One must give alms, not with pride but with humility, considering those to whom one gives alms as better than oneself. Does not the Lord Himself say: ‘inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, you did it unto Me’ (Matt, 25:40)? Theophanes the Confessor, while still a boy, had a mind enlightened by the light of Christ. He was walking around the streets one day when he saw a naked child freezing in the street. He quickly took off his own clothes and wrapped the child in them, and thus warmed it and restored it to life. He returned home naked, and his astonished parents asked him where his clothes were. Theophanes replied: ‘They’re clothing Christ!’ He was given Christ’s grace, and was later a great ascetic, confessor of the Faith and wonder-worker. If we give alms, whether in some other man’s name or our own but not in the name of Christ, we cannot escape pride, which, as soon as it appears in the heart, brings to naught all the good works we have done. When we give to a beggar as a beggar and not as Christ, we can escape neither pride nor disdain. What is the good of giving alms to a man, with the increase of one’s own pride and the scorning of the man? A virtue is no virtue if it is mixed up with sin, as milk is not milk if it is mixed with petrol or vinegar.
September 23rd – Civil Calendar
September 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora.
They were three sisters from some place in Asian Bithynia. Brought up in a Christian spirit, they withdrew from the city into the desert, desiring to lift up their minds to God and free themselves from the illusory world, and thus to live their lives with purity and virginity as true brides of Christ. They gave themselves to fasting, prayer and toil, and God adorned them with the gift of wonder-working. When people began to bring the sick to them for healing, they became known against their will. A certain governor, Fronton, heard of them and brought them to trial. Seeing them, the governor was amazed at their beauty, for, although they were nuns and their bodies were withered, their faces were radiant, illumined by an inner peace and the grace of God. The governor at first flattered them and promised to send them to the emperor, who would give them in marriage to his nobles, but when he realized that his flattery and promises were having no effect on these brides of Christ the Lord, he ordered that Menodora be put to torture and her sisters be thrown into prison. After harsh torture, the governor cried to Menodora, all wounded and covered in blood: ‘Offer sacrifice to the gods!’ To this the holy martyr replied: ‘Don’t you see that I am doing nothing but offering myself in sacrifice to my God?’ When she expired under torture, the governor brought out her two sisters and stood them beside Menodora’s dead body, and pointing to it, urged them to deny Christ. As they remained steadfast, he tortured them to death. At that, a thunderbolt fell from the sky and killed the soulless Fronton and his servants. Christians buried the bodies of these holy martyrs, who suffered some time between 305 and 311, in the time of Galerius, and entered into rest in the kingdom of Christ.
2. St. Pulcheria the Empress.
 Daughter of the Emperor Arkadios, she vowed to remain in
perpetual virginity, and as an earnest of this vow, had a table of gold and precious stones
made for the cathedral. She reigned together with her brother Theodosios the Younger, and
was greatly zealous for the Orthodox Faith. It was at her instigation that the Third
Ecumenical Council in Ephesus was summoned, which condemned the Nestorian heresy. She built
the famous church of the Mother of God at Vlachernai in Constantinople. After
Theodosios’ death, she married Marcian, who was chosen as emperor, and lived with him
as a brother. It was she who found the relics of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. She entered
into rest in the Lord on September 10th, 453, at the age of fifty-five.
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3. Ss. Apollos, Lucius and Clement.
Apostles among the Seventy: Apollos (Acts 18:24-25) was bishop in Smyrna before St. Polycarp. St. Lucius (Rom. 16:21) was bishop in Laodicea and St. Clement was bishop in Sardis.
4. The Three Holy Women of Constantinople.
A noblewoman of Constantinople with her two handmaids, they scorned the vanity of the world and withdrew to solitude, where, after eleven years of asceticism, they entered into rest in the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The examples of courage and endurance that are given by the Christian martyrs—thousand upon thousand of them—shine with radiant glory through every page of the history of the Christian Church. But, as the examples of voluntary martyrs are given us to marvel at, so also (and no less) are the examples of the Christian ascetics, known and unknown, for asceticism is nothing other than a long-drawn-out martyrdom. Paul, Bishop of Monemvasia, has given to posterity the instructive example of a group of women ascetics. While he was still a layman and a tax-collector, he happened to stay in a monastery. Seeing ravens set about the fruit trees, stealing the fruit and carrying it off, he was curious, and together with the monks, set off after them to see where they were carrying the fruit. Going thus, they came to an impenetrable forest, into the depths of which the ravens disappeared, left their stolen fruit and quickly returned. Exploring, they found a cave, and in it, three nuns. The eldest of them told him of their life: how she had been a Constantinopolitan noblewoman whose husband had died and whom another noble had wanted to take by force as his wife. But she had decided, after her husband’s death, that she would spend the rest of her life in virginity, and had therefore given her goods away to the poor, and with her two handmaids, had fled to this remote spot. They had spent eleven years there in fasting and prayer, seeing no one and seen of no one but God. He, in His providence, had arranged for birds to bring them fruit to eat. They then begged the abbot to bring them holy Communion. When they had received Communion, three days later, all three holy women entered into rest, and the monks buried them.
September 24th – Civil Calendar
September 11th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother Theodora.
From Alexandria, she was the wife of a young man. Urged on by a fortune-teller, she committed adultery with another man. Her conscience immediately began to trouble her, and she cut off her hair and dressed in men’s garb, then went off to the men’s monastery of Octodecatos under the man’s name of Theodore. Her labors, fasts, vigils, meekness and tearful repentance were a source of wonder to all the brethren. Slandered by some harlot, who said that Theodora had lain with her, she would not let the truth be known, regarding it as a punishment from God for her former sin. Driven out of the monastery, she spent seven years outside the monastery gates, caring for the harlot’s child. She overcame all the enemy’s assaults, refusing to worship Satan, to take food from the hand of a soldier or to heed her husband’s demand that she return to him—for all that was simply devilish illusion, and when Theodora made the sign of the Cross, it all vanished away like smoke. After seven years, the abbot of the monastery received her back, and she lived there in asceticism a further two years and then entered into rest in the Lord. Only then did the monks learn that she was a woman; an angel appeared to the abbot and explained everything to him. Her husband came to her funeral, and remained till his death in the cell of his former wife. St. Theodora had very great grace from God: she tamed wild beasts, healed sicknesses and brought water to a dry well. Thus God glorified this true penitent, who, with heroic endurance, spent nine years repenting of one sin. She entered into rest in the year 490.
2. St. Paphnutios the Confessor.
A bishop in the Egyptian Thebaid, he suffered greatly for the Orthodox Faith: heretics put out one of his eyes and broke his left leg. He took part in the First Ecumenical Council, refuting the Arian heresy with great power. The Emperor Constantine valued him greatly, and often kissed him on the missing eye, lost for the truth of Orthodoxy. At the council, he stood in opposition to the western representatives, who proposed that secular priests be completely forbidden to marry. He was chaste throughout the whole of his life.
3. Our Holy Father Ephrosynus the Cook.
 A simple man and a man of God, he served as
cook in a certain monastery in the ninth century. The spiritual father of this monastery
dreamed one night that he was in Paradise, and there saw Ephrosynus, who chose for him
three apples of Paradise. When he awoke, he saw these three lovely and fragrant apples on
his pillow. He quickly found Ephrosynus and asked him: ‘Where were you last night,
brother?’ ‘Where you were, father,’ the blessed man of God replied. The
spiritual father then revealed the whole affair to the monks, and all knew of the holiness
and godliness of Ephrosynus. But he, fearing the praise of men, immediately fled from the
monastery and hid himself in the desert, where he spent the rest of his life.
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4. The Holy Martyr Ia.
Denounced by an idolatrous priest, she suffered for the Lord in Persia in the time of Sapor II, in 363. According to tradition, the sun was darkened at the time of her death, and the whole air was filled with a wonderful fragrance. She is glorified forever by the Lord.
5. The Holy Martyrs Diodore, Didymus and Diomedes.
They were flogged for Christ’s sake in Laodicea, and gave their souls into the hands of their Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
One must not hinder any man on the path of perfect self-giving and service of God. Many holy women, who determined to flee wedlock and consecrate themselves to God, were followed and hindered by their husbands. These women have usually escaped in the end, remaining steadfast in their intention, and have often, by their example, wakened their husbands’ consciences and set them on the way of salvation. St. Theodora had to conceal herself from her husband with the greatest caution, and she therefore dressed herself in men’s clothing and hid in a men’s monastery. But there have also been husbands with godly wisdom, who, with their wives, fulfilled their desire to withdraw from the world and consecrate themselves entirely to God. The Emperor Frederick was betrothed to a maiden, Agnes Cheshka, but she would not agree to enter into wedlock, and breaking off the betrothal, went into a monastery. Then the wise emperor said: ‘If she had left me for some mortal man, I would have had my revenge; but I dare not consider myself affronted that, in my place, she has chosen the King of heaven.’
September 25th – Civil Calendar
September 12th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Autonomos.
A bishop, he left Italy for Bithynia in Asia during Diocletian’s persecution, going to a place called Soreos, where he brought many to the Christian Faith and built them a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. He stayed in the house of a devout Christian, Cornelius, whom Autonomos ordained priest and then consecrated bishop. Not far from the town of Soreos was a place called Limnae, entirely inhabited by pagans. St. Autonomos went to this place and quickly brought many to the light by the Gospel of Christ. This roused the pagans, and they hurried one day to the church of the Archangel Michael in Soreos, and during divine service, slew Autonomos in the altar, killing also many other Christians in the church. In the time of the Emperor Constantine, a noble courtier, Severian, built a church over St. Autonomos’ grave. Two hundred years after his death, St. Autonomos appeared to a soldier called John. This soldier dug up the saint’s relics and found them to be completely incorrupt, and many of the sick received healing from them. Thus God glorified him who glorified Him while in the body.
2. The Hieromartyr Cornutos, Bishop of Iconium.
Born in Nikomedia, in the village of Sarsalus, he was already very old when a persecution arose under Decius and Valerian. A torturer, Perinius, came to Nikomedia and began to seek out the Christians. They went out of the city and hid, but their aged bishop would not leave and presented himself to Perinius, proclaiming himself a Christian. The torturer bound him hand and foot and ordered that he be dragged through the town until his blood flowed. He gave his holy soul to God under the sword.
3. The Holy Martyr Julian, with his 40 companions.
They all suffered in about the year 300, being first tortured and then beheaded. In the face of death, St. Julian prayed thus: ‘To those who take some of my dust, grant, O Lord, the forgiveness of their sins and the subduing of their passions; may marauding birds never invade their fields, nor grasshoppers nor caterpillars, nor any other such dangerous or deadly thing; and do Thou receive my soul in peace.’
4. Our Holy Father Daniel of Thasos.
An ascetic and the founder of a great monastery, he was a contemporary of St. Ioannikios the Great and was present when Ioannikios visited the island of Thasos, where the people besought him to free them from an infestation of snakes. The saint prayed to God, and the snakes, in large numbers, rushed into the sea and were drowned.
5. The Holy Martyrs Makedonios, Tatianos and Theodoulos.
They suffered for Christ the Lord in the time of Julian the Apostate at Myropolis in Phrygia. They were harshly tortured for destroying the statue of an idol, and burned on an iron grid until they gave their souls to God. While they were burning over the fire, these courageous men cried out mockingly to the torturer: ‘Why not try our meat, to see if it’s done!’ and also, like the glorious Archdeacon Laurence: ‘Turn us over; we’re done on this side!’ Seeing and hearing the holy martyrs on the fire, the torturers were infinitely more confused and frightened than they were.
FOR CONSIDERATION
What sort of relationship must a man have with God? Uninterrupted and constant. ‘Cleave to God as a son to his father,’ counsels St. Anthony. St. Alonius says: ‘If a man does not have a heartfelt sense that, besides him and God, there is no one else in the world, he cannot find peace of soul.’ The one God is enough, and more than enough, for all that the heart of man can desire. Blessed Theodora took on a strange child without a word, accepting it from her slanderers as her own. Out of love, she brought the child up in the fear of God. At the time of her death, she counselled the child thus: ‘What more does a man need than God and His divine love? He is our treasure, our riches, our food and drink, our clothing and shelter, our health and strength, our mirth and joy, our hope and our confidence. Strive to find Him, my son. If you find the one God, that is enough for you, you will find more joy in Him than if you had found the whole world.’ In thus saying, St. Theodora was not speaking from books or using another’s words; she was speaking from her own experience. She had lived for seven years driven out and scorned by men, and during this time she had discovered by experience that God was all in all to her, and that the one God is sufficient for all that the heart of man can desire.
September 26th – Civil Calendar
September 13th – Church Calendar
1. The Consecration of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ.
When the holy Empress Helena found the Lord’s Cross in Jerusalem, she stayed longer in the city and built churches in Gethsemane, in Bethlehem, on the Mount of Olives and in other places that commemorated the life and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. On Golgotha, where she found the Precious Cross, she began to build an enormous church, under whose roof would be the places both where the Lord was crucified and where He was buried, the holy empress wanting to bring under one roof the places of His suffering and His glory. But Helena went to the Lord before this magnificent church was completed. It was finished in the same year in which Constantine completed thirty years on the throne, and so the consecration of the church and the emperor’s Jubilee were fixed for the same day, September 13th, 335. At that time, a local council of bishops was meeting in Tyre. These bishops, with many others, made their way to Jerusalem, to the solemn consecration of the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord. It was then instituted that this day, as a day of victory and triumph for the Church of Christ, should be celebrated every year.
2. The Hieromartyr Cornelius the Centurion.
A Roman and an officer in Palestinian Caesarea, he was baptized by the Apostle Peter after a heavenly vision (Acts 10:1), and was the first pagan to enter the Church of God. Until then, some thought that the Church of Christ was only for the Jews and for those who received Jewish circumcision. Being baptized, Cornelius left everything and followed the Apostle Peter. The apostle later made him bishop and sent him to the pagan town of Skepseis, where holy Cornelius suffered much humiliation and pain for the sake of Christ. But, by the power of God, he destroyed the temple of Apollo and baptized the prince of that town, Demetrius, and two hundred and seventy seven pagans. Forewarned by God of the day of his death, he gathered all the Christians together, gave them counsel, prayed to God and peacefully went to his Lord full of years. In time, his grave was forgotten and neglected, but the saint appeared to Silvanos, the Bishop of Troas, and showed him the whereabouts of his grave, commanding him to build a church there. The bishop did so, with the help of a wealthy citizen, Evgenios. Many miracles have been performed over his relics.
3. The Holy Martyrs Macrobius and Gordian.
From Pamphlagonia, they were at first imperial cup-bearers, but when they revealed that they were Christians, the emperor exiled them to Sceta, where they were cast into the flames in a place called New Danube, in the year 320.
4. The Holy Martyr Ketevana, Queen of Georgia.
She suffered as a Christian under Shah Abbas I, in 1624. By order of the Shah, a white-hot helmet was placed on her head. Her son Taymuraz, King of Georgia, laid her relics under the throne in the church at Alaverdsk in Georgia.
5. Our Holy Father Hierotheos.
Born in the Peloponnese in the village of Kalamata, he lived in asceticism in the monastery of Iviron on the Holy Mountain. He was distinguished by great secular learning and by strict monastic asceticism, and was at pains to fulfill the rule of St. Arsenius: ‘It is enough for a monk to sleep one hour out of the twenty-four.’ He entered into rest in 1745 on the island of Varos, and his relics have wonder-working power. Of these relics, his head is preserved in the monastery of Iviron. On touching his holy relics in Constantinople, a blind woman received her sight.
FOR CONSIDERATION
What happens to the persecutors of Christ’s Church? Ask Saul, the persecutor of the Church, what happened to him. ‘It is hard for thee to kick against the goads’ (Acts 9:5), said the Lord to Saul, and Saul was baptized and became Paul. What happened to Herod, the first persecutor of Christians? What happened to Julian the Apostate! They died an evil death, and their struggle against Christ dispersed into nothing, like smoke. And so throughout history: some persecutors became Christians and others had an evil end. The efforts of the one and the other against Christianity dispersed into nothing, like smoke. The Emperor Hadrian, attacking Jerusalem, meant to be revenged not only on the Jews but also on the Christians, making no distinction between the two. He scattered the Jews throughout the world, and in the place where Solomon’s Temple had been, built a temple for idol-worship. He also re-named Jerusalem Aelia, after his own name, and forbade anyone to call it Jerusalem. He built a temple on Golgotha to the foul Venus, a temple to Zeus over the Lord’s tomb and a temple to Adonis in Bethlehem. How distressed the Christians of that time must have been, seeing their holy places defiled in such a way! But what happened in the end? The Emperor Hadrian died an evil death, and the pagan temples were pulled down in the time of the Empress Helena and the Emperor Constantine, who in their place built beautiful churches, some of which remain to this day. ‘It is hard to kick against the goads.’ Oh, what a hopeless despair is the lot of all who struggle against Christ!
September 27th – Civil Calendar
September 14th – Church Calendar
1. The Universal Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
On this day are commemorated two events
connected with the Precious Cross of Christ: the first, the finding of the Cross on Golgotha and
the second the returning of the Cross to Jerusalem from Persia.
Staying in the holy land, the holy Empress Helena decided to look for the Precious Cross of the Lord. An old Jew called Judah was the only person who knew the whereabouts of the Cross, and under pressure from the empress, he revealed that the Cross was buried under the Temple of Venus that the Emperor Hadrian had built on Golgotha. The empress ordered that this idolatrous temple be pulled down, and then, digging deep below it, she found three crosses. While the empress was in uncertainty about how to recognize which cross was the Lord’s, a funeral procession passed by. Then Patriarch Makarios told them to place the crosses one by one on the dead man. When they placed the first and second on him, the dead man remained unchanged, but when they placed the third on him, he was restored to life. By this, they knew that this was the Precious and life-giving Cross of Christ. After that, they placed it on a sick woman, and she recovered. Then the patriarch raised the Cross aloft for all to see, and the people sang with tears: ‘Lord, have mercy!’ The Empress Helena had a silver casing made, and placed the precious Cross in it.
Later, King Chozroes conquered Jerusalem, took the people into slavery and carried the Lord’s Cross off to Persia, where it remained for fourteen years. In 628, the Greek Emperor Herakleios was victorious over Chozroes and brought the Cross back to Jerusalem with great ceremony. Entering the city, Herakleios was carrying the Cross on his back, but suddenly the aged emperor was unable to take another step. Patriarch Zacharias saw an angel directing the emperor to take off his imperial robes and walk beneath the Cross along the way that Christ had walked, barefoot and humiliated as He had been. He passed this vision on to the emperor, who stripped himself of his raiment, and in poor clothing and barefoot, took up the Cross, carried it to Golgotha and placed it in the Church of the Resurrection, to the joy and consolation of the whole Christian world.
2. St. Plakilla (Flaccilla) the Empress.
The wife of the Emperor Theodosios the Great, she was a true Christian in both thought and deed. She was especially distinguished by her help to the poor and the sick. When someone told her that this was not consistent with her imperial dignity, she replied: ‘It befits the imperial state to help with money; my personal endeavors (towards the poor) I give to Him Whose good will it was to give me this state.’ She entered peacefully into rest in about 400.
3. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Makarios of Thessalonica.
A disciple of Patriarch Niphon at the time that the latter was laboring in the asceticism of silence at Vatopedi, Makarios longed for martyrdom for the sake of Christ, and begged St. Niphon’s blessing to seek it. The discerning patriarch, perceiving that this was God’s will, blessed him for the way of martyrdom. Makarios went to Thessalonica, and in the midst of a crowd of Turks, began to speak of Christ as the one, true God. The Turks seized him and threw him into prison. When he was brought to trial, Makarios cried out to the Turks: ‘Oh, that you would come to know the truth and be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!’ The Turks beheaded him in 1527. At that moment, Niphon saw this in his spirit at Vatopedi, and told a monk of Makarios’ death by martyrdom, saying: ‘Know, my child, that your brother Makarios has today died a martyr, and is borne to heaven, triumphing and rejoicing in the Lord. May we be worthy of blessing by his prayers!’ (From the Athonite Patrology).
4. Our Holy Mother Maria of Tarsus.
She at first lived a life of harlotry. Two monks traveling through Tarsus stayed at the inn where Maria plied her trade. When she approached the monks, they rebuked her and pushed her away as unclean. She suddenly repented and vowed to sin no more from that moment. The monks took her with them to a women’s monastery, where Maria lived in asceticism till old age. She had the gift of wonder-working during her lifetime and after her death.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A nobleman decided to give a gold cross to a church, and found a young but experienced goldsmith, gave him a great measure of gold and told him to make whatever sort of cross he liked. The poor goldsmith, seeing such an offering made by the nobleman for the sake of his soul, was fired in his own heart with love for God, and decided to add ten gold pieces of his own to the nobleman’s heap of gold. When the cross was ready, the nobleman weighed it and found that it was heavier than the gold that he had given to the young man. He immediately began to abuse him as a thief, suspecting him of having abstracted some of the gold and substituted a heavier metal. When the young man saw the nobleman in such a rage, he confessed his deed. ‘I added,’ he said, ‘some gold of my own, as the widow gave her two mites, to receive Christ’s reward along with you.’ Hearing this, the nobleman’s heart was touched and he said to the young man: ‘From this day, you are my son and the inheritor of all my goods.’
September 28th – Civil Calendar
September 15th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Niketas.
Niketas was a Goth by birth, and a disciple of Bishop Theophilus of the Goths, who took part in the First Ecumenical Council. When Athenarik, Prince of the Goths, began to persecute the Christians, St. Niketas stood before the prince and denounced him for his paganism and inhumanity. Tormented by terrible tortures, Niketas the more strongly confessed his faith in Christ, and prayed to God with thanksgiving. His mind was unceasingly lifted up to God and immersed in Him, and in his hand beneath his robe he held an icon of the holy Mother of God with the pre-eternal Christ Child standing and holding the Cross in His hands. St. Niketas carried this icon because the holy Mother of God had appeared to him and comforted him. Finally, the torturer threw Christ’s martyr into the flames, in which St. Niketas breathed his last; but his body remained untouched by the fire. His friend Marianus took his body from the land of the Goths (Wallachia and Bessarabia) to Cilicia, to the town of Mopsuestia, where he built a church dedicated to St. Niketas and placed the wonder-working relics of the martyr in it. Niketas suffered and was glorified in 372.
2. Our Holy Father Philotheus.
He was from the village of Myrmix or Mravin in Asia Minor. His mother had the same name the other way round—Theophila. He was a priest, and a wonder-worker even during his lifetime. On one occasion, he turned water into wine, and on another multiplied bread. He entered into rest in the Lord in the tenth century, and myrrh was found to flow from his relics.
3. The Holy Martyr Porphyrios.
An actor, he first mocked at Christians before Julian the Apostate. On one occasion, when he was mimicking the Christian Mystery of Baptism, he was dipped into the water, pronouncing the words: ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ When he emerged from the water, he cried out: ‘Now I am a Christian!’ Everyone thought that this was in jest, as always, but he held firm to it, stopped mocking Christians and finally suffered for Christ. He was beheaded in 361, and entered into the kingdom of Christ.
4. The Holy Martyrs Theodotus, Asclepidotus and Maximus.
Nobles of Trachis, they suffered for Christ near Philippopolis in the village of Saltis, some time between 305 and 311, and entered into the kingdom of heaven.
5. St. Vissarion, Archbishop of Larissa, the Wonder-worker.
He founded the Monastery of the Savior in the diocese of Larissa, and was glorified by his miracles both during his lifetime and after his death. He lived in the sixteenth century.
6. The Holy New-Martyr John of Crete.
He suffered for the Christian Faith under the Turks in the city of Ephesus in 1811.
7. St. Joseph, Bishop of Alaverdsk.
One of the twelve Syrian fathers (see May 7th), who were sent to the Caucasus area to preach the Gospel, St. Joseph went peacefully to the Lord in 570. His wonder-working relics are preserved in the Cathedral in Alaverdsk.
FOR CONSIDERATION
God is not mocked. He either punishes mockers to correct them, or turns them to that which they mocked. St. Porphyrios was at first famous among the pagans as a mocker of Christianity. On one occasion, he enacted a mock Christian Baptism before the Emperor Julian the Apostate and his court. But something utterly unpremeditated happened. When Porphyrios went down into the water and spoke the words of Baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity, his soul was suddenly changed within him and he indeed became a Christian. In place of his mocking of the Christian Faith, he began to denounce the emperor for his impure idolatry. For this he was tortured and beheaded. A similar thing happened with a comedian, Gennesus, probably in the time of Diocletian. This Gennesus presented the Christian Eucharist before a crowd of pagans, delighting them all with his mockery and wit. But all of a sudden he changed and cried out before the people: ‘I believe, and want to be baptized!’ The onlookers thought at first that this was part of the act, but he went on reiterating his faith in Christ. When, before the judge and the emperor, he remained steadfast in his faith, he was tortured and killed. Thus do Christ’s mockers become His martyrs.
September 29th – Civil Calendar
September 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Ephemia (Euphemia).
Born in Chalcedon, her father was the senator Philophronus and her mother’s name was
Theodorisia, both devout Christians. Ephemia was a girl beautiful in both body and soul. When the
proconsul, Priscus, celebrated a festival of sacrifice to Ares in Chalcedon, forty-nine
Christians absented themselves from the festivities and hid themselves. But they were discovered
and brought before Priscus, holy Ephemia being among them. When the furious Priscus asked them
why they had not carried out the imperial command, they replied: ‘Both the emperor’s
commands and yours must be obeyed if they are not contrary to the God of heaven. If they are,
they must not only not be obeyed; they must be resisted.’ Then Priscus put them to various
tortures for nineteen days, from day to day. On the twelfth day, he held Ephemia apart from the
others and began to flatter her beauty, hoping to bring her thus to idolatry. When all his
flattery proved fruitless, he ordered that she be tortured. First, she was put on a wheel, but an
angel of God appeared and broke it. Then he had her thrown into a fiery furnace, but she was
preserved by God’s power. Seeing this, two soldiers, Victor and Sosthenes, came to faith in
Christ, for which they were thrown to the wild beasts and thus finished their earthly course with
glory. After that, Ephemia was thrown into a pit filled with water and all kinds of poisonous
reptiles, but she made the sign of the Cross over the water as she went into the pit, and
remained unharmed. She was finally thrown to the wild beasts, and with a prayer of thanksgiving,
gave her soul into God’s hands. Her parents buried her body. She suffered in the year 303,
and entered into eternal joy. (St. Ephemia is also commemorated on July 11th.)
2. Our Holy Father Dorotheos.
 An Egyptian hermit of the fourth century, he lived in
asceticism for sixty years in a cell in the Thebaid. He was distinguished by a rare love of
labor and by wonder-working power. By day he built cells for the new monks and by night
plaited mats, never interrupting his prayer and psalmody.
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3. St. Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kiev.
Born in Trnovo and given a Serbian* upbringing on the Holy Mountain, he devoted himself especially to the translation and writing of books. His patron was Patriarch Philotheos of Constantinople, who came to know him on the Holy Mountain, took him into his service and then sent him to Kiev as metropolitan. He lived through all this with greatness of soul, and by his fruitful labors, brought much benefit to the Russian Church, spending almost thirty years as metropolitan. At the time of his death, he wrote a Farewell which was read at his graveside. He entered into rest on September 16th, 1406, and his wonder-working relics are preserved in the Church of the Dormition in Moscow.
* Author’s note: Metropolitan Philaret writes that Cyprian was a Serb. See his ‘Lives’.
4. The Holy Martyr Ludmilla.
The grandmother of the Czech King Vatslav (Wenceslas) and wife of the Czech Prince Borivoy, she was very zealous for the Christian Faith and was greatly instrumental in freeing the Church from paganism. Her daughter-in-law hated her, and sent men to kill the aged Ludmilla in Techino in 927. Vatslav buried her in the Church of St. George in Prague, and many miracles were wrought over her relics. Holy Vatslav, a great zealot for the Orthodox Faith, was murdered by his brother Boleslav.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Often some unexpected misfortune comes upon us, and we vainly ask why. The Church of Christ alone is able to explain the cause of every misfortune. The Church places all misfortunes in two groups: One, those that come upon sinners because of their old, unrepented sin, and two, those that come upon the righteous and serve, according to the words of St. Chrysostom, ‘as a means of receiving a wreath, as was the case with Lazarus and Job.’ The Empress Evdokia was secretly in sympathy with the Eftychian heresy, hearkening in this to the counsel of the treacherous eunuch Chrysaphios. Misfortune suddenly came upon her. One day her husband, the Emperor Theodosios, brought her a large apple. The empress sent the apple to the sick senator Paulinos. He, out of love for the emperor, sent this same apple to Theodosios. This gave rise in the emperor to suspicion and uncertainty towards his wife and the senator, and he asked his wife where the apple was. She lied, and said that she had eaten it. This added to the emperor’s suspicions, and he exiled Evdokia to Palestine. In time, Evdokia recovered from her heresy, and acting on the advice of the great Palestinian spiritual teachers, returned whole-heartedly to Orthodoxy. The empress’ misfortune did not arise from any misconduct with Paulinos—in this she was completely innocent—but because of her heretical beliefs. Another and different example: the Emperor Marcian, as a military commander, was traveling one day near Philippopolis when he saw the dead body of a man on the highway. From simple compassion, he got off his horse and began to bury the man. Someone came upon him, and brought the commander to trial as a murderer. Marcian would have been punished by death if God had not quickly revealed who was the real murderer. This misfortune falls in the second group: ‘for the receiving of a wreath’. General Marcian was soon after this chosen as emperor.
September 30th – Civil Calendar
September 17th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, and Love, and their mother Sophia.
They lived and suffered in
Rome in the time of the Emperor Hadrian. The wise Sophia (as her name—Sophia—wisdom, indicates)
was left a widow, and as a Christian, steeped herself and her daughters in the Christian Faith.
At the time that Hadrian’s persecuting hand stretched out over the virtuous house of
Sophia, Faith was twelve, Hope ten and Love nine. The four of them were brought before the
emperor, with their arms entwined ‘like a woven wreath,’ humbly but firmly confessing
their faith in Christ the Lord and refusing to offer sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. At the
moment of their passion, the mother urged her valiant daughters to endure to the end. ‘Your
heavenly Lover, Jesus Christ, is eternal health, inexpressible beauty and life eternal. When your
bodies are slain by torture, He will clothe you in incorruption and the wounds on your bodies
will shine in heaven like the stars.’ The torturers inflicted harsh torture on Faith, Hope,
and Love one by one. They beat them, stabbed them and threw them into fire and boiling pitch, and
finally beheaded them one after the other. Sophia took the dead bodies of her daughters out of
the town and buried them, and stayed by their grave in prayer for three days and nights, then
gave her soul to God, hastening to the heavenly company where the blessed souls of her daughters
awaited her.
2. The Holy Martyr Agathokleia.
She was a servant of one Nicholas and his wife Paulina, who were at first Christians but forsook Christianity and turned again to idol-worship. Holy Agathokleia refused to follow the example of her masters, and for this was harshly tortured both by them and by the judge. Finally, her mistress killed her by pouring burning coals on her neck, but God glorified His handmaid in His heavenly kingdom.
3. The 156 Holy Martyrs of Egypt.
They were all Egyptians, and suffered for Christ the Lord in 310, some by the sword and some by fire. Among them were two old bishops, Peleus and Nilus, a priest, Zeno, and two renowned men, Patermuthius and Elias. With them also suffered Bishop Silvanus and an eminent, blind old man, John, who knew the Scriptures by heart and recited them to gatherings of Christians. They were all crowned with wreaths and entered into the eternal kingdom of Christ.
4. The Holy Martyr Theodota.
She endured eight years of harsh torture on the part of the governor, Simplicius, who finally went out of his mind. She was beheaded with the sword in the time of the Emperor Alexander Severus, in about 230.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A God-fearing and faithful ruler is a blessing from heaven on his whole people. King Vatslav (Wenceslas) of the Czechs was such a ruler. His zeal for the holy things of the Faith and his strictness of life are reminiscent of the ancient ascetics. He devoted his days to administrative work and his nights to prayer, and he often prepared and cooked the holy bread, most especially when he himself was to receive holy Communion. He was concerned in the building of many churches, in which daily services were celebrated, and gave especial care to the poor and needy. He was a lover of peace, although a great and fearless hero. When the neighboring prince, Radislav, invaded the Czech lands, Vatslav sent him a letter, asking him what had roused him to make war against him. Radislav replied haughtily that he was after the whole of the Czech lands and Vatslav’s throne. Then Vatslav gathered together a large army and marched against his enemy. Then, seeing the two great armies, he mourned the coming loss of life and sent the following message to Radislav: ‘The quarrel is between the two of us. You want to conquer this land, and I refuse to let you. Let us settle this matter by single combat. What purpose would be served by a bloody conflict between our two armies?’ Prince Radislav agreed to single combat, and being overcome by Vatslav, begged his forgiveness on his knees.
October 1st – Civil Calendar
September 18th – Church Calendar
1. St. Evmenios (Eumenius), Bishop of Gortyna in Crete.
He gave himself to Christ with his whole heart from his youth, freeing himself of two heavy burdens: the burden of riches and the burden of the flesh. He freed himself from the first by giving away all his goods to the poor and needy, and from the latter by strict fasting. He thus healed himself and was able to heal others. Passionless and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, Evmenios shone with a radiance that could not be hidden, as it is written: ‘A city set on a hill cannot be hid’ (Matt. 5:14), and so holy Evmenios could not be hidden from the world. Seeing him, the people chose him as their bishop in Gortyna. As a bishop, he governed Christ’s flock as a good shepherd. He was a father to the poor, riches to the needy, consolation to the sad, healing to the sick and a marvellous wonder-worker. He worked many miracles by his prayers: he killed a poisonous snake, drove out demons, healed many of the sick, and did this not only in his home city but in Rome and in the Thebaid. In the Thebaid, he brought rain from God in a time of drought, and there finally finished his earthly course and entered into the eternal presence of his Lord. He lived and worked in the seventh century.
2. The Holy Martyr Ariadne.
In the town of Promisea in Phrygia in the time of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138), there lived a pagan patrician, Tertullus. The maiden Ariadne was a slave of his, and a Christian. On his son’s birthday, Tertullus ordered a great sacrifice to the idols, in which Ariadne did not take part, staying at home and praying to the true God. Her owner was furious with her for this, and put pressure on her to deny Christ and worship idols. When Ariadne refused to do this, he had her whipped and tortured in other ways, then threw her into prison. He soon released her from prison and drove her from the house, but quickly changed his mind and sent servants to bring her back. Ariadne was already a long way from the town. When she saw her persecutors, she prayed to God beside a great rock, and the rock opened and hid her. The servants were nonplussed at this, quarrelled among themselves and came to blows, and so perished at one another’s hands.
3. The Holy Martyr Bidzini, Prince of Georgia.
He died for the Christian Faith under Shah Abbas II in 1661, together with his kinsmen Elisbar and Shavel.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Insofar as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me’ (Matt. 25:40), says the Lord. When giving alms, in giving to the poor we give to the living Lord Christ Himself. There was a man in Constantinople who had a rare compassion. Going through the streets of the city, he put his gift into the hands of the poor and immediately went on his way, to avoid hearing their thanks and becoming known. When one of his friends asked him how he had become so compassionate, he replied: ‘One day in church, I heard the priest say that what we give to the poor we give into the hands of the Lord Christ Himself. I didn’t believe this, thinking that it couldn’t be so, Christ being in heaven. Once, though, on the way home, I saw a poor man standing in the beggars’ place—and the face of Christ shining over his head. Someone passed by and gave the beggar a piece of bread, and I saw the Lord stretch out His hand, take the bread and bless the giver. From that moment, I’ve always seen that face over the heads of the beggars, and therefore, with great fear, I give all the alms I can.’
October 2nd – Civil Calendar
September 19th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Trophimos, Savvatios and Dorymedon.
In the time of the Emperor Probus, in the third century, when Attikos was governing Antioch, two Christians, Trophimos and Savvatios, both eminent and honored men, came to that city. Just at that time, there was a pagan festival and offerings to the idol of Apollo in Daphne near Antioch. Attikos made a special effort to ensure that all the citizens took part in the festivities. When some one saw Trophimos and Savvatios, and told Attikos that these two old men were not taking part, Attikos summoned them for trial, and when they refused to deny Christ, put them to torture one by one. After beating and torturing Trophimos, he sent him to Phrygia to Dionysius, a yet harsher torturer of Christians, himself taking Savvatios from prison and trying him. When the torturer asked Savvatios who he was and what was his rank, he replied: ‘My rank and dignity, my homeland, my glory and my riches are Christ the Son of God, Who is alive forever and by Whose providence the whole universe is held in being.’ He was therefore beaten and flogged with iron flails until his bones showed through his flesh, and he died under these tortures. The torturer put Trophimos to harsh torture, and held him in prison to inflict yet greater torture on him. Then a certain senator, Dorymedon, a secret Christian, came to the prison and ministered to Trophimos. When the torturer discovered this, he put them both to torture and finally threw them to the wild beasts. But the animals would not touch them. Holy Dorymedon even shouted into the ear of a she-bear to eat him up, but the bear only became even more docile. The torturer ordered, in consequence of this, that Ss. Trophimos and Dorymedon be beheaded. The souls of these holy martyrs now reign in heaven.
2. The Holy Martyr Zossima the Hermit.
A Sicilian prince, Dometian, went hunting in the mountains with his servants. In the hills, he saw an old man surrounded by wild beasts that were as tame as lambs. Asked who he was, the elder replied that his name was Zossima, and that he was a Christian and had lived a long time with the beasts, who were better than the persecutors of Christians in the city. This outraged Dometian, who was himself a harsh torturer of Christians, and he bound Zossima and sent him ahead to Nazareth, to torture him there and thus intimidate those who believed in Christ. When he had wounded him all over and left him bloodied with blows, he tied a rock round his neck and hanged him from a tree. Then the prince mocked at him: ‘Command a wild beast to come, and we’ll all believe!’ The holy martyr prayed to God, and an enormous lion appeared. Coming up to Zossima, it took the weight of the rock with its head, to ease the martyr. With great fear, the prince freed Zossima, who soon after that gave his soul into the hands of his Lord.
3. St. Theodore, Prince of Yaroslavl.
A righteous and merciful man, he received the Great Habit at the time of his death, entering into rest in 1298.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The dead sense and know good works done for them. Of this a Christian must have no doubt. Good works flow like an electric current through the whole heavenly world. An imperial official, Magistrian, was sent by the emperor on an important errand. On his journey, he saw a dead man lying naked. He was distressed at this, and taking off his tunic, wrapped the man in it and buried him. After a certain time, a misfortune overtook Magistrian: he fell from his horse and broke his leg. He lay sick in bed for a long time. At one moment, a number of doctors were gathered round him in consultation over his condition, and they decided that the leg must be amputated. That night, Magistrian could not sleep, but spent the hours sighing and weeping. At midnight, a man suddenly appeared to him and asked him: ‘Why are you crying?’ When Magistrian explained, the unknown man stretched out his hand to the injured leg, and it became whole. ‘For God’s sake, tell me who you are!’ cried Magistrian. To this the unknown man replied: ‘Look carefully; isn’t this your tunic? In response to your good deed, God has sent me to heal you. Give your thanks to God!’
October 3rd – Civil Calendar
September 20th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Efstathios (Eustace), the General Placidus.
He was a great
Roman military leader in the time of the Emperors Titus and Trajan. Although a pagan, Placidus
(for that was his pagan name) was a righteous and merciful man, like the centurion Cornelius, who
was baptized by the Apostle Peter (Acts 10). Going hunting one day, he found a stag. By the
providence of God, a shining Cross appeared among the stag’s antlers and the voice of God
came to Placidus, telling him to go to a Christian bishop and be baptized. Placidus was baptized,
along with his wife and two sons. At his Baptism, he received the name Efstathios, his wife the
name Theopiste and their sons the names Agapius and Theopistus. After his Baptism, Efstathios
went back to the very place where the revelation through the stag had occurred, and thanked God
on his knees that he had brought him to the truth. At that, the voice of God came to him again,
foretelling suffering for His name and strengthening him. Then Efstathios secretly left Rome with
his family, with the intention of hiding among simple people and serving God in an unknown and
humble way. Arriving in Egypt, he was immediately beset by trials. Some wicked barbarian carried
off his wife, and his two sons were seized by wild beasts. But the barbarian quickly came to a
bad end, and a herdsman saved the boys from the wild beasts. Efstathios settled in the
Palestinian village of Vadisis, and there lived as a village hireling for fifteen years. After
this, the barbarians descended on the Roman Empire, and the Emperor Trajan was sorry that his
brave commander Placidus, who had been victorious wherever he had fought, was not with him. The
emperor sent his officers to seek the great general throughout the empire. By God’s
providence, these officers, who had been friends of Efstathios, came to this village of Vadisis,
found him and took him to the emperor. Efstathios gathered the army together and defeated the
barbarians. On the way back to Rome, Efstathios went and found his wife and sons. When he arrived
in Rome, the Emperor Trajan had died and the Emperor Hadrian was on the throne. When Hadrian
summoned Efstathios to offer sacrifice to idols, Efstathios told him that he was a Christian. The
emperor put him to torture, together with his wife and sons. When the wild beasts did them no
harm, he threw them into a white-hot metal ox. On the third day, they took out their bodies, dead
but untouched by the fire. Thus this glorious general gave to Caesar that which is
Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s, and entered into the eternal kingdom of
Christ our God.
2. The Hieromartyr Hypatios, Bishop of Ephesus, and Andrew the Priest.
Two childhood friends, born in Lycia, they both gave themselves with their whole souls to the service of God when they grew up, Hypatios as a strict monk and ascetic, and Andrew as a priest among the people and a preacher of the word of God. For his great virtues, Hypatios was made Bishop of Ephesus, and Andrew was made priest in the same city. They both suffered in the time of the iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian. After terrible tortures for Orthodoxy, they were beheaded in 730, and both went from this transitory world to eternal life.
3. The Holy Prince Michael and his Counselor Theodore.
Prince Michael (Mikhail) of Chernigov went to the Tartar horde with his counselor, Theodore (Fedor), at the invitation of their ruler, Bati. When they refused to follow the Tartar custom of passing through fire and worshiping idols on being received by Bati, they were beheaded, in 1244. Their relics, the witnesses of their death by martyrdom for the sake of Christ, are preserved in the Church of the Archangel in Moscow.
4. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Hilarion
A monk of the Holy Mountain, he suffered voluntarily for the Christian Faith at the hands of the Turks in Constantinople on September 20th, 1804. His wonder-working relics are preserved in the Church of the Transfiguration on the island of Proti.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Suicide is a sin against the Holy Spirit, Who gives life. Suicide is a much graver sin than murder, as a man can yet repent of murder, while there is no repentance for the sin of suicide. Here are two examples of the greatest misfortune, in which a man of little soul would have committed suicide, but in which holy men of God showed themselves heroic. St. Efstathios found himself one day in this predicament: he had left one of his sons on one bank of the river while he carried the other to the opposite bank and returned for the second. Coming to the middle of the river, he looked on one bank and saw a lion seize the son that was there and carry him off; he looked at the other bank and saw a wolf grab hold of his son and carry him off. One little of soul would, in such a situation, have drowned himself in the river and made an end. Efstathios, filled with grief, did not kill himself, but with hope in God, lived for fifteen years as a hireling and waited with patience to see his two sons again. And God rewarded his faith and patience.
St. Hilarion was constrained as a young man to embrace Islam, but his conscience began to torment him and he had no peace. He returned to the Christian Faith, became a monk and gave his body to strict fasting and the harshest asceticism, but spiritual peace did not return to him. Therefore, he went to Constantinople with his spiritual father, Vissarion, and not only confessed his faith in Christ openly at the sultan’s court, but also counseled Bash Agha to go to Russia and be baptized. After ridicule and torture, this brave young man was beheaded, and God glorified him in heaven and on earth. His holy relics have wonder-working power to this day. But where is the glory of the suicide? Where are his relics?
October 4th – Civil Calendar
September 21st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Codratus.
One of the Seventy, he was a disciple of the great apostles. He preached the Gospel in Athens, and was at first bishop in Athens after St. Publius, and then in the city of Magnesia. He was very learned in the secular disciplines and rich with the grace of the Holy Spirit. His biographer says of him. ‘He was as a morning star among clouds,’ the clouds being the darkness of Hellenic paganism, lacking the light of devotion, and the holy Apostle Codratus shone to them—the Hellenes—as a great light, illumining the darkness, casting down the foul sacrifices and destroying demonic temples by his prayers. But darkness always hates the light, and the pagans hated holy Codratus. They first stoned him, as the Jews had earlier stoned St. Stephen, and then imprisoned him, leaving him without bread until his holy soul left his body and entered into the kingdom of Christ his God. St. Codratus wrote a defence of Christianity and gave it to the Emperor Hadrian. This defence acted so strongly upon the pagan emperor that he decreed that Christians should not be persecuted without especial cause. Holy Codratus suffered in about 130. He was buried in Magnesia, the place of his passion.
2. St. Dimitri, Bishop of Rostov.
 He is commemorated on October 28th, and on this
day is commemorated the finding of his wonder-working relics in 1752.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
If we begin, with firm intention, to live according to God’s law, we must not fear any sort of attack by those who do not understand, for to him who has truly begun to live according to God’s law, all that happens to him at the hands of men, happens for his help and to the glory of God. It is especially necessary not to fear a move from a place we like to a place we dislike, a place of fear and of a depressed uncertainty about God’s intentions towards us. Did the wickedness of Joseph’s brethren do him harm? Was not rather his involuntary departure for Egypt the means of his rise to glory, the saving of his brothers from famine and the establishing of the conditions for all the wonderful works of God through Moses in Egypt and in the wilderness? Pagans and heretics often chased Orthodox Christians into barbarian regions. What happened then? Did this annihilate Orthodoxy? No; it rather confirmed it in the souls that were exiled and scattered among the barbarian peoples. The evil heretic Lucius drove the famous Makarios and several of the Tabennisiot hermits out of Egypt to a barbarian island, where all the inhabitants were idol-worshipers. But these holy men, by their teaching and example, quickly succeeded in baptising the whole island, and it later became known as the Isle of Repentance.
October 5th – Civil Calendar
September 22nd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Phokas, Bishop of Sinope.
He exercised himself from his youth in all the Christian virtues. As bishop in his birthplace, the town of Sinope on the shore of the Black Sea, he strengthened the devout in their faith by his divine example and words, and brought many idol-worshipers to the true Faith. The stony-hearted pagans were filled with wrath against holy Phokas, and the Lord foreshowed to him in a vision his death by martyrdom. Phokas saw a shining dove fly down from heaven, carrying in its beak a beautiful wreath of flowers which it laid on his head, and a voice came from the dove: ‘My cup is full, and it is for thee to drink it!’ From this vision, the man of God learned that he must very soon suffer for Christ. He was not afraid, but with thanksgiving to God prepared himself for torture. Soon after this, the governor, Africanus, took Phokas for interrogation and inflicted harsh tortures upon him: his whole body was beaten black and blue and torn with wounds, and after imprisonment, he was thrown into boiling water, in which this courageous soldier of Christ finished his earthly course and entered into the joy of his Lord. He suffered in the time of the Emperor Trajan (98-117).
2. The Holy Prophet Jonah (Jonas).
 He lived more than eight hundred years before Christ. It is
said that he was the widow’s son of Sarepta in Sidon, whom the Prophet Elias raised
from the dead. By his three-day sojourn in the belly of the sea monster, St. Jonah
foreshadowed the three-day sojourn of Christ in the tomb, and by his deliverance from the
sea monster’s belly, the Lord’s Resurrection from the dead. Everything else
about this wonderful prophet is there to be read in the Book of Jonah.
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3. The Holy Martyr Phokas the Gardener.
A compatriot of the hieromartyr Phokas, he had a garden in Sinope, near the Black Sea, which he cultivated himself. He refreshed all the passers-by with the fruits of his garden, not neglecting to entertain their ears with the word of God. But the governor, who was a persecutor of Christians, heard of him and sent soldiers to kill him. Phokas welcomed the soldiers so warmly that they held back from killing him, but at his beseeching, carried out their orders and beheaded him. In that place, a church dedicated to him was soon built over his relics. St. Phokas is especially venerated by seamen, and is invoked for aid by all who travel by sea. He suffered in 320.
4. Our Holy Father Kosmas of Zographou.
He was of a noble Bulgarian family. When his parents wanted him to marry, he fled to the Holy Mountain. He was a solitary and a wonder-worker, living in asceticism in a cave near the monastery of Zographou, and was the greatest ascetic and wonder-worker of that monastery. The Mother of God appeared to him several times. The cell in which Kosmas lived in silent asceticism and wrestled with demons remains to this day to the north-west of the monastery. Being gifted with discernment, he could see in the spirit, and described happenings in far-off times and places. He died in old age, on September 22nd, 1323, and after a life of much toil, entered into the joy of his Lord.
5. St. Peter the Merciful.
A man of God of the sixth century (see the passage for consideration below).
6. The Holy Priest Jonas.
The father of St. Theophanes the Hymnographer and writer of canons, and of St. Theodore (the Branded) the Scribe, he was a wonder-worker. He died in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified in the ninth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
When a man comes to a strong sense of God’s mercy towards him, he is jerked awake as from a dull and dreary dream and is ashamed of his long blindness towards God’s unceasing compassion. In the days of the Emperor Justinian, the chief imperial tax-collector in Africa was one Peter, a very rich man who was also very harsh and merciless. At one time the beggars were grumbling among themselves that not one of them had ever received alms from Peter. Then one of them bet that he would succeed in getting alms from him. He went off and pestered the flinty-hearted man for alms until, in a fury, Peter threw a loaf at him, having nothing else at hand. The beggar joyfully grabbed the loaf and fled. Immediately after this, Peter fell ill of a sudden and dangerous illness, and had the following vision: he saw himself being weighed by a demon in the other world. On one side of the scales, the demons heaped Peter’s sins, so that that side was weighed down, while on the other side stood angels, lamenting that there was not a single good deed in Peter’s life to place on the other, empty side of the scales. One of the angels said: ‘We have nothing at all to put in except the one loaf that he threw at a beggar a couple of days ago.’ The angel quickly put the one loaf on the empty side of the scales, and that loaf balanced the other side with all Peter’s sins. When the vision was over, Peter said to himself: ‘Truly, that was not a hallucination, for I saw all the sins I’d committed from my youth. If one loaf could be of such help to me; a loaf, moreover, that I threw at a beggar, how much help would I have from many works of mercy, performed from the heart and in meekness?’ And from that time, Peter turned into the most compassionate man in his town. He gave all his goods away to the poor, and when he had parted with them all, sold himself into slavery for thirty gold pieces, and himself gave this sum away to the needy as alms in the name of Christ. He thus became known as Peter the Merciful.
October 6th – Civil Calendar
September 23rd – Church Calendar
1. The Conception of St. John the Baptist.
On this day are celebrated God’s mercy, His wondrous act and
His wisdom: His mercy towards the devout and righteous parents of St. John, the aged Zacharias
and Elisabeth, who had all their lives begged a child of God; the wonder of the conception of
John in Elisabeth’s more-than-aged womb; and the wisdom of the dispensation of man’s
salvation. For John, God had a specially great plan: that he should be a prophet and the
forerunner of Christ the Lord, the Savior of the world. Through His angels, God revealed the
birth of Isaac to the childless Sarah, and of Samson to the childless Manoah and his wife, and of
John the Baptist to the childless Zacharias and Elisabeth. Through His angels, God revealed the
birth of those for whom He had a special plan. How could children be born of aged parents? If
someone is curious to find out, let him not ask men, for men do not know, nor does natural law
(it being beyond natural law), but let him turn his gaze to the power of almighty God, Who made
the whole world from nothing and Who, for the creation of Adam, the first man, used no parents,
either young or old. Instead of being curious, let us thank God that He often reveals to us His
power and mercy and wisdom beyond the natural law, by which we would otherwise be fettered, and
without these special wonders of God, would fall into despair and forgetfulness of Him.
2. The Holy Martyr Iraida.
She is sometimes called Rais or Raida. A maiden from an Egyptian town called Batan, she was therefore probably an Egyptian. Iraida went out one day to draw water from a well near the sea, and saw a ship laden with bound Christians: priests, deacons, monks, women and maidens. Enquiring, she learned that pagan torturers were taking all this crowd to torture and death for the name of Christ the Lord. In the heart of the young Iraida, the desire flared up to suffer for the Lord. She left her pots by the well, went onto the ship and confessed that she was a Christian. She was immediately bound and taken with the others to the Egyptian town of Antinopolis. After diverse tortures, Iraida was the first to be beheaded, followed by the others. She suffered with honor and was glorified at the beginning of the fourth century.
3. The Holy New-Martyr Nicholas Pantopoles (The Grocer).
He suffered for the Christian Faith as a young man at the hands of the Turks in Constantinople in 1672, his father, a grocer, having moved there from Thessaly. He took the name of his father’s trade (in Greek, pantopoles). After great pressure to become a Turk, and torture because he refused, he was beheaded and entered into the kingdom of God. His relics are preserved in the monastery of Xeropotamou on the Holy Mountain.
4. The Holy New-Martyr John.
Born in a place called Konitsa in Albania, he was a Moslem of Moslem parents. Later, seeing the wonderful power of the Christian Faith in various places and events, he was baptized. He was arrested for this and brought before the Turkish judge. Tortured for the Christian Faith in Aetolia and beheaded in 1814, he cried out at the time of his death: ‘Remember me, O Lord, in Thy kingdom!’
FOR CONSIDERATION
He who gives to the poor gives to Christ. This is the meaning of the Gospel teaching emphasised by the saints from their experience. Peter the Merciful, when he had repented, began to give alms to the poor whenever he had the chance. On one occasion, a shipwrecked man, who had barely saved his naked body from the wreck, met him and begged for clothing. St. Peter took off his costly toga and clothed the naked man in it. Shortly afterwards, Peter saw his toga in the shop of some merchant, displayed for sale. Peter was very distressed that the shipwrecked man had sold his toga instead of making use of it. ‘I am not worthy,’ he said, ‘that the Lord should accept my alms.’ But the Lord appeared to him in a dream in the guise of a handsome Man, brighter than the sun, with a Cross on His head and wearing Peter’s toga. ‘What are you sad about, Peter?’ the Lord asked him. ‘How can I not be sad, Lord, when I see that what I gave to that poor wretch he went and sold in the bazaar?’ Then the Lord asked him: ‘Do you know this garment I’m wearing?’ St. Peter replied: ‘I know it, Lord; it’s the toga I gave to the naked man.’ The Lord then said to him: ‘Don’t be sad, then. You gave it to the poor man, and I received it and praise your action.’
October 7th – Civil Calendar
September 24th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Protomartyr Thekla, Equal to the Apostles.
Thekla was born in Iconium of eminent
pagan parents. She was betrothed at the age of eighteen to a young man, at the time that the
Apostle Paul came to Iconium with Barnabas to preach the Gospel. Listening to Paul for three days
and nights, Thekla turned utterly to the Christian Faith and vowed to live in virginity. Her
mother, seeing that she shunned her betrothed and thought no more of marriage, first talked to
her and then beat her and starved her. Finally, she gave her over to the judges and demanded,
wicked mother that she was, that Thekla be burned. The judge threw her into the flames, but God
preserved her unharmed. Thekla then became a follower of the Apostle Paul, and went with him to
Antioch. Attracted by Thekla’s beauty, an elder of the city attempted to take her by force,
but Thekla tore herself out of his grasp. The elder denounced her to the governor as a Christian
who was averse to marriage. The governor condemned her to death and threw her to the wild beasts,
but the animals would not touch the body of this holy virgin. Amazed at this, the governor asked:
‘Who are you, and what is the power that you have in you, that nothing can do you
harm?’ Thekla replied: ‘I am a servant of the living God.’ Then the governor
let her go free, and she began to preach the Gospel and succeeded in bringing many to the true
Faith, among whom was an eminent and honored widow, Tryphena. After this, St. Thekla, with the
blessing of the Apostle Paul, withdrew to a solitary place near Seleukeia. She lived a long time
there in asceticism, healing the sick with miraculous power and in this way bringing many to
Christianity. The doctors in Seleukeia were jealous of her and sent some young men to assault
her, hoping that, in losing her virginity, she would lose also her miraculous power. Thekla fled
from these insolent young men, and when she saw that they would catch her, prayed to God for help
in front of a rock, and the rock opened and hid the holy maiden and bride of Christ. This rock
was her hiding place and her tomb. St. Chrysostom says of this wonderful Christian heroine and
saint: ‘I seem to see this blessed virgin going to Christ with virginity in one hand and
martyrdom in the other.’
2. St. Stefan (Stephen), King of Serbia, the First-Crowned (Simon the Monk).
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Crowned king at Žiča, his foundation, by his
brother and spiritual father, St. Sava, he was a devout Christian and a wise and
peace-loving ruler. Stefan, together with St. Sava, raised Orthodoxy to great heights among
his people. At his desire, St. Sava made him a monk at the time of his death, giving him
the name Simon. He entered into rest in the Lord on September 24th, 1224, and his relics
are preserved at Studenica.
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3. St. David (formerly Prince Dimitrije)
Son of Vukan, Stefan’s brother, he built the monastery at Lim, at which he himself became a monk.
4. The Holy Prince Vladislav.
Son of King Stefan, he built the monastery of Mileševa, whither he took St. Sava’s relics from Trnovo. He was distinguished by a rare compassion for the poor. On the coinage of his time, he had inscribed: ‘The servant of God Vladislav’.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Every saint is close to the place where he is invoked for help, or where his holiness is commemorated and glorified. Those who are gifted with insight see them; those who lack this gift believe somehow and will see them in due time. St. Kosmas of Zographou, while still a young monk, was a clairvoyant. Once, on the Annunciation, he went to Vatopedi for the feast with some other monks. Both during the service in church and during the meal in the refectory, Kosmas saw a woman of heavenly beauty and majesty, who was organising, directing and herself serving with authority. He saw her for a long time, not just for a moment, both in the church and in the refectory. Kosmas was deeply perplexed and not a little appalled at this sight, for he felt it scandalous to see a woman in a monastery of the Holy Mountain. When he recounted his vision to his elder at Zographou, saying how unseemly it was for a woman to be on the Holy Mountain, his elder told him that it must have been the Queen of the Holy Mountain, the most holy Mother of God herself. In heartfelt wonder, Kosmas was filled with great joy.
October 8th – Civil Calendar
September 25th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother Ephrosyne.
The daughter of a rich and eminent man, Paphnutios, from
Alexandria, she was besought of God by her childless parents, who brought their daughter up in
the Christian Faith. Not wishing to marry, the young Ephrosyne, in order to hide from her father,
dressed herself in men’s clothing and presented herself to the abbot of a monastery as a
eunuch of the Emperor Theodosios with the name of Smaragdus. The abbot received her and placed
her under the guidance of the monk Agapetus as spiritual father. By her fasting and prayers,
Smaragdus quickly outstripped the other monks in the monastery. When she had spent thirty-eight
years in strict asceticism, Paphnutios visited the monastery and the abbot placed him in
Smaragdus’ care for prayer and counsel. Smaragdus recognized Paphnutios, but Paphnutios did
not recognize her. When her father confessed his grief for his lost daughter, Smaragdus told him
not to lose hope, for he would see his daughter again once more in this life, and asked him to
come again in three days’ time. When Paphnutios returned, Smaragdus was on her deathbed.
Then the dying monk said to Paphnutios: ‘I am Ephrosyne your daughter; you are my
father.’ Her father could not for a long time collect himself, for sheer astonishment. Then
Ephrosyne breathed her last and her father wept over her. After burying his daughter, Paphnutios
remained in the monastery and settled in the cell of his departed, holy daughter. After ten years
of asceticism, holy Paphnutios entered into rest in the Lord.
2. Our Holy Father Sergius (Sergy) of Radonezh.
A great ascetic and light of the Russian Church, he
was born in 1313 in Rostov of devout parents, Kiril and Maria. After the death of his parents,
Bartholomew—for that was his baptismal name—became a monk and founded the community of the Holy
Trinity in the forest of Radonezh. A gentle and meek servant of God, occupied only with labor and
prayer, he was made worthy of the gifts of wonder-working for the purity of his heart, raising
the dead in the name of Christ. The holy Mother of God appeared to him a number of times. Princes
and bishops came to him for counsel, and he gave his blessing to Prince Dimitri of the Don and
foretold his victory in Russia’s war of liberation against the Tartars. He had insight into
men’s hearts and into distant events. His community became filled with monks during his
lifetime, and has served through the ages as one of the chief centers of spiritual life and of
God’s miracles. St. Sergius entered into rest in 1392. After his death, he appeared a
number of times to various people.
3. Our Holy Mother Ephrosyne of Suzdal.
 Her baptismal name was Theodula, and she was
the daughter of Michael Vsevolodovitch and the betrothed of Menas, Prince of Suzdal. She
had never desired marriage, and prayed to God to keep her in virginity till her death. When
they took her as a bride to Suzdal, Prince Menas died suddenly. She did not return to her
parents but retired to a monastery, where she lived in asceticism till her death. She was
endowed by God with wonder-working gifts, and entered into rest in 1250.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
A saint is not remarkable on the surface; all his riches are internal, in his soul. A peasant came a long way to the monastery to see St. Sergius. When he asked for the abbot, he was told that he was working in the garden. The peasant went off to the garden and saw a man there in poor and dirty clothing, hoeing along with the other workers. The peasant returned to the monastery dissatisfied, thinking within himself that the monks were making fun of him, and repeated, that there might be no mistake, that he wanted to see the famous holy father, Sergius. Sergius arrived back at the monastery just then, and welcomed the peasant, serving him at table. The saint looked into the heart of his guest, and saw there the thoughts about himself. To quiet him, he told him that he would see St. Sergius if he waited a little. Just then, a prince arrived at the monastery with his nobles. Both the prince and the nobles bowed low to Sergius and asked his blessing. The monks then removed the peasant from the room to make room for the new guests, and this peasant looked with wonder from afar, and peered to see that which he had spurned the sight of from nearby. He chided himself for his ignorance and was deeply ashamed. When the prince had departed, the peasant quickly went up to the saint, fell at his feet and asked his forgiveness. And the great saint was gentle with him, and said: ‘Don’t grieve, my son; you thought a true thing of me, reckoning me as nothing, while others are deluded in thinking me something great.’
October 9th – Civil Calendar
September 26th – Church Calendar
1. St. John the Theologian, Apostle and Evangelist.
John was the son of Zebedee the fisherman
and Salome the daughter of Joseph, the betrothed of the holy Mother of God. Called by the Lord
Jesus, John immediately left his father and the fishing nets and followed Christ with his brother
Iakovos. From that time, he was not parted from his Lord until the end. With Peter and Iakovos,
he was present at the raising of Jairus’ daughter and at the Lord’s Transfiguration,
and laid his head on Jesus’ breast at the Mystical Supper. When all the others had forsaken
the crucified Lord, John stayed beneath the Cross with the holy Mother of God. In obedience to
the Lord’s wish, he was as a son to the holy Virgin Mary, caring for her and serving her,
looking after her right up to her falling-asleep. After her dormition, John went off with his
disciple Prochorus to preach the Gospel in Asia Minor, and mainly lived and worked in Ephesus. By
his inspired preaching and miracles, he brought many to Christianity and undermined the
foundations of paganism. The vexed pagans bound him and sent him to Rome to the Emperor Domitian.
He was tortured and flogged before the emperor, but when he was unharmed either by the strong
poison that he was given to drink or the boiling oil into which he was put, the emperor was
afraid, and thinking he was immortal, sent him into exile on the island of Patmos. On this
island, St. John brought many to Christianity by his words and miracles, and strengthened the
Church of God. He wrote his Gospel and the Revelation there. In the time of the Emperor Nerva,
who gave liberty to all the captives, John returned to Ephesus, where he lived for some time,
confirming the work that he had earlier begun. He was over a hundred years old when he went to
the Lord. When his disciples later opened his grave, they found that his body was not there.
Every year, on May 8th, a fine, fragrant dust, endowed with healing power rose from his grave.
After a long and fruitful life of labor upon earth, this beloved disciple of Christ and pillar of
the Church entered into the joy of his Lord, to peace and eternal rejoicing.
2. Our Holy Father Nilus of Calabria.
A great ascetic among the Greeks of Calabria, the founder of several monasteries, a wonder-worker and defender of the purity of Orthodoxy, he undertook long journeys simply in order to save another man trouble. He had a burning love for his neighbor, and entered into rest in 1005, leaving many disciples of real worth. The best-known among these is St. Bartholomew, the writer of several canons, who died in 1044.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘The one who turneth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins’—thus writes the Apostle Iakovos (5:20). Christ’s apostles did not only speak in this way, but confirmed their words by their actions. Of St. John the Apostle, Clement of Alexandria relates that in some place in Asia Minor he baptized a pagan youth and confided him to the care of the local bishop, then went off to continue his work of preaching the Gospel. In St. John’s absence, the young man became corrupt and began to drink and steal, and finally joined a band of brigands that fell on men from the forest and robbed them. After a certain time, St. John returned and heard from the bishop what had happened to this young man. Then St. John, without losing a moment, found a horse and a guide and hurried off to the forest where the robber band had its lair. Searching through the forest, the saint found the robbers and came before their chief. The young man, as soon as he saw him, took to his heels. The aged John went after him, and despite his age, came up with him. Seeing that he had caught up with him, the young man fell at the apostle’s feet and could not, for shame, meet his eye. John embraced him and kissed him, as a shepherd does when he finds his lost sheep. St. John brought him back to the city and settled him afresh in a life of faith and good works, and being pleasing to God, the young man entered into rest in due time.
October 10th – Civil Calendar
September 27th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Callistratus.
Born in Carthage, he was a Christian from his birth, as his father and grandfather were. One of his forbearers, Neochorus, served as a soldier in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate at the time of the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Seeing the many miracles that were wrought at the time of Christ’s death, Neochorus came to believe in Him, and was taught the Faith and baptized by the apostles. Returning home, Neochorus took his Christian Faith to his own people, like a precious pearl. So, in time, St. Callistratus was born, baptized and brought up a Christian. When he went into the army, there was no other Christian in his regiment. One of his companions, seeing holy Callistratus get up at night and pray to God, reported him to the commander, Persentinus, as a Christian—and Persentinus was a harsh torturer of Christians. When he was convinced that Callistratus was indeed a Christian, the commander ordered him to offer sacrifice to idols, which Callistratus immediately refused to do. Then Callistratus was harshly beaten and thrown into the sea, but God’s power preserved him, and he emerged from the sea unharmed. Seeing Callistratus’ endurance and his miracles, forty-nine soldiers came to believe in Christ the Lord, and they were beaten and thrown into prison along with him. In prison, St. Callistratus instructed his companions in the Faith and encouraged them. They showed great courage in suffering, and the Lord showed great power through them. The wicked torturer sent soldiers to the prison at night, and they slew Callistratus and the other forty-nine. They suffered for the truth in 304, and a church was later built over their relics.
2. The Holy Apostles Mark, Aristarchus and Zenas.
They were of the Seventy. St. Mark was also called John. The apostles gathered together for prayer at the house of his mother, Mary, in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). He preached the Gospel with the Apostles Paul and Barnabas, and was after that bishop in Byblos. St. Aristarchus, a companion of the Apostle Paul on his travels (Acts 16:29), was bishop in Syrian Apameia. St. Zenas, spoken of as a lawyer by the Apostle Paul (Titus 3:13), was bishop in Palestinian Lydda. They shone like stars in the darkness of paganism and brought many to the Christian Faith, and now they shine like stars in the kingdom of Christ their Beloved.
3. The Holy New-Martyr Aquilina.
From the village of Zaklivera in the diocese of Jedrene, she was a girl of eighteen. Her father embraced Islam and put pressure on his daughter to do the same, but her mother inclined her to the Christian Faith. After much torture, all wounded and bloodied, she breathed her last in her mother’s arms and received the wreath of martyrdom on September 27th, 1764.
4. Our Holy Father Sabbatius of Solovki.
The founder of the Solovki (Solovetsky) Monastery in Russia, he entered into rest in the Lord on September 27th, 1435.
FOR CONSIDERATION
All our riches and glory and honor are like a meal ended by death. From this meal, no one takes a single crumb into the other world. Blessed is he who has grasped that the soul is the only one of his possessions that can be stolen by no one and nothing, even death. Such men think only of three realities: death, the soul and God the Judge. ‘Hold constantly in your mind the remembrance of the end and of the Judgment, and keep yourself from sin,’ teaches Evagrius. All our bodily cares in this life are like a meal that will very soon be ended. ‘Have death before your eyes every day,’ says St. Isaias the Solitary. Rehearse to yourself unceasingly the way that you will part from the body, and the way you will stand before God. Prepare yourself beforehand for the dreadful day of answering at the Judgment of God as though you already behold it. A rich merchant called John came one day to St. Sabbatius of Solovki and brought him a large donation. Sabbatius would accept nothing, and told the donor to give it away to the poor. John was very sad and the saint, to comfort him and make clear to him why he had told him to do this, said: ‘John, my son, stay here and rest until tomorrow, and you will then see the grace of God.’ On the following day, John went into Sabbatius’ cell and saw that the elder had died, and smelled the wonderful fragrance that permeated the cell. He who foresees the end of his life does not think of earthly goods.
October 11th – Civil Calendar
September 28th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Chariton the Confessor.
Chariton was an eminent and devout citizen of the city of Iconium. Imbued with the spirit of his compatriot, St. Thekla, Chariton openly confessed the name of Christ. When a harsh persecution of Christians broke out under the Emperor Aurelian, Chariton was immediately brought to trial before the governor. The judge ordered him to worship false gods, to which Chariton replied: ‘All your gods are furies, which were aforetime through pride cast out from heaven into the nethermost hell.’ Chariton openly showed his faith in the one, living God, the Creator of all, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind. Then the governor ordered that Chariton be so beaten and tortured that his whole body became covered with wounds until it was like one great wound. After the evil death of Aurelian, whose evil-doing caught up with him in the end, Chariton was released from torture and imprisonment. He traveled to Jerusalem, but on the way was seized by robbers from whom he was freed by God’s providence. He did not return to Iconium, but withdrew to the wilderness of Pharan, where he founded a community and gathered a group of monks together. Having given a rule to this community and desiring to escape the praise of men, he withdrew to another desert near Jericho where, in time, he founded another community, called after him. He finally founded another community, Souka, called in Greek the Old Lavra. He died at a great age and entered into the glory of his Lord on September 28th, 350, and his relics are preserved in his first monastery. The practice of tonsuring monks is attributed by some to St. Chariton.
2. The Holy Prophet Baruch.
A disciple and faithful friend of the holy Prophet Jeremias, he foretold the return of the Jews from slavery in Babylon and the coming of the Son of God on earth. It is held that he was killed by the Jews in Egypt, as was the Prophet Jeremias, in the seventh century before Christ.
3. The Holy Martyr Mark the Shepherd.
In the time of Diocletian, Magnus, governor of Antioch, went hunting with his soldiers. Chasing a wild beast, the soldiers saw that it fled to the shepherd, Mark, who was keeping his flocks just there. The beast stood fawning around Mark, the man of God. Seeing this, thirty of the soldiers, being instructed in the Faith by Mark, came to belief in Christ and were immediately beheaded. The governor bound Mark, took him to the town, summoned three brothers, Alexander, Alphaeus and Zossima, and ordered them to make instruments of torture to use on Mark, but the three of them, having talked with St. Mark, embraced the Christian Faith and refused the governor’s command. The governor condemned them to death, and ordered that molten lead be poured into their mouths. After this, holy Mark was beheaded and his body placed in the temple of Artemis, which temple was then destroyed by God’s power.
4. The Holy Martyr Vatslav (Wenceslas), King of the Czechs.
The grandson of St. Ludmilla, he lived as king in spiritual striving in the Faith like the great ascetics, and strengthened the Orthodox Faith among his people. He took care when sitting in judgement that no innocent man should suffer. In his zeal for the Christian Faith and his love for his neighbor, holy Vatslav bought pagan children who had been sold as slaves and immediately baptized them, bringing them up as Christians. He translated St. John’s Gospel into Czech and brought the relics of St. Vitus and his grandmother, Ludmilla, to Prague. His brother Boleslav invited him to stay and killed him at his court. Immediately after this, Boleslav began to make German priests and to have the Liturgy celebrated in Latin. Holy Vatslav suffered in 929. His relics are preserved in Prague.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Guiding the destiny of this world, and especially of His holy Church, God often uses surprising touches, and changes the evil destiny of His servants into good. This is shown a number of times in the life of St. Chariton. After harsh torture, Chariton was thrown into prison and promised certain death, but Emperor Aurelian died suddenly, and under the new emperor, Christian captives were set free. Thus Chariton escaped death. When he was travelling to Jerusalem, robbers seized him and carried him off to their cave. They left him there and went off to plunder, intending to kill Chariton when they returned. There was in the cave a wine cask in which a poisonous snake was trapped. This snake had made itself drunk with the wine and had spat it out, with its venom, into the vessel. When the robbers returned, they, being thirsty from their journey and the broiling heat, drank the wine and one by one fell dead. And so again, on this occasion and by this extraordinary occurrence, St. Chariton was delivered from death. The Lord kept sending misfortune on His servant so that, by these misfortunes, He might temper and purify him like gold in the fire, and bind him more closely to Himself; and He delivered him from death because Chariton had yet to found several monasteries, and by his labors, set many human souls on the way of salvation.
October 12th – Civil Calendar
September 29th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Kyriakos (Cyriacus) the Solitary.
Born in Corinth of parents named John (a priest) and Evdoxia, he was a kinsman of the local bishop, Peter. He was made reader in the cathedral by the bishop while still a young man. Reading the holy Scriptures, the young Kyriakos marveled at God’s providence, how it glorified every true servant of the living God and ordered the salvation of the human race. At the age of eighteen, his desire for the spiritual life led him to Jerusalem. There he entered the monastery of a godly man called Evstorgios, who grounded him in the monastic life. He then went off to St. Efthymios, who discerned in him future spiritual greatness, clothed him in the Great Habit and sent him to the Jordan, to St. Gerasimos, where Kyriakos spent nine years. After Gerasimos’ death, he returned to St. Efthymios’ monastery, where he remained in silence for ten years. After this he moved from place to place, fleeing the praise of men. He lived in ascetic labor also in the community of St. Chariton, where he finished his earthly course, having lived for a hundred and nine years. A glorious ascetic and wonder-worker, St. Kyriakos was massive and strong of body, and stayed thus in great old age, despite strict fasts and vigils. In the desert, he sometimes lived for years only on raw vegetables. He was very zealous for the Orthodox Faith, denouncing heresies, especially the heresy of Origen. Of himself he said that, while he was a monk, the sun never saw him eat or be angry with any man. According to the rule of St. Chariton, the monks ate only once a day, after sunset. Kyriakos was a great light, a pillar of Orthodoxy, the boast of monks, a mighty healer of the sick and a gentle comforter of the sorrowful. Living long in asceticism and giving aid to many, he entered into the eternal joy of his Lord in 557.
2. The Holy Martyrs Dada and Gobdelas.
Dada was a Persian noble and a kinsman of King Sapor, and Gobdelas was the son of the same king. When St. Dada openly confessed his faith in Christ, King Sapor ordered that he be harshly tortured. During these tortures, Dada worked great miracles in Christ’s name, which made such an impression on Gobdelas that he also embraced the Christian Faith. The pagan king did not spare his son, but gave him over to harsh torture. Both Dada and Gobdelas glorified God in their patient endurance and many miracles, and gave their souls to God under the tortures. They suffered in the fourth century. With them there suffered—for they had also come to faith in Christ—Gobdelas’ sister Kasdoa and Gargal, the chief of the pagan priests.
3. St. Theophanes the Merciful.
A wealthy citizen of Gaza, he was so merciful that he gave away his goods to the poor and himself became one of them. Near the end of his life, he was stricken with dropsy and died of this sickness. A healing myrrh flowed from his body, by which many of the sick were healed.
4. St. Mary of Palestine.
She was at first a Psalm-reader of the Psalter in the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, but being beautiful, she was a source of scandal to the sinful-minded. In order not to be a cause of sin in others, Mary withdrew to the wilderness of Souka with a basket of beans and a flask of water. She spent eighteen years in the desert, and by God’s power, never lacked either beans or water. Disciples of St. Kyriakos found her during her lifetime, and later buried her.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Many people, from ignorance, exert themselves to avoid suffering in old age and terminal illness rather than to avoid the pains of hell in the life after old age and death. There was once an unmarried miser who, from year to year, strove to acquire for himself superfluous riches. When he was asked the point of so much toil and acquisition of goods, which were too much for his lifetime, he replied: ‘I’m gathering them for my old age. My goods will tend and feed me in old age and sickness’. His presentiment was soon realized. In old age, a serious and long-lasting sickness fell upon him. He distributed the money he had saved to doctors to heal him, and to servants to look after him and feed him, but the money ran out and the illness continued. His doctors and servants left him, and he fell into despair. His neighbors brought him bread until he died, and he was buried at public expense. Of what use were those goods to him to whom they were given? God did His will in him, and sent upon him that sickness of which he had spoken and for which he had prepared his goods. However, all his goods were unable to ease his sufferings in this world—and by what could he be eased of them in the world to come? By what, if he took with him neither faith nor hope, nor works of mercy, prayer or repentance? Someone saw a departed man in the glory of Paradise, and asked him by what he had become worthy of that glory. The man replied: ‘I was, in my earthly life, the hireling of an evildoer, who never paid me my hire; but I endured everything and served him to the end with hope in God.’ He saw another in eternal glory, and when he asked him, the other replied: ‘I was a leper, and to the end rendered God thanks for that.’ The one, though, who heaped up riches for sickness in his old age, will never be seen by any man in the glory of Paradise in the other world.
October 13th – Civil Calendar
September 30th – Church Calendar
1. St. Gregory the Enlightener, Bishop of Armenia.
Gregory was of a noble family, kin to the
imperial house of Persia (to King Artaban) and Armenia (King Khosrov). When these two houses made
war between themselves, Gregory withdrew to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he first came into
contact with the Christian Faith, received Baptism and married. He had two sons of this marriage,
Rostanes and Aristanes, and dedicated them both to the service of the Church. After his
wife’s death, he returned to Armenia and entered the service of King Tiridates. Gregory
served his king faithfully, and the king loved him, but when he discovered that Gregory was a
Christian, he was greatly enraged and put pressure on him to reject the Christian Faith and
worship idols. Having no success whatever in this, Tiridates put Gregory to harsh torture, and
after cruel torment, threw him into a deep pit filled with every kind of poisonous reptile,
meaning thus to kill him. But God, Who is all-seeing, preserved Gregory alive in that pit for
fourteen whole years. Tiridates continued the persecution of Christians in his kingdom, and
attacked a women’s monastery of thirty-seven nuns with their abbess, Gaïane. When he
had slain them with terrible tortures, Tiridates went mad and was like a monstrous wild boar. A
man appeared to the king’s sister in a dream and told her that her mad brother would not be
restored to sanity until Gregory was taken out of the pit. This being done, Gregory healed and
baptized Tiridates. Then Gregory, at the king’s desire, became Bishop of Armenia and with
the king’s help, and above all, God’s help, enlightened the whole of Armenia and the
surrounding area with the Christian Faith. St. Gregory finished his life of great toil in old
age, in about 335. In his place, his son Aristanes was consecrated bishop, and he continued his
father’s work. Aristanes was one of the 318 fathers at the First Ecumenical Council.
2. The Holy Martyrs Gaïane, Rhipsimia and 35 other nuns.
They were all slain by Tiridates for their faith in Christ. Holy Rhipsimia was of rare beauty, and the Emperor Diocletian therefore wanted her for his wife. This was the cause of the suffering of all thirty-seven of them. Rhipsimia refused to go to the emperor, because she was already consecrated to Christ her Bridegroom. Then Tiridates began to urge her to go with him, for the king was as though intoxicated by her beauty, but Rhipsimia resisted the pagan king with all her strength, ‘and he who was victorious over the princes of the Goths and routed the Persians could not overcome one virgin of Christ’. The furious king put her to harsh torture (her tongue was cut out, her stomach cut open and her entrails spilled out), during which Rhipsimia gave her soul into God’s hands. After that, the other nuns were seized and beheaded with the sword. The famous monastery of Echmiazdin, near Erivan, was built over their relics, and became the chief spiritual center of Armenia for many centuries.
3. St. Michael (Mikhail), First Metropolitan of Kiev.
He was sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople to Russia at the request of the great Prince Vladimir, to baptize the pagan people and to establish and organize the Church. St. Michael baptized the people in Kiev, Novgorod, Rostov and many other towns and villages, set the Church in order, establishing the episcopate and priesthood, laid the foundations of the monastery of St. Michael in Kiev, and sent missionaries to the Bulgars and Tartars, bringing many of them to Christ. This saint accomplished all this and much else in a mere four years. He entered peacefully into rest in 992, and his relics are preserved in the Monastery of the Caves.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Strange changes take place in the destinies of men, today as in former times. Those who have abased themselves for the sake of God’s righteousness are raised up to great heights, and scoffers at the Faith of God turn into servants of that same Faith. King Tiridates threw St. Gregory into a deep pit, where he spent fourteen years, forgotten by the entire world but not forgotten by God. Who among men could imagine that the greatest light of the Armenian people was to be found in the darkness of a pit? And who could ever imagine the powerful and tyrannical King Tiridates one day saving the life of this Gregory, whom he had condemned to death, and giving him more help than the whole world could give him? After fourteen years, Gregory was shown by God to be alive, and miraculously healed the mad king. King Tiridates, an unrestrained persecutor of Christians, was baptized and became the greatest zealot for the Christian Faith. One could say that, by God’s help, both Gregory and Tiridates were brought out of a deep pit: Gregory a physical one and Tiridates a spiritual. Oh, the infinite wisdom of God in the directing of the destinies of men! The sometime bestial and passionate Tiridates became so softened by repentance that he became in character more like Gregory than like himself before his Baptism.
October 14th – Civil Calendar
October 1st – Church Calendar
1. The Protecting Veil of the Most Holy Mother of God.
The Church has always glorified the most holy Mother of God as the
protectress and defender of the Christian people, entreating, by her intercession, God’s
loving-kindness towards us sinners. The Mother of God’s aid has been clearly shown times
without number, both to individuals and to peoples, both in peace and in war, both in monastic
deserts and in crowded cities. The event that the Church commemorates and celebrates today proves
this constant protection of the Christian people by the Mother of God. On October 1st, 911, in
the time of the Emperor Leo the Wise (or the Philosopher), there was an all-night vigil at the
Vlachernai church of the Mother of God in Constantinople. The church was crowded. St. Andrew the
Fool for Christ was standing at the back of the church with his disciple Epiphanios. At ten
o’clock in the evening, the most holy Mother of God appeared above the people with a veil
spread over her outstretched hands, as though to protect them with this covering. She was clad in
gold-encrusted purple and shone with an unspeakable radiance, surrounded by apostles, saints,
martyrs and virgins. Seeing this vision, St. Andrew gestured towards it and asked Epiphanios:
‘Do you see how the Queen and Lady of all is praying for the whole world?’ Epiphanios
replied: ‘Yes, father; I see it and stand in dread.’ As a result, this commemoration
was instituted to remind us both of this event and of the Mother of God’s constant
protection whenever we prayerfully seek that protection, that shelter, in distress.
2. The Holy Apostle Ananias.
 One of the Seventy, he was bishop in Damascus. In
response to a vision from God, he baptized Saul, the future Apostle Paul (Acts 9), and
courageously preached the Gospel in the face of all persecution, for which he was stoned to
death in the city of Eleftheropolis. His holy relics were taken to Damascus, and later to
Constantinople.
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3. Our Holy Father Romanos the Melodist.
 Born in the Syrian town of Emesa, he served as
a verger first in Beirut and then in Constantinople at the cathedral, in the time of
Patriarch Ephemios (490-496). Being a poor reader and having an inharmonious voice for
chanting, he was despised by certain of the clergy. St. Romanos prayed weeping to the
Mother of God, and she appeared to him in a dream, held a piece of paper out to him and
told him to swallow it. The following day was the Nativity of Christ, and Romanos went up
to the ambo, and with an angelic voice, sang: ‘Today the Virgin...,’ which has
come down to us as the Kontakion of the feast. All marvelled at the words of the hymn and
at the singer’s voice. Receiving thus the gift of song from the Mother of God,
Romanos composed more than a thousand kontakia. He died as a deacon of the Great Church in
Constantinople in 530, and went to join the angelic choir.
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4. Our Holy Father John Kukuzelis.
A Slav from Dyrrachium, he was taken as a young man to the School of Music in Constantinople where he became a popular chanter at the imperial court. Fearing the flattery and praise of men, he fled to the Holy Mountain and presented himself at the Great Lavra as a shepherd. As shepherd and monk, he lived in rare asceticism, and the Mother of God appeared to him twice. He entered into rest in the twelfth century.
5. Our Holy Father Gregory.
A monk of the Great Lavra in the fourteenth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The most holy Mother of God often appears to holy men at the time of some need, such as to encourage them in asceticism, to heal them of sickness or to reveal some mystery to them. Two wonderful and somewhat similar happenings took place at the Great Lavra on the Holy Mountain, to St. John Kukuzelis and St. Gregory, at different times.
During the great Akathist in the Great Fast, while it was being sung, John was very tired and sat down on a chair near the icon of the Mother of God. Sitting there, he fell asleep. The Panagia (all-holy one) appeared to him at that moment in heavenly splendor, and said to him: ‘Greetings, John! Sing, and don’t stop singing; and for this I will never leave you.’ With these words, she put a gold piece into John’s hand. When he woke from the dream, he found himself clutching the gold piece. Comparable wonders took place after this, both connected with the icon of the Mother of God and the gold piece she gave him.
The second happening concerned the monk Gregory. He, like Kukuzelis, was a chanter in church. Patriarch Kallistos had instituted the practice, in the Liturgy of St. Basil, of singing: ‘All creation in thee rejoices...,’ in place of ‘It is Verily Worthy’. His successor, Patriarch Philotheos, had rescinded this and said that, for brevity, ‘It is Verily Worthy’ should always be sung. Once, though, on the Eve of the Theophany, in the presence of Patriarch Gregory of Alexandria, Gregory chanted: ‘All creation...’. Immediately after this, the all-holy one appeared to him, as she had to Kukuzelis, put a gold piece in his hand and said: ‘I am very grateful to you for your singing in my honor.’ So, from that time, the practice was that ‘All creation...’ should always be sung instead of ‘It is Verily Worthy’ when the Liturgy of St. Basil was celebrated.
October 15th – Civil Calendar
October 2nd – Church Calendar
1. St. Andrew the Fool for Christ.
By birth a Slav, he was bought as a slave by Theognostus, a
rich man in Constantinople, in the time of the Emperor Leo the Wise, son of the Emperor Basil the
Macedonian. Andrew was a handsome young man, both in body and soul. Theognostus took a fancy to
him and allowed him to learn to read and write. Andrew prayed fervently to God and attended
church services with great devotion, and in obedience to a heavenly revelation, resolved on the
ascesis of folly for Christ’s sake. Once, when he went to the well for water, he cast off
his clothes and cut them to pieces, feigning madness. Saddened by this, his owner Theognostus put
him in chains and took him to the church of St. Anastasia the Deliverer from Bonds, that prayers
be read for him. But, as Andrew did not recover as far as his owner could see, he was freed as
being sick in mind. Holy Andrew feigned madness all day and spent the nights in prayer. He lived
without a roof over his head, spending the nights in the open and going about half-naked in a
single, tattered garment and eating a little bread when kindly people shared theirs with him.
Whatever he received, he gave away to beggars, and when he gave it to them he would mock them to
avoid their thanks, for holy Andrew looked only for the reward from God. Therefore great grace
from God abode in him, and he was able to discern men’s secrets, see angels and demons,
drive demons from men and turn men from sin. He had a most wonderful vision of Paradise and the
exalted powers of heaven; he saw the Lord Christ on His throne of glory; he, with his disciple
Epiphanios, saw the most holy Mother of God in the Vlachernai church sheltering the Christian
people with her veil (see Oct. 1st); he heard in heaven unspeakable words which he dared not
recount to men. After unprecedentedly harsh asceticism, he entered into rest and the eternal
glory of his Lord in 911.
2. The Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Virgin Justina.
Cyprian moved from Carthage to Antioch, where Justina lived with her
parents, Edesius and Cleodonia. Edesius was an idolatrous priest and his whole household was
pagan, but when Justina, going round the Christian churches, came to know the true Faith, she
brought both her father and mother to Christ the Lord and all three were baptized by the bishop,
Optatus. Cyprian was a magician, and had links with unclean spirits and powers of divination. A
dissolute youth Aglaidas, a pagan, tried to lead Justina astray, being enraptured by her beauty,
and when the holy maiden firmly rejected him, sought Cyprian’s help. Cyprian invoked evil
spirits, one after the other, on Justina, to set alight in her the passion of impurity towards
Aglaidas, but they were totally unsuccessful in this, for St. Justina, with the sign of the Cross
and prayer to God, drove out the evil spirits. Then Cyprian came to know the power of the Cross,
and was himself baptized, in time becoming priest and bishop. The wicked pagans seized both him
and Justina, and they were sent for trial to Damascus, and then tortured and beheaded in
Nikomedia at the end of the third century.
3. The Holy Martyrs David and Constantine.
Christian princes of Argueti, they were condemned to death for Christ in Imereti by Caliph Emil-el-Mumenim and drowned in a river in 730. At the time of their death they prayed to God that He would forgive the sins of all who invoked them in prayer for help. After their prayer was finished, a thunderbolt fell and a voice came from heaven saying that their prayer was heard. Their relics are preserved in Georgia in the monastery of Modzameta.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A vision of St. Andrew the Fool for Christ: There was a monk in Constantinople who was known as an ascetic and spiritual guide, and many people sought his prayers. But this monk had the secret vice of love of money. He collected money, and gave to no one. St. Andrew met him in the street, and saw a terrible snake coiled round his neck. St. Andrew pitied him for this, and began to exhort him: ‘Why, my brother, are you destroying your soul? Why have you coupled yourself with the demon of love of money? Why have you given it a resting-place within you? Why do you gather gold, as though it will go to the grave with you and not pass into the hands of others? Why do you make yourself a miser? While others hunger and thirst and die of cold, you gloat over your heap of gold. Is this the way of repentance? Is this the monastic life? Do you see what we have here?’ At that moment, the monk’s eyes were opened, and he saw the black demon and was filled with horror. The demon leapt off the monk and fled, driven by Andrew’s power. At this, a glorious angel of God came to the monk, for his heart was changed and turned towards good, and he went immediately and gave all his hoarded gold to the poor and needy. After that, he was pleasing to God in everything, and became more famous than before.
October 16th – Civil Calendar
October 3rd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Dionysius (Dionysios) the Areopagite.
He is counted among the
seventy lesser apostles. This wonderful man was of a noble, pagan family in Athens. Finishing his
education in Athens, he went to Egypt to learn more. One day while he was there, the Lord Christ
breathed His last on the Cross, and the sun was darkened and it was dark in Egypt for the space
of three hours. Then Dionysius cried out: ‘Either God the Creator of the world is
suffering, or the world is ending.’ Returning to Athens, he married a woman called Damaris
and had sons by her. He was a member of the highest court in Greece, the Areopagus, and was
always thereafter known as the Areopagite. When the Apostle Paul preached the Gospel in Athens,
Dionysius was baptized with his whole household (Acts 17:34). Paul consecrated him bishop of
Athens (he having left his wife and children and status from love of Christ), and he travelled
widely with Paul, coming to know all the other apostles. He went especially to Jerusalem, to see
the most holy Mother of God, and wrote of his meeting with her in one of his works, being at the
burial of the most pure one along with the other apostles. When his teacher, St. Paul, suffered
martyrdom, Dionysius desired to die such a death himself, so he went off to Gaul to preach the
Gospel among the barbarians, accompanied by Rusticus, a priest, and a deacon called Eleutherius.
They endured much but met with great success. By their labors, many were turned to the Christian
Faith and Dionysius built a small chapel in Paris* where he celebrated divine service. When he
was ninety years old, he was seized and tortured for Christ, together with Rusticus and
Eleutherius, until they were all three beheaded with the sword. The severed head of St. Dionysius
jumped a long way and fell in front of a Christian woman, Catula, who buried it with his body. He
suffered in the time of Domitian, in the year 96. He wrote several famous works: on the names of
God, on the heavenly and ecclesiastical hierarchies, on mystical theology and on the most holy
Mother of God.
* Author’s note: Some historians think that Dionysius of Paris was other than St. Dionysius the Areopagite.
2. Our Holy Father John the Chozebite, the Egyptian.
He lived in asceticism in the community of Chozeba in the time of the Emperor Justinian. Whenever he served the Liturgy, he saw a heavenly light in the altar. Ananias, an elder, lived the ascetic life not far from him, and the humility of these two saints was wonderful. A man brought his mad son to Ananias to be healed by his prayers. Ananias sent him to St. John, as being greater than he. John could not disobey the elder, but cried out: ‘In the name of Jesus Christ, it is Ananias, not I, who commands you to come out of this boy!’ And the boy was healed immediately.
3. Our Holy Father Dionysius (Dionisy) of the Kiev Caves.
He was a hieromonk and an anchorite. The following occurred on Pascha in 1463: he was going round the graves with Cross and censer to cense the relics and graves of the saints buried there. With overflowing joy in the Resurrection, he cried out on going into the caves: ‘My holy fathers and brethren, Christ is risen!’ At that, a voice like thunder rose from the tombs: ‘Truly He is risen!’
4. St. Hesychius the Chorebite.
He was at first careless for his soul’s salvation, but he became seriously ill and died, and came back from the dead and was healed. This wrought a profound change in him. He shut himself in a cell on the Holy Mountain and spoke not a single word to anyone for twelve years. Before his death, the monks opened his cell and begged him to give them some instruction. He only said: ‘He who ponders on death cannot sin.’ From him descended those known as the ‘hesychasts,’ who held silence, pondering on God and mental prayer to be the chief works of the true monk. They had a skete, known as the Hesychast or Silent, on the Holy Mountain. It is said of Gregory the Theologian that he was a hesychast during the Great Fast. St. Hesychius lived in the sixth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A vision of St. Andrew the Fool for Christ: Holy Andrew, walking one day along the streets of Constantinople, saw a great and splendid funeral. A rich man had died, and his cortege was magnificent. But when he looked more closely, Andrew saw a host of little black men capering merrily around the corpse, one grinning like a prostitute, another barking like a dog, a third grunting like a pig, a fourth pouring something filthy over the body. And they were mocking the chanters and saying: ‘You’re singing over a dog!’ Andrew, marveling, wondered what this man had done. Turning round, he saw a handsome youth standing weeping behind a wall. ‘For the sake of the God of heaven and earth, tell me the reason for your tears,’ said Andrew. The young man then told him that he had been the dead man’s guardian angel, but that the man had, by his sins, greatly offended God, casting his angel’s counsel from him and giving himself over utterly to the black demons. And the angel said that this man was a great and unrepentant sinner: a liar, a hater of men, a miser, a shedder of blood and a dissolute man who had turned three hundred souls to immorality. In vain was he honored by the emperor and respected by the people. In vain was this great funeral. Death had caught him unrepentant, and the harvest had come without warning.
October 17th – Civil Calendar
October 4th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Hierotheos.
He was a friend of Dionysius the Areopagite, and received the Christian Faith from the Apostle Paul a little after Dionysius. This apostle later made him bishop in Athens. At the time of the dormition of the most holy Mother of God, Hierotheos arrived in Jerusalem and took part in the funeral. With his divine singing, he brought heartfelt joy to many and showed himself to be greatly inspired. He labored greatly for the sake of the Gospel, brought many pagans to the truth, governed his flock well and finally ended a martyr for Christ, Who gave him a twofold wreath in His heavenly kingdom: of the hierarch and of the martyr.
2. St. Stefan Štiljanović.
A Serbian despot, born of the Paštrović family, he governed the Serbian people during a most difficult period, struggling courageously against the Turks and the Latins. A righteous and godly man and a patriot, this great prince can be compared with St. Alexander Nevsky or with the holy king John Vladimir. He entered into rest at the beginning of the sixteenth century (according to some, in 1515). A light appeared at his grave at night, by means of which his holy relics were found, being kept for a long time in the monastery of Šišatovac in the mountains of Fruška Gora* and then, during the Second World War, taken to Belgrade and placed in the Cathedral beside the body of Prince Lazar. His wife Helena, seeing Stefan’s incorrupt relics and the miracles wrought by them, became a nun and gave herself to asceticism till her death.
* Translator`s note: A mountain range in north-east Yugoslavia.
3. Our Holy Father Ammon of Nitria.
An Egyptian and a wine-grower by profession, he was forced by his kinsmen to marry against his will, but he would not live with a woman. On the first day, he called his bride his sister and counseled her, together with him, to guard her virginity for the sake of greater good things from heaven, and they lived thus for a whole eighteen years. Later, by mutual arrangement, his wife founded a women’s monastery in their house and Ammon went off to the Nitrian desert, where he gave himself to the ascesis of solitude. He received great gifts of insight and wonder-working from God for the purity of his heart. A man and woman brought him their insane son that he might heal him by his prayers, but Ammon would not do so. After long pestering on the part of the parents, Ammon said: ‘The sickness and health of your son are in your hands. Return the stolen ox to the widow (and he named her), and your son will be healed.’ The parents, amazed at such insight on the saint’s part, acknowledged their sin and promised that they would return the stolen ox as soon as they got home. Then holy Ammon prayed to God, and the child was healed. Ammon was a close friend of St. Anthony the Great. When Ammon died in Nitria in about 350, St. Anthony saw from his cell window the soul of Ammon in the heights, and said to the brethren: ‘Abba Ammon has today moved on, and I see his holy soul being borne by the angels into heaven.’
4. Our Holy Father Paul the Simple.
 He lived in the world as a
married man to the age of sixty. Catching his wife in sin, he left everything and went to
St. Anthony in the desert, becoming a monk at his hands. Although he was simple and
unlettered, he achieved such spiritual perfection that he saw every man’s soul as
ordinary men see each other’s bodies. He was a great wonder-worker, and in some
things, outstripped St. Anthony himself. He died in great old age, in 340, and went to
angelic joy.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
A vision of St. Andrew the Fool for Christ: St. Paul was not the only one to be caught up into Paradise and hear ‘unspeakable words’ (II Cor. 12:4). Over eight hundred and fifty years after St. Paul, this happened to St. Andrew. One winter night, holy Andrew was lying among the dogs on a dunghill, to warm his frozen body. An angel appeared to him and caught him up to Paradise (whether in the body or out of the body, Andrew himself was unable to explain) and kept him for two weeks in the heavenly world, bearing him to the third heaven. ‘I saw myself clad in shining garments like lightning, with a wreath of flowers on my head and girt with a kingly girdle, and I rejoiced greatly at this beauty, and marveled in mind and heart at the unspeakable loveliness of God’s Paradise, and I walked around it with great gladness.’
After that, Andrew writes of how he saw Christ the Lord: ‘And when a flaming hand drew aside the curtain, I saw my Lord as the Prophet Isaias saw Him aforetime, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up and surrounded by seraphim. He was clad in a red garment, His face shone and His eyes rested on me with great kindness. Seeing Him, I fell down before Him, worshipping before the awesome throne of His glory. I have no words for the joy that gripped me at the sight of His face; and now, remembering this vision, I am filled with unspeakable joy. And I heard my most merciful Creator speak three words to me with His most sweet and pure lips, which so sweetened my heart and inflamed it with love for Him that I melted as wax at such spiritual warmth.’ When St. Andrew asked also after this if it would be possible to see the most holy Mother of God, it was said to him that she was for the moment not in heaven, but had gone down to earth to be of help to the poor and needy.
October 18th – Civil Calendar
October 5th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Charitina.
Orphaned young, she was adopted by an eminent Christian man called Claudius, who brought her up as his own daughter. Charitina was meek, humble, obedient and silent. She studied the law of God day and night and vowed to live in perpetual virginity as a true bride of Christ. But, Charitina having brought others to the Christian Faith, the Emperor Diocletian’s governor, Dometius, heard of her and sent soldiers to take her from her foster-father for trial. The judge asked her: ‘Is it true, little girl, that you are a Christian, and that you delude others by bringing them to this dishonorable faith?’ Charitina courageously replied: ‘It is true that I am a Christian, and a lie that I delude others. I lead those in error to the way of truth, bringing them to my Christ.’ The wicked judge ordered that her hair be cut off and live coals put on her head, but the maiden was preserved by God’s power. They threw her into the sea, but God delivered her from it. She was bound to a wheel which began to turn, but an angel of God stopped the wheel and Charitina remained unharmed. Then the wicked judge sent some dissolute youths to rape her. Fearing this dishonor, St. Charitina prayed to God to receive her soul before these dissolute men could foul her virginal body and so, while she was kneeling in prayer, her soul went out from her body to the immortal kingdom of Christ.
2. The Hieromartyr Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria.
Born in Alexandria of eminent, pagan parents, he was educated in Hellenic philosophy and then studied with Origen. As a young man, he read St. Paul’s epistles, came to faith in Christ and was baptized by Demetrius, the then Bishop of Alexandria. He himself became bishop there in 247, and served God and the people of God as a true pastor in very difficult circumstances. The Church was outwardly persecuted by pagans and inwardly split by heretics. There were also the effects of a plague, that weakened the people for several years. He lived for three years outside Alexandria, hidden by the faithful, that he should not be killed before his time. In those three years, he wrote many epistles and other works for his flock, instructing them and encouraging them in the upholding of Orthodoxy. Among his writings are a few canons which were adopted by the Church, and his letter against Novatius is also regarded as a canonical writing. He governed the Church for seventeen years, and entered into rest in 265.
3. Our Holy Father Evdokimos (Eudocimus) of Vatopedi.
In 1841, when the bone-chapel at Vatopedi was being restored, workmen found the relics of a man kneeling and holding an icon of the Mother of God. Not knowing who this man could have been and when he had lived, the monks gave him the name Evdokimos and transferred his relics to the church, where they are preserved to this day. Many miracles of healing have been performed by them. Today the following words are carved on his coffin: ‘This coffin was made for the honored head of St. Evdokimos by the monk Gabriel, whom the saint healed of great sickness.’
4. Our Holy Fathers Damian, Jeremiah and Matthew.
Seers and wonder-workers of the Kiev Caves, they lived in the eleventh century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Whenever men strive earnestly to see the truth, and when they put nothing else before the truth, God, in His gentle way, comes to meet them. This is shown to us in the life of St. Dionysius of Alexandria. Even as a young man and a pagan, Dionysius read all the literature of Greece in order to come to the truth. But, being dissatisfied with that, he began to read everything that came to hand. One day, by God’s providence, a poor woman met him and offered to sell him a manuscript containing several of St. Paul’s epistles. Dionysius joyfully bought them and read them. They so captivated him that he sought out the woman again and asked if he could get anything else like that from her. The woman sent him to a Christian priest, who gave him all of Paul’s epistles. Reading them all carefully, Dionysius came to faith in Christ and received Baptism without the slightest hesitation.
The Millenarian heresy had taken root in Arsinoë and was spreading the false teaching that Christ would soon come and found on earth an earthly kingdom that would last a thousand years. At the forefront of this heresy was one Korakion, a disciple of Nepos of Arsinoë. Dionysius was at pains to go to Arsinoë and disillusion the Millenarians, and put an end to the spread of this heresy among the faithful. At a great gathering of Millenarians and Orthodox, Dionysius disputed with Korakion and other of the leaders of the Millenarians. The debate continued for three whole days. See what zeal the Christians of former times showed for the examination of the truth! And God blessed their labors and their zeal because of the prayers of St. Dionysius. At the end of the debate, Korakion and his followers cast off their false teaching and accepted the Orthodox teaching of St. Dionysius.
October 19th – Civil Calendar
October 6th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Thomas.
He was one of the twelve great apostles. Through his doubt of the
Resurrection of the Lord Christ, a new confirmation was given of that wonderful and saving event,
for the risen Lord appeared again to His disciples, to convince Thomas. The Lord said to Thomas:
‘Reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but
believing,’ and Thomas cried: ‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20). After the
descent of the Holy Spirit, when the apostles cast lots to see who would go where to preach the
Gospel, it fell to Thomas to go to India. He was somewhat saddened at having to go so far away,
but the Lord appeared to him and comforted him. In India, St. Thomas converted many, both rich
and poor, to the Christian Faith, and founded a Church there, making priests and bishops. Among
others, St. Thomas converted two sisters, Tertiana and Mygdonia, wives of Indian princes. Both
sisters were ill-treated for their faith by their husbands, who would not live with them after
their Baptism, and divorced them. Being freed from their marriages, they lived godly lives till
their deaths. Dionysius and Pelagia, a couple at first betrothed to each other, heard the
apostle’s teaching and did not live together, but devoted themselves to the ascetic life.
Pelagia died a martyr for the Faith and Dionysius was made bishop by the apostle. Prince
Misdaeus, the husband of Tertiana, whose wife and son Iuzanes Thomas baptized, condemned the
apostle to death, and sent five soldiers, who ran him through with their lances, and thus the
holy Apostle Thomas gave his soul into the hands of his Christ. Before his death, he, with the
other apostles, was miraculously borne to Jerusalem for the funeral of the most holy Mother of
God. Arriving late, he grieved bitterly, and at his request, the tomb of the most pure one was
opened, but the body was not there: the Lord had taken His Mother to His heavenly home. Thus St.
Thomas first, by his unbelief, confirmed the faith in the Resurrection of the Lord and then, by
his late arrival, revealed to us the wondrous glorification of the Mother of God.
2. Our Holy Father, the New-Martyr Makarios.
Born in Kion in Bithynia, of Christian parents Peter and Anthusa, he was baptized with the name Manuel. His parents had him taught tailoring as a trade, then his father embraced Islam and moved to Prousa. Once, when Manuel went to Prousa in the course of his work, his father found him and put great pressure on him to follow his example. Manuel refused, but in vain: the Turks circumcised him by force. Then Manuel fled to the Holy Mountain and became a monk in the skete of St. Anne, receiving the name Makarios. He was a model monk for twelve years, but his soul could find no peace. ‘Whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father’ (Matt. 10:33)—these words of Christ’s were constantly ringing in Makarios’ ears. He therefore resolved, with his elder’s blessing, to go to Prousa and openly confess his faith in Christ before the Turks, calling Mohammed a false prophet. After being flogged for a hundred and thirty days and enduring even harsher tortures, he was beheaded with the sword in Prousa on October 6th, 1590. A part of his wonder-working relics is preserved in the skete of St. Anne on Mount Athos.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘We have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’ (II Cor. 5:1), says the discerning Apostle Paul. All our labor on earth for God has this one aim: to strive with all our strength to attain to that eternal home not made with hands in the heavens. An Indian king, Gundafor, decided to build himself a magnificent palace, the like of which had never been seen on earth. When his envoy, Havan, sought skilled workers capable of building such a palace for the king, they came, by God’s providence, to meet the Apostle Thomas, who told them that he was skilled in such work and that no one could build the king what he wanted without his, Thomas,’ help. Thomas therefore received a great sum of gold from the king to build this palace. As soon as he left the king’s presence, he gave all the gold away to the poor. After two years, the king sent servants to ask Thomas if the palace was ready, as it was being built at some distance from the capital. Thomas replied: ‘All is ready except for the roof,’ and he asked for more money from the king and was given it. Thomas again gave it all away to the poor and went around the kingdom doing his own work, which was the preaching of the Gospel. The king discovered that Thomas had not even begun to build the palace, so he seized him and threw him into prison. That night, the king’s brother died, and the king was grief-stricken. An angel took the dead man’s soul and carried it to Paradise, and showed him a wonderful palace such as the mind of man could not imagine. The soul of the dead man wanted to go into that palace, but the angel told him that he could not, as it was the palace that the Apostle Thomas had built for his brother with the alms he had given. Then the angel returned the man’s soul to his body. When the man came to himself, he said to the king, his brother: ‘Swear that you will give me anything I ask of you.’ And the king swore that he would. His brother then said: ‘Give me the palace you have in heaven.’ The king was amazed, and doubted greatly that there could be any such palace in heaven, but when his brother explained it all to him, he was convinced and immediately released Thomas from prison. When they heard from the apostle’s lips the words of salvation and eternal life, the king and his brother were both baptized. The king gave himself to further almsgiving, that he might build himself a yet more wonderful palace in heaven.
October 20th – Civil Calendar
October 7th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus.
These holy and wonderful martyrs and heroes
of the Christian Faith were at first nobles at the court of the Emperor Maximian. The emperor
himself valued them greatly for their courage, wisdom and zeal, but when he heard that these
great nobles of his were Christians, his love for them turned to fury. And once, when there was a
great offering of sacrifices to idols, the emperor summoned Sergius and Bacchus to offer
sacrifice together with him, and they openly refused to obey him in this. Beside himself with
anger, the emperor ordered that their robes, rings and marks of eminence be stripped from them
and they be dressed in women’s clothing. He then put iron yokes on their necks and led them
thus through the streets of Rome, to be mocked by each and all. The emperor then sent them to
Asia, to Antiochus the governor, for torture. Antiochus had achieved his distinguished rank with
the help of Sergius and Bacchus, who had at one time recommended him to the emperor. When
Antiochus began to urge them to deny Christ and save themselves from dishonorable suffering and
death, the two saints replied: ‘Both honor and dishonor, both life and death—all are one to
him who seeks the heavenly kingdom.’ Antiochus threw Sergius into prison and ordered that
Bacchus be tortured first. The servants took turns in beating holy Bacchus until his whole body
was broken into fragments. His holy spirit went forth from his broken and bloodstained body and
was borne to the Lord by angels. St. Bacchus suffered in the town of Varvallis. Then holy Sergius
was led out. Iron shoes studded with nails were put on his feet, and he was driven out into the
Syrian town of Resapha, and there beheaded with the sword. His soul went to Paradise where,
together with his friend Bacchus, he received the wreath of immortal glory from Christ his King
and Lord. These two glorious knights suffered for the Christian Faith in about 303.
2. The Holy Martyr Polychronios.
Born in the district of Gampnanitus of peasant parents, he worked as a young man in the vineyard of a Constantinopolitan man, giving himself to fasting and prayer day and night. Seeing his way of life, angelic in its purity and restraint, the overseer was amazed and gave him far higher wages than they had agreed. St. Polychronios used the money to build a church. At the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325, Polychronios was a reader and showed such zeal in the defence of Orthodoxy against the Arians that he was ordained priest. Later, these wicked heretics, out of revenge, fell on St. Polychronios in the church itself and cut him to pieces. Thus suffered this great defender of the truth and purity of Orthodoxy, and received the wreath of glory from his most glorious Lord.
In the Greek Synaxarion there are also commemorated today the ninety-nine ascetics of Crete. It is said that the hundredth never joined them, which was interpreted as meaning that the hundredth was Christ the Lord Himself, their Leader. The most renowned among them was St. John, a great man of prayer and a wonder-worker. He prayed so much kneeling that he was in the end unable to stand, but moved around on his knees. Seeing him going about like this, a woodcutter thought that he was a wild beast and shot him with an arrow. Then a very great wonder was wrought, for all the rest of the ninety-nine ascetics breathed their last on the selfsame day. It is not known when they lived.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A vision of St. Andrew: Once holy Andrew was sitting with his disciple Epiphanios and talking with him of the salvation of the soul. At that time, a demon came to Epiphanios and began to set a trap for him, to turn his thoughts in another direction, but he dared not approach Andrew. Andrew then cried to him in fury: ‘Get away from here, you impure adversary!’ The devil recoiled and replied wickedly: ‘You’re the greatest enemy I have in the whole of Constantinople!’ Andrew did not drive him away at once, but let him speak. And the devil began: ‘I feel that the time is coming when my trade will be destroyed. At that time, men will be worse than I am now, and children more adept at wickedness than those who are full-grown. And I shall then take my rest and shall do nothing more to men, for they will do my will of themselves.’ Andrew asked him. ‘At what sins do your people most rejoice?’ The devil replied: ‘The service of idols, slander, evil against one’s neighbor, the Sodomite sins of drunkenness and love of money—these give us most joy.’ Andrew asked again: ‘And how do you bear it when someone who has served you denies you and your works?’ The devil replied: ‘You know that better than I do. We find it hard to bear, and do our utmost to bring him back, for many who have denied us and turned to God have come back to us.’ When the evil spirit had said this and much else, holy Andrew breathed on him and he disappeared.
October 21st – Civil Calendar
October 8th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother Pelagia.
A repentant sinner, she was born a pagan in Antioch and endowed
by God with great physical beauty, but she used this beauty to destroy her own soul and those of
others, acquiring great wealth from her prostitution. One day, walking past the church of the
holy martyr Julian, where Bishop Nonnus was preaching, she turned into the church and listened to
the sermon, which was about the Dreadful Judgement and the punishment of sinners. These words so
shook her, and wrought so great a change in her, that she was of a sudden filled with
self-loathing and fear of God, and repenting of all her filthy sins, fell down before St. Nonnus,
begging him to baptize her: ‘Holy father, be merciful to me, a sinner; baptize me, and
teach me repentance. I am a sea of iniquity, an abyss of destruction, a net and weapon of the
devil.’ Thus this penitent implored Christ’s hierarch with tears. And he baptized
her. Blessed Romana, a deaconess of that church, stood sponsor to her at her Baptism, and after
that, as her spiritual mother, grounded her well in the Christian Faith. But Pelagia was not
content just to be baptized. Feeling the weight of her many sins and the pricking of her
conscience, she decided on a great ascesis. She gave away to the poor the enormous wealth she had
amassed by her immorality and went secretly to Jerusalem, where, under a man’s name as the
monk Pelagios, she shut herself in a cell on the Mount of Olives and there began a strict ascesis
of fasting, prayer and vigils. Three years later. St. Nonnus’ deacon, Iakovos, visited her
and found her still alive, but when he went to her again a few days later, he found her dead body
and gave it burial. St. Pelagia entered into rest in about 461. Thus that sometime great sinner,
by repentance and striving, received the mercy of God, the forgiveness of her sins and
sanctification, and her purified and sanctified soul was made worthy of the kingdom of God.
2. Our Holy Mother Thaïs.
A repentant sinner, she was an Egyptian by birth. Like St. Pelagia, Thaïs (Taisia) spent her youth in prostitution, being set on the way of evil living by her shameless mother. But God the merciful, Who desires not that sinners should perish but that they should be saved, found a way in His wonderful providence to save the sinful Thaïs. One of the disciples of St. Anthony the Great, Paphnutios the Sindonite, heard of Thaïs, of her sinful life and the spiritual poison with which she was poisoning the souls of many, and he decided, with God’s help, to save her. Holy Paphnutios, therefore, dressed himself in ordinary clothes, took a gold piece and went to the town. He found Thaïs and gave her the coin. Thaïs, thinking that the man had given her the gold piece with evil intent, took Paphnutios off to her room. Then Paphnutios opened his blessed lips and denounced Thaïs’ sin, calling her to repentance. Thaïs’ soul and conscience were roused, and she gave herself to tears of heartfelt repentance. Giving away all her goods to the needy, she went to a monastery of virgins, near to Paphnutios’ hermitage, and stayed there for about three years, shut in a cell and living only on bread and water. Just before her death, St. Paphnutios visited her, and made her leave her cell against her will. She quickly fell ill, and after a short illness, gave her purified and sanctified soul to God. St. Paul the Simple, another disciple of St. Anthony, saw in a vision in Paradise a most beautiful dwelling prepared for the penitent Thaïs. This holy soul entered into rest in about 340.
3. The Holy Martyr Pelagia.
She was a virgin of an eminent family in Antioch. In the time of the Emperor Numerian, the governor of Antioch sent soldiers to bring Pelagia to trial as a known Christian. The soldiers surrounded the house and called the holy maiden to the door. She appeared, and when she heard that they had come to take her for trial, she pretended delight and asked the soldiers to wait a moment or two while she got herself ready. She then climbed up onto the roof of the house, raised her hands to heaven and prayed for a long time, begging God to receive her soul and not let her virginity be fouled. God did so, and her dead body fell in front of the soldiers. ‘Her death,’ writes St. Chrysostom, ‘came about not as a natural occurrence but by the command of God,’ and he continues: ‘And thus this virginal body, purer than any gold, lay on the earth: angels surrounded it, archangels paid it honor and Christ Himself was with her.’
In the Slavonic Prologue, there is recorded the following occurrence with an unrepentant sinner: A deacon, Raphael, was sick unto death. This was told to St. Epiphanius, who loved Raphael, and the elder came to him at once. Recognising his spiritual father, Raphael began to weep and wail bitterly. Epiphanius also wept, then asked the deacon why he was in such grief. The deacon replied: ‘Woe is me, devils have snatched away my works, and the angels of God have withdrawn themselves from me!’ After that, he began to bleat like a goat, and then bark like a dog. And at that he gave up his soul. St. Epiphanius said that this was because of some great sin, unconfessed and unrepented.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Oh, when shall we get to the point of making as much effort over our souls as we do over our bodies? When shall we come to the desire to bedeck ourselves with virtues before God and His glorious angels as much as we bedeck ourselves with vain and transitory outward gauds? Pelagia and Thaïs were, in the beginning, only aware of their bodies, while their souls were like slaves lying bound in the prison of their flesh. They were both bedecked with vanity, clothed in vanity, adorned with vanity, surrounded by vanity and flattered by vanity. But what a sudden change! What a divine step in their lives! Stranger than if a wild apple tree were to change its nature and begin to bear sweet apples, or if some turgid and stinking pool somehow cleared itself and became pure drinking water. When Bishop Nonnus, with the other bishops, first saw Pelagia the sinner in her external resplendence, clad in the costliest garments, ornamented, adorned, bedecked with rings, necklaces and baubles, perfumed, surrounded by slaves—when the bishop saw her, he burst into tears and said to his companions: ‘I have indeed learned much from this woman. God will bring her before His Dreadful Judgement and will rebuke us through her. For think: how many hours does this woman spend in her room washing herself, dressing herself, titivating herself, preening herself in the mirror—and what for? Only to appear lovelier in men’s eyes. And we, who have an immortal Bridegroom in heaven—we do not exert ourselves to bedeck our souls with repentance, we do not hasten to bathe them in tears of repentance or to clothe them in the beauty of the virtues, that they may appear lovelier in God’s eyes.’
October 22nd – Civil Calendar
October 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Iakovos.
The son of Alphaeus and one of the twelve
great apostles, he was the brother of the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew. He was a witness of the
true words and miracles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and a witness of His Passion,
Resurrection and Ascension. After the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, it fell to the lot
of the Apostle Iakovos to preach Christ’s Gospel in Eleftheropolis and the surrounding
area, and then in Egypt, where he suffered for his Savior. With great power both in word and act,
Iakovos spread abroad the saving news of the incarnate Logos of God, rooting out idol worship,
driving demons out of men, healing all manner of sickness and disease in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His labors and his zeal were crowned with great success. Many pagans came to belief
in Christ the Lord, churches were founded and set in order and priests and bishops were made. He
suffered in Egypt in the town of Ostracina, being crucified by the pagans. Thus this great and
wonderful apostle of Christ went to the heavenly kingdom, to reign forever with the King of
glory.
2. Our Holy Father Andronikos and his wife Athanasia.
A citizen of Antioch in the time of Theodosios the Great (379-95), Andronikos was a goldsmith by profession. Both he and his wife were very devout, striving without ceasing to walk in the ways of the Lord. They gave a third of what they earned to the poor, another third to the Church and kept the last for their own use. When they had had two children, they agreed to live in the future as brother and sister. Then, by God’s unfathomable providence, both their children died on the same day. They grieved deeply until the martyr Julian appeared to Athanasia by their grave and comforted her with the tidings that their children were in the kingdom of God, and that they were better off there than with their parents on earth. After this, they left everything and went to Egypt, there receiving the monastic schema: Andronikos with the elder, Daniel, at Sketis and Athanasia in a women’s monastery in Tabennisi. Being pleasing to God by many years of asceticism, they entered into the eternal kingdom of Christ: first Athanasia and then, eight days later, Andronikos.
3. Holy and Righteous Abraham and Lot.
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Read about them in the Book of Genesis.
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4. St. Demetrius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
The eleventh Bishop of Alexandria after St. Mark the Evangelist, he governed his flock long and wisely from 189 to 231. During his time, at the request of the Indians, he sent St. Pantaenus, the director of a famous catechetical school in Alexandria, to preach the Gospel in India. Pantaenus found in India the Gospel that St. Matthew wrote in Aramaic.
5. St. Stefan, Despot of Serbia.
Son of the Despot George and Queen Irene, he lived for a time with his sister Mara at the court of Sultan Murat II and was blinded at Jedrene together with his brother Gregory (Grgur). He began to reign over the Serbs in 1458, but was forced almost at once to flee to Albania, where he married Angelina, the daughter of Skenderbeg. Blind and unhappy, but utterly given to God, he died in Italy in 1468. His relics are preserved in the monastery of Krušedol, the foundation of his son Maxim.
FOR CONSIDERATION
How God both punishes and has mercy is clearly shown to us in the last despots of Serbia, in the time of the Turkish conquest of the Serbian lands. It was not of their own power and will that the Turks came into the Balkans and subjugated the Christian peoples—Greeks, Bulgars and Serbs—but by God’s permission; in the same way that Nebuchadnezzar, not by his own power but by God’s permission, conquered Jerusalem and took the Jews off into captivity. The Serbian people suffered greatly for the sins of the princes and nobles, and these latter themselves suffered even more greatly. Despot George died an exile; his sons, Gregory and Stefan, were blinded by the Turks; his daughter was forced into marriage with the sultan; his middle son rose up against his mother Irene and brother Gregory, and by force took the insecure throne at Smederevo, but died suddenly. Blind Stefan had barely become despot when he had to flee to Albania, and then to Italy, where he died, in that foreign place, as an exile and a refugee. This was all God’s punishment. Where, then, does mercy come in? God glorified with eternal glory both this Stefan and his wife Angelina, and their children Maxim and John. After lying eight years in the grave, Stefan’s body was dug up and found to be intact and filled with a fragrant scent, and many miracles were wrought over his holy relics. So also, by the grace of God, both his wife and his sons were glorified and sanctified.
October 23rd – Civil Calendar
October 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Evlampios and Evlampia.
They were brother and sister from Nikomedia. At the time of a vicious persecution of Christians by the Emperor Maximian (286-305), some of the faithful of Nikomedia fled the city and hid. The young Evlampios was sent into the city for bread. Entering it, he saw the imperial decree on the persecution and killing of Christians stuck onto a wall, and laughing at it, took it down and tore it up. He was immediately brought to trial for this. When the judge urged him to deny Christ, Evlampios began in return to urge the judge to deny the false idols and accept Christ as the one, living God. Then the judge ordered that he be flogged until the blood flowed, and tortured in other ways. Hearing of the torture of her brother, the maiden Evlampia ran to join him in suffering for Christ, and she was likewise beaten till the blood flowed from her nose and mouth. After that, they were thrown into boiling pitch then into a red-hot furnace, but they, by the power of the sign of the Cross and the name of Christ, rendered the fire harmless. Finally, St. Evlampios was beheaded, but St. Evlampia breathed her last before the same could be done to her. Two hundred other Christians, who had come to faith in Christ by seeing the power and miracles of St. Evlampios and his sister, were slaughtered. All were crowned with wreaths of martyrdom and entered into their immortal, heavenly home.
2. The Holy Martyrs of Zographou.
When the Emperor Michael Palaiologos contracted the
ill-famed Union of Lyons with the pope, to receive his military assistance against the Turks and
others, the monks of the Holy Mountain sent the emperor a protest against this Union, and urged
him to set it aside and return to Orthodoxy. The pope sent an army to Michael’s aid, and
this Latin army went onto the Holy Mountain and set about such barbarism as the Turks never
perpetrated in five hundred years. Hanging the members of the council and slaughtering many of
the monks in Vatopedi, Iviron and other monasteries, the Latins attacked Zographou. The blessed
Abbot Thomas told the brethren by inspiration that those who desired to save themselves from the
Latins should flee the monastery, and those who desired a martyr’s death should stay.
Twenty-six men stayed: twenty-two monks with their abbot and four laymen who worked for the
monastery. They all shut themselves in the monastery tower. When the Latins arrived, they set the
tower alight, and these twenty-six heroes found a martyr’s death in the flames. While the
tower was burning, they sang hymns and the Akathist to the Mother of God, and gave their holy
souls into God’s hands on October 10th, 1282. In December of the same year, the
dishonorable Emperor Michael died in poverty, the Serbian King Milutin having risen up against
him in defence of Orthodoxy.
3. Our Holy Father Theophilus the Confessor.
By birth a Macedonian Slav from somewhere near Strumica, he became a monk very young and built himself a monastery. He suffered much for the sake of the holy icons in the time of Leo the Isaurian, and would have been killed then if he had not been able to convince the judge Hypaticus, governor of the area, of the principle and necessity of the veneration of icons. The governor freed him, and he returned to his monastery, where he died peacefully and entered into the joy of his Lord.
4. The Holy Martyr Theotecnus.
He was a Roman officer in Antioch in the time of Maximian (286-305). When the emperor pressed him to offer sacrifice to idols, he replied: ‘I believe in Christ my God, and shall offer myself to Him as a living sacrifice.’ After terrible torture, he was drowned in the sea with a stone round his neck, and suffering with honor for Christ, was crowned with the wreath of martyrdom.
5. Our Holy Father Bassian.
In the time of the devout Emperor Marcian, in 450, this saint came from Syria to Constantinople. His asceticism was great, and the power that he received from God was great and miraculous. He had about three hundred disciples, among whom was St. Matrona. The Emperor Marcian built a church in his honor, which remains to this day.
FOR CONSIDERATION
By God’s providence, the greatest number of miracles and heavenly visions occurred at times of the martyrdom of His servants. On the day on which the Latins were making their way to the monastery of Zographou, one of the old monks had an obedience in a vineyard half an hour away from the monastery, and at the time ordained, read the Akathist before the icon of the Mother of God. When he began to pronounce the word: ‘Rejoice,’ a voice came from the icon: ‘Rejoice also, O elder. Flee from here without delay, that misfortune may not come upon you, and go and tell the brethren in the monastery to lock themselves in, for the enemies of my Son and myself have fallen upon this mountain that I have chosen, and are already close at hand.’ The terrified elder fell flat on the ground and cried out in fear: ‘How can I leave you here, my Queen and advocate?’ At that, the voice came again: ‘Don’t worry about me, but hurry!’ The elder went at once to the monastery, and saw this same icon of the Mother of God before the doors when he arrived; the icon, by some miraculous means, had arrived at the monastery before him. The amazed elder related all that had been revealed to him to the abbot and the brethren, and all of them, hearing this, gave glory to God and to His Mother.
On one occasion, during the feast of the twenty-six martyrs of Zographou, on October 10th, 1873, there was a great night-vigil. The night was moonless. Halfway through the night, while the monks were singing and reading the lives of the holy martyrs in the church, a slight noise was heard, and a burning pillar, stretching from earth to heaven, appeared over the church. So brilliant was it that night was turned to day. This wonder lasted for about a quarter of an hour, and then disappeared.
October 24th — Civil Calendar
October 11th — Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Philip of the Seventy.
![Saint Philip the Deacon with the Eunuch of Candace [Acts 8:27-30].](/teachings/images/icons/4-021-1.jpg){kind=icon}
Born in Palestinian
Caesarea, he was married and had four daughters, all four endowed by God with the gift of
discernment and all four vowed virgins for the sake of Christ (Acts 21:8-9). When the holy
apostles chose deacons, Philip was chosen along with Stephen and the others (6:5). Philip served
the poor and the widows with great fervour. When persecution fell on the Christians in Jerusalem,
he fled to Samaria and there preached the Gospel and witnessed to it by many miracles, driving
out demons, healing the sick and so forth. Seeing the miracles of the holy apostle, Simon the
Magician was baptised. St Philip also baptised the eunuch of Queen Candace. After that, an angel
of God suddenly and invisibly bore him away to Azotus, where he taught and preached, bringing
many to Christ (Acts 8). He was later made bishop in Tralles. He died peacefully in great old
age, and entered into the joy of his Lord.
2. Our Holy Father Theophanes the Hymnographer (the Branded).
A confessor and writer of Canons, he was born in Arabia of wealthy and devout parents. With his brother Theodore (see Dec. 27th), he became a monk in the monastery of St Sava the Sanctified. Being very well-educated monks, they were sent by Patriarch Thomas of Jerusalem to Leo the Armenian, to explain things to the Emperor and defend the veneration of icons. The wicked Emperor inflicted harsh torture on these two holy brothers and threw them into prison. Later, the iconoclast Emperor Theophilus continued their torture, and to expose them to the world’s ridicule, commanded that derisory words be branded on their faces. At the end of the iconoclast controversy, Theophanes was freed and quickly made bishop. He suffered for the holy icons for twenty-five years, writing a hundred and forty-five Canons in that time. He died peacefully in 847, and entered into the joy of his Lord.
3. St Nectarius, Patriarch of Constantinople.
As a layman and a high-ranking court official, he was chosen as Patriarch after St Gregory the Theologian, in 381. He was distinguished by a deep understanding, tact and zeal for the Church. He entered peacefully into rest in 397.
4. The Holy Martyrs Zinais and Philonilla.
They were sisters, born in Tarsus, kinswomen of Paul the Apostle. As virgins, they scorned the world for the sake of Christ and withdrew to a cave to live in asceticism. They were skilled in medicine, and helped many of the sick. Philonilla especially, for her great fasting, was made worthy of the gift of wonderworking. But unbelievers fell on them one night and stoned them to death.
FOR CONSIDERATION
As, by God’s providence, the power of healing is given to blessed water and blessed oil, so these same powers are given to icons. One marvellous example of the wonder-working power of the holy icons is cited by St. Athanasius the Great. In the town of Beirut there lived a Christian in a rented house near a local synagogue. Moving from this house, he left behind by mistake an icon of the Savior. A Jew moved into the same house, but he paid no attention to that icon. When one of his fellow Jews saw that icon, he reported his coreligionist, who was then expelled from the synagogue as a violator of their laws. Then the Jews, who were particularly ill-disposed towards the Christian Faith, took that icon to their meeting-place and began to mock it, as their forbears had once mocked the living Savior. They whipped the icon, nailed it to a tree, placed thorns around the head, put vinegar on the Savior’s lips, and in all possible ways ridiculed the holy image. Finally, one of them took a spear and pierced the sacred image under the rib. And, wonder of wonders, blood and water flowed from the pierced spot as it had aforetime from the body of the crucified Lord. The amazement and horror of the Jews was indescribable. Their rabbis then decided to test the miraculous liquids, so they took a vessel of the blood into their synagogue, where a multitude of the ailing were cured of their diseases after being anointed. The whole town gathered to see the miracle, and all glorified Christ our God. And all the Jews in the town came to belief in Christ, the living and life-giving Lord. The converts went to the Bishop of Beirut and confessed their wicked deed with respect to the icon, and the hierarch received their sincere repentance, catechizing them for many days before baptizing them. Then he consecrated the synagogue as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as many other synagogues, at the request of the Jews, dedicating them to the holy martyrs, and there was great joy in the city for this marvellous conversion.
October 25th – Civil Calendar
October 12th – Church Calendar
The Holy Martyrs Tarachos, Provos and Andronikos.
Tarachos was born in Syrian Claudiopolis, Provos in Pamphylian Side, and Andronikos was the son of an eminent citizen of Ephesus. They were all three martyred together by the proconsul, Hymerius Maximus, in the time of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305). Tarachos was sixty-five years old when he was martyred. When the proconsul asked him three times for his name, he answered all three times: ‘I am a Christian.’ They were first beaten with rods, then, all bloody and wounded, thrown into prison. After that, they were brought out again for further torture. When the proconsul urged Provos to deny Christ, promising him honors from the emperor and his own friendship, holy Provos replied: ‘I neither desire imperial honors nor seek your friendship.’ When he put St. Andronikos to even greater physical torture, Christ’s young martyr replied: ‘My body is before you; do with it what you will.’ After long-drawn-out torture in various places, these three holy martyrs were thrown into the theater before the wild beasts. Before them, others were torn to pieces by the animals in this same theater, but the beasts would not touch the saints; both the bear and the ferocious lioness fawned around them. Seeing this, many people believed in Christ the Lord and cried out against the proconsul. Wild with anger, and more ferocious than the beasts, the proconsul ordered soldiers to go in and cut Christ’s soldiers to pieces, and their bodies lay mingled with the bodies of the others who had been slain. Three Christians: Makarios, Felix and Verianos, who witnessed the slaughter of the holy martyrs, came that night to take their bodies. All the bodies being mixed up and the night being very dark, they, in uncertainty about how to distinguish the martyrs’ bodies, prayed to God, and three lights suddenly appeared above the bodies of the saints. They then took them and gave them burial.
2. St. Martin, Bishop of Tours.
Born in 316 in Pannonia, in a town
called Sabaria, he was the son of pagan parents. His father was a Roman officer, and the young
Martin was therefore put, against his will, into the army. He was, however, already a catechumen
in the Christian Church, which he had loved with all his heart from his early youth. Travelling
one winter with his companions to the town of Amiens, he saw a beggar, almost naked and freezing
with cold, in front of the gates. Martin was distressed, and parting from his companions, took
off his soldier’s cloak, and with his saber, cut it in half. He gave half to the beggar and
wrapped himself in the other, and went on his way. That night, the Lord Jesus appeared to him in
a dream, clad in the other half of his cloak, and said to His angels: ‘Martin is only a
catechumen, and behold, he clothes Me in his garment!’ Leaving the army, Martin was
immediately baptized, and baptized his mother. After that, he became a monk in the diocese of St.
Hilary of Poitiers, and spent his life in true asceticism. He had a rare meekness, and for this
God gave him abundant wonder-working gifts, so that he could raise the dead and drive out evil
spirits. He was made Bishop of Tours against his will. After abundant toil in the Lord’s
vineyard and after a mighty struggle with both pagans and Arian heretics, St. Martin gave his
holy soul into the hands of his Lord in 397.
3. Our Holy Father Kosmas of Maiuma.
 Born in Jerusalem, he was a friend of St. John Damascene, whose
parents took him in as an orphan and educated him. As a monk, he helped St. Damascene to
compile the Octoechos*, and he himself composed many canons to the saints. The especially
lovely canons for Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and the Sunday of the Judgement are
ascribed to him. He was bishop of the town of Maiuma, near Gaza. He outlived St. Damascene
and died in great old age. * The Octoechos: the book of the Eight Modes, which change weekly and comprise the basis of the Offices—Tr. |
FOR CONSIDERATION
In what have the saints been most exalted and glorified by heaven and by men? Chiefly in their humility and service. St. Martin, even as an officer before his Baptism, had one servant whom he regarded more as a brother than a servant. He often served his servant, feeling no shame at this, but rather joy. When St. Hilary wanted to make him a priest, he refused this honor with tears, and begged the bishop to let him be a monk in some remote place. St. Martin was once travelling from France to Pannonia, to see his parents. When he was crossing the Alps, brigands seized him and made to kill him. When one of the brigands took up a sword to behead him, Martin was unafraid and stayed motionless without asking for mercy, being utterly at peace as though nothing were happening. The brigand was astonished at such a reaction, put his sword away and asked Martin who he was. Martin said that he was a Christian, and that it was because of this that he was not afraid, knowing that God, in His great mercy, is near to men, and especially in the hour of danger. All the brigands were amazed at the rare virtues of this godly man, and he who had drawn his sword against Martin came to faith in Christ, was baptized and later became a monk. When the episcopal seat in Tours became vacant, everyone wanted to have St. Martin as bishop, but Martin was unwilling. Some citizens of Tours got him out of his monastery by craft, and took him off. This was how they did it: they came to the gate of Martin’s monastery and told the abbot that a sick man was waiting outside, asking that he come out and give him his blessing. When St. Martin came out, they seized him and carried him off to Tours, and made him bishop. Foreseeing his approaching death in old age, he told his brethren and they, with many tears, begged him not to leave them. The saint, to comfort them, prayed to God in their presence, saying: ‘Lord, if I am still needed by Thy people, I do not refuse the toil. May Thy holy will be done.’
October 26th – Civil Calendar
October 13th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Karpos and Papylos.
Karpos was Bishop of Thyateira and Papylos was a deacon. They were born in Pergamum, where they finally suffered for the Christian Faith at the hands of the wicked governor, Valerius, in Decius’ reign. Valerius bound them behind horses and dragged them off to Sardis, where he put them to harsh torture; but an angel of God appeared to them, healed them of their wounds and strengthened them. Karpos’ servant, Agathodoros, followed his master with great sorrow until he also was taken for torture. After that, Valerius again bound them behind horses and dragged them from Sardis to Pergamum. When holy Karpos was tied to a tree and so terribly flogged that his whole body was laid open and his blood streamed down onto the ground, he smiled in the midst of these tortures. When they asked him why he smiled, the holy martyr replied that he saw the heavens open and the Lord sitting on His throne, surrounded by cherubim and seraphim. At the time of Papylos’ martyrdom, this holy martyr healed a man, blind in one eye, by his prayers. Many, seeing this, came to believe in Christ the Lord. Thrown before wild beasts, the martyrs remained unhurt. When they were thrown into a fiery furnace, Agathonika, Papylos’ sister, saw this and leapt into the flames. But the flames did not burn them. Finally, they were all beheaded with the sword in 251. Thus, after great spiritual endeavor, they received the wreath of glory in the kingdom of Christ.
2. The Hieromartyr Benjamin the Deacon.
This soldier of Christ was a Persian, and zealously preaching the Gospel, brought many pagans, both Persians and Greeks, to the Christian Faith. He suffered in the time of the Persian King Yazdgird, in about 412. When he was thrown into prison, one of the king’s nobles pleaded for him to the king. The king was willing to let him go free, on condition that he kept silent and spoke no more to the people about Christ. To this, Benjamin replied: ‘I cannot possibly do that. Those who hide the talent they have received will be given over to greater suffering,’ and he continued to spread the Christian Faith. The king then ordered that thorns be driven under his nails, and had him tortured until he gave his soul into God’s hands.
3. The Holy Martyr Zlata of Meglin (Bulgaria).
Born in the village of Slatina in the Meglin region, of poor peasants who had three other daughters, St. Zlata was a meek and devout girl, wise with Christ’s wisdom and golden (‘zlata’ means ‘gold’) not only in name but also in her God-fearing heart. When Zlata went out one day to get water, some shameless Turks seized her and carried her off to their house. When one of them urged her to embrace Islam and become his wife, Zlata answered fearlessly: ‘I believe in Christ, and know Him alone as my Bridegroom; I shall never deny Him even if you put me to a thousand tortures and cut me into pieces.’ Her parents and sisters then arrived, and said to her: ‘O our daughter, have mercy on yourself and us. Deny Christ publicly, that we can all be happy. Christ is merciful: He will forgive your sin, committed under the pressure of life.’ Her poor parents and kinsfolk wept bitterly. But Zlata’s heroic soul would not be overcome by devilish seduction. She replied to her parents: ‘When you urge me to deny Christ, the true God, you are no longer parents or sisters to me; I have the Lord Jesus Christ as Father, the Mother of God as mother, and for brothers and sisters, the saints.’ Then the Turks threw her into prison, where she lay for three months, and they took her out every day and flogged her until her blood flowed onto the ground. Finally, they hanged her upside-down and made a fire to choke her to death with the smoke. But God was with Zlata, and gave her strength in her suffering. At the very end, they hanged her from a tree and cut her into small pieces. Thus this martyr-maiden gave her soul into God’s hands, and entered into the realm of Paradise, in 1796. Pieces of her relics were taken by Christians to their homes, that they might bring a blessing to them.
4. The Translation to Moscow of the Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.
 In 1648, Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, while he was
still Archimandrite of Novospassky Monastery, commissioned an exact copy of the Iveron Icon
to be made and sent to Russia. Almost immediately upon its arrival on October 13, the icon
was glorified with numerous miracles attributed to it by the faithful. The Iverskaya Chapel
was built in 1669 to enshrine the icon next to the Kremlin walls in Moscow.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
There is nothing more wretched than a man who, in the hour of need, abandons hope in God and flees to a means of safety contrary to God’s law. Such a man not only cannot put right his outward circumstances, but also loses his soul. This is what happened to the Emperor Michael Palaiologos, the apostate to the Latins. In order to safeguard his kingdom, terrorized by the Bulgarians and Serbs, he sought help from the pope and made a Union with him in 1274. What did this gain? The kingdom was not saved and he did innumerable evil deeds, coming rapidly to an unhappy end in a campaign against Prince John Doukas of Epirus in 1282. The Orthodox people were so resentful towards him that his son Andronikos dared not bury him openly, but put him in the ground at night without funeral or prayers. He was rejected by the Orthodox Church and not received by the Roman, and Michael died outside the Church of God. His wife the empress, after his death, issued the following statement: ‘My Majesty hates and regards as loathsome this action (the Union) that has recently come about in the Church and has caused such discord.... As the holy Church of God has determined not to sanction any official commemoration of my departed spouse, our lord and king, on account of his aforementioned actions and intrigues, my Majesty also, bowing in all things to the fear of God and submitting to the holy Church, approves and accepts her decree, and will never presume to commemorate the soul of my lord and spouse in any way.’
October 27th – Civil Calendar
October 14th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother Petka (Paraskeva).
This glorious saint was of Bulgarian
birth, from the town of Epibata, between Silinaurius and Constantinople. St. Petka’s
parents were wealthy and devout Christians, and had one son, Evtimy (Euthymius), who became a
monk during his parents’ lifetime and later became Bishop of Madytos. After her
parents’ death, the maiden Petka, always desirous of the ascetic life for the sake of
Christ, left her home and went first to Constantinople and then to the Jordan wilderness, where
she lived to old age in asceticism. Who can describe all the labors, the sufferings, the
temptations from demons that Petka endured for many years? In her old age an angel of God
appeared to her and said: ‘Leave the wilderness and go back to your home.’ St. Petka
obeyed the voice from heaven, left her beloved wilderness and returned to Epibata. She lived a
further two years there, still in ceaseless fasting and prayer, and then gave her spirit into
God’s hands and went to join the company of Paradise. She entered into rest in the eleventh
century. Her wonder-working relics were, in the course of time, taken to Constantinople, Trnovo,
Constantinople again, and then Belgrade. They are now in Romania, in the town of Jassy. St.
Petka’s spring is to be found in Belgrade. The waters miraculously heal all the sick who,
with faith in God and love for this saint, hasten to ask her aid.
2. The Holy Martyrs Nazarius, Gervasius and Protasius.
Nazarius was born in Rome of a Jewish father and a Christian mother. His mother, Perpetua, was baptized by the Apostle Peter himself. Receiving his mother’s faith, Nazarius of his own volition gave himself to the fulfilling of all the Church’s precepts. Fearlessly preaching the Gospel, he went to Milan. There he found Gervasius and Protasius in prison, and ministered to them with great love. Discovering this, the local governor ordered that Nazarius be whipped and driven out of the city. His mother appeared to him in a vision and told him that he must go to Gaul (France) and preach the Gospel there, and Nazarius did so. After several years, Nazarius came again to Milan, now with the young Celsus, his disciple, whom he had baptized in Gaul. The brothers Gervasius and Protasius were still in prison, and Anulius the governor soon had Nazarius thrown in with them. Christ’s martyrs rejoiced greatly at the providence of God that had brought them together again. The Emperor Nero ordered that Nazarius be killed, and the governor took him and Celsus out of prison and beheaded them. Gervasius and Protasius were also beheaded very soon after that by a General Astacius, who was passing through Milan to wage war against the Moravians. The general heard that these two brothers would not offer sacrifice to idols, and being afraid that he might lose the war because of this, he ordered that they be beheaded at once. Gervasius and Protasius were twins, the sons of godly parents Vitalis and Valeria, who were also martyred for the Faith. The relics of St. Nazarius were taken from a garden outside the city to the Church of the Holy Apostles by St. Ambrose, and those of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius were revealed to him in a strange vision.
Author’s note: In the Greek Synaxarion, there is recorded this miraculous happening with the holy Martyr Paraskeve’s help on the island of Chios in 1442: A hieromonk, Ambrose, was celebrating Vespers in the church of St. Paraskeve (commemorated Oct. 28). No one else was in the church. At the end of the service, rain suddenly began to pour down in torrents with a great roar, and this continued all night. Ambrose was unable to leave the church. Thinking that the island would be completely flooded by the storm, he began to pray to St. Paraskeve to save his homeland and soothe God’s righteous anger. He had a dream at dawn and saw the church roofless, and in the heights, a cloud of light within which stood the form of a beautiful woman in prayer to God. After her prayer, she said to the priest: ‘Ambrose, don’t be afraid: your homeland is saved.’ And the rain stopped at once. From that time, the island of Chios has celebrated St. Paraskeve’s day with great solemnity.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Examples of how the saints themselves reveal their hidden relics to men are a justification of the respect that should be paid to these relics, not to mention their miraculous properties, which is a second justification. St. Petka’s grave was known by no one for a long time. It so happened that a sailor who had lived a wicked life died and his body was thrown near to the saint’s grave. When the body became carrion and began to give off an unbearable stench, a monk who lived in the vicinity called the villagers to bury the body. It came about that they buried it in St. Petka’s very grave. That night, St. Petka appeared in a dream to one of the villagers, George by name, who had buried the corpse. She appeared as a beautiful and resplendent queen, surrounded by many glorious warriors, and said: ‘George, dig up my relics at once and take them to some other place. I can’t bear the stench of that corpse!’ and St. Petka told him who and whence she was. The same night another villager, Ephemia, had the same vision. The following day, the villagers went and began digging, and indeed found the relics of St. Petka, retaining a rare fragrance, and which was quickly demonstrated, having wonder-working power.
About the relics of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius, St. Ambrose relates how, in a similar way, they were revealed to him. One night, two youths and an elderly man appeared to the wakeful Ambrose. He thought that the last was the Apostle Paul. While the young men kept silent, the elder told Bishop Ambrose that they were Christ’s martyrs, that their relics lay in the precise place in which St. Ambrose was at prayer, and that everything else about them could be learned from a little book that would be found in their grave. The next day, St. Ambrose recounted his vision, began to dig and indeed found the relics of two men, of whom it was learned from the discovered book that they were Gervasius and Protasius. In Bishop Ambrose’s presence, a blind man, Servirus, touched these holy relics and immediately received his sight.
October 28th – Civil Calendar
October 15th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Lucian, Priest of Antioch.
Born of noble parents in Syrian Samosata, he received in his youth a very wide education, both secular and spiritual, and was a man eminent both for his learning and for his strict ascetic life. Giving his goods away to the poor, he supported himself by the writing of works of instruction, feeding himself thus by the work of his hands. He did a very great service to the Church in the work which he undertook of the correcting of the Hebrew text of the Scriptures in many places, texts which heretics had taken the opportunity to twist and corrupt according to their wicked teaching. Because of his learning and his great spirituality, he was ordained priest in Antioch. In the time of Maximian’s persecution, when St. Anthimos of Nikomedia and St. Peter of Alexandria were put to torture, St. Lucian was also on the list of those whom the emperor wanted to have killed. Lucian fled the city and hid, but a jealous heretic priest, Pankratios, revealed his whereabouts. The persecution was terrible at that time, and not even tiny children were safe. Two boys, who would not eat food offered to idols, were thrown into a bath of boiling water, where, under torture, they gave their holy souls into God’s hands. A disciple of Lucian’s, Pelagia (see Oct. 8th), to preserve her virginal purity from the dissolute authorities, gave her soul into God’s hands, and her body fell from the roof of her house. Lucian was taken to Nikomedia to appear before the emperor. On the way, he managed to bring forty soldiers to Christ by his counsel, and they all died a martyr’s death. After interrogation and flogging, St. Lucian was thrown into prison, where he was tortured by hunger. ‘He scorned hunger,’ writes St. John Chrysostom of Lucian. ‘Let us also scorn luxury and destroy the lordship of the stomach; that we may, when the time comes for us to meet such torture, be prepared beforehand, by the help of a lesser ascesis, to show ourselves worthy of glory in the hour of battle.’ He received Communion in prison on the Theophany, and on the following day gave his soul into God’s hands, on January 7th, 312.
2. Our Holy Father Efthymios the New.
Born in Ankyra in 824, of righteous parents Epiphanios and Anna, he served in the army, married and had one daughter, Anastasia. He lived for a long time in asceticism in the monasteries of Olympus and then on the Holy Mountain, and also lived for some time as a stylite near Thessalonica, where he founded monasteries for men and women. He entered into rest on an island near the Holy Mountain at the end of the ninth century. His holy and wonder-working relics are preserved in Thessalonica.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The saints of God set great store on receiving Communion before their death. Even the martyrs, although they sacrificed their lives for Christ the Lord and washed all their sins in their own blood, yearned to receive the Holy Mysteries whenever possible. St. Lucian was in prison with several of his disciples and other Christians. When the Eve of the Theophany came, he longed on that great Christian feast to partake of the body and blood of Christ, for he knew that his death was near. Seeing the heartfelt desire of His suffering servant, God the almighty brought it about that some Christians came to the prison with bread and wine. When the Theophany dawned, Lucian called all the Christians in the prison to stand in a circle round him: ‘Surround me, and be the church.’ He had in the prison neither table nor stool, neither stone nor wood on which to celebrate the holy Liturgy. ‘Holy father, where shall we put the bread and wine?’ they asked Lucian, and he lay down in their midst and told them to put the bread and wine on his chest: ‘Place them on my chest: let it be a living throne for the living God.’ And so the Liturgy was celebrated, meetly and prayerfully, on the martyr’s breast, and all received Communion. On the following day, the emperor sent soldiers to take Lucian out for torture. When the soldiers opened the door of the prison, holy Lucian cried out three times: ‘I am a Christian!’ and gave his soul into God`s hands.
October 29th – Civil Calendar
October 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Longinus.
The divine Matthew the Evangelist, describing the Passion of the Lord
Jesus Christ, says: ‘Now when the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus,
saw the earthquake and the things that were done, they feared greatly, saying: “Truly this
was the Son of God”’ (Matt. 27:54). That centurion was this blessed Longinus, who,
with two other of his soldiers, came to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. He was the officer in
command both at the Lord’s crucifixion on Golgotha and in the watch that guarded the tomb.
When the Jewish elders learned of Christ’s Resurrection, they bribed the soldiers to spread
the falsehood that Christ had not risen, but that His disciples had stolen His body. The Jews
tried to bribe Longinus also, but without success. Then the Jews resorted to their usual
practice: they conspired to kill Longinus. Discovering this, Longinus took off his army belt,
received Baptism from the apostles together with his two friends, and with them secretly left
Jerusalem and went to Cappadocia. There he gave himself to fasting and prayer, and as a living
witness of the Resurrection of Christ, turned many pagans to the true Faith by his testimony. He
then went off to a village where his father had property, but the wicked Jews would not even
there leave him in peace. In response to slander on their part, Pilate sent soldiers to behead
Longinus. Holy Longinus foresaw in his spirit the approach of his executioners, and going out to
meet them, took them to his home without telling them who he was. The soldiers lay down to sleep,
and St. Longinus spent the whole night preparing for death. In the morning, he went and brought
his two friends, dressed himself in white grave-clothes, told the others in the house what was
happening and showed them a place on a hillock to bury him. He then revealed himself to the
soldiers as the Longinus whom they were seeking. The soldiers were embarrassed and ashamed, and
would not think of beheading Longinus, but he laid it on them to carry out their superior’s
command, and he and his two friends were beheaded. Longinus’ head was taken by the soldiers
to Pilate; Pilate gave it to the Jews and they flung it onto a dung-heap outside the city.
2. Our Holy Father Longinus the Lover of Labor.
A monk of the Kiev Caves in the eleventh century, he was doorkeeper in the monastery and had such a pure and grace-filled heart that he knew the disposition of everyone who went into the monastery, and with what disposition others left it. His wonder-working relics are preserved in the cave of St. Theodosius.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The first appearance of the holy martyr Longinus: A long time had elapsed since St. Longinus’ death by martyrdom when it happened that a widow in Cappadocia became blind. Doctors were able to do nothing more for her. Suddenly, the thought came to her to go to Jerusalem and venerate the holy places, hoping that she might be helped there. She had an only son, a lad who served her as a guide. As soon as they arrived in Jerusalem, the boy fell ill and died. The grief of the blind mother was without measure: having lost her eyes, she had now lost her only son, whose eyes had guided her till then. In her pain and grief, St. Longinus appeared to her, and comforted her with the promise that he would both restore her sight to her and show her her son in heavenly glory. Longinus told her all about himself, then told her to go outside the walls of the city to the rubbish heap and dung-hill and dig up his head, and then she would see what would happen next. The woman got up and groped her way out of the city, then called out to someone to take her to the biggest dung hill and leave her there. When she was led to the dung-hill, she bent down and began to dig with her hands, having a strong faith that she would find what the saint had told her to search for. Digging thus, her fingers came upon the head of the holy martyr, and at that moment, her eyes were opened and she saw a man’s skull under her hands. Filled with great joy and thanksgiving to God, she took the head of St. Longinus, washed it, perfumed it and put it in her home as the most precious thing in all the world.
October 30th – Civil Calendar
October 17th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Hosea (Osee).
 The son of Beeri of the tribe of Issachar, he lived and
prophesied more than eight hundred years before the birth of Christ. His inspired words are
found in his book, which contains fourteen chapters. He strongly rebuked Israel and Judah
for their idolatry, foretold God’s punishment for their sin, the destruction of
Samaria and Israel for their apostasy but the showing of God’s mercy on the tribe of
Judah. He foresaw the end of the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, and the coming of the Lord
and the rich gifts that He would bring to earth. He lived to great old age, and entered
peacefully into rest.
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2. The Holy Martyrs Kosmas and Damian, the Unmercenaries.
They were
doctors by trade, and when they embraced the Christian Faith, they healed the sick in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, becoming known on all sides for their miraculous healings. The wicked
pagans seized them and took them before the governor, Lysias, in the town of Aegae. These holy
brothers would not deny Christ at any price, so they were first thrown into the sea and then into
fire, but God almighty saved them from drowning and from the flames, an angel of God appearing to
them and saving them. The pagan governor ascribed this to some magical power of theirs, but they
replied: ‘We have no sort of magic, nor use any, but we have the power of Christ to save us
and all who call upon His holy name.’ They were then stoned, but the stones bounced off
them, and they were finally beheaded with the sword. Ss. Leontios, Anthimos and Efprepios also
suffered with them and received wreaths of glory. They suffered in the time of Diocletian and
Maximian, in the early fourth century. Many miracles were wrought by their holy relics, such as
they had themselves also wrought while living on this earth.
3. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Andrew.
He was a Cretan by birth, and a Christian priest. At the time of the iconoclast persecution, he showed himself a great fighter for their veneration and went to Constantinople to denounce the wicked Emperor Kopronymos for his iconoclasm. The emperor was one day in the Church of the Holy Martyr Mamas. Andrew went into the church, stood before the emperor and began to rebuke him openly, before all who were present: ‘You would do better, O king, to look to the work of the army and the governing of the people, than to the persecuting of Christ and His servants.’ For this he was harshly flogged and tortured, and dragged through the streets, where a heretic attacked him with an axe and killed him. Thus Andrew gave his holy soul into God’s hands, in the year 767. His relics had healing power.
4. St. Lazarus the Four-Days-Dead.
![The Raising of Lazarus [Jn. 11:1-44].](/teachings/images/icons/3-438-1.jpg){kind=icon} His chief feasts are on March
17th and Lazarus Saturday at the end of the Great Fast. Today we commemorate the
translation of his relics from the island of Cyprus to Constantinople. The Emperor Leo the
Wise built a church to St. Lazarus in Constantinople, and translated his relics there in
890. When, after almost a thousand years, Lazarus’ grave in the town of Kition on
Cyprus was dug up, a marble tablet was found with the inscription still legible:
‘Lazarus the Four-Days-Dead, the friend of Christ’.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
The second appearance of the holy Martyr Longinus: When Saint Longinus appeared to the blind widow whose son had died, he promised to restore her sight and to show her her son in great glory. Finding the relics of the holy martyr and touching them with her hands, the widow immediately saw plainly, and thus one promise was fulfilled. The following night, St. Longinus appeared to the widow, bathed in light and holding her son by the hand, he also being clad in shining robes. Caressing the child like a father, he said to the widow: ‘Behold, woman, the son for whom you’re shedding so many tears! Look at the honor and glory that are his! Behold, and be comforted, for God has raised him up into that heavenly company that live in His kingdom. I have now brought him from the Savior, and he will never be separated from me. Take my head and your son’s body, and bury them in one coffin, and then mourn no longer for your only son, and let not your heart be troubled, for God has given him great glory and endless rejoicing.’ Seeing and hearing all this, the woman was filled with great joy and returned to her home, saying to herself: ‘I asked for bodily sight, and have been given spiritual sight also. I was in grief for the death of my son, and now I have him in heaven, where he stands in glory with the prophets and rejoices unceasingly with them.’
October 31st – Civil Calendar
October 18th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke.
Born in Antioch, he applied himself in his youth to
the study of Greek philosophy, medicine and art. At the time that the Lord Jesus was at work upon
earth, Luke came to Jerusalem, where he saw the Savior face to face, heard His saving teaching
and was a witness of His wonderful works. Coming to belief in the Lord, St. Luke was included
among the Seventy and sent forth to preach the Gospel. Together with Cleopas, he saw the risen
Lord on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24). After the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, Luke
returned to Antioch and there became a fellow-worker with the Apostle Paul, with whom he traveled
to Rome, bringing Jews and pagans to the Christian Faith. ‘Luke the beloved physician
salutes you,’ writes the Apostle Paul to the Colossians (4:14). At the request of the
Christians, he wrote his Gospel in about the year 60. After the death by martyrdom of the great
apostle, Luke preached the Gospel all over Italy, Dalmatia, Macedonia and elsewhere. He painted
forty icons of the most holy Mother of God and also icons of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and is
regarded as the founder of Christian iconography. In old age, he visited Libya and Upper Egypt,
and thence returned to Greece, where he set himself with great zeal to preach the Gospel and
bring men to Christ, disregarding his great age. St. Luke wrote both his Gospel and the Acts of
the Apostles, and dedicated them both to Theophilus, governor of Achaia. He was eighty-four years
old when wicked idol-worshippers put him to torture for the sake of Christ and hanged him from an
olive tree in the town of Thebes in Greece. The wonder-working relics of this wonderful saint
were taken to Constantinople in the time of the Emperor Constantius, son of St. Constantine.
2. St. Peter of Cetinje, Metropolitan of Montenegro.
Born on April 1st, 1749, in the village of Njegusi, he became a monk at the age of twelve. After the death of Metropolitan Sava in 1782, Peter became Metropolitan and Governor of Montenegro. This holy man devoted his whole life to his people. Within Montenegro, he worked with his whole strength to pacify the warring tribes, and externally he defended the land and the people against plundering onslaughts, succeeding in both the one and the other. He is especially famed for his victory over Napoleon’s army in Dalmatia. He was strict with himself, and just and humble towards others. He lived in one tiny cell as a simple monk, although he was governor of a people. He entered into rest on October 18th, 1830, and his wonder-working relics are preserved incorrupt in the monastery of Cetinje. The Lord glorified him in heaven and on earth as His true and patient servant.
3. St. Julian Savvas of Mesopotamia.
St. Julian, called ‘the Hermit,’ was a Persian, an unlettered peasant, and was in the purity of his heart a vessel of the Holy Spirit. He lived in asceticism near the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, and had the gift of insight. At the moment at which Julian the Apostate perished, St. Julian saw him in spirit and told his disciples. St. Julian, the wonderful servant of God, entered into rest in the year 367.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Can a sinner, in the space of ten days, make full repentance of his sin? By the immeasurable grace of God, he can. In the time of the Emperor Maurice, there was a well-known bandit in the region around Constantinople. Both in the countryside and in the capital itself, he inspired fear and trembling. Then the emperor himself sent him a Cross, as a pledge that he would not punish him if he gave himself up. The bandit took the Cross, and did indeed give himself up. Arriving in Constantinople, he fell at the emperor’s feet and begged his forgiveness. The emperor kept his word, had mercy on him and let him go free. Immediately after that, the bandit fell gravely ill and sensed that death was near. He began to repent bitterly of all his sins, and implored God with tears to forgive him as the emperor had. He shed many tears in his prayer, so that the handkerchief with which he wiped them became soaked, and he died after ten days of prayerful weeping. The night of his death, the doctor who had been attending him had a strange vision in a dream: when the bandit on the bed breathed his last, a number of little black men gathered round him, flourishing bits of paper on which his sins were written, and two glorious angels also appeared. A pair of scales was placed in the middle, and the little black men gleefully put all the bits of paper on it, and their side of the scales was loaded while the other was empty. ‘What can we put in?’ the angels asked each other. ‘Let’s look for something good in his life.’ Then there appeared in the hand of one of the angels the handkerchief soaked with tears of repentance. The angels quickly placed it on their side of the scales, and it at once outweighed the other with all its papers. Then the little black men fled, howling in anguish, but the angels took the man’s soul and carried it to Paradise, glorifying God’s love for mankind.
November 1st – Civil Calendar
October 19th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Joel.
 The second in order of the Minor Prophets, Joel was the son
of Phanuel, of the tribe of Reuben. He lived eight hundred years before Christ, and
foretold the misfortunes of the Israelites and their captivity in Babylon for the sins that
they had committed against God. He called the people to fasting and the priests to penitent
and tearful prayer that God would have mercy on them: ‘Sanctify ye a fast and cry
unto the Lord’ (l:14); ‘Let the priests weep between the porch and the
altar’ (2:17). Joel also prophesied the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles,
and the outpouring of His grace on all the faithful (2:28). He foretold and described the
Dreadful Judgement of God, and also the glory of God’s holy Church.
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2. The Holy Martyr Varus.
He was a Roman officer in Egypt and a secret Christian. When seven
Christian teachers were thrown into prison, Varus kept visiting them there, supplying their needs
and serving them with great devotion. He marveled at the martyrs, and grieved that fear would not
let him stand up as a martyr for Christ. These men of God gave him courage, and Varus made up his
mind to go and be tortured with them. One of these godly men died in prison, and when the wicked
governor had the martyrs brought before him and saw that there were only six of them, he asked
where the seventh was. ‘I am the seventh!’ cried Varus. The furious governor had him
tortured first. He ordered that he be flogged with dry thongs, then that he be tied to a tree and
hacked to pieces bit by bit with knives until he gave his holy soul to God. His body was then
thrown onto a dung-heap. A woman of Palestinian birth, Cleopatra, the widow of an officer, was
there with her son John. She secretly took the relics of the holy martyr off the dung-heap and
buried them in her house. She then asked the governor’s permission to take the body of her
dead husband back from Egypt to Palestine. As she was an officer’s widow, the governor at
once gave her permission. This blessed Christian woman, Cleopatra, however, took the body, not of
her husband but of the holy martyr Varus, taking it to her village of Edra, near Tabor, and
burying it there. She then built a church dedicated to St. Varus, and he appeared to her often
from the other world, resplendent as an angel of God.
3. Our Holy Father John of Rila.
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The main feast of St. John is on August 18th. Today we
celebrate the first translation of his relics, in 1238, from Sophia to Trnovo.
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4. Our Holy Father Prochorus of Pchinja.
He was a contemporary and friend of St. John of Rila and St. Gabriel of Lesnov. In response to his prayers, God showed him the place where he was to live in asceticism—a wooded area near the River Pchinja. There St. Prochorus lived till old age, and there he died. Only the one, all-seeing God can know all the labors and temptations that he endured throughout his asceticism, but one can judge from his relics, from which myrrh flows forth, and the miracles of healing wrought by him to this day, both the greatness of his asceticism and the greatness of God’s grace given to him as a reward for his great labors. St. Prochorus entered into rest and went to the heavenly kingdom in the eleventh century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
An appearing of the holy martyr Varus: When the devout widow Cleopatra had built a church to St. Varus, she invited the bishop and clergy to consecrate it. A great many Christians gathered for the festivities, for St. Varus was venerated in the whole neighborhood as a great healer and wonder-worker. After the service, the devout benefactress went up to the relics of St. Varus in the church and prayed to him thus: ‘I beg you, you who endured such suffering for Christ, ask of God that which is pleasing to Him and of help to me and my only son.’ Cleopatra had a son, John, who had just gone into the army. As soon as she had left the church, her son, who had been in good health till then, fell ill. He was seized with a burning fever and his state became worse and worse, until he died at about midnight. The angry and grief-stricken mother came to St. Varus’ grave and spoke sharply to him: ‘O man of God, do you call this helping me?’ and she said much more in her bitter grief, then, being greatly exhausted, fell into a light sleep. Suddenly St. Varus appeared to her, accompanied by her son John. They both shone like the sun, clad in raiment whiter than snow, girded with golden girdles and wearing splendid wreaths on their heads. The saint said to her: ‘Didn’t you yourself pray to me to beg of God whatever was pleasing to Him and of help to you and your son? I prayed to God and He, of His unspeakable goodness, has taken your son into His heavenly army. If you want him, here he is; take him and put him in the army of some earthly king.’ Hearing these words, the young John embraced St. Varus and said to him: ‘My lord, don’t listen to my mother, and don’t send me back into the world, that sink of unrighteousness and iniquity, from which you have taken me.’ Rousing from the dream, Cleopatra felt a great joy in her heart, and went joyfully out of the church. She lived for seven years near the church, and St. Varus, together with John, appeared to her often.
November 2nd – Civil Calendar
October 20th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Artemios.
This glorious saint was Egyptian by birth,
and the commander-in-chief of the army of the Emperor Constantine the Great. When the victorious
Cross, encircled by stars, appeared to the emperor, Artemios also saw it, came to faith in Christ
the Lord and was baptized. Later, in the time of the Emperor Constantius, Constantine’s
son, he was sent to Greece to take the relics of St. Andrew and St. Luke from Patras and Thebes
respectively to Constantinople, which charge Artemios carried out with joy. After that, he was
appointed governor and imperial representative in Egypt, in which appointment he remained
throughout the reign of Constantius and for a certain time under Julian the Apostate. When this
renegade emperor went to war against the Persians, he stopped for a time in Antioch and summoned
Artemios and his army to join him there. Artemios went. At that time, the emperor gave two
Christian priests, Evgenios and Makarios, over to torture. Seeing this, St. Artemios was
profoundly alarmed, went to the emperor and said to him: ‘Why are you so inhumanly
torturing these innocent and dedicated men, and why are you putting pressure on them to turn back
from the Orthodox Faith?’ He also prophesied to the emperor that his end was near. The
furious emperor sent the two priests into exile in Arabia, where they soon died, and stripped
Artemios of his military rank, ordering that he be flogged and whipped. All wounded and covered
with blood, Artemios was thrown into prison, where the Lord Christ Himself appeared to him,
healing and comforting him. After that, the emperor ordered that he be laid on a flat stone and
that another stone be put on him, so crushing his body like a board. Finally, he was beheaded, in
362. The Emperor Julian then went out against the Persians and perished in a dishonorable way, as
St. Artemios had foretold.
2. Holy and Righteous Artemius (Artemy).
Born in 1532, he was the son of Russian peasants, Kosmas and Apollinaria, from the village of Verkol near Dvinsk. Even at the age of five he was different from other children in his rare piety and meekness. When he was thirteen years old he went with his father through a great forest, and died there of exposure. His grieving father, unable to dig a grave, covered the body with branches and went on his way. Twenty-eight years later, a man saw a strange light in the forest, went over to it and found the body of Artemius, whole and incorrupt. It gave healing to many of the sick when they touched it. His holy relics are preserved in a monastery near Pinega, not far from Arkhangelsk.
3. Our Holy Father Gerasimos the New.
From Trikala in the Peloponnese, of the Notaras family, he was born in 1509. He lived in asceticism on Athos and then in Palestine, where he once fasted for forty days. He then settled on the island of Kephalonia, where he founded a monastery for women. He brought rain by his prayers, healed the sick and had insight into the future. He entered into rest in the Lord on August 15th, 1579, being a wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death.
4. Our Holy Father, the New-Martyr Ignatius.
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From Zagora in
Bulgaria, that famous Zagora that has given the Church so many holy ascetics and martyrs,
he lived in asceticism in the skete of St. John the Forerunner on Athos. He voluntarily put
himself into the hands of the Turks to be tortured for Christ, and was hanged in
Constantinople on October 8th, 1814. His relics have wonder-working power, and his head is
preserved in the monastery of St. Panteleimon.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
God guides with a marvelous compassion those who give themselves over to His holy will and His care. As a candle-maker uses the soft wax to make whatever sort of candle he wishes, so God in His wisdom makes from His consecrated servants immortal lights in His heavenly kingdom. St. Ignatius the New-martyr was utterly given to God even as a boy, and yearned to become a monk and be a martyr for the Faith. In the time of the Karageorge uprising, the Turkish army assembled all over Bulgaria against Serbia, and came to the house of Ignatius’ father, George, to see if there was anyone there that they could take for the army. George was a strong man and well-grown, and they wanted to take him, but he said to them firmly: ‘I cannot go to war against my fellow-Christians.’ The furious Turks killed him on the spot. Young Ignatius hid in a neighboring house and then fled to Romania, but his desire for monasticism took him onto the Holy Mountain. He wanted something still more than monasticism—he wanted martyrdom. Praying one night with tears before an icon of the most holy Mother of God, begging her to open the path of martyrdom to him, he heard a sound in front of him, and looked up to see the golden halo detach itself from the icon and fall onto his head. Very soon after that, he suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Turks, and received the wreath of eternal glory.
November 3rd – Civil Calendar
October 21st – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Hilarion the Great.
As a rose growing among thorns, so was this great
saint born of pagan parents in the village of Tabatha near Gaza in Palestine. His parents sent
him to study in Alexandria, where the gifted youngster quickly assimilated both secular learning
and spiritual wisdom. Coming to know Christ the Lord and receiving Baptism, he desired to serve
the Lord with his whole heart. With this desire, Hilarion visited St. Anthony the Great in the
desert and became his disciple. He then returned to his homeland and lived in asceticism near
Maiuma, not far from Gaza. Demons tried to frighten him with various terrors, but he, with prayer
to God and the sign of the Cross, overcame them all and drove them away. A great many who were
desirous of the spiritual life gathered around him, and St. Hilarion became for Palestine what
St. Anthony was for Egypt. A divine teacher, a strict ascetic, a marvellous wonder-worker,
Hilarion was revered not only by Christians but also by pagans. He, though, fearing the praise of
men and crying out through his tears: ‘Woe is me, for I am getting my reward in this
life!’ fled from place to place simply to hide from men and remain alone with his soul and
God. He therefore settled and lived for a time in Egypt, Sicily, Dalmatia and finally in Cyprus,
where his life of great toil came to an end in about 372, when he had reached the age of eighty.
Hilarion’s wonder-working relics were taken by Ezekiel, one of his disciples, to Palestine
and laid in the monastery that he had founded.
2. St. Hilarion, Bishop of Meglin.
He was born of eminent and devout parents. His childless mother had long prayed to God to give her a child, and when she was at prayer, the most holy Mother of God appeared to her and comforted her with the words: ‘Don’t cry; you will have a son, and he will bring many to the light of truth.’ When Hilarion was only three years old, the hymn: ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth’ was constantly heard on his lips. Well-educated, he became a monk at the age of eighteen and founded a monastery based on the rule of St. Pachomios. In 1134, he was consecrated Bishop of Meglin by Efstathius, Archbishop of Trnovo. St. Hilarion had an almost lifelong struggle against the Bogomils and the Armenian heretics, but by his spiritual learning and unequalled holiness, he put them all to shame and brought many of them to Orthodoxy. He entered peacefully into rest and went to the kingdom of his Lord in 1164.
3. Our Holy Father Philotheus.
Born in Chrysopolis in Macedonia, he was taken from his mother, a widow, by the Turks and thrown into prison along with one of his brothers. They were miraculously delivered from prison by the most holy Mother of God and taken to a monastery in Neapolis in Asia Minor. Their mother later found her sons as monks, and herself became a nun. Philotheus went to the Holy Mountain, where he lived first in the monastery of Dionysiou and then in the wilds. A wonderful ascetic and a great conqueror of demonic powers, he entered peacefully into rest at the age of eighty-four. He left instructions that he was not to be buried, but that his body was to be thrown into the forest for the birds and wild beasts. Later, a fisherman saw a great light in the forest at night, and being frozen, went to warm himself at it, thinking it was a fire. The light was, however, coming from the wonder-working relics of St. Philotheus.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The all-seeing eye of God looks on all men, and in a wonderful way, guides the faithful to salvation. That which may seem to the faithful at first to be a great loss shows itself in time to be a great gain. The case of St. Philotheus and his brother, who were lost to their mother, is similar to that of St. Xenophon (January 26th), and to that of St. Efstathios Placidus and his wife and sons (Sept. 20th). When St. Philotheus and his brother were sitting in the Turkish prison in Macedonia, the most holy Mother of God appeared to them, in the form of their mother, and said to them: ‘Get up, my dear children, and follow me,’ and the young men suddenly found themselves in a monastery in the city of Neapolis in Asia Minor. When the young men told the abbot what had happened to them, he understood that this was of God, and he received them and made them monks. A long time passed, and their mother was in bitter grief. She finally decided to enter a women’s monastery and consecrate herself to God. The providence of God led her to the neighborhood of the monastery where her sons were. Once, when the monastery was keeping its festival, she came with some of the other nuns for the feast. She saw her sons in church, but did not recognize them. Then one of the brothers called the other by his secular name. The mother was touched to the heart by that beloved name, and looked carefully into his face. Then their mother recognized her sons and they her, and their joy was very great, and they thanked God with overflowing hearts. Believing Christians must not despair at even the greatest apparent loss.
November 4th – Civil Calendar
October 22nd – Church Calendar
1. St. Averkios, Equal to the Apostles.
In the time of the Emperor Antoninus (138-161), St. Averkios was bishop in the city of Hierapolis in Phrygia. The great majority of the town’s inhabitants were pagans, and St. Averkios governed his little flock with a heart greatly saddened by the great number of pagans and idolaters, and with fervent prayer to God that He would bring them to the true Light. At the time of a rowdy idolatrous festival, Averkios became inflamed with godly zeal and went into the temple, smashing all the idols. When the furious pagans tried to kill him, three young madmen fell down before the man of God, foaming at the mouth and bellowing. The man of God drove the demons out of them, and they were healed and became calm. Seeing this, the fury of the pagans turned to marveling at Christ’s wonder-worker, and five hundred of them were immediately baptized. Little by little, everyone in the city of Hierapolis came to believe in Christ and was baptized. The proconsul of the region, Publios, had a blind mother whose sight Averkios restored by prayer, and both Publios and his mother came to faith in Christ, along with many other people. In old age, Averkios was summoned to Rome, where he healed the emperor’s mad daughter. The Lord Christ appeared to His faithful follower several times. People from far and near came to him for help in chronic sickness, and the demons not only feared him, but were obedient to his commands. At the order of the Lord Himself, he preached the Gospel throughout Syria and Mesopotamia, and went to his beloved Lord in great old age, in the city of Hierapolis at the end of the second century.
2. Our Holy Father Lot.
A great Egyptian ascetic, he was a contemporary of Arsenius the Great and Agathon. He lived in asceticism in his monastery near a lake not far from the town of Arsinoë and set many brethren on the way of salvation. His closest friend and adviser was Abba Joseph. Lot once said to Joseph: ‘Father, I fast as much as I can, keep to prayer and silence and pondering, and also force myself to keep from evil thoughts. What more can I do?’ Then the elder stood up and raised his hands to heaven, and his ten raised fingers sprang to flame like ten candles. He then replied to Lot: ‘If this is your desire, you can become all of flame!’ Being pleasing to God and putting many onto the way of salvation, St. Lot entered peacefully into rest in the fifth century.
3. Commemoration of the Miraculous Deliverance of Moscow from the Lithuanians with the help of the Most Holy Mother of God.
In the time of Prince Vasily Ivanovitch, Moscow was occupied by the Lithuanians and Russia was in great despair. Then St. Sergius of Radonezh appeared to a captured bishop, Arsenius, and promised him that Moscow would, on the following day, be cleansed of Lithuanians by the power and prayers of the most pure one. And so it came about. The following day, the Lithuanians fled from the city, and the Russian army entered Moscow. The whole people, with tears of joy, glorified God and His most holy Mother.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The strictness of holy men towards themselves is a cause for wonder, as is also their compassion towards others. Selfless where they themselves are concerned, they have infinite care for others. St. Hilarion the Great, having nothing with which to pay for his journey to Sicily, offered his Gospel, that he had copied with his own hands as a young man, to the owner of the ship. When he had healed some prince of an evil spirit, the prince wanted to make him a present of ten liters of gold. The saint would not accept the gold, but showed the prince a piece of barley-bread and said: ‘Those who feed themselves on this sort of bread look on gold as mud.’ When men begged him to bring rain from God by his prayers, or to save them from flood or from poisonous snakes, St. Hilarion always responded and helped them by his prayers. This was also St. Averkios’ way. Seeing many of the people in pain and sickness, he knelt in one place and begged God to open there a spring of healing water, that all the infirm might be healed and glorify God. God, by His power, opened there a spring of warm water. When Averkios healed the emperor’s daughter of madness, the emperor offered him much gold and silver, and other gifts, but St. Averkios said to him: ‘Wealth is not necessary to those who regard bread and water as a kingly feast.’ Seeking nothing for himself, Averkios begged two boons of the emperor for his flock in Hierapolis: that baths should be built over the healing water, and that each year a goodly quantity of grain should be given to the poor of the city. The emperor agreed, and did as the saint requested.
November 5th – Civil Calendar
October 23rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Iakovos, the Lord’s Brother.
He is called ‘the Lord’s
brother’ because he was the son of righteous Joseph, the betrothed of the most holy Mother
of God. When Joseph was dying, he shared out his goods among his sons and wanted to leave a share
to the Lord Jesus, the Son of the most holy Virgin Mary, but his sons opposed this, not reckoning
Jesus to be a brother of theirs. Iakovos, though, loved Jesus greatly and announced that he would
include Him in his share, counting himself to be indeed brother to the Lord. Iakovos was, from
the first, devoted to the Lord Jesus. According to tradition, he went to Egypt with the most holy
Virgin and Joseph when Herod tried to kill the newborn King. As soon as he heard Christ’s
teaching, he began to live by it. It is said that, during the whole of his life, he ate neither
fat nor oil, but lived only on bread and water, and he was chaste to the end of his days. He
often kept a vigil of prayer at night. The Lord included him among His Seventy apostles,
appearing to him after His glorious Resurrection, as the Apostle Paul testifies (I Cor. 15:7). He
was bishop in Jerusalem for thirty years, and governed the Church of God with zeal. On the
Lord’s instructions, he composed the first Liturgy, which was far too long for later
Christians and was shortened by St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom. He brought many Jews and
Greeks to the Christian Faith, and even unbelieving Jews marveled at his justice, nicknaming him
Iakovos the Just.
When Ananias became high priest, he decided, along with other of the Jewish elders, to kill Iakovos because he was a preacher of Christ. One day, on Pascha, when many people were gathered in Jerusalem, the elders told him to climb up onto a roof and speak a spiritual discourse. St. Iakovos climbed up there and began to speak to the people about Christ as the Son of God and the true Messiah, and of His Resurrection and eternal glory in heaven. The infuriated priests and elders cast him down from the roof, and he was badly injured though still alive. A man then ran up and gave him such a vicious blow on the head that his brains spilled out. Thus this glorious apostle of Christ died a martyr’s death and entered into the kingdom of his Lord. Iakovos was sixty-three years old when he suffered for Christ.
2. St. Ignatius (Ignatios), Patriarch of Constantinople.
Son of the Emperor Michael Rangabe, he became patriarch after St. Methodius, in 846, but was deposed in 858 and sent into exile. Photius, the emperor’s chief secretary, was made patriarch in his place, but when the Emperor Basil the Macedonian came to the throne, he re-instated Ignatius. St. Ignatius governed the Church with great zeal and wisdom, and built a monastery of the Holy Archangels, in which he entered into rest in the Lord in 877, at the age of eighty-nine.
3. The Holy Martyr Iakov of Borovitz.
About this saint, there is only known that which was revealed after his death in a vision to some people in Borovitz. His body was floating on a river near that town one day in 1540, and came to rest there. Many miracles were worked by his relics.
FOR CONSIDERATION
God’s is the grace and ours is the toil. Let no one, then, think that, as the holy apostles relied solely on the grace of God, it was easy for them: that they were able without effort to accomplish their great task in the world. Does not the Apostle Paul say, ‘I subdue my body...lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become unapproved’ (I Cor. 9:27)? And, in another place, does he not describe how he spent his life in ‘perils, in weariness, in painfulness, in watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings, in cold, in nakedness’ (II Cor. 11:26-27)? The holy Apostle Iakovos ate only bread, and very little of that: he slept very little, and spent his nights in prayer. He knelt so much in prayer that the skin of his knees became as hard as that on the knees of a camel. This brother of the Lord prayed with tears and sighs, not only for the Church that he governed, but for the whole world. Even when he was thrown down from the roof of the Temple by the wicked Jews and terribly injured, the holy apostle did not for one moment forget his debt to God and man. Summoning his last strength, he pulled himself to his knees, stretched out his hands to heaven and prayed to God with all his heart, saying: ‘Lord, forgive them this sin; they don’t know what they are doing.’ While he was thus praying, evil men began stoning him on all sides. Seeing this, one man cried out: ‘Stop it; what are you doing? This just man is praying to God for you, and you’re killing him!’ but that shout from a single goodly soul could not hold back the accustomed evil-doing of the butchers from slaying the saint of God. The apostles, then, did not just lean on grace, but alongside it and interwoven with it, invested almost superhuman efforts in showing themselves worthy of God’s grace.
November 6th – Civil Calendar
October 24th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Arethas.
This holy martyr suffered for the Christian Faith with more than four thousand other Christians: priests, monks and nuns, townsmen and women and children. Arethas was the local governor of the town of Negran, in the land of Omir in southern Arabia, and was ninety-five years old when he suffered. The land of Omir was governed by a Jew called Dunaan, a vicious persecutor of Christians. Resolving to exterminate Christianity completely in his land, he laid siege to the Christian town of Negran and told the citizens that if they did not deny Christ, he would put them all to death. The citizens closed the gates, and Dunaan attacked the city wall for a long time without success. Then the iniquitous governor swore to the citizens that he would do nothing to them if they opened the gate for him to enter and take the tribute owing to him, saying that he would then go away at once. The Christians believed him, and opened the gates. Then the bloodthirsty Jew summoned the aged Arethas to him, along with his clergy and other eminent citizens, and slew them all with the sword, and then indulged in a riot of butchery through the town. Hearing of this, the Byzantine emperor, Justin, was greatly distressed and wrote a letter to the Ethiopian Emperor Elesbaan, urging him to set out with an army against Dunaan and avenge the Christian blood that had been spilled. Elesbaan obeyed Justin, attacked the governor of Omir, overcame him, slaughtered his entire army and put him to the sword. A devout man called Abramius was installed as ruler of Omir by God’s revelation; and as archbishop, also by God’s revelation, St. Gregory (see Dec. 19th). In Negran, the Christians rebuilt the Church of the Holy Trinity that Dunaan had burned, and built a church to the holy Martyr Arethas and the other martyrs of that city. They suffered and received wreaths of martyrdom from the Lord in 523.
2. St. Elesbaan, Emperor of Ethiopia.
 Inflamed with love for
Christ, this devout emperor raised an army against Dunaan, the wicked persecutor of
Christians in the land of Omir, but he was unsuccessful in the early stages of the battle
and many of his soldiers perished in the arid desert. He then lamented bitterly to God, and
promised to become a monk if God would help him overcome the shedder of Christian blood.
Defeating Dunaan, Elesbaan returned to Ethiopia and immediately left the imperial court and
went to a monastery, where he lived in strict asceticism as a true monk for a whole fifteen
years, God giving him wonder-working gifts both before and after his death. He entered into
rest in 555.
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3. The Icon: ‘Joy of all who Sorrow’.
 This is the name given to one of the wonder-working icons of
the most holy Mother of God, and today is especially the commemoration of the miraculous
healing of Ephemia, sister of Patriarch Joachim, in Moscow in 1688. Ephemia had a dangerous
wound in the side, and when the doctors were unsuccessful in their treatment of it, she
fell down in prayer before the most holy Mother of God. She then heard a voice:
‘Ephemia, go to the Church of the Transfiguration of my Son; there you will find the
icon “Joy of all who Sorrow”. Ask the priest to pray before that icon, and you
will be healed.’ Ephemia did this, and was immediately completely healed.
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4. Our Holy Father Arethas of the Kiev Caves.
He went to the Lord in 1190 (see the passage for consideration below).
Author’s note: In the Greek Synaxarion, the Holy Martyr Sebastiana, a disciple of the Apostle Paul, who suffered for the Faith in the year 82, in the time of the Emperor Domitian, is also commemorated. She was first tortured in the city of Marcianopolis, where the Apostle Paul appeared to her and said: ‘Rejoice, and do not be sad, for you will go from here to your own town to confess your faith in Christ.’ And so it came to pass: the judge sent her to her birthplace, Herakleia, where she was tortured and finally beheaded. Her remains were put in a sack and thrown into the sea, but an angel of God took them to a place called Risiston, where Ammia, the wife of a senator, found them and gave them burial. Her relics had healing power and gave off myrrh.
FOR CONSIDERATION
When a holy man commits a transgression, a greater punishment descends on him than would on an ordinary man, who is less dedicated to the hidden will of God, when he does the same thing. St. Arethas was a monk in the monastery of the Caves in Kiev, and was very avaricious. Heaps of possessions stood in his cell, of which he would give away not one scrap to anyone. But he once fell very seriously ill and saw, as if in a vision, how the devils snatched his soul from the angel, saying: ‘It’s ours! It’s ours!’ and presenting Arethas’ avarice and commercial bent as proof of this. Recovering from his illness, Arethas changed his way of life, and from that time counted earthly goods as nothing. God, in His love, forgave him and later gave him great grace.
Another monk, in the monastery to which the blessed Emperor Elesbaan went, liked to go often to the tavern, where he got drunk and even had immoral relations with women. One day, returning from the tavern, enormous snakes fell on him and took turns in chasing him. In great pain and anguish, the monk cried out: ‘As you would flee from holy and righteous Elesbaan, go away from me’; and the snakes suddenly stopped. Then the monk heard what seemed to be a human voice coming from the snakes: ‘An angel of God commanded me to bite you because of your impurity and foulness, for you have promised to serve God with purity, but now you foul your body and anger the Holy Spirit.’ The monk swore to sin no more, returned to the monastery and did not sin again right up to his death. Thus God chides and has mercy at the prayers of the holy Emperor Elesbaan.
November 7th – Civil Calendar
October 25th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Markianos (Marcian) and Martyrios.
These saints were clergy with Patriarch Paul of Constantinople in the time of the Emperor Constantius. After the death of the great Emperor Constantine, the Arian heresy, which had till then been kept under, sprang up again and began to spread, and the Emperor Constantius himself inclined towards it. There were two influential nobles at the imperial court, Evsevios and Philip, both ardent Arians. Through their influence, Patriarch Paul was dethroned and driven out to Armenia, where the Arians strangled him, and the patriarchal throne was seized by the dishonorable Macedonius. At that time, when Orthodoxy had two fierce struggles on hand, against both the pagans and the heretics, Markianos and Martyrios ranged themselves decisively and with all their strength on the side of Orthodoxy. Markianos was a reader and Martyrios a subdeacon at the Cathedral, and had been secretaries to Patriarch Paul. The Arians first tried to bribe them, but when the two holy men refused this with scorn, the heretics condemned them to death. When they were led to the scaffold, they raised their hands and prayed to God, thanking Him that they were finishing their lives as martyrs: ‘Lord, we rejoice that we are leaving this world by such a death. Make us worthy to be partakers of eternal life, O Thou our Life!’ They then laid their heads under the sword and were beheaded, in 355. A church was later built to them over their relics by St. John Chrysostom.
2. The Holy Martyr Anastasios.
He was a maker of cloth and a zealous Christian. In the time of Diocletian’s persecution of Christians at the beginning of the fourth century, this godly man went and presented himself to the judge of the Dalmatian town of Solin and confessed his faith in Christ. He was inhumanly tortured and then killed, and his body was thrown into the sea, from which it was later taken out and given burial.
3. St. Tabitha.
Tabitha (which means ‘doe’) was a disciple of the apostles and lived in Joppa, the present Jaffa. She was ‘full of good works and almsgiving’ (Acts 9:36). She suddenly weakened and died at the time that the Apostle Peter was in the city of Lydda, and the grieving disciples sent to Peter, asking him to come and comfort his people. The great apostle of Christ, on his arrival, told everyone to leave the room where the corpse lay, then knelt in prayer. When he had finished praying, he called to the dead body: ‘Tabitha, arise!’ and Tabitha opened her eyes and arose. Drawn by this wonder, many came to faith in Christ the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Among other mysterious perceptions by the holy souls of the saints, they had the perception of a fragrance from good spirits and a foul stench from impure spirits. A spirit that is pure and filled with light gives off a life-giving and fragrant scent, and a darkened and impure spirit gives off a suffocating and unbearable stench. Guided by a particular stench, the saints were able to tell what passion a man was possessed by. Thus St. Efthymios the Great recognized the stench of the passion of lust in a monk, Emilian, in the monastery of St. Theoktistos. Going one day to Matins, Efthymios passed by Emilian’s cell and smelled the stench of the demon of lust. Emilian had committed no sin, except that he had at that moment lustful thoughts, which were crowding into his heart from an unclean demon, a demon whose presence the saint had already sensed within this monk. The power of this perception was even more wonderfully seen once in St. Hilarion the Great. A certain niggardly man, a miser, had sent Hilarion some of his vegetables. When they were set before him, the saint said: ‘Take it away! I can’t stand the stench that’s coming from these greens! Can’t you smell it: the stench of avarice?’ When the monks marveled at these words, Hilarion told them to take the greens and give them to the oxen, and see if they would eat them. The oxen sniffed at them, and turned their heads away in disgust.
November 8th – Civil Calendar
October 26th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Demetrius.
This glorious and wonder-working saint was born in
the city of Thessalonica of well-born and devout parents. Begged of God by these childless
parents, Demetrius was their only son and was, because of this, most carefully cherished and
educated. His father was the military commander of Thessalonica, and when he died, the emperor
made Demetrius commander in his place. In doing this, the Emperor Maximian, an opponent of
Christ, particularly recommended him to persecute and exterminate the Christians in Thessalonica.
Demetrius not only disobeyed the Emperor: he openly confessed and preached Christ the Lord in the
city. Hearing of this, the emperor was furious with Demetrius, and at one time, on his way back
from a war against the Sarmathians, went to Thessalonica especially to look into the matter. The
emperor, therefore, summoned Demetrius and questioned him about his faith. Demetrius proclaimed
openly before the emperor that he was a Christian, and furthermore, denounced the emperor’s
idolatry. The enraged emperor cast him into prison. Knowing what was awaiting him, Demetrius gave
his goods to his faithful servant, Lupus, to give away to the poor, and went off to prison, glad
that suffering for Christ was to be his lot. In the prison, an angel of the Lord appeared to him
and said: ‘Peace be with thee, thou sufferer for Christ; be brave and strong!’ After
several days, the emperor sent soldiers to the prison to kill Demetrius. They came upon the saint
of God at prayer, and ran him through with their spears. Christians secretly took his body and
gave it burial, and there flowed from it a healing myrrh by which many of the sick were healed. A
small church was very soon built over his relics. An Illyrian nobleman, Leontius, became sick of
an incurable illness. He ran prayerfully up to the relics of St. Demetrius and was completely
healed, and in gratitude built a much larger church in place of the old one. The saint appeared
to him on two occasions. When the Emperor Justinian wanted to take the saint’s relics from
Thessalonica to Constantinople, a spark of fire leapt from the tomb and a voice was heard:
‘Leave them there, and don’t touch!’ and thus the relics of St. Demetrius have
remained for all time in Thessalonica. As the defender of Thessalonica, St. Demetrius has many
times appeared and saved the city from calamity, and there is no way of counting his miracles.
The Russians regarded St. Demetrius as the protector of Siberia, which was overcome and annexed
by Russia on October 26th, 1581.
2. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Ioasaph.
A disciple of St. Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople, he lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain. He had such great love for Christ the Lord that all his asceticism seemed to him inadequate, and he longed to suffer for love of his Lord. He therefore went to Constantinople, where he openly confessed the Holy Trinity and the Son of God before the Turks. The furious Turks beheaded him on October 26th, 1536.
3. Commemoration of the Great Earthquake in Constantinople.
In the time of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, in 740, there was a terrifying and long-lasting earthquake in Constantinople. The people realized that this was God’s punishment for their sins, and entreated the most holy Mother of God and St. Demetrius with great penitence, until God had mercy and the earthquake ended.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A miracle of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica: St. Demetrius was, in his lifetime, military commander of Thessalonica, and he did not lay down this office at his death. People felt his presence in Thessalonica especially at times of great need. He defended the city, kept misfortune at a distance, repelled invaders and helped all who called upon his name. Here is a wonderful example of his help to people in need: the barbarians once invaded Thessalonica, but could not take it. Infuriated by this, they plundered the whole area and took two beautiful maidens into captivity, giving them to their prince. The girls were skilled in embroidery, and when the prince saw some of their handiwork, he said to them: ‘I hear that there is in your land a great god, Demetrius, who works great wonders. Embroider his face on linen for me.’ The girls told him that St. Demetrius was not a god, but a servant of the true God and the helper of Christians, and they at first refused to embroider the saint’s face, but when the prince threatened them with death, they promised to do it and finished the work by St. Demetrius’ Day. On the eve of the feast, therefore, they both looked at their work and wept with sorrow, one of them because they had to spend the feast in slavery and the other because they had to give the embroidered likeness of their beloved saint to an unclean barbarian, and the two maidens prayed to St. Demetrius to forgive them. Then the saint appeared, and took both maidens as an angel had once taken the Prophet Abbakum (Habakkuk); he took them to Thessalonica and set them down in his church. There, the all-night vigil service was in progress, and a great many people were gathered in the church. Learning of the miraculous saving of these two Christian girls, everyone glorified God and His great servant and commander Demetrius.
November 9th – Civil Calendar
October 27th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Nestor.
At the time of the martyrdom of St. Demetrius the Myrrh-gusher, there was in Thessalonica a young man, Nestor, who had learned the Christian Faith from St. Demetrius himself. At that time, the Emperor Maximian, an opponent of Christ, ordered various games and amusements for the people. The emperor’s favorite was a Vandal called Lyaeus, a man of Goliath-like size and strength. As the imperial gladiator, Lyaeus challenged men every day to a duel and slew them, and this blood-letting of his delighted the blood-lust of the idolatrous emperor. He built a special arena, like a terrace on pillars, for Lyaeus’ duels. Underneath this terrace were planted spears with sharp cutting-edges pointing upwards. When Lyaeus had overcome someone in the duel, he would push him from the terrace above onto the whole forest of prepared spears. The pagans stood around with their emperor, and were delighted when some poor wretch writhed in torment on the spears until he died. Among Lyaeus’ innocent victims were a large number of Christians, for, when there was a day when no one came forward voluntarily to duel with Lyaeus, then, by the emperor’s orders, Christians were compelled to fight with him. Seeing this horrifying enjoyment of the pagan world, Nestor’s heart swelled with pain and he resolved to go himself to the arena of the gigantic Lyaeus. He first went to the prison where St. Demetrius was kept, and asked his blessing to do this. St. Demetrius blessed him, signed him with the sign of the Cross on forehead and breast, and said to him: ‘You will overcome him, but you will suffer for Christ.’ The young Nestor then went to Lyaeus’ arena. The emperor was there with a large crowd, and they all bewailed the probable death of the young Nestor, trying to dissuade him from fighting Lyaeus, but Nestor crossed himself and said: ‘O God of Demetrius, help me!’ With God’s help, Nestor overcame Lyaeus, felled him and threw him down onto the sharp spears, where the heavy giant soon found death. Then the whole people shouted: ‘Great is the God of Demetrius!’ But the emperor had lost face before the people, and mourning his favorite, became filled with wrath against Nestor and Demetrius, and the wicked emperor ordered that Nestor be beheaded with the sword and Demetrius run through with spears. Thus this glorious Christian hero, Nestor, left behind his young, earthly life in 306, and entered into the kingdom of his Lord.
2. Our Holy Father Nestor the Chronicler.
He arrived at the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev at the age of seventeen, while St. Theodosius was still abbot. He wrote the first history of the Russian people, into which he interwove the history of Russian asceticism. He was distinguished by a rare humility and meekness. In his glorious literary works, he often refers to himself as unworthy, vulgar, ignorant and filled with every sin. But God, Who knows the heart of man, glorified this wonderful man who was so pleasing to Him. When Nestor entered into rest, on October 27th, 1114, his relics performed many miracles.
3. St. Andrew (Andrei), Prince of Smolensk.
From love of Christ, he set aside worldly glory and honor, hid himself in a monastery and there, disguised and unknown, served as verger for thirty years. He entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in 1390, and his wonder-working relics were found in 1540.
Author’s note: In the Greek Great Synaxarion, St. Procula Claudia is also commemorated on this day. She was that wife of Pilate who suffered in a dream at the time of the Lord’s condemnation. Because of this, she tried to turn her husband from the shedding of innocent blood, but in vain (Matt. 27:19). She later became a disciple of Christ, and was baptized. She suffered greatly for the name of Christ, but finally entered into rest peacefully.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A miracle of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica: That the saints of God live clothed in great glory and power in heaven is known to Orthodox Christians, not by some reasoning of their own, but by the help and revelation of the saints. They appear sometimes in order to be seen and heard by men, sometimes either to be seen or heard and sometimes, unseen and unheard, they have influenced our thoughts, our circumstances and our actions. Among many of St. Demetrius’ miracles, this one is noted: In the Church of St. Demetrius in Thessalonica, a young man called Onesiphoros was given the job of verger. His main task was to keep an account of the candles and lamps. This young man began to steal candles and take them home, then sell them again. St. Demetrius appeared to him and said: ‘Brother Onesiphoros, your action is displeasing to me, for you are stealing candles, and are by this bringing trouble on others and especially on yourself. Stop this, and repent.’ Onesiphoros was terrified and ashamed, and for a time stopped stealing candles. But this was later forgotten, and he again began to steal. One morning, an eminent man took some large candles to the saint’s tomb, lit them, prayed a moment and then went out. Onesiphoros came up to the candles and put out his hand to take them. At that moment, a voice like thunder was heard: ‘Are you doing that again?’ As though struck by a thunderbolt, Onesiphoros fell to the ground unconscious. When some people came into the church, they lifted him up and he came to himself little by little, and related all that had happened to him, and they were all amazed and glorified God.
November 10th – Civil Calendar
October 28th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Paraskeve.
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She was born in the city of Iconium of rich and Christ-loving
parents. After their death, the maiden Paraskeve began to give her goods away to the poor
and needy, all in the name of Christ the Lord. When a persecution arose under Diocletian
(284-305), Paraskeve was taken for trial before the governor of that area. When the
governor asked her name, she said that she was called a Christian. The governor rebuked her
for not giving her ordinary name, but Paraskeve said to him: ‘I had first to tell you
my name in eternal life, and can then give you my name in this transitory life.’
After flogging her, the governor threw her into prison, where an angel of God appeared to
her, and healing her of her wounds, comforted her. She destroyed all the idols in the pagan
temple by her prayers. After long and harsh torture, she was beheaded with the sword and
entered into eternal life.
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2. St. Arsenius (Arsenije), Archbishop of Peć.
A great hierarch of the Serbian Church and the successor of St. Sava, Arsenius was born in Srem. He became a monk while still a young man, and gave himself to wholehearted asceticism for his soul’s salvation. Hearing of the wonderful personality and deeds of St. Sava, Arsenius went to him at Žiča, where the saint received him with kindness and drew him into the brotherhood at the monastery. Seeing rare virtues in Arsenius, Sava soon installed him as abbot of the Žiča community. When the Hungarians over-ran the land of Serbia, Sava sent Arsenius south to find a more secluded spot for the archiepiscopal seat. Arsenius chose Peć, and there built a monastery and church to the Holy Apostles, which later became dedicated to the Lord’s Ascension. Before his second departure for Jerusalem, Sava designated Arsenius to succeed him on the archiepiscopal throne, and when Sava died at Trnovo on his way home, Arsenius urged King Vladislav to take Sava’s body onto Serbian soil. He governed the Church wisely for thirty years, and entered into rest in the Lord on October 28th, 1266. On the wall of the altar at Peć is written: ‘O Lord our God, hearken; visit and bless this church,...remember it, and me, the sinner Arsenius.’ He was buried there in the church at Peć.
Translator’s note: St. Arsenius’ relics are now in the monastery of Zhrebaonik in Montenegro.
3. The Holy Martyr Terentios (Terence).
A Syrian, he suffered for the Christian Faith together with his wife and their seven children. After many tortures, during which the power of God was shown, they were all beheaded with the sword.
4. St. Stephen of St. Sava’s.
The writer of many beautiful canons, he lived in the community of St. Sava the Sanctified near Jerusalem. He later became a bishop, and entered peacefully into rest in 807.
5. St. Athanasius, Patriarch of Constantinople.
An opponent of union with Rome, in contrast to his predecessor, John Vekkos (1275-1282), he was an ascetic and a man of prayer from his childhood. Beloved of the people, he incurred the displeasure of some of the clergy for his moral strictness. He withdrew to his monastery on Mount Ganos, where he lived in even stricter asceticism than formerly. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to him and chided him gently for leaving his flock to the wolves. When he had prophesied the day of the earthquake in Constantinople, the Emperor Andronikos called him back to the patriarchal throne, much against his will, and he later secretly withdrew again to his asceticism, entering into rest at the age of a hundred. He was a wonder-worker and a clairvoyant.
6. St. Dimitri, Bishop of Rostov.
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A great hierarch, preacher, writer and ascetic, he was
born near Kiev in 1651, and died in 1709. Among many other glorious works of instruction
that he wrote, especially noteworthy is the translation and publication of the Lives of the
Saints. He foresaw his own death three days before, and died while at prayer. He was a
great light of the Russian Church, and of Orthodoxy in general. He had heavenly visions
during his life; he served the Lord with zeal and entered into the heavenly kingdom.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Dimitri of Rostov was a saint in the classical pattern of our first fathers. He not only wrote beautiful books of instruction but also illumined his flock by his example, being a great faster and a man of prayer. He was so humble that he even asked the students in his seminary to pray for him. Whenever the clock struck the hour, he stood in prayer and recited ‘Mother of God and Virgin, rejoice!’ When he was ill—which often happened to him—he asked the seminarians each to recite the ‘Our Father’ for him five times, keeping in mind the five wounds of the Lord Jesus Christ. St. Barbara then appeared to him, and asked him: ‘Why do you pray in the Latin way?’ At this rebuke, the saint fell into despair, for at that time, many Latin false traditions had crept into Russia, and the righteous were endeavoring not to be influenced by them. St. Barbara appeared to him again to comfort him because of his despair, saying to him, ‘Don’t be afraid.’ On another occasion, St. Orestes the Martyr (Nov. 10th) appeared to him, just as Dimitri was writing his life, and said: ‘I endured greater sufferings for Christ than you have recorded.’ He then showed him his left side, and said: ‘This was pierced with a white-hot iron.’ He went on to show him his left arm, saying: ‘This was cut off,’ and his thigh, saying: ‘The flesh was cut away here.’ When St. Dimitri began to wonder whether this Orestes was one of the Five Companions (Dec. 13th), the saint answered his query, saying: ‘I’m not the one among the Five Companions, but the one whose Life you’re now writing.’
November 11th – Civil Calendar
October 29th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Anastasia the Roman.
She was born in Rome of well-born parents and left an orphan at the age of three. As an orphan, she was taken into a women’s monastery near Rome, where the abbess was one Sophia, a nun of a high level of perfection. After seventeen years, Anastasia was known in the whole neighborhood, to the Christians as a great ascetic and to the pagans as a rare beauty. The pagan administrator of the city, Probus, heard of her and sent soldiers to bring her to him. The good Abbess Sophia counseled Anastasia for two hours on how to keep the Faith, how to resist flattering delusion and how to endure torture. Anastasia said to her: ‘My heart is ready to suffer for Christ; my soul is ready to die for my beloved Jesus.’ Brought before the governor, Anastasia openly proclaimed her faith in Christ the Lord, and when the governor tried to dissuade her from the Faith, first with promises and then with threats, the holy maiden said to him: ‘I am ready to die for my Lord, not once but—oh, if it were only possible!—a thousand times.’ When they stripped her naked, to humiliate her, she cried to the judge: ‘Whip me and cut at me and beat me; my naked body will be hidden by wounds, and my shame will be covered by my blood!’ She was whipped and beaten and cut about. She twice felt a great thirst and asked for water, and a Christian, Cyril, gave her a drink, for which he was blessed by the martyr and beheaded by the pagans. Then her breasts and tongue were cut off, and an angel of God appeared to her and upheld her. She was finally beheaded with the sword outside the city. Blessed Sophia found her body and buried it, and Anastasia was crowned with the wreath of martyrdom under the Emperor Decius (249-251).
2. Our Holy Father Abramios (Abraham) the Recluse and his niece Maria.
Under pressure from his parents, Abramios married, but on the very day of his wedding, he left his bride, his parents, his home and all that he had and went off into solitude to live in strict asceticism. He lived thus for fifty years, only leaving his cell twice in the whole of that time. Once it was at the command of the local bishop, to convert a pagan village to the Christian Faith, and the other was to save his dissolute niece Maria. He entered peacefully into rest in 360, at the age of seventy.
3. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Timothy of Esphigmenou.
From the village of Paraora, in the province of Kessana in Thrace, he was married and had two daughters. His wife was seized by the Turks and converted to Islam, and in order to save her from the harem, he also pretended to become a Turk. Saving his wife, he gave her to a women’s monastery and went off to the Holy Mountain, first to the Lavra and then to Esphigmenou. He desired martyrdom for Christ, like Agathangelos of Esphigmenou, and was beheaded in Jedrene on October 29th, 1820. His body was thrown into a river, but his clothing was taken back to Esphigmenou by the elder Germanos, his spiritual father.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved’ (Matt. 10:22), said the Lord. Faith is the one light that can truly illumine endurance, as endurance for its own sake becomes an unbearable darkness. Faith is a star shining in this darkness; faith softens the sharpness of suffering and bears on its wings all the weight of endurance. St. Abramios offers us a beautiful example of perseverance in endurance. The devil simulated to him various sorts of temptation and terror, plunging him into a tedium that almost got him to the point of leaving the place in which he had settled and moving elsewhere, but Abramios did not want to move and become like an evil demon; he remained in his own place and overcame the devil. The bishop of that area sent Abramios to a pagan village to try to bring it to the Christian Faith. After long resistance, Abramios set off, saying: ‘Let God’s will be done; I’m going under obedience.’ He first built a church in the village and then pulled down the idols before the eyes of the villagers. They thrashed him, and beat him black and blue, leaving him almost dead, and then drove him out of their village, but he prayed to God for them with tears, that God would open the eyes of their hearts to know the truth of Christ. Thus the pagans beat and mocked him without remission for three years, but he prayed constantly to God for them and was not angered against them, ‘enduring in his faith like a firm rock’. Only after three whole years did his toil and tears, his beseeching and faith have their reward, for suddenly the villagers were awakened and went in a group to Abramios. Bowing down before him, they begged him to instruct them in the Christian Faith.
November 12th – Civil Calendar
October 30th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostles Cleopas, Tertius, Mark, Justus and Artemas.
![Christ Appears to SS. Luke and Cleopas on the Way to Emmaus [Lk.
24:15].](/teachings/images/icons/3-290-1.jpg){kind=icon} They were of the Seventy. The risen Lord appeared to Cleopas on the road to
Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-33). Tertius wrote down Paul’s Epistle to the Romans for him (Rom.
16:22), and died a martyr as Bishop of Iconium, after the Apostle Sosipater (Nov. 10th).
St. Mark (or John, see Acts 12:12) was the son of the devout Mary in whose house the
apostles and the early Christians found shelter, and the nephew of Barnabas. He was bishop
in the Samaritan town of Apollonia. Justus was a son of Joseph the Betrothed. Together with
Matthias, he was selected for the lot to be cast to replace Judas the betrayer, but was not
chosen (Acts 1:23-26). As bishop in Eleftheropolis, he suffered for the Gospel. St. Artemas
was bishop in Lystra in Lykaonia, and died peacefully.
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2. The Hieromartyr Zenovios and his sister Zenovia.
From the town of Aegae in Cilicia, they inherited the true Faith and great material wealth from their parents. Inflamed with zeal for the Faith, they, with great love, gave away their riches to the poor. Because they were so open-handed, God shielded these hands from every evil intent by men or demons. The merciful hands of Zenovios, which gave to the poor, were endowed by God with the gift of wonder-working, so that Zenovios was able to heal the sick of every sort of infirmity simply by the touch of his hand, and he was made Bishop of Aegae. At a time of persecution, the judge Licius seized him and said: ‘I offer you the two: life and death—life if you bow down to the gods, and death if you do not.’ Holy Zenovios replied: ‘Life without Christ is not life, but death; and death for Christ’s sake is not death, but life.’ When Zenovios was put to harsh torture, his sister presented herself before the judge and said: ‘I also want to drink this cup of suffering and be crowned with that wreath.’ After torture by fire and in boiling pitch, they were both beheaded with the sword in about 285, and thus brother and sister entered into the immortal kingdom of Christ the King.
3. The Holy Martyrs Marcellus and Cassian.
The Emperor Maximian Hercules (285-305) ordered that all the army offer sacrifice to idols. Marcellus was a soldier at this time, and Cassian a notary. Marcellus, as a Christian, said: ‘If a soldier’s calling is tied up with the offering of sacrifice to idols, I cannot be a soldier,’ and he took off his military belt and weapons and threw them from him. He was immediately condemned to death. Cassian had to put this death-sentence into writing, and he refused to do so. They were beheaded together, and their souls went to the heavenly kingdom. (St. Cassian is commemorated on Dec. 3rd.)
4. The Holy King Milutin.
The son of Uroš I and Queen Helena and brother of Dragutin, he fought fiercely to defend his faith and his people. He fought against Michael Palaiologos because the latter had accepted union with Rome and was putting pressure on the whole Balkan people and the monks of Athos to accept the pope. He fought against Shishman, King of Bulgaria, and Nogai, King of the Tartars, to defend his country from them. All his wars were successful, for he prayed constantly to God and put himself in His hands. He built more than forty churches, both in his own land (Treskavac, Gračanica, St. George in Staro Nagoričane, the Holy Mother of God in Skopje, Banjska and so forth) and in Thessalonica, Sofia, Constantinople, Jerusalem and on the Holy Mountain. He entered into rest in the Lord on October 29th, 1320, and his body was soon seen to be incorrupt and wonder-working. It is still preserved in that state today in the Church of the Holy King in Sofia.
Author’s note: Milutin was married twice, not four times as his detractors would have it; first to Elisabeth, a Hungarian princess, and then to Simonida, a princess of Byzantium.
FOR CONSIDERATION
That great son of the Orthodox Church, King Milutin, saved the Balkans from Uniatism. At the moment when the Byzantine emperor’s conscience was weakened, this knightly and godly Slav stood decisively, and with God’s help saved Orthodoxy, not only in his own land but throughout the Balkans. He who examines the life of this holy king closely will understand why God gave him success after success throughout his life in all that he did. When Milutin came to the throne, he immediately vowed to God that he would build as many churches as the years he reigned. He reigned for forty-two years, and built forty-two churches. Beside some of his churches, as in Thessalonica and Constantinople, he built hospitals for the poor, where they received everything without payment. Apart from that, he took pleasure in giving to the poor out of his own enormous wealth. This powerful and wealthy king often dressed himself in simple clothing, and at night, with two or three of his servants, walked among the people, enquiring for the needy and generously helping the poor. In the midst of his great wealth, he lived a very simple family life, though he never showed this side of himself to outsiders. He had become accustomed to a simple way of life when still in the house of Uroš, his father. It is told how the Emperor Michael Palaiologos sent his daughter Anna with a delegation to the court of King Uroš, offering her to Milutin in order to win the Serbian king to union with Rome. But King Uroš, seeing the senseless Byzantine luxury of the princess and her entourage, exclaimed: ‘What is all this, and what is it for? We are not accustomed to this sort of life!’ He indicated a Serbian princess with a distaff in her hand: ‘See,’ he said, ‘this is the sort of thing we expect in our daughter-in-law.’
November 13th – Civil Calendar
October 31st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostles Stachys, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, Apelles and Aristobulus.
 They were of the
Seventy. St. Stachys was a helper of St. Andrew the First-Called, who made him bishop of
Byzantium. He built a church in Argyropolis, and governed his flock with faithfulness and
zeal. After sixteen years as bishop, he entered peacefully into rest in the Lord. Amplias
and Urban were also fellow-workers with St. Andrew, and were made bishop by him, Amplias in
Lydda and Urban in Macedonia. They both died as martyrs for Christ the Lord. Narcissus was
made Bishop of Athens by the Apostle Philip, and holy Apelles was Bishop of Heraklion in
Trachis. Aristobulus, the brother of the Apostle Barnabas, preached the Christian Faith in
Britain and died peacefully there. He is also commemorated on March 16th.
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2. The Holy Martyr Epimachus.
Born in Egypt, he lived there in asceticism, and there finished his earthly course a martyr. In imitation of St. John the Baptist, he went off as a young man into the desert. In response to his great love for God, the Spirit of God instructed him in all truth, and with no other teacher, taught him how to live the ascetic life. Epimachus discovered how the pagans were torturing and slaughtering the Christians in Alexandria, so, all afire with zeal for the Faith, he went to the city and knocked down the idols. When the pagans began to torture him for this, he cried out: ‘Smite me, spit on me, put a crown of thorns on my head and a reed in my hand; give me gall to drink, crucify me and pierce me with a spear. The Lord endured all that, and I want to endure it!’ In the vast crowd that was watching the martyrdom of holy Epimachus, there was one woman with a blind eye. She wept bitterly on witnessing the soulless torture of the man of God, and when the torturers flayed his holy body, blood spurted from it and a drop fell on her eye. Suddenly she could see, and her blind eye became as whole as the other. Then the woman cried out: ‘Great is the God in Whom this sufferer believes!’ After that, St. Epimachus was beheaded and his soul entered into eternal joy, in about 250.
3. The Holy Martyr Nicholas of Chios.
A devout young man and a great zealot for the Christian Faith, Nicholas was born in the village of Karyes on the island of Chios. He was tortured and beheaded by the Turks in 1754, and gave his righteous soul into God’s hands.
4. Our Holy Fathers Spiridon and Nicodemus.
They were monks and prosphora-makers in the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev. Spiridon was illiterate, but he knew the whole Psalter by heart and worked miracles during his lifetime. He entered into rest in 1148.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘He that taketh not his cross and followeth after Me is not worthy of Me’ (Matt. 10:38), says the Lord. Our holy father, the martyr Timothy of Esphigmenou (Oct. 29th) was at first a married man with two daughters. Later, as a monk, he resolved to suffer for Christ, and being already prepared for the road to suffering, asked his abbot’s blessing to return to his village of Kessana, to see his daughters and take leave of them. The abbot did not permit this, fearing that Timothy’s meeting with his daughters would soften him and turn him back from martyrdom for the Faith. But Timothy’s village lay on the way to Propontis, his destination. When he got to his village, he met one of his neighbors, chatted with him and sent greetings to his daughters through him. The neighbor urged him to turn back and see his daughters, and rest a little, but in vain; Timothy took his leave and hurriedly escaped, continuing on his way. His daughters, hearing from the neighbor about their father, hurried after him. And now a rare sight was seen: the daughters were hurrying to overtake and embrace their father, and the father was fleeing from his daughters in order not to sin against the abbot’s command. The daughters moved quickly, but he yet more quickly. The daughters hastened to embrace their father, and Timothy, fleeing from them, hastened to embrace death. The daughters became exhausted and turned back in despair, and the father slipped away. At the time of his death, Timothy asked his spiritual father, Germanos, to return to his village and tell his daughters of their father’s death by martyrdom. Germanos carried out the errand. The Turks beheaded Timothy and threw his body into a river, and Germanos managed to save only one of the martyr’s garments, which he took to Kessana. He found Timothy’s daughters and recounted to them the heroic death of their father, showing them the garment.
November 14th – Civil Calendar
November 1st – Church Calendar
1. Ss. Kosmas and Damian.
Unmercenaries and wonder-workers, they were brothers in the flesh
and in the spirit, born somewhere in Asia of a pagan father and a Christian mother. After their
father’s death, their mother, Theodota, devoted all her time and energy to the bringing-up
of her sons as true Christians. God helped her, and her sons grew as two choice fruits and as two
holy lamps. They were skilled in medicine and ministered to the sick without payment, and so
fulfilled Christ’s command: ‘Freely have ye received; freely give’ (Matt. 10:
8). They were so strict in their unpaid ministry to men that Kosmas became greatly enraged with
his brother Damian when he took three eggs from a woman, Palladia, and gave orders that, after
his death, he should not be buried with his brother. In fact, holy Damian had not taken those
eggs as a reward for healing Palladia’s sickness, but because she had sworn by the Most
Holy Trinity that he should have them. However, after their death in Fereman, they were buried
together in obedience to a revelation from God. These two holy brothers were great wonder-workers
both during their lifetime and after their death. A farm laborer, on lying down to sleep at one
time, was attacked by a snake, which entwined itself around his mouth and stomach. This poor man
would have breathed his last in the greatest torment had he not at the last moment invoked the
help of Saints Kosmas and Damian. Thus the Lord glorified forever by miracles those who glorified
Him here on earth by their faith, purity and mercy.
2. The Holy Martyr Hermenegild the Heir.
He was the son of the Gothic King Luvigeld, who held the Arian heresy. Hermenegild, however, did not turn from Orthodoxy, in spite of the flattery and threats of his brutal, heretic father. His father threw him into prison, and on Pascha, sent a heretic bishop early in the morning to give him Communion. This man of God would not receive Communion at the hands of a heretic; a fact that the bishop passed on to the king. The king was furious, and ordered the executioners to cut off Hermenegild’s head, which came to pass in 586. Luvigeld later repented of having killed his son and recognized his heresy, but he never officially returned to Orthodoxy before his death.
3. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Iakovos, with his disciples Iakovos and Dionysius.
He was born in the diocese of Kastoria, of parents called Martin and Paraskeve. Working as a shepherd, Iakovos became rich and thus incurred the envy of his brother, who reported him to the Turks as having found some money in the ground. Iakovos fled to Constantinople, where he became poor. He was once the guest of a Turkish bey. The Turks were eating meat, but Iakovos was fasting. The bey said: ‘Your Christian Faith is indeed great!’ and he related how his wife had been sick in mind and how, after trying all doctors and medicines, he had taken her to the patriarch for prayers to be read over her. As soon as the patriarch opened the book to read, a heavenly light filled the church. When the prayer was ended, his wife was made whole. Iakovos, hearing how the bey extolled the Christian Faith, gave away all that he had and went to the Holy Mountain, where he became a monk in the monastery of Iviron. He lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain, and suffered for the Faith at the hands of the Turks in Jedrene on November 1st, 1520. His wonder-working relics and those of his disciples are preserved in the monastery of St. Anastasia near Thessalonica.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Hilarion of Meglin waged a fierce battle against the Bogomils. At one time, the leaders of the Bogomils came to Hilarion and began to dispute with him about faith. The Bogomils taught that God created the spiritual world, but that the material world was the work of the devil. Hilarion replied to this that it is written in the Scriptures: ‘God is the King of all the earth’ (Ps. 46:7), and also: ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof’ (Ps. 23:1). The Bogomils asserted that the Old Testament was of the devil. To this the saint replied: ‘If the Old Testament indeed came from the devil, could Christ have said: “Search the Scriptures: they testify of Me” (John 5:39), and could He have stated that the greatest commandments are those on love of God and one’s neighbor that were aforetime given by Moses?’ The Bogomils also asserted that Christ brought His body with Him from heaven. To this St. Hilarion replied that, had it been thus, then the body of Christ would not have felt hunger or thirst, nor weariness and suffering, nor would it have undergone death. The Bogomils then showed their disapprobation of the sign of the Cross that Orthodox Christians make. To this, the saint replied: ‘And what will you do when the sign of the Son of Man, the Cross, appears in the heavens, and when all the nations of the world who did not believe in the Cross will lament?’ And he added: ‘How can you say that all evil is material evil, and will not do reverence to that Wood by which the whole material world was sanctified?’
November 15th – Civil Calendar
November 2nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Acyndinus, Pegasius, Anempodistus, Aphthonius, Elpidephorus and others with them.
They were Persian Christians, and suffered in the time of King Sapor, in 355. The first three were servants at the court of this king, but secretly served Christ their Lord. When they were arrested and brought to trial before the king, he asked them whence they came. To this they replied: ‘Our paternity and life is the most holy Trinity, coessential and undivided, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God.’ The king gave them over to harsh torture, and they endured it all courageously, singing psalms and with prayer on their lips. At the time of their torture and imprisonment, angels of God appeared to them several times, and once the Lord Christ Himself, as a Man ‘with a face radiant as the sun’. When one of the torturers, Aphthonius, saw with wonder that boiling lead did no harm to the martyrs, he believed in Christ and cried out: ‘Great is the Christian God!’ He was then immediately beheaded, and many others saw and believed. Then the king commanded that Acyndinus, Pegasius and Anempodistus be sewn into goat-skins and thrown into the sea. Then St. Aphthonius appeared from the other world with three shining angels, and they bore the martyrs to dry land and set them free. Elpidephorus was a courtier. When he revealed that he was a Christian, and denounced the king for his slaughter of innocent Christians, the king condemned him to death, and Elpidephorus was beheaded along with about seven thousand other Christians. Then the three first-named martyrs were finally thrown into a burning furnace, along with twenty-eight soldiers and the king’s mother, who had also come to faith in Christ. And so, in the flames, they gave their righteous souls into the hands of the Lord.
2. Our Holy Father Markianos (Marcian) of Kyros.
He was from the town of Kyros (Cyrus) in Syria, and was distinguished by noble birth and physical beauty. He left all for Christ, and withdrew to the desert of Halkis as a solitary. He was a contemporary of Patriarch Flavian of Antioch and the Emperors Constantius and Valens. A divine light, by which he read the holy Scriptures, shone in his cell at night, and he never had need of any other light, being a great wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death. At the time of his death, he commanded his disciple Evsevios to conceal his body and bury it in secret, to avoid veneration. He entered into rest in the Lord in the year 387.
3. The Hieromartyr Victorinus, Bishop of Patav.
Many assert that he was a Slovene. Blessed Jerome cites him as a man learned and devout. He knew Greek better than Latin, and wrote commentaries on several books of the Old and New Testaments. He suffered for the Christian Faith in about 303.
FOR CONSIDERATION
How shall he attain to love for his enemies who sets aside love for his parents? Love for one’s parents is the chief and fundamental school of love. Without this schooling, one cannot go further. The Serbian King Dragutin stood in arms against his father in order to seize his throne. But it so happened that he broke his leg, and this awakened his conscience, which tormented him till his death, giving him no peace. Dragutin relinquished his throne, and gave over his power to his younger brother Milutin. He embarked on great works of mercy, built churches and performed other good deeds. He also lived an intensive, secret ascetic life. He girded his naked body with a belt of reeds, dressed in coarse sackcloth and prayed to God at night in a secretly-prepared grave. The repentant king did all this only to gain God’s forgiveness for his lack of love towards his parents, and God forgave him.
Many holy martyrs, whom their executioners had come to seek out, welcomed them with joy and entertained them in their homes until the time came for them to be put to death. To entertain the man who is to shed one’s blood is indeed a great expression of love for one’s enemies. When King Sapor put Acyndinus, Pegasius and the others to harsh torture, he suddenly went out of his mind and became dumb, being unable to speak, and clawed at his face in his great fury. Seeing his tormentor in such despair, St. Acyndinus wept, and prayed to God for the king, saying: ‘In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, speak!’ and the king was loosed from his dumbness and began to speak. Here is an example of true love for one’s enemies.
November 16th – Civil Calendar
November 3rd – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Akepsimas, Bishop of Naeson, and others with him.
The eighty-year-old Akepsimas, filled with every Christian virtue, was sitting one day in his house with his guests when a child, filled with the Spirit of God, ran up to the aged bishop, kissed him on the head, and said: ‘Blessed is this head, for it will be martyred for Christ!’ This prophecy was soon fulfilled. King Sapor raised a fierce persecution of Christians throughout Persia, and St. Akepsimas was seized and taken before a prince who was also a pagan priest. When the bishop had been arrested and bound, he was approached by one of his household, who asked him what he wanted done about his house. The saint replied: ‘It’s no longer my house; I’m going to a higher home, and shall not return.’ After long interrogation, he was thrown into prison, whence, the next day, were brought a seventy-year-old priest called Joseph and a deacon, Aeithalas. After three years’ imprisonment and many sufferings, Akepsimas was beheaded, and Joseph and Aeithalas were buried up to the waist in the ground, being stoned by a group of men who were without mercy towards Christians. Joseph’s body, by God’s providence, disappeared that night, and above Aeithalas’ body there grew a tree, which healed all manner of disease and pain. Five years passed, then the wicked and jealous pagans cut down this tree. These soldiers of Christ suffered in Persia in the fourth century, in the time of the pagan King Sapor.
2. The Holy and Great Martyr George.
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On this day we celebrate the translation of St.
George’s relics from Nikomedia to the city of Lydda in Palestine, where he suffered
in the time of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305). The sufferings of this wonderful saint are
recorded on April 23rd. At the time of his death, St. George asked his servant to take his
body and carry it to Palestine, to the place where his mother was born, and where he had
much land that he had given away to the poor. His servant did this. In the time of the
Emperor Constantine (305-337), a beautiful church was built in Lydda by devout Christians.
On the occasion of the consecration of that church, the saint’s relics were
translated and buried there. Innumerable miracles have been wrought by the relics of St.
George, Christ’s great martyr.
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3. Our Holy Father Elias of Egypt.
He lived in asceticism near Antinoë the capital of the Thebaid. He spent seventy years on arid and inaccessible rocks in the wilderness. He ate only bread and dates, and as a young man, fasted whole weeks at a time. He healed all manner of pains and weaknesses. He became very shaky in old age, and entered into rest at the age of 110, going to the joy of his Lord. ‘Keep your mind from malicious thoughts of your neighbors,’ he said, ‘knowing that such thoughts are hurled by diabolical power, to keep your mind from your own sins and from seeking God’.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Among many miracles of St. George, this one is recorded: on the island of Mytilene, there was a church dedicated to St. George the great and victorious martyr. The inhabitants of the whole island flocked to this church on the saint’s annual feast. Learning of this, Cretan Saracens descended one year on the island, laying it waste and enslaving the inhabitants, and then returned to Crete. On that occasion, a handsome young man was taken captive, and was presented by the pirates to their prince in Crete. The prince took him and made him his butler. The boy’s parents were in great distress for their son, and when a year had passed and St. George’s Day came round again, the grieving parents, following the ancient custom, prepared their table and entertained many guests. Remembering her son, the poor mother went to the icon of the saint, fell to the ground and began to beg St. George to release her son from slavery. The mother then returned to her guests at table. The host raised his glass and drank to St. George, and at that moment their son appeared among them bearing a decanter in his hands. When they all asked him, in wonder and fear, whence and how he had come there, the young man replied that, just as he was about to serve his owner with wine in Crete, a knight on horseback appeared before him, lifted him onto the horse and carried him in a flash to his parents’ home. All were amazed and glorified God, and this wonderful saint, George the victorious commander.
November 17th – Civil Calendar
November 4th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Ioannikios (Joannicius) the Great.
This great spiritual light was born in the village of Marykata in the province of Bithynia, of his father Myritrices and his mother Anastasia. He was a shepherd as a youth. Whilst tending his sheep at pasture, he would often retreat into solitude and remain in prayer the whole day, having encircled his flock with the sign of the Cross so that it should not wander off and get lost. After that, he was called into the army, and caused men to marvel at his courage, particularly in the wars against the Bulgarians. After his military service, Ioannikios withdrew to Olympus in Asia Minor, where he became a monk and gave himself entirely over to asceticism, persevering in it till his death in great old age. He labored in the ascetic life for over fifty years in various places, and had from God most abundant gifts of wonder-working: he healed all sicknesses and pains, drove out demons, tamed wild beasts, possessing a particular power over snakes; he walked dryfoot through water, became invisible to men when he so desired and foretold future events. He was distinguished by an outstanding humility and meekness. In outward appearance, he was like a giant, huge and strong. He took an active part in the destiny of God’s Church, for, during the iconoclast period he was at first deluded, but then tore himself away and became an ardent defender of reverence towards the icons. He had a great friendship with Patriarch Methodius of Constantinople. Ioannikios lived for ninety-four years, and entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in 846. He was a great wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death.
2. The Hieromartyrs Nikander, Bishop of Myra, and Hermas the Priest.
Both were ordained by the Apostle Titus. They were distinguished by their great zeal for the Faith and their great labors in winning pagans for Christ the Lord. Because of this, a complaint was brought against them before a certain magistrate, Libanus, and he gave them over to fierce torture. They were stoned and dragged over stones; they underwent imprisonment and suffered hunger, and endured many other tortures which no mortal man could endure without God’s special aid. The Lord appeared to them in various ways, and when they were thrown into a fiery furnace, sent them His angel to soothe the flames for them. They were finally buried alive by their soulless tormentors and covered with earth. But it is in vain that men put others to death when the Lord gives life, and they dishonor in vain those whom the Lord glorifies.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Mercy is a fruit of faith. Where there is true faith, there is true mercy. St. Ioannikios was walking one day past a women’s monastery in which, among the sisterhood, there lived a certain two nuns, a mother and her daughter. An evil spirit of fleshly temptation had fallen upon the daughter and inflamed the vice of lust in her to such an extent that she desired to leave the monastery and marry. In vain did her mother urge her to remain; her daughter would not listen to her. When the mother saw St. Ioannikios, she begged him to advise her daughter not to leave the monastery and expose her soul to perdition. Ioannikios summoned the girl and said to her: ‘My daughter, put your hand on my neck’. The girl did so. Then the compassionate Ioannikios prayed to God in his heart that He would deliver the girl from temptation and transfer her bodily passion to him. And so it came to pass: the girl became completely calm and remained in the monastery, and the saint of God went on his way. As he went, a passionate vice fell on him and his blood began to boil as though on fire. He desired to die rather than let the passion enter his will, so, seeing a dragon, he ran to it in the hope that it would bite him and he would die. He began to provoke it, but as soon as he touched it, it died and the flame of lust disappeared.
November 18th – Civil Calendar
November 5th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Galacteon and our Mother Episteme, the Martyrs.
They were born in the city of Edessa in Phoenicia, both of pagan parents. Galacteon’s mother was barren until she was baptized. After her Baptism, she brought her husband also to the true Faith and baptized her son Galacteon, bringing him up a Christian. When the time came for Galacteon to marry, his devout mother Leucippe died, and his father betrothed him to a maiden called Episteme. Galacteon did not wish to enter into marriage at all, and he quickly urged Episteme to be baptized and then to become a nun at the same time as he became a monk. Both went away to the mountain of Publion, Galacteon to a men’s monastery and Episteme to a women’s, and each of them became a true light in the monastery. They were first in labors, in prayer, in humility and obedience, and first in love. They did not leave their monasteries, and neither saw the other until the time of their death. A fierce persecution arose, and they were both brought to trial. While they were mercilessly whipping Galacteon, Episteme was weeping, and they then whipped her also. They cut off their hands and feet, and finally their heads. One Eutolius, a man who had been a servant of Episteme’s parents and then a monk together with Galacteon, took their bodies and buried them. He also wrote the Lives of these two wonderful martyrs for Christ, who suffered and received their heavenly crowns in 253.
2. The Holy Apostles Patrobus, Hermes, Linus, Gaius and Philologus.
They were of the Seventy. Patrobus was bishop of Neapolis; Hermes was in Philippopolis (Rom. 16:14), Linus in Rome (II Tim. 4:21), Gaius in Ephesus (Rom. 16:23) and Philologus in Synope (Rom. 15:16). All of them fulfilled the law of Christ with love and went to His kingdom.
3. St. Jonah (Iona), Archbishop of Novgorod
Born in Novgorod and orphaned early, he was taken and educated by a God-fearing woman. Michael the Fool for Christ of Klops saw him once as a young boy and said to him prophetically: ‘Ivan, my little one, be diligent in your studies, for you will be archbishop in Novgorod the Mighty’. And so it came to pass, for later, after the death of Archbishop Evtimy, this Jonah was elected and consecrated to the throne of Novgorod. Jonah was God-fearing and merciful, such as is rare in a mortal man. He built churches and monasteries and cared for his flock as a true and good shepherd. He was offered the throne of Moscow as metropolitan but declined, excusing himself because of his great age. He entered into rest peacefully on November 5th, 1570, and went to the joyful, heavenly mansions. One hundred years after his death, a great fire broke out in Novgorod. The relics of this holy hierarch did not catch fire among the flames, but on the contrary, began to show healing powers and to give off a sweet and wonderful fragrance.
FOR CONSIDERATION
As shadow is to reality (although even this is too weak a comparison), so is physical love to spiritual. Brotherhood and sisterhood of blood is nothing compared with the same relationship in the spirit. Galacteon was betrothed by his father to the maiden Episteme. He baptized her, and then they both received the monastic schema. Their physical love was transformed into spiritual, a love as strong as death. Galacteon’s spiritual love for Episteme was so great that he had no need to see her with his bodily sight; for, with spiritual love, neither physical contact or even meeting are necessary. Episteme’s spiritual love for Galacteon was so great that, when she heard that he had been taken for martyrdom, she ran after him, begging him not to cast her away, but as a spiritual father and brother, let her share his martyrdom. When Galacteon was flogged on his naked body by his merciless torturers, holy Episteme wept. When the torturers cut off their hands and feet for Christ’s sake, they both rejoiced and glorified God. Such was the power of their love for Christ the Lord and such was the mutual spiritual love with which they loved each other. Truly, physical love is like a gaudy butterfly that passes in a moment, but spiritual love is enduring.
November 19th – Civil Calendar
November 6th – Church Calendar
1. St. Paul the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople.
When the blessed Patriarch Alexander was lying on his deathbed, the lamenting faithful asked him whom he would leave to follow him as chief pastor of the flock of Christ. Then the sick patriarch said to them: ‘If you want to have a shepherd who will teach you and whose virtues will illumine you, choose Paul; but if you want a suitable man as a figurehead, choose Macedonius.’ The people chose Paul. This was not acceptable to the Arian heretics, nor to the Emperor Constantius, who was at that time in Antioch, and so Paul was quickly deposed and fled to Rome together with St. Athanasius the Great. There, both Pope Julian and the Emperor Constans gave them a warm welcome and upheld them in their Orthodoxy. The emperor and the pope sent letters which restored Paul to his episcopal throne, but after the death of Constans, the Arians raised their heads again and drove the Orthodox Patriarch off to Cucusus in Armenia. While Paul was celebrating the Liturgy one day in exile, he was set on by the Arians and strangled with his pallium. This was in the year 351. In the time of the Emperor Theodosios, in 381, his relics were translated to Constantinople, and in 1236, to Venice, where they still lie.* His beloved priests and secretaries, Markianos and Martyrios, suffered soon after their patriarch, on October 25th, 355 (see their lives on that day).
* A small piece of their relics is kept at the Russian Cathedral in London. —Tr.
2. Our Holy Father Varlaam of Chutinsk, the Wonder-worker.
Born and brought up a Christian in Novgorod the Great, he became a monk on the death of his parents and devoted himself to strict asceticism. He founded a monastery on the bank of the Volkhov River, on a site shown to him by a heavenly light. He was a great wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death, being able to penetrate human secrets, to drive out unclean spirits and to heal all sicknesses. A servant of Prince Vasily Vasilievitch was taken seriously ill, and he asked to be carried to the grave of St. Varlaam, and further asked that, if he should die on the way, they should take his dead body to the saint. And so it came to pass: he died on the road, and they brought him dead into the monastery, where he was restored to life, stood up, and prostrated himself before the tomb of the saint. In 1471, Tsar Ivan the Formidable gave orders that the saint’s relics be translated. As soon as his men began to open the tomb, a flame sprang from the grave and blazed along the walls of the church. The tsar was so frightened that he fled from the church, and in his haste, forgot his staff, which is kept to this day beside the saint’s tomb. In commemoration of this wonder, St. Varlaam is also remembered on the Friday after the Sunday of All Saints.
3. Commemoration of the falling of ash from the air.
This occurred in Constantinople in 472 (or 475, according to the Greek Synaxarion), during the reign of the Emperor Leo the Great and Patriarch Gennadios.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If God can bring water from a rock to sustain men, He can also call down fire from heaven as a punishment. The outcome of Sodom and Gomorrah presents a classic example of God’s punishment of incorrigible sinners. That God can repeat this punishment in other places, He demonstrated over Constantinople in the time of Leo the Great and Patriarch Gennadios, in 472. On November 6th, at mid day, the sky suddenly became darkened by thick, dark clouds, which caused darkness to cover the land. These clouds glowed now and then like live coals, and then became dark again, and this phenomenon remained over Constantinople for a full forty days. The terrified people fell to repentance and prayer, and together with the emperor and the patriarch, went in procession through the streets from church to church, praying to God with tears and lamentations. On the final day, hot black ash began to fall from the clouds, and fell from noon till midnight, when it ceased. The following day was clear and fresh, but a hand-high layer of ash lay all over the ground. The people worked to clear their houses and streets of this sooty ash, but all their crops were destroyed. All who had understanding recognized God’s punishment in this event—a gentle punishment because of the speedy repentance of the people before the Lord God. If this had not been so, who knows what would have happened in Constantinople in those days? But timely repentance on the part of sinners, and the prayers of the most holy Mother of God together with the numberless saints and martyrs of Constantinople, greatly mitigated the punishment.
November 20th – Civil Calendar
November 7th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Hieron with his Companions.
He was born in the Cappadocian city of Tijane of a good and God-fearing mother, Stratonica, who was blind. Hieron was a very zealous Christian, and cared for his blind mother with a truly filial love. Because of both his faith and his mother, he refused to go into the army, and fended off and drove away those who were sent to take him, for he was loath to leave his helpless, blind mother and be forced as a soldier to bow down and offer sacrifice to idols. Finally, Hieron was seized and taken before the governor of the city of Melitene, along with other Christians. While they were on the road, a man in white apparel appeared one night to Hieron and said to him: ‘Behold, Hieron, I reveal to thee thy salvation: thou shalt not wage war for any earthly king, but shalt engage in a battle for the King of heaven, and quickly shalt thou come to Him and receive from Him both honor and glory.’ Hieron’s heart was filled with ineffable joy at these words. When they reached Melitene, they were all thrown into prison, where Hieron strengthened them all in their faith with great ardor, exhorting them that not one should fall away but that all should freely give their bodies over to torment and death for Christ. To a man, they all confessed their faith in Christ the Lord before the judge, except for one kinsman of Hieron’s called Victor, who repudiated his faith. Hieron’s hands were cut off, then he was flogged and tortured in various ways, until he was finally beheaded with the sword together with the others. Going out to the place of execution, the thirty-three martyrs sang the psalm: ‘Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way, and walk in the law of the Lord’ (Ps. 1:1). Let us remember by name these honorable martyrs, who are inscribed in the Book of Life: Hesychius, Nicander, Athanasius, Mamas, Barachius, Callinicus, Theogenes, Nikon, Longinus, Theodore, Valerius, Xanticus, Theodulus, Callimachus, Eugene, Theodochus, Ostrichius, Epiphanius, Maximian, Ducitius, Claudian, Theophilus, Gigantius, Dorotheus, Theodotus, Castrichius, Anicetas, Themilius, Eftychios, Hilarion, Diodotus and Amonitus. A certain man called Chrysanthus found Hieron’s severed head and gave it burial, and he later built over it a church in honor of St. Hieron. One of the martyr’s hands was taken to his blind mother. St. Hieron suffered with his companions in 298, and entered into the glory of Christ.
2. The Holy Martyr Thessalonica, with Auctus and Taurion.
This maiden was the daughter of Cleon, a pagan priest, a rich and arrogant man. Because of her faith in Christ, her father drove her from the house and the city. Two respected citizens, Auctus and Taurion by name, reproached Cleon for his inhuman treatment of his daughter, and Cleon thereupon denounced them as Christians. They were savagely tortured and beheaded for Christ, and the maiden Thessalonica was tortured and killed soon after. They suffered in the Macedonian city of Amphipolis, near present-day Kavala, and so these martyrs were found worthy, by their sufferings, of the immortal kingdom.
3. Our Holy Father Lazarus of Mount Galesios.
A pillar of light appeared above the house where he was born. He left his village in Magnesia and went to Jerusalem on pilgrimage to the holy places, becoming a monk there in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified. After ten years, he settled on Mount Galesios and toiled in asceticism upon a pillar as a stylite, and was a wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death. The Emperor Constantine Monomachus had great respect for him. St. Lazarus entered into his eternal home at the end of the eleventh century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
There are decisive moments in life, on which depend a man`s eternal life or eternal death. We do not know when such a decisive moment is upon us—it may come today, for which reason we must be constantly vigilant. A nephew of St. Hieron’s, Victor, was arrested with him. On the eve of the day of their martyrdom, Victor was frightened of the coming torments and went to the governor of the prison, begging him to remove his, Victor’s, name from among the condemned and let him go, promising to give him his own land. The governor crossed him off and let him go. On returning home, Victor suddenly died—died a natural death at the same moment as St. Hieron and his companions died in torment for Christ. Thus Victor turned in vain from the moment of decision, lost his land, lost his friends and lost his life, both in this world and the world to come. But Hieron, in that decisive moment, gained all. No one vied for Victor’s body, but many vied for the body of Hieron. When Christians were seeking Hieron’s head from the governor, he demanded gold to the measure of its weight. Chrysanthus, a rich and devout man, paid the required amount of gold for the martyr’s precious head. Anthony and Matronian concealed one of Hieron’s severed hands from the governor and took it to his blind mother, and she took hold of her son’s hand, lamenting bitterly: ‘O my beloved son, I bore the whole of you, and now have only this one little bit!’
November 21st – Civil Calendar
November 8th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Archangel Michael and all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven.
The angels of God have
been commemorated by men from the earliest times, but this commemoration often degenerates into
the divinization of angels (IV Kings 23:5). Heretics always wove fantasies round the angels. Some
of them saw the angels as gods and others, if they did not so regard them, took them to be the
creators of the whole visible world. The local council in Laodicea, that was held in the fourth
century, rejected in its 35th Canon the worship of angels as gods, and established the proper
veneration of them. In the time of Pope Sylvester of Rome and the Alexandrian Patriarch
Alexander, in the fourth century, this Feast of the Archangel Michael and the other heavenly
powers was instituted, to be celebrated in November. Why in November? Because November is the
ninth month after March, and it is thought that the world was created in the month of March. The
ninth month after March was chosen because of the nine orders of angels that were the first
created beings. St. Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of the Apostle Paul (that apostle who
was caught up to the third heaven), writes of these nine orders in his book: ‘Celestial
Hierarchies’. These orders are as follows: six-winged seraphim, many-eyed cherubim, godly
thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels and angels. The leader of the
whole angelic army is the Archangel Michael. When Satan, Lucifer, fell away from God, and carried
half the angels with him to destruction, then Michael arose and cried to the unfallen angels:
‘Let us give heed! Let us stand aright; let us stand with fear!’ and the whole
angelic army sang aloud: ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full
of Thy glory!’ (See on the Archangel Michael: Joshua 5:13-15 and Jude v. 9). Among the
angels there rules a perfect unity of mind, of soul and of love; of total obedience of the lesser
powers to the greater and of all to the holy will of God. Each nation has its guardian angel, as
does each individual Christian. We must keep in mind that, whatever we do, openly or in secret,
we do in the presence of our guardian angel and that, on the Day of Judgement, a great multitude
of the holy angels of heaven will be gathered around the throne of Christ, and the thoughts,
words and deeds of every man will be laid bare before them. May God have mercy on us and save us
at the prayers of the holy Archangel Michael and all the bodiless powers of heaven. Amen.
2. Our Holy Father Philaret the Confessor of New York.
Originally named George, he was born
in 1903 in the city of Kursk and later moved with his family to the Far East while still a young
child. Fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution, the family fled into Manchuria, settling in Harbin,
where George finished his education, training as an electrical engineer and mechanic. The young
man’s heart, however, was set on the monastic life, and he took theological courses at the
institute in Harbin. In 1931, George was ordained a priest and soon tonsured a monk with the new
name of Philaret. Father Philaret became a teacher of the New Testament, pastoral theology, and
homiletics and was beloved by his pupils. Thousands of people came to his community church at the
House of Mercy to listen to the young archimandrite’s sermons and to share with him their woes.
People from all over came and lined up outside his cell in order to have an opportunity to speak
with the holy priest. In those days, Father Philaret corresponded with the holy First Hierarch of
the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anthony, who taught and advised the young archimandrite.
Philaret was generous in almsgiving, lived a strict ascetic life, and was a fearless confessor of
the Faith. In 1944, the Japanese who were occupying Manchuria tortured the saint so that he would
reverence one of their idols, but St. Philaret would not submit, even as they burned his flesh,
and God miraculously delivered him. He always denounced the communists in his sermons and warned
everyone against the deception of Stalin’s Soviet Church. The communists retaliated by trying to
kill him, and in 1960 they set his house on fire during the night; Philaret survived, although he
was burned and suffered a permanent disfigurement. After another assassination attempt, Father
Philaret finally succeeded in emigrating to Australia in 1962, where he was reunited with the
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) under Metropolitan Anastassy. The following year, the
illustrious and renowned archimandrite was consecrated Bishop of Brisbane. Only a year later, in
1964, Philaret was chosen to be the head and First Hierarch of ROCOR and soon faced the greatest
heresy to attack the Orthodox Church in our times. On December 7th, 1965, Pope Paul VI and
Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople “lifted the anathemas” of 1054 and officially
ushered in the heresy of Ecumenism and the Great Apostasy. All of the Orthodox patriarchates and
autocephalous churches followed on this path of apostasy. Only the Russian Church Abroad under
Metropolitan Philaret and the Greek Old Calendarists refused to accept this heresy and broke
communion with the World Orthodox. Alone among all Orthodox bishops, the saint wrote a series of
“sorrowful epistles,” open letters protesting the action of Athenagoras and calling the
World Orthodox to repentance, starting just eight days after the “lifting of anathemas.”
St. Philaret said, “You know what Ecumenism is: it is the heresy of heresies. It wants to
completely wipe out the concept of the Orthodox Church as the guardian of the truth, and to
create some kind of new, strange church.” In his sorrowful epistles, he also said that the
Orthodox should not participate in the World Council of Churches, since its declarations were
blasphemous and its aims were incompatible with the true Faith. But all of these warnings and
exhortations were ignored. Nevertheless, a minority from World Orthodoxy, those laity who were
fervent and rejected Ecumenism, joined the ROCOR out of a desire for true Orthodoxy. The synod
abroad also stipulated that Roman Catholics and Protestants who join the Church must be baptized
with triple immersion, which decision increased the prestige of the ROCOR, and many who were
seeking the truth flocked to her for refuge. The Church continued to grow and flourish in many
countries around the world under Metropolitan Philaret’s wise leadership, yet within the synod
itself, the saint was being undermined by “false brethren,” unworthy bishops who plotted
against him. St. Philaret consistently taught that the Moscow Patriarchate was graceless because
of its Sergianist heresy. Furthermore, in 1983, he convoked a council that definitively
anathematized Ecumenism, also condemning therein those “who do not distinguish the
priesthood and mysteries of the Church from those of the heretics.” “The distinguishing
characteristic of our time,” he used to say, “is that people are now more and more
possessed by indifference to the divine truth.... Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Apocalypse clearly
indicates to us how terrible indifference to the truth is. There He turns to the angel standing
at the head of the Laodicean Church and says: ‘I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor
hot. Oh if only thou wast hot or cold! But since thou art neither cold nor hot (but
lukewarm—neither the one nor the other, for the truth is not dear to thee), I will spew thee out
of My mouth!’ (Rev. 3:15, 16)... Let us remember that this indifference to the truth is one of
the main woes of our age of apostasies. Value the truth, O man! Be a fighter for the truth....
Place the truth higher than all else in life, O man, and never allow yourself to decline in any
way from the true path!” St. Philaret the Confessor reposed in the Lord in 1985 on the feast of
all the bodiless hosts. In 1998, his relics were transferred to a different tomb within Holy
Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York. When the coffin was opened, the body of Metropolitan
Philaret was seen to be completely incorrupt. Then the wicked apostate Archbishop Laurus ordered
the coffin to be closed and refused to let the people kiss the relics. He forbade anyone to
reproduce the photographs that had already been taken of the incorrupt body of the saint. Laurus
later covered the tomb of the saint with concrete so that no one could ever access the relics
again. St. Philaret has worked many miracles for those who call upon him in prayer. He was
glorified as a saint in 2001.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Saint Philaret of New York offers to us a great example of courage in the face of betrayal, and steadfastness in defense of the truth. In a sermon, he said, “O how often we do not have enough of such zeal when it is really necessary to speak for the insulted and trampled-on truth!... How often does it happen to us all now that we do not have the zeal to stand up, when necessary, in defense of our holy things! The Orthodox clergyman must zealously stand up against blasphemy, just as the holy Hierarch Nicholas stopped the mouth of the heretic [Arius].... But now, unfortunately, we have become, as the saying goes, ‘shamefully indifferent to both the evil and the good.’ And it is precisely in the soil of this indifference, of a kind of feeling of self-preservation, that the heresy of Ecumenism has established itself.... Let us remember, brethren, that Christian love embraces all in itself, is compassionate to all, wishes that all be saved and is sorry for, and merciful to, and loves every creature of God; but where it sees a conscious assault on the truth it turns into fiery zeal which cannot bear any such blasphemy.... And so must it always be, because every Orthodox Christian must always be zealous for God.” The saint also writes in a letter concerning schism: “I am accused of excessive strictness and of ‘fanaticism.’ But I have sufficient basis for holding my point of view, for behind me stand great authorities, both ancient and contemporary.... What do the clear and categorical words of the holy father [John Chrysostom] signify? They indicate nothing other than that schism is graceless! Christ was not divided, and His grace is one. If one is to believe in the ‘state of grace’ of schism, then one must either admit that we do not have grace, those who broke away having taken it with them; or else admit that there are two graces and obviously two true Churches, for grace is given only in the true Church.... There is no such thing as ‘different jurisdictions’; but there is only the Orthodox Church Abroad, and outside of her are schisms and heresies.”
November 22nd – Civil Calendar
November 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Onesiphoros and Porphyrios.
These two wonderful men were martyred for the name of Christ in the time of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305). They were harshly beaten, and then burned in iron coffins, and after that tied to horses’ tails and dragged over stones and thistles. They were thus broken to pieces and gave their holy souls into God’s hands. Their relics were buried in Pentapolis.
2. Our Holy Father John Kolovos.
He is counted among the greatest of the Egyptian ascetics. ‘Kolovos’ means ‘short’ or ‘dwarf,’ for he was little of stature. He came to Sketis with his brother Daniel, and with surpassing zeal, gave himself to asceticism, such that his brother had to urge him to moderation. He was a disciple of St. Pambo, and later the teacher of St. Arsenius the Great. One of his fellow-disciples with St. Pambo was St. Paisius the Great. One day, when he was in conversation with St. Paisius about what sort of asceticism to adopt, an angel of God appeared to them, and ordered John to stay where he was and gather companions, and Paisius to go into the desert and live as a solitary. To test John’s obedience, Pambo ordered him to water a dry stick that he had stuck in the ground until it bore leaves. With no hesitation or doubt, John watered this dry stick for three whole years, from day to day, until, by God’s power, it put forth leaves and bore fruit. Then Pambo gathered the fruits from this tree, took them to the church and shared them out among the brethren, saying: ‘Come and taste of the fruits of obedience!’ John Kolovos had many disciples, and some of his wise sayings have been preserved. He entered peacefully into rest and the joy of his Lord early in the fifth century.
3. Our Holy Mother Matrona of Constantinople.
She was from Perga in Pamphylia. Quickly finding marriage to Dometian, a Constantinopolitan nobleman, unbearable, she fled, dressed herself in men’s clothing, and under the name of Babylas, went to the monastery of St. Bassian in Constantinople. As her husband searched for her unremittingly, she was forced to move constantly from place to place: Emesa, Sinai, Jerusalem, Beirut, finally returning to Constantinople. She received the monastic schema at the age of twenty-five, and lived in asceticism for seventy-five years. Living a hundred years in all, she died peacefully as abbess of a monastery in Constantinople, and entered into the joy of her Lord in the year 492.
4. Our Holy Father Efthymios of Docheiariou, and his disciple Neophytos.
They were Serbs by descent and kinsmen of high-ranking aristocrats in Byzantium. Efthymios was a friend of St. Athanasius and his steward Laurus, and later founded the monastery of Docheiariou. He entered peacefully into rest in 990. His nephew Neophytos succeeded his uncle as abbot of Docheiariou, increasing the number of brethren and building a great church. He entered into rest at the beginning of the eleventh century.
5. St. Simeon Metaphrastes.
A gifted Constantinopolitan, he had both worldly and spiritual learning. He became the emperor’s chief administrator, and the first among the nobles at court. But he lived a life pure and unstained as a true ascetic. He was distinguished by a rare military courage and diplomatic wisdom, and was for this greatly valued by the Emperor Leo the Wise, who once sent him to Crete to make peace terms with the Arabs, who had at that time seized the island. Succeeding in this mission, he returned to Constantinople and soon withdrew from the world and all secular occupation. He wrote lives of the saints, adding 122 new ‘biographies’ and correcting 539 others. He entered into rest in about 960, and a fragrant and healing myrrh flowed from his body.
6. Our Holy Mother Theoktista of Paros.
She was born on the island of Lesvos, and became a nun at the age of seventeen. Savage Saracens descended on the island and enslaved all who fell into their hands, including Theoktista and her sister. When the Saracens carried the slaves off to the bazaar on the island of Paros, Theoktista escaped from the crowd and hid herself. She hid in an abandoned church in the middle of the island, where she lived in asceticism for thirty-five years. She entered into rest in 881.
7. St. Nektarios the Wonder-worker of Aegina.
Born in Selyvria of Thrace in 1846, he put
himself through school in Constantinople with much hard labor and became a monk on Chios in 1876,
receiving the monastic name of Lazarus; because of his virtues, a year later he was ordained
deacon, receiving the new name of Nektarios. Under the patronage of Patriarch Sophronios of
Alexandria, Nektarios went to Athens to study. Completing his theological studies in 1885, he
went to Alexandria, where the patriarch ordained him priest. Father Nektarios showed much zeal
both for preaching the word of God and for the beauty of God’s house. He greatly beautified
the Church of Saint Nicholas in Cairo, and years later, when Nektarios was in Athens, Saint
Nicholas appeared to him in a dream, embracing him and telling him he was going to exalt him very
high.
Shortly thereafter, Nektarios was consecrated Metropolitan of Pentapolis in eastern Libya, which was under the jurisdiction of Alexandria. Although Nektarios’ swift ascent through the degrees of ecclesiastical office did not affect his modesty and childlike innocence, it aroused the envy of lesser men, who convinced the elderly Sophronios that Nektarios had it in his heart to usurp the patriarch’s throne. Since the people loved Nektarios, the patriarch was troubled and believed the slanders. Sophronios uncanonically relieved Metropolitan Nektarios of his duties and banished him from Egypt.
Without seeking to avenge or even to defend himself, the innocent metropolitan left for Athens, where he found that accusations of immorality had arrived before him. Because his good name had been sullied, he was unable to find a position worthy of a bishop and could only get a position as a provincial preacher in Evia. In 1894, he was appointed dean of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School in Athens. Through his eloquent sermons, his unwearying labors to educate fitting men for the priesthood, his generous almsgiving despite his own poverty, and the holiness, meekness, and fatherly love that were manifest in him, he became a shining light and a spiritual guide to many. At the request of certain pious women, he established a convent on the island of Aegina while yet dean of the Rizarios School. Finding later that his presence there was needed, he took up his residence on Aegina in 1908, where he spent the last years of his life, devoting himself to the direction of his convent and to very intense prayer. He was sometimes seen lifted above the ground while rapt in prayer. He became the protector of all Aegina, through his prayers delivering the island from drought, healing the sick, and casting out demons. Here also he endured wicked slanders with singular patience, forgiving his false accusers and not seeking to avenge himself. Although he had already worked wonders in life, an innumerable multitude of miracles have been wrought after his repose in 1920 through his holy relics, which for many years remained incorrupt. St. Nektarios is especially renowned for his healings of cancer for sufferers in all parts of the world.
FOR CONSIDERATION
After a long separation from his friend Paisius, St. John Kolovos visited him and talked with him. They asked each other what virtues they had, in the intervening time, brought to fruition. St. Paisius said: ‘The sun never sees me eat,’ and John Kolovos replied: ‘and it never sees me angry’. Teaching the brethren in Sketis, St. John used this story about the repentance of the human soul: ‘In one town, there lived a beautiful woman, a harlot who had many lovers. A prince suggested to this woman that he would take her to wife if she would promise to live honorably and faithfully in wedlock. She promised, and the prince took her to his court and married her. Discovering this, her former lovers plotted to bring her back to her old ways with them. They did not dare to confront the prince, but gathered behind the palace and began whistling. The woman heard the whistling and recognized it. She quickly blocked her ears and hid herself in an inner room of the palace, locking the door behind her, and was thus preserved from the new temptation.’ St. John explained this story thus: the harlot is the soul, her lovers are the passions, the prince is Christ, the inner room is the heavenly court and the lovers who whistle and entice her are the demons. If the soul is constantly turned from its passions and flees God-ward, the passions and demons will take flight and flee from it.
November 23rd – Civil Calendar
November 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostles Olympas, Erastus, Quartus, Herodion, Sosipater and Tertius.
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They were all among the Seventy. The last three are
also commemorated elsewhere: Herodion on April 8th, Sosipater on April 28th and Tertius on
October 30th. Ss. Olympas and Herodion were followers of the Apostle Peter, and when Peter
suffered, they suffered too, being beheaded at Nero’s command. Erastus was steward of
the Church in Jerusalem, and later became Bishop of Paneas in Palestine. Quartus was bishop
in Beirut; he suffered greatly and brought many to the Christian Faith. Sosipater was
bishop in Iconium, and Tertius followed him as bishop there. They strove in spirit, became
victors and were crowned with wreaths of glory.
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2. The Holy Martyr Orestes.
From the town of Tyana in Cappadocia, St. Orestes was a cradle Christian and a doctor by profession. He was harshly interrogated by a wicked governor, Maximinus, in the reign of Diocletian (284-305). When the governor urged him to deny Christ and worship idols, Orestes replied: ‘If you knew the power of the Crucified, you would reject idolatrous lies and worship the true God.’ For this he was harshly beaten, then flayed and cut about, then burned in boiling lead and finally thrown into prison to die of hunger. The young Orestes spent seven days without bread or water. On the eighth day, he was brought before the governor, who began to threaten him with terrible tortures. To this Orestes replied: ‘I am ready to undergo every torture, having the sign of my Lord Jesus Christ inscribed on my heart.’ Then the governor ordered that twenty nails be hammered into his legs and that he be bound behind a horse and dragged through thistles and rocks until he expired. In the place where Orestes’ body was thrown, a man radiant as the sun appeared, gathered the bones and took them to a hill near Tyana, burying them there. This great saint, Orestes, appeared to St. Dimitri of Rostov and showed him all his wounds.
3. St. Nonnus, Bishop of Heliopolis.
He was renowned as a great ascetic in the Tabennisiot monastery in Egypt, because of which he was chosen as bishop in 448, in the diocese of Edessa. He was later translated to the diocese of Heliopolis, and there brought thirty thousand Arabs to the Christian Faith. After the death of Bishop Ibo, St. Nonnus returned to Edessa, where he remained till his death in 471. Through his prayers, the notorious sinner Pelagia was brought to the Christian Faith. She was later glorified for the holiness of her life (see Oct. 8th).
FOR CONSIDERATION
The strange paths of God’s providence are demonstrated in an exceptional and strange event in the monastery of Docheiariou in the time of Blessed Neophytos, the nephew of St. Efthymios. When, after Efthymios’ death, Neophytos began to build a new, bigger church to St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker, he ran out of funds and prayed to God for help, and God helped him in a strange way. Near the monastery of Docheiariou there lay a peninsular called ‘Longos’. On this peninsular, Neophytos had a smallish patch of monastic land, near which there was a stone statue of a man. On the sculpture was written: ‘He who smites me on the head will find much gold.’ Many had struck at the statue’s head but had found nothing. Neophytos sent a novice, Basil, off on some task. This Basil was standing one day in front of the statue, ruminating on the mystery of this inscription. At that moment, the sun came out and the statue’s shadow was thrown to the west. Basil took a stone and smote the head of the shadow, then began to dig there, finding a metal pot of gold. He immediately ran and told Abbot Neophytos. The abbot told three trusted monks to go with Basil in the monastery’s boat and bring the gold. The monks set off, loaded the gold into the ship and started for home. But while they were on the sea, the devil put it into their heads to keep the gold for themselves.
The three older monks, deluded by the devil, bound Basil with cords, tied a rock round his neck and threw him into the sea. When Basil had sunk into the depths of the sea, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel suddenly appeared to him in the form of two resplendent youths, and taking hold of him, carried him to the church at Docheiariou, depositing him in front of the Beautiful Gates of the locked church. The next day, when the monks went into the church, they found Basil lying bound before the altar. The abbot questioned him, and learned of the strange thing that had happened to him. The three monks then arrived, and seeing Basil alive, were thunderstruck. The abbot punished them fittingly, took the gold, and completed the church. He dedicated it, not to St. Nicholas, but to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. This is the reason why Efthymios’ old church at Docheiariou is dedicated to St. Nicholas, but the new one to the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel.
November 24th – Civil Calendar
November 11th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Menas.
An Egyptian by birth and a soldier by profession, St.
Menas, as a true Christian, could not bear to look upon the foul offering of sacrifice to idols,
so he left the army and the town, the society of men and everything else, and went to a deserted
mountain. It was easier for Menas to live with the wild beasts than with pagans. One day, Menas
looked from afar in spirit at a pagan festival in the town of Cotyaeus, then went to the town,
and before them all, confessed his faith in Christ the living God, denouncing idolatry and
paganism as falsehood and darkness. The governor of that town, one Pyrrhus, asked who and what he
was. The saint replied: ‘My fatherland is Egypt; my name is Menas. I was an officer, but
seeing the worship of idols, I rejected your honors. I have come now to proclaim my Christ before
you all as the living God, that He may reveal me as His servant in the kingdom of God.’
Hearing this, Pyrrhus put holy Menas to harsh torture. He was flogged, flayed with iron flails,
burned with torches and tortured in many other ways, finally being beheaded. His body was burned
to prevent Christians taking it, but they did succeed in rescuing some bits from the flames. They
buried these remains with care, and they were later taken to Alexandria and buried there. A
church was built over them. St. Menas suffered in about 304, and entered into the kingdom of
Christ. He was and remains a great wonder-worker in both lives: both on earth and in heaven.
Whoever has glorified Menas or invoked his aid with faith in time of need has received help. He
has often appeared as a soldier on horseback, to help the faithful or to punish the
faithless.
2. The Holy Martyr Stefan (Stephen) of Dečani, King of Serbia.
He was the son of King Milutin and father of King Dušan. At the command of his ill-informed father he was blinded, and at the command of his light-minded son was, in old age, drowned. At the time of his blinding, St. Nicholas appeared to him in the church at Ovče Polje (the Sheep-Pasture) and gestured towards his own eyes, saying: ‘Stefan, don’t be afraid; your eyes have been given to me and I will return them to you in due course.’ He spent five years in Constantinople, as an exile in the monastery of the Pantocrator. By his wisdom and ascesis, his meekness and devotion, his patience and greatness of soul, Stefan surpassed not only the monks in that monastery, but those in the whole of Constantinople. When five years had passed, St. Nicholas appeared to him again and said to him: ‘I have come to fulfill my promise.’ He then made the sign of the Cross over the blind king, and he received his sight. Out of gratitude to God, he built the monastery of Dečani, a rare example of the finest Byzantine work and one of the most famous memorials of Serbian devotion. The holy King Stefan, St. Sava and the holy Prince Lazar make a trio of holiness, nobility and self-sacrifice; the gift of the Serbian people. He lived his time on earth as a martyr, and died a martyr in 1336, receiving the wreath of immortal glory from the Almighty Whom he had served so faithfully.
3. The Holy Martyrs Victor and Stephanis.
Victor was a Roman soldier, and was tortured for Christ in the time of the Emperor Antoninus (138-161). During his torture, a young woman, Stephanis, revealed that she also was a Christian. Victor was beheaded and Stephanis was torn in half, being tied by the hands and feet to the tops of palm trees.
4. The Holy Martyr Vincent the Deacon.
From the diocese of Saragossa in Spain, he was terribly tortured for Christ the Lord, and finally burned on an iron grid. He gave his soul into God’s hands in 304. His body is preserved in Rome, in the church bearing his name.
5. Our Holy Father Theodore the Studite.
 The famous abbot of Studium, he suffered greatly for the
sake of the icons. He was a wise organizer of the monastic life, an inspired teacher of
Orthodoxy and wonderful ascetic. He entered into rest in Constantinople in 826, at the age
of sixty-eight.
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6. St. Urošica, Prince of Serbia.
He was son of King Dragutin. He preserved his chastity and purity in marriage, and myrrh flowed from his tomb.
FOR CONSIDERATION
If ever there was a holy king on the throne of an earthly kingdom, that king was Stefan of Dečani. The Greeks, who regarded the Slavs as barbarians, marveled at the beauty of Stefan’s soul, as one of the rarest wonders of that age. When the Emperor John Cantacuzene sent the abbot of the Pantocrator monastery to King Milutin on business, the king, among other things, asked after his son Stefan. ‘Are you asking me about that second Job, your Majesty?’ the abbot replied. ‘Know that his godliness exceeds your royal majesty.’ The Greek emperor was at first very harsh towards Stefan, shutting him in an isolated palace and forbidding him any visitors, and then transferring him to the Pantocrator monastery in the hope that the strict asceticism would weaken and kill him. But God preserved blessed Stefan, and he bore the ascesis of fasting and prayer like a perfected monk. His wisdom began to be talked of throughout Constantinople, and the emperor began to value him and turn to him for advice. Thus, for example, St. Stefan contributed to the downfall of the notorious heresy of Barlaam, against which St. Gregory Palamas fought. Barlaam was in Constantinople at that time, and by skillful intrigues, had brought many of those eminent in the Church and the court to his way of thinking. In perplexity, the emperor summoned Stefan and asked him what was to be done with Barlaam. The wise Stefan answered in the words of the Psalmist: ‘I hated them, O Lord that hate Thee,’ and he added: ‘Dangerous men must be driven from our company.’ Hearing this, Emperor John Cantacuzene drove Barlaam with dishonor from the capital.
November 25th – Civil Calendar
November 12th – Church Calendar
1. St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria.
He was born on the island of Cyprus of a princely family. His
father, Epiphanios, being the governor, brought him up from childhood as a true Christian. Under
pressure from his parents, he married and had children. But, by the providence of God, both his
wife and children went from this world to the next. Famed for his compassion and devotion, John
was chosen as Patriarch of Alexandria in the time of the Emperor Herakleios. He governed the
Church in Alexandria for ten years as a true pastor, guarding it from pagans and heretics, and
was a model of meekness, compassion and love for his fellow men. ‘If you seek
nobility,’ he said, ‘seek it not in blood but in virtue, for in virtue lies true
nobility.’ All the saints are distinguished by compassion, but St. John was utterly
dedicated to this great virtue. Celebrating the Liturgy one day, the words of Christ: ‘If
thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath aught against
thee...’ (Matt. 5:23), came into the patriarch’s mind, and he remembered that one of
the clergy in the church there had a grudge against him. He left the holy gifts, went up to the
priest, fell before his feet and begged his forgiveness. As soon as he had made his peace with
that man, he returned to the Table of Preparation. Another time, on the way to the Church of Ss.
Cyrus and John, it happened that he was met by a poor widow, who started speaking to him of her
poverty. The patriarch’s companions were bored by the woman’s lengthy lamenting, and
urged the bishop to hurry to the church for the service, and listen to the woman when it was
over. St. John replied: ‘And how will God obey me, if I don’t obey Him?’ and he
would not move from the spot until he had heard the widow out.
Another thing the blessed man taught and insisted upon with all was never on any occasion whatsoever to associate with heretics, and above all, never to take the holy Communion with them, ‘even if,’ the blessed man said, ‘you remain without communicating all your life, if through stress of circumstances you cannot find a community of the Catholic Church. For if, having legally married a wife in this world of the flesh, we are forbidden by God and by the laws to desert her and be united to another woman, even though we have to spend a long time separated from her in a distant country, and shall incur punishment if we violate our vows, how then shall we, who have been joined to God through the Orthodox Faith and the Catholic Church—as the apostle says: “I espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ [2 Cor 11:2]”—how shall we escape from sharing in that punishment which in the world to come awaits heretics, if we defile the Orthodox and holy Faith by adulterous communion with heretics?’ For ‘communion,’ he said, ‘has been so called because he who has “communion” has things in common and agrees with those with whom he has “communion.”’
When the Persians invaded Egypt, Patriarch John took ship to flee from the assault. He fell ill on the voyage, and arriving in Cyprus, died at his birthplace in 620, entering into the immortal kingdom of his Lord. His wonder-working relics were first taken to Constantinople, then to Budapest and finally came to rest in Presburg.
2. The Holy Prophet Ahijah (Achia), from Siloam.
He prophesied a thousand years before Christ, and foretold to Jeroboam, Solomon’s servant, that he would reign over ten of the tribes of Israel (I Kings 11:29).
3. Our Holy Father Nilus of Sinai.
He was at first a prefect in the capital, Constantinople. A married man, he had a son and a daughter. Seeing the vice-ridden life of the capital, he and his wife agreed to withdraw from the world. This they did. His wife and daughter went to a women’s monastery in Egypt, and Nilus and his son Theodulus went to Mount Sinai. St. Nilus lived for sixty years in asceticism on Sinai, writing beautiful books on the spiritual life. He entered peacefully into rest in about 450, at the age of eighty, and went to the blessed life of heaven. These holy words are his: ‘Physical passions have their origin in physical desires, and against them, restraint is necessary; but spiritual passions originate in spiritual desires, and against them prayer is required.’
4. Our Holy Father Nilus, the Outpourer of Myrrh.
He was born in the Morea. As a hieromonk, he went with his uncle to the Holy Mountain and lived as a solitary in a barren place called ‘the Holy Rocks’. When he entered into rest, myrrh flowed from his body in such abundance that it ran from the top of the hill right down to the sea. This wonder-working myrrh drew the sick from all sides. One of his disciples was disturbed by the press of visitors, and complained in his prayers to his spiritual father, and the flow of myrrh stopped on the instant. St. Nilus lived in asceticism utterly in the spirit of the early fathers. He entered into rest in the seventeenth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The time of their death and passing from this life has in the past been revealed to many holy men and women. This is a great gift from heaven, but having no expectation of this gift, we unworthy ones must repent daily to prepare ourselves for our departure. One can flee from men, but not from God. When St. John the Merciful fled from the Persians in Egypt, a man bathed in light, with a golden scepter in his hand, appeared to him in the ship and said to him: ‘The King of kings is calling you to Himself.’ John understood these words and began to prepare for death, which quickly came to him.
The holy King Stefan of Dečani was often visited in visions by his beloved St. Nicholas, who appeared to him before his death and said to him: ‘Stefan, prepare for your departure; you will soon come before God.’
In their compassion, these two saints were very alike. Of the immeasurable goods that John had at his disposal as Patriarch of the Alexandrian Church, he had, at the time of his death, only a few pence, and he left instructions that these be given to the poor. When Stefan was in the Pantocrator monastery in Constantinople, a generous Serbian noble sent him a substantial sum of money. ‘I am grateful to the good gentleman for his love,’ Stefan replied to those who brought it, ‘but it would have given me more joy if the money that he intended for me had been given to the poor.’
November 26th – Civil Calendar
November 13th – Church Calendar
1. St. John Chrysostom (the Golden-Tongued), Patriarch of Constantinople.
He was born in Antioch in the year 347, his father’s name being
Secundus and his mother’s Anthusa. Studying Greek philosophy, John became disgusted with
Hellenic paganism and turned to the Christian Faith as the one and all-embracing truth. John was
baptized by Saint Meletius, Patriarch of Antioch. After their death, John became a monk and began
to live in strict asceticism. He wrote a book: ‘On the Priesthood,’ after which the
holy Apostles John and Peter appeared to him, prophesying for him great service, great grace and
also great suffering. When the time came for him to be ordained priest, an angel of God appeared
at the same time to Patriarch Saint Flavian (Saint Meletius’ successor) and to Saint John
himself. When the patriarch ordained him, a shining white dove was seen above Saint John’s
head. Renowned for his wisdom, his asceticism and the power of his words, Saint John was, at the
desire of Emperor Arkadios, chosen as Patriarch of Constantinople. He governed the Church for six
years as patriarch with unequalled zeal and wisdom, sending missionaries to the pagan Celts and
Scythians and purging the Church of simony, deposing many bishops who were given to this vice. He
extended the Church’s charitable works, wrote the service for the divine Liturgy which
bears his name, put heretics to shame, denounced the Empress Evdoxia, interpreted the Scriptures
with his golden mind and tongue and left to the Church many precious books of sermons. The people
glorified him; the jealous loathed him; the empress twice had him sent into exile. He spent three
years in exile, and died on the day of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September
14th, 407, in a place called Comana in Armenia. The holy Apostles John and Peter again appeared
to him at the time of his death, and also the holy Martyr Vasiliskos (see May 22nd), in whose
church he received holy Communion for the last time. ‘Glory to God for all things!’
were his last words, and with them the soul of Saint John Chrysostom the Patriarch entered into
Paradise. Of his relics, the head is preserved at the monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos.
2. The Holy Martyrs Antoninos, Nikephoros, Herman and Manetha.
The first three were watching one day how the pagans, at one of their feasts, were worshipping idols with shouts and dancing, and they came out before the crowd and began to preach the one God in Trinity. Firmilian, the governor of Palestinian Caesarea, where this took place, was so enraged at the action of these three Christians that he ordered that they be beheaded forthwith. Manetha was a Christian maiden. She followed the martyrs when they were taken to the scaffold, and was herself seized and burned to death. They all suffered in the year 308, and entered into the eternal joy of God eternal.
3. Our Holy Father, the New-Martyr Damaskenos.
Born in Galata in Constantinople, he was first named Diamantis. He led a dissolute life in his youth, even embracing Islam. Then a bitter repentance grew in him, and he went to the Holy Mountain where, as a monk, he lived for twelve years in strict asceticism in the Lavra of St. Athanasius. Desiring martyrdom, to cleanse him from his sin, he traveled to Constantinople and went into the mosques, making the sign of the Cross and calling out to the Turks that their faith was false, and that Jesus Christ is God and Lord. He was beheaded before the gateway of the Phanar on November 13th, 1681. His relics are preserved on Halki, in the monastery of the Holy Trinity.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Both punishment and reward are in the hands of God. But, as this earthly life is but a shadow of the true life of heaven, so punishment and reward here on earth are but a shadow of that true, eternal punishment and reward. The greatest persecutors of God’s holy hierarch Chrysostom were Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria and the Empress Evdoxia. After Chrysostom’s death by martyrdom, harsh punishment fell on them both. Theophilus went mad, and the Empress Evdoxia was driven from the court by the Emperor Arkadios. Evdoxia soon fell ill of an incurable disease, sores opening all over her body and worms coming out of the wounds. There was such a stench from them that people in the street could scarcely pass in front of her house. Doctors made use of the most fragrant perfumes, unguents and incenses in an attempt to mitigate the stench from the stricken empress, but with little success, and she finally died in filth and agony. But God’s hand was even heavier upon her after her death. The coffin containing her body shook day and night for thirty whole years, until the Emperor Theodosios translated St. Chrysostom’s relics to Constantinople. But what happened to St. Chrysostom after his death? He was rewarded with a reward such as God alone can give. Adeltius, the Arab bishop who received the exiled Chrysostom into his house in Cucusus, prayed to God after the saint’s death that He would reveal to him where St. John Chrysostom’s soul was. Once, when he was at prayer, he was as though taken out of himself, and saw a youth bathed in light. The youth led him to heaven and showed him the ranks of the hierarchs, pastors and teachers of the Church, naming each of them, but they did not see John there. Then the angel of God led him to the way out from Paradise, and Adeltius was very downcast. When the angel asked the cause of his sadness, Adeltius replied that he was very distressed not to have seen his teacher, John Chrysostom, among those there. The angel answered him: ‘No man who is still in the flesh can see him, for he stands beside the throne of God, together with the angelic company of the cherubim and seraphim.’
November 27th – Civil Calendar
November 14th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Philip.
He was born in Bethsaida near the Sea of Galilee, as were Peter
and Andrew. Instructed in the holy Scriptures from his youth, Philip immediately responded to the
call of Christ and followed Him (John 1:43). After the descent of the Holy Spirit, Philip
preached the Gospel with zeal in many regions of Asia and in Greece, where the Jews sought to
kill him but the Lord saved him by the might of His wonders. The Jewish leaders, whose aim it was
to kill Philip, were suddenly blinded, and found themselves in total darkness. There was a great
earthquake, and the earth opened and swallowed up Philip’s wicked persecutors. Many other
wonders were wrought, especially the healing of the sick, by which many of the pagans came to
faith in Christ. In the Phrygian town of Hierapolis, St. Philip worked for the Gospel with John
the Theologian, his own sister Mariamna and the Apostle Bartholomew. There was in that place a
dangerous snake, which the pagans fed with care and worshipped as a god. God’s apostle
destroyed the snake with prayer as though with a spear. This called forth the fury of the
benighted people, and the wicked pagans seized Philip and crucified him upside-down on a tree,
and then crucified Bartholomew also. At this, the earth opened and swallowed up the judge and
many others with him. The terrified people ran to take the crucified apostles down, but they
succeeded only in taking Bartholomew down alive; Philip had already breathed his last.
Bartholomew made Stachys bishop for those baptized in the city. Stachys had been cured of
blindness and baptized by Philip, having been blind for forty years. St. Philip’s relics
were later taken to Rome. This wonderful apostle suffered in the year 86, in the time of the
Emperor Domitian.
2. St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica.
Gregory’s father was an eminent official
at the court of the Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos. The gifted Gregory, completing his secular
studies, did not want to go into imperial service at court, but withdrew to the Holy Mountain and
became a monk, living in asceticism at Vatopedi and the Great Lavra. He waged war against the
heretic Barlaam, and finally overcame him. He was consecrated Metropolitan of Thessalonica in
1347, being glorified both as an ascetic and a theologian, both as a hierarch and a
wonder-worker. The most holy Mother of God, St. John the Theologian, St. Demetrius, St. Anthony
the Great, St. John Chrysostom and angels of God all appeared to him at different times. He
governed the Church in Thessalonica for twelve years, of which he spent one year in slavery to
the Saracens in Asia. He entered peacefully into rest in 1359, and entered into the kingdom of
Christ. His relics are preserved in Thessalonica, where there is a beautiful church dedicated to
him.
3. St. Justinian, Emperor of Byzantium.
A Slav by birth, he was probably a Serb from the Skopje region. He succeeded his uncle, Justin, on the throne in 527. Justinian’s great kingship is inseparably linked with his deep Orthodox Faith: he believed, and lived according to his belief. In the Great Fast, he neither ate bread nor drank wine, but ate only vegetables and drank water. He made war against the barbarians of the Danube only because they castrated their captives. This reveals his high sense of love for his fellow men. He was successful in both his wars and his deeds, and built a great many beautiful churches, of which by far the finest was Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. He collected and published the laws of Rome, and himself published strict laws against immorality and licentious behavior. He composed the hymn: ‘O only-begotten Son and Logos of God,’ which was first sung in the Liturgy in 536. He summoned the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553, and died peacefully on November 14th, 565, at the age of eighty, entering into the kingdom of the heavenly King.
FOR CONSIDERATION
St. Gregory Palamas learned much through heavenly revelations. When he had spent three years in silence in a cell near the Great Lavra, the time came for him to go among men and help them from his amassed knowledge and experience. God made this clear to him in a strange revelation: One day, being half-asleep, Gregory saw himself holding in his hands an overflowing bowl of milk which, little by little, became changed into wine that spilled over the lip of the bowl and soaked his hands and clothing. A youth then appeared, bathed in light, and said to him: ‘Why do you not share with others that wonderful drink that you are wasting so carelessly, or are you not aware that it is a gift of God’s grace?’ To this, St. Gregory replied: ‘But, if there is no one in these days who knows the need of such a drink, to whom should I give it?’ Then the young man said to him: ‘Even if there are none thirsty for such a drink, you must pay your debt and not neglect such a gift.’ Gregory interpreted the milk as signifying the ordinary knowledge of the mass of the people with reference to moral life and conduct, and the wine as signifying the knowledge of dogma.
St. Gregory shut himself in a monastery a second time, and there studied and wrote. On the eve of the feast of St. Anthony the Great, the monks called him to the vigil service but he stayed to work in his cell, while the brethren all went to church. St. Anthony suddenly appeared to him and said: ‘Perfect silence is good, but to be with the brethren is sometimes necessary.’ Convinced by this vision, St. Gregory at once went to the church, to the joy of all the monks.
November 28th – Civil Calendar
November 15th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Abibus (Guria, Shamuna, and Habib).
Gurias and Samonas were eminent citizens of
Edessa. At the time of a persecution of Christians, they hid outside the city and lived in
fasting and prayer, giving courage to the faithful who came to them for counsel. They were seized
and taken before the judge, who threatened them with death if they refused to observe the
imperial decree on the worship of idols. Christ’s holy martyrs replied: ‘If we
observe the imperial decree, we shall be lost even if you do not kill us.’ They were thrown
into prison after harsh torture, and were there confined from August 1st to November 10th,
enduring hunger, darkness and great hardship. They were then brought out again and tortured
afresh, and as they remained steadfast in the Christian Faith, were condemned to death and
beheaded with the sword in the year 322, under the wicked Emperor Licinius (who ruled the eastern
half of the empire until 324). Later Abibus, a deacon in Edessa, was tortured for Christ his
Lord, and in the flames, gave his spirit into God’s hands. His mother took his unharmed
body from the fire and buried it together with those of Gurias and Samonas. When the persecution
had ended, Christians built a church in honor of these three martyrs, and placed their
wonder-working relics in one coffin. Of the manifold miracles of these wonderful saints of God,
one is especially remembered: A widow in Edessa had a young daughter, who was to marry a Goth
serving in the Greek army. As the mother was concerned at the thought of sending her daughter to
a distant land, the Goth swore over the grave of the martyrs that he would do no ill to the girl,
but take her as his legal wife. He was, though, in fact, already married. When he took the girl
back to his own land, he treated her not as his wife, but as a slave, until his lawful wife died.
He then agreed with his kinsman that he should bury his living slave along with his dead wife.
The slave implored the holy martyrs with tears to save her, and they appeared to her in the
grave, took hold of her, and in an instant, carried her from the land of the Goths to Edessa, to
their church. On the following day, when the church was opened, the girl was found by the tomb of
the saints, and the story of her miraculous deliverance was heard.
2. The Holy Martyrs Elpidios, Markellos and Efstochios.
They suffered for Christ in the time of Julian the Apostate (361-363). Elpidios was a senator. Seeing the way he was tortured and the miracles he wrought, six thousand pagans came to belief in Christ the Lord.
3. The Feast of the Icon of the Mother of God of Kupyatich.
This icon first appeared to a girl called Anna in the village of Kupyatich, in the Minsk region, in 1182. While keeping the sheep, Anna saw a light in the forest. When she drew near to that light, she caught sight of a smallish Cross on a tree, carrying the image of the most holy Mother of God. Anna took this Cross home, and returned to her flock. To her utter amazement, she again saw the selfsame Cross in exactly the same place. She took it down, tucked it into her bosom and carried it home. When she went to show the Cross to her father, she put her hand into her bosom to bring it out, but it was not there. She told her father what had happened, and he went out, saw the Cross in the forest and took it home, but on the following day, the Cross was yet again missing from the house. They alerted the whole village, and all the villagers went off to see the Cross and do it reverence. The people quickly built a church there, and many wonders were performed by this Cross bearing the image of the Mother of God. This icon is now to be found in the Church of St. Sophia in Kiev.
FOR CONSIDERATION
God most often gives victory in battle to the peacemakers. One example of this is the great Emperor Justinian, and another the holy King Stefan of Dečani. After the death of his father, King Milutin, Stefan took the bandages off his eyes and was joyfully proclaimed king by both the nobles and the people. But Constantine, Simonida’s son and Stefan’s younger brother on his father’s side, raised an army against Stefan. Stefan then wrote to him in the following terms: ‘You have heard what has happened to me; how I received my sight by God’s providence, that works in all things for good. Receiving God’s mercy, I have inherited my father’s throne, to reign over the people in the fear of God and with justice, after the tradition I have inherited. Setting aside your resolve, come and let us meet face to face; take second place in the kingdom as the second son, and do not be a stranger to your paternity; there is room in this land for us both. I am not Cain, the slayer of his brother, but a friend of Joseph, the lover of his brethren. In the words of this latter, I say to you: “You thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good” (Gen. 50:20).’ Thus wrote the holy king. But Constantine took no notice, and was beaten in battle by Stefan. So also was Vladislav, Dragutin’s son, another pretender to the Serbian throne. But the worst of all happened with Michael Shishman, King of Bulgaria. Stefan wrote to him: ‘Remember the meaning of Christian love; calm your wrath and let there be love between us as there was between our parents. Stop shedding Christian blood. Turn your weapons on the enemies of the name of Christ, and not on Christians. Bear in mind how hard you will find it to answer for innocent blood. Know also, that he who robs another loses that which he has.’ Michael scoffed at this letter from the holy king, and was utterly routed at Velbuzhd in 1330. ‘God is with the righteous, not with the mighty.’
November 29th – Civil Calendar
November 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Matthew the Evangelist.
Matthew the son of Alphaeus was at first a
tax-collector, and it was as such that the Lord saw him in Capernaum and said to him:
‘Follow Me!’ Leaving everything, he followed Him (Matt. 9:9). After that, Matthew
prepared a feast in his house, and there provided an opportunity for the Lord to voice some great
truths about His coming to earth. After receiving the Holy Spirit, Matthew preached the Gospel
among the Parthians and Medes and in Ethiopia, the land of the negroes. In Ethiopia, he
consecrated as bishop one Platon, a follower of his, and himself withdrew to prayerful solitude
on a mountain, where the Lord appeared to him. Matthew baptized the wife and son of the prince of
that land, at which the prince was greatly enraged and sent a guard to bring Matthew before him
for trial. The soldiers went off, but returned to the prince, saying that they had heard
Matthew’s voice, but had been unable to set eyes on him. The prince then sent a second
guard. When this guard drew near to the apostle, he shone with a heavenly radiance so brilliant
that the soldiers were unable to look at him, but threw down their weapons in terror and returned
home. The prince then went himself. When he approached Matthew, such radiance shone forth from
the saint that the prince was blinded on the instant. But the apostle had a kind heart: he prayed
to God and the prince’s sight was restored—unfortunately, only on the physical plane, his
spiritual eyes remaining closed. He seized St. Matthew and put him to harsh torture, twice
lighting a fire on his chest, but the power of God kept him alive and unharmed. Then the apostle
prayed to God, and gave his spirit into His hands. The prince commanded that the martyr’s
body be put into a leaden coffin and cast into the sea. The saint appeared to Bishop Platon and
told him where to find his body in its coffin, and the bishop went and brought them back. Seeing
this new marvel, the prince was baptized and received the name Matthew. He then set aside all
earthly vanity and became a priest, serving the Church in a manner pleasing to God. When Platon
died, the Apostle Matthew appeared to this Matthew and counseled him to accept the episcopate. So
he became a bishop, and was a good shepherd for many years, until God took him to His immortal
kingdom. St. Matthew the Apostle wrote his Gospel in Aramaic, and it was very soon translated
into Greek. It has come down to us in Greek, the Aramaic original being lost. Of this evangelist,
it is said that he never ate meat, but fed only on vegetables and fruit.
2. Our Holy Father Sergius of Malopinega.
He was a Russian parish priest. As a priest, he lived a godly life and served for twenty-two years in the Vologda region. He entered peacefully into rest on November 16th, 1585, at the age of ninety-two.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Does the Lord’s commandment about unceasing prayer (Lk. 18:1) apply only to monks, or to all Christians? If it applied only to monks, the apostle would not have written to the Christians in Thessalonica: ‘Pray without ceasing’ (I Thess. 5:17). The apostle, then, reiterates the Lord’s command word for word, and gives it to all Christians without distinction of monk or layman. St. Gregory Palamas lived for some time as a young man in a monastery in Beroea. There lived in those parts a well-known ascetic, the elder Job, who was venerated by all. It happened at one time that St. Gregory, in the elder’s presence, quoted the apostle’s words, asserting that unceasing prayer was a necessity for all Christians, not only for monks. The elder Job replied to these words, saying that the Jesus Prayer is a necessity only for monks, and not for all Christians. Gregory, being a young man, ceded the argument, not wishing to quarrel, and withdrew in silence. When Job had returned to his cell and was standing in prayer, an angel of God appeared to him in great heavenly glory, and said to him: ‘Elder, don’t doubt the truth of Gregory’s words; he spoke truly. So, hold your peace and advise others to do the same.’ Thus, then, both the apostle and the angel underlined the commandment that all Christians must pray to God without ceasing. If not unceasingly in church, then unceasingly in every place and at every time, in the depths of your heart. If God does not for a moment tire of giving us good things, how can we tire of thanking Him for these good things? If He is constantly thinking of us, why do we not think constantly of Him?
November 30th – Civil Calendar
November 17th – Church Calendar
1. St. Gregory the Wonder-worker, Bishop of Neocaesarea.
Here is a
man of God and a mighty wonder-worker, who was called a second Moses! Born of wealthy and eminent
pagan parents, Gregory at first studied Hellenic and Egyptian philosophy, but seeing its
barrenness and insufficiency, he turned to Christian teachers, particularly Origen of Alexandria,
with whom he studied for several years and by whom he was baptized. Pure in soul and body, he
desired to consecrate himself utterly to Christ, to which end he withdrew to the desert, where,
in painful asceticism, he spent many years. His fame spread abroad everywhere, and Phaedimus, the
bishop of Amaseia, wanted to make him Bishop of Caesarea. The discerning Gregory was warned of
Phaedimus’ intention, and he hid in the wilderness from those sent to find him, so that
they failed in their quest. Finally, Phaedimus consecrated him by unconventional means, and
Gregory had to accept the work of a shepherd. The most holy Mother of God appeared to him,
together with St. John the Theologian, and at her command, St. John gave him the Creed that is
known by Gregory’s name. Who can enumerate the miracles of this second Moses? He commanded
evil spirits, commanded mountains and waters, healed every sort of pain and ill, became invisible
to his persecutors and had insight into both distant events and men’s thoughts. He finished
his earthly course in the year 270, in great old age. When he arrived in Caesarea as bishop, the
whole town was composed of pagans, with just seventeen Christians. When he departed this life,
the whole town was Christian, with just seventeen pagans. He therefore received a wreath of glory
from his Lord in the heavenly kingdom.
2. Our Holy Father Nikhon of Radonezh.
He was a disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh, and followed him as abbot. When the barbarians fell on Russia, he prayed to God to preserve the Russian people from this misfortune. St. Sergius appeared to him, together with St. Peter and St. Alexis, the departed Metropolitan of Moscow, and told him not to be downcast, for the invasion was by God’s permission for the good of the people, but that it would pass and peace would reign once more. He entered into rest on November 17th, 1426.
3. Our Holy Father Gennadios of Vatopedi.
A monk of Vatopedi, he had the obedience of steward. By his agency, a dry well was miraculously filled with oil. This miracle was ascribed to the most holy Mother of God, to whom the monastery is dedicated, and to an icon of hers that stood nearby.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The following examples from the life of St. Gregory show how God guards and preserves the righteous from assaults. While he was still at the school of philosophy in Alexandria, St. Gregory kept his purity of both soul and body, as he kept and preserved it to the end of his life. In this, he was exceptional among the dissolute youngsters of those days, and this called forth envy and hatred among his peers. To bring Gregory down, they found a harlot and sent her to carry out their evil designs. One day, when Gregory was standing in the marketplace with the most famous teachers and philosophers, this harlot came up to him and began to shout demands for payment by Gregory of debts incurred by immoral relations with her. The bystanders, hearing this, were divided into two camps: some being scandalized and others infuriated at the shameless woman, and they chased her away. But she began to shout even more loudly in her demand for money. The innocent Gregory blushed, as would any innocent man in the face of such coarse slander, but showed neither resentment nor hatred, and asked a friend who was with him to give her what she asked so that she would go away at once. His friend did so, and gave the woman the money she demanded. At that moment, God sent an evil spirit upon that woman, and she began to writhe on the ground in convulsions, gnashing her teeth and foaming at the mouth. All the bystanders, seeing this, were filled with fear, but holy Gregory, kindly as a lamb, prayed to God for her, and the woman was healed and got to her feet. Far from being humiliated, Gregory thus received the greater glory.
When a fierce persecution of Christians arose, St. Gregory advised the Christians to hide, and he, together with his deacon, hid on a hill. The imperial soldiers caught sight of them and followed them. Gregory prayed to God for help, and God immediately made them invisible to their persecutors. The soldiers searched the vicinity in vain, then, being unable to find them, returned empty handed.
December 1st – Civil Calendar
November 18th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Plato (Platon).
From the town of Ankyra in Galatia, he was born and brought up a Christian. Even in his youth, he showed great perfection in every virtue. Plato did not conceal his faith in Christ the Lord, but preached it openly, denouncing idolaters for their bowing down to dead creatures in place of the living Creator. For this, he was brought before the governor, Agrippinos, for trial, and was harshly tortured by him. When the governor began to urge him to escape death and save his life by worshipping idols, Plato replied: ‘There are two deaths: the temporal and the eternal; and there are two lives: the one transitory and the other without end.’ Then Agrippinos put him to harsher torture. Among other tortures, he commanded that red-hot cannon balls be placed on his naked body, and that his flesh be cut into strips. ‘Torture me more harshly,’ cried the martyr to the torturers, ‘that your inhumanity and my endurance may be the more clearly seen.’ When the torturer spoke to the martyr about the philosopher Plato, saying that he was a pagan philosopher, he replied: ‘I am not like Plato, nor he like me, except in our names. I learn and teach the wisdom that is of Christ, while he teaches the wisdom that is folly before God.’ After that, Plato was thrown into prison, where he spent eighteen days without bread or water. When the warders marveled that Plato could live without food for so long, he said to them: ‘You are satiated by food, but I by holy prayer; you rejoice in wine, but I in Christ the true Vine.’ He was finally beheaded with the sword in about 266, and received a wreath of eternal glory.
2. The Holy Martyrs Romanos and Barulas.
Holy Romanos was a deacon of the Church in Caesarea, and at one time preached the Gospel in Antioch. When there was an idolatrous feast, and the governor of Antioch, Asclepiades, was going into a pagan temple to offer sacrifice, Romanos stood in front of him and said: ‘You sin, O governor, when you go to the idols. They are not gods, for Christ is the only true God.’ The furious governor put Romanos to torture, and he was flogged and flayed without mercy. At that moment, he saw a child called Barulas, and said to Asclepiades: ‘This little child has more understanding than you, old man, for he knows the true God, and you do not.’ The governor began to question Barulas about his faith, and he confessed his faith in Christ the Lord as the one, true God, and his unbelief in the false idols. Then Asclepiades commanded that little Barulas be beheaded with the sword, and Romanos be strangled in the prison, which came to pass in the year 303. Thus both these martyrs inherited the kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also’ (Matt. 5:39), commanded the Lord. This is the briefest and dearest teaching on humility. Wicked demons fear no one so greatly as the man filled with the Lord’s commandments. There was a rich nobleman in Alexandria who had a young daughter into whom an evil spirit entered, and the girl went out of her mind. Someone told the despairing father that no one would be able to heal his daughter but monks, solitaries, who lived in the desert and came to Alexandria from time to time to sell the baskets that they had woven: but that none of them would go into the house of a rich nobleman in case he was asked why he was there. It would be best for him to buy their baskets and invite them to his house to be paid; then, when they went to the house, he could ask them to pray to God for all its occupants, and especially that God would help and heal the mad girl. The father did this: he went to the bazaar on the agreed day, and found one of St. Makarios’ disciples selling baskets. He quickly bought the baskets and asked the monk to go to his house for payment. When the monk entered the house, the mad girl suddenly leapt in front of him and struck him a blow on the cheek. The monk silently presented the other cheek. At this, the evil spirit cried out with a great shout and left the girl, and she became calm and rational. When the monk returned to the desert, he told the elders what had happened, and they all glorified God, Who gives such great power to those who fulfill His commandments.
December 2nd – Civil Calendar
November 19th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Obadiah.
Obadiah (Obdios) lived at the court of King Ahab, but when the king turned away from true worship and bowed down to idols, Obadiah did not follow the king’s example, but continued to serve the one, true God. When the wicked Queen Jezebel, because of her feud with Elias, hunted down all the prophets of God, Obadiah took a hundred of them and hid them in two caves, feeding them till the persecution was over (III Kings 18:4). A contemporary of the great Prophet Elias, Obadiah revered him greatly and hearkened to him in all things, being a follower and pupil of his. He lived nine hundred years before Christ, and entered peacefully into rest.
2. The Holy Martyr Barlaam.
He was born in Antioch, and was harshly tortured by the dishonorable judge for his faith in Christ the Lord. The judge decided to use ridicule, and to put such pressure on him that he would offer sacrifice to idols. He accordingly took him to the temple and applied fire to his palm, putting incense on the fire with the thought that the martyr would be forced by the pain to throw the fire and incense from his hand in front of the idols, and thus involuntarily offer them incense. But this heroic soldier of Christ held the fire on his palm, and would not cast it before the idols, until his fingers were burned and fell off, and his palm was burned through and fell to the ground with the fire. ‘He had a right hand stronger than fire,’ said St. Basil the Great, ‘for, though the flames consumed it, still the hand held the fire as ash.’ St. Chrysostom writes: ‘The angels looked from the heights; the archangels beheld, for the scene was majestic, surpassing in truth all human nature. Lo, who would not wish to see a man who made such an ascetic endeavor and did not feel that which it is common to man to feel; a man who was himself the altar of sacrifice, and the sacrifice, and the priest?’ When his hand had burned off, his body fell dead to the ground and his soul went to the eternal rest of his Lord and Savior. This glorious and heroic elder suffered in the year 304.
3. Our Holy Fathers Barlaam and Ioasaph the Heir.
They were Indian
ascetics. Ioasaph was son and heir to King Abenner. By God’s providence he was visited by
the elder Barlaam, who taught him the Christian Faith and baptized him. After that, the elder
went off into the mountains to live in asceticism, and Ioasaph remained to wrestle with many
temptations in the world and to overcome them by the grace of God. Ioasaph finally succeeded in
bringing his father to Christ. When he had been baptized, King Abenner lived a further four years
in deep repentance (for he had committed grave sins in his persecution of Christians) and then
finished his earthly course and went to the better life. The young Ioasaph entrusted the kingdom
to his friend Barachias, and himself went off into the desert to live in asceticism for the sake
of Christ. His one desire on earth was to see his spiritual father, Barlaam, once more. God, in
His mercy, fulfilled his desire, and one day, Ioasaph stood before Barlaam’s cave, and
called: ‘Bless me, father!’ The elder Barlaam lived in asceticism in the desert for
seventy years, living a hundred years in all. St. Ioasaph handed over his kingdom at the age of
twenty-five and went into the desert, where he lived a further thirty-five years. They both had
great love for the Lord Jesus, brought many to the true Faith and entered into the eternal joy of
their Lord.
4. The Holy Martyr Heliodoros.
He was from the town of Magidos in Pamphylia, and was tortured for the Christian Faith in the time of the Emperor Aurelian (270-275). While undergoing harsh torture, he heard a voice from heaven: ‘Fear not; I am with thee!’ Thrown into a white-hot copper ox, he prayed fervently to God, and God saved him. The white-hot ox was suddenly cooled, and Heliodoros emerged alive. The judge cried to him that some sort of magic had done that, but to this the martyr replied: ‘My magic is Christ!’ He was then beheaded and went to the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A tale by the elder Barlaam to Ioasaph: A man was fleeing from a unicorn. Fleeing thus, he fell into a pit and grabbed hold of a tree. Thinking he was out of danger, he looked down and saw two bears, one black and one white, gnawing alternately and with great persistence at the roots of the tree in an attempt to gnaw them through and bring the tree crashing down. Looking even further down, he saw a huge and deadly snake, which, with jaws wide open, was waiting to devour him when the tree had been felled. He then saw four smaller, poisonous snakes around his feet. Looking upwards through the tree, he saw a small honeycomb in the branches, and forgetting all the danger that encompassed him, stretched out his hand to reach that small sweetness in the tree. The interpretation is this: the unicorn represents death, which from Adam till now pursues a man to kill him; the pit filled with all sorts of dangers is this world; the tree is the path of our life; the white and black bears are day and night, which alternate in order to shorten our days; the huge and terrible snake is hell; the four poisonous snakes are the four elements of which our bodies are composed; the small honeycomb in the tree is that small sweetness that life offers to man. Oh, when will men learn not to be enraptured by this empty sweetness, and forgetful of the terrible dangers that surround them and draw them down to eternal ruin?
December 3rd – Civil Calendar
November 20th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Gregory of Decapolis.
He was born in Isaurian Decapolis of eminent and devout parents, Sergius and Maria. When he had finished his schooling, his parents desired him to marry, but he fled to the desert and became a monk. He lived in various places: in Byzantium and Rome, and on Mount Olympus. Wherever he found himself, he made men marvel by his asceticism and miracles. It happened at times that his face was lit up with heavenly light, and that angels of God appeared to him; he looked upon the beauty of the angels and heard their blessed singing. He lived a long and godly life, and died peacefully in Constantinople in the ninth century, his soul entering into the joy of his Lord.
2. St. Proklos (Proclus), Patriarch of Constantinople.
A disciple of St. John Chrysostom, he was consecrated Bishop of Kyzikos in 426, and in 435 was chosen as Patriarch of Constantinople. He governed the Church of God as a wise hierarch. In his time, two unusual events occurred. The first was the translation of the relics of St. John Chrysostom from Comana to Constantinople, at the desire of both the emperor and the patriarch (the Emperor Theodosios the Younger was on the throne at that time, with his sister Pulcheria).
The second event was the earthquake in Constantinople and the surrounding country. Many of the greatest and most beautiful buildings fell in the terrible earthquake. Then the patriarch, together with the emperor and many of the clergy, the nobles and the people, made a procession. While they were praying in this procession, a child was miraculously lifted up high into the air, finally becoming invisible to the eye. It then returned, and landed gently on the ground. Asked where he had been, the child replied that he had been lifted up to heaven among the angels, and had heard them sing: ‘Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy upon us!’ Hearing this song, all the people in the procession began to sing it, and the earthquake ceased at once. From that time, this wonderful hymn was adopted by the Church. The boy soon died and was buried in the Church of St. Irene.
St. Proklos served as hierarch for twenty years, and entered peacefully into rest in the Lord in 446.
3. The Holy Martyrs Efstathios, Thespesios and Anatolios.
These three were brothers from Nikomedia, of pagan parents, Philotheos and Evsevia, who, together with their three sons, later received the true Faith from Anthimos, Bishop of Nikomedia. Philotheos was ordained priest. When he and his wife had died, a terrible persecution broke out under the Emperor Maximian, and Philotheos’ three sons were taken for trial. Tried, interrogated and tortured in various ways, they were finally condemned to death. Angels appeared to them many times in the prison, giving them manna for food and filling their youthful hearts with strength and courage in endurance. When they were led out to the scaffold, two of their friends, Palladios and Akakios, came up to them and began to speak with them. While they were still talking, the holy martyrs gave their souls into God’s hands. The soldiers then beheaded their dead bodies, and carried them off to show the judge. They suffered for Christ the Lord in about 313, and entered into the eternal kingdom of Christ.
4. St. Isaac, Archbishop of Armenia.
He was born in Constantinople at the time that his father was an envoy from the King of Armenia to the Byzantine court. He was the tenth Archbishop of Armenia, and as such governed the Church for fifty years. His episcopate was distinguished, among other things, by the translation of the Scriptures into Armenian. He was told in a vision that Armenia would, one day, fall away from the pure, Orthodox Faith. This great hierarch entered peacefully into rest in 440, and went to the Lord.
5. The Holy Persian Maidens Thekla, Vaoutha, and Denahis.
In the days of King Sapor, these three maidens were persecuted as Christians and finally beheaded with knives. Three fig trees grew over their graves, the fruits of which healed all manner of pains and ills.
FOR CONSIDERATION
No other mortal man has interpreted the Epistles of the Apostle Paul with so much depth and love as St. John Chrysostom. If St. Paul had interpreted them himself, he could have done no better. Lo, history tells us that it was St. Paul himself who interpreted them through the mind and pen of St. Chrysostom. When St. Proklos was a novice with Patriarch Chrysostom, his obedience was to keep him informed of visitors. A certain noble was slandered to the Emperor Arkadios, and the emperor drove him from the court. This nobleman came to beg St. John to be an intermediary between himself and the emperor. Proklos went to inform the patriarch, but looking through the open door, he saw a man leaning over the patriarch and whispering in his ear while he was writing. This went on throughout the night. St. Proklos told the nobleman to come again the next evening, and himself wondered how that man managed to be with the patriarch, and how he could have got to him unannounced. The same thing happened the next night, and Proklos wondered the more. It continued a third night, and he was utterly astounded. When St. Chrysostom asked him if such and such a nobleman had come, Proklos replied that he had been waiting three nights already, but that he, Proklos, had not dared to disturb him because of the elderly, bald stranger who had been whispering in the patriarch’s ear for the whole three nights. The astonished Chrysostom said that he had been unaware of anyone’s having been with him the preceding three nights. When he asked the novice for a description of the elder, Proklos indicated the icon of the holy Apostle Paul, and said that the man had been like him. It had obviously been the Apostle Paul himself, directing the pen of his great interpreter.
December 4th – Civil Calendar
November 21st – Church Calendar
1. The Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Mother of God.
When the most holy Virgin Mary
had reached the age of three, her parents, holy Joachim and Anna, took her from Nazareth to
Jerusalem to give her to the service of God in fulfillment of their promise. It was three days
journey to Jerusalem, but going as they were on God’s work, they did not find the journey
difficult. Many of Joachim and Anna’s kinsmen gathered to take part in this celebration, in
which the invisible angels of God also took part. Maidens went ahead with lighted candles in
their hands, followed by the most holy Virgin, led on either side by her father and mother. The
Virgin was clad in royal and beautiful garments, like those of the ‘king’s
daughter,’ the Bride of God (Ps. 44:9, 10). Behind them walked many of their kinsfolk and
friends, all bearing lighted candles. There were fifteen steps leading to the Temple. Her parents
stood the Virgin on the first step, and she ran quickly to the top on her own, where the high
priest, Zacharias, the father of St. John the Forerunner, met her, and taking her by the hand,
led her not only into the Temple, but into the Holy of Holies, the holiest place of all, into
which none could enter except the high priest, and that only once a year. St. Theophylact of
Ochrid says that Zacharias was ‘transported in mind and moved by God’ when he led the
Virgin into the chief place in the Temple, beyond the second curtain—otherwise there could be no
explanation of his action. Her parents then offered sacrifices to God according to the law,
received the priest’s blessing, and returned home, leaving the most holy Virgin in the
Temple. She dwelt in the Temple for nine whole years. While her parents were alive, they visited
her often. When they departed this life, the holy Virgin was left an orphan, and longed to remain
in the Temple for the rest of her days, without entering into marriage. This being contrary both
to the law and Israelite custom, she was confided at the age of fourteen to St. Joseph, a kinsman
of hers in Nazareth, so that she might, under the protection of betrothal, live in virginity and
thus fulfill both her desire and the demands of the law, for it was unknown in Israel at that
time for a girl to vow perpetual virginity. The holy Virgin Mary was the first to do this, and
was later followed by thousand upon thousand of virgin men and women in the Church of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Submit yourself to the will of God, and do not pry too closely into His judgements, for that can send you out of your mind. The judgements of God are innumerable and unfathomable. A monk in the desert, thinking he had achieved perfection, prayed to God that He would reveal to him His various judgements in the lives of men. God put the thought into his head to go a long way to visit an aged spiritual guide and ask him about this. While the monk was on the way, he met an angel of God, in the semblance of an ordinary man, who accompanied him and told him that he, too, wanted to visit the elder. Travelling thus together, they came upon the house of a God-fearing man, who welcomed them warmly, giving them food on a silver platter. When they had eaten, the angel took the plate and threw it into the sea. This was something strange and wrong in the monk’s eyes, and he asked the angel why he had done such a thing. The angel answered him gently: ‘The man was pleasing to God in all things, and had nothing in his house that he had acquired unjustly except that silver plate. By God’s judgement, I threw away that stolen plate, that the man might be righteous in all things before God. Such things are the mysterious and unfathomable judgements of God. And you, elder, go back to your cell and don’t exercise yourself foolishly in trying to examine that which is in the power of the one God.’
December 5th – Civil Calendar
November 22nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Cecilia.
Born in Rome of rich and eminent parents, she had a firm faith in
Christ the Lord and a great zeal for the Faith. Vowing life-long virginity to God, holy Cecilia
wore a rough hair-shirt underneath the costly raiment that her parents gave her. When they forced
her into marriage with a pagan, Valerian, she spent the first night urging her newly-wedded
bridegroom to go to Bishop Urban for Baptism, and then himself to live a life of virginity.
Embracing the Christian Faith, Valerian also brought his brother Tibertius to it. Both brothers
were very soon condemned to death for their faith, but their zeal did not falter in the face of
death itself. Taken to the scaffold, these two brothers succeeded in bringing the captain of the
guard, Maximus, to the Faith, and they all three suffered together for Christ the Lord. St.
Cecilia buried their bodies together and was then herself taken for trial, having unwearyingly
won over many pagans to the Christian Faith. In one evening, she had won over four hundred souls.
When the judge asked her whence came her daring, she answered: ‘From a pure conscience and
an unquestioning faith.’ After harsh torture, she was condemned to death. The executioner
wounded her three times with a dagger, and the blood ran down from her wounds, being caught in
kerchiefs and bowls by the faithful to use for healing. Although left for dead, Cecilia remained
alive. Three days later, after making her house a church, Christ’s martyr and virgin gave
her spirit into the hands of her Lord, to rejoice with Him in eternity. St. Cecilia suffered with
the others in about the year 230. Her relics are preserved in the church dedicated to her name in
Rome.
In the Orthodox Church, St. Cecilia is regarded as the patron of Church music because, during those three days that she suffered for Christ, she sang praises to the Lord.
2. St. Kallistos, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He was named ‘Xanthopoulos’ after the cell of that name on Mount Athos, where he lived for a long time in asceticism with his friend Ignatius. Together with this Ignatius, St. Kallistos wrote of his personal experience of a life of silence in a book containing a hundred chapters. This book holds a very important place in ascetic literature. Kallistos was greatly influenced by his teacher, St. Gregory the Sinaite, whose life he recorded.
3. The Holy Martyr Menignos.
Born on the Hellespont, he worked as a linen-bleacher, and so was called ‘the Bleacher’. In the time of the Emperor Decius (249-251), he tore up the imperial decree on the persecution of Christians, and was consequently thrown into prison. There, the Lord Himself appeared to him and encouraged him, saying: ‘Fear not; I am with thee.’ At that moment, his shackles melted like wax, the prison opened of itself and he went out. He was again seized and brought to trial. He was inhumanly tortured: his fingers and toes were cut off, and then he was beheaded. His severed head glowed at night like a lamp.
4. Holy and Righteous Michael the Soldier.
He was a Bulgarian by birth. With his friends, he went into the Greek army to fight against the Hagarenes in Ethiopia, there displaying an extraordinary fearlessness. He killed a poisonous snake and freed a maiden. Very soon after that, this righteous man entered into eternal life. He was first buried somewhere in Thrace, but in 1206 the Emperor Kalo-John translated his relics to Trnovo. He lived and died in the ninth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
In vain does one strive to learn if one does not strive for purity of faith and life. The heavenly world is revealed not to the learned, but to the pure. When St. Cecilia had been led to the bridal chamber with her newly-wedded husband on the first night, she said to him: ‘I want to show you a mystery. There is standing here an angel of God, the guardian of my virginity, whom you cannot see. He is standing here ready to defend me, his handmaid, from assault. If you only touch me, he will kill you.’ Hearing this, Valerian begged Cecilia to show him the angel, that he too might see it. The maiden replied: ‘You are a man that does not know the true God, and you cannot see His angel until you are cleansed of the foulness of your unbelief.’ When Valerian had been baptized, he saw the angel in great light and unspeakable beauty. So also Tibertius, Valerian’s brother, when he had been baptized and had changed his way of life from impurity to purity, saw holy angels and spoke with them. Maximus also, their fellow-sufferer, at the time that these two brothers were beheaded, called down imprecations on himself from the executioner and the assembled people, saying: ‘I see angels of God bathed in light like the sun, taking their souls from the bodies of the martyrs, like beautiful maidens from the bridal chamber, and carrying them to heaven with great glory.’ But that which he saw was invisible to the unbelievers and the impure.
December 6th – Civil Calendar
November 23rd – Church Calendar
1. St. Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium.
A fellow-countryman and friend of St. Basil the Great and other great saints of the fourth century, Amphilochius early forsook the bustle of the world and withdrew to a cave where, as a solitary, he lived in asceticism for forty years. The episcopal throne in Iconium then fell empty, and Amphilochius was chosen in a wonderful way and consecrated as Bishop of Iconium. He was a marvelous shepherd and a great defender of the purity of the Orthodox Faith, and took part in the Second Ecumenical Council in 381. He fought zealously against Macedonius (Makedonios), and against the Arians and the Evnomians. He personally begged Theodosios the Great to drive the Arians out of every city in the empire, but the emperor did not comply with his request. After a few days, Amphilochius came before the emperor again. When the bishop was taken into the presence-chamber, the emperor was sitting on his throne with his son Arkadios, whom he had taken as co-emperor, sitting at his right hand. Entering the room, Amphilochius did reverence to Theodosios, but ignored Arkadios as though he were not there. Infuriated by this, the Emperor Theodosios commanded that Amphilochius be instantly driven from court. The saint then said to the Emperor: ‘Do you see, O emperor, how you do not tolerate a slight paid to your son? In the same way, God the Father does not tolerate dishonor paid to His Son, turning with loathing from those who blaspheme against Him, and being angered at that accursed Arian heresy.’ Hearing this, the emperor understood the reason for Amphilochius’ seeming disrespect towards his son, and marveled at his wisdom and daring. Among many other works, Amphilochius wrote several books on the Faith. He entered into rest in 395 in great old age, and went to immortal life.
2. St. Gregory, Bishop of Agrigentum.
 He was born in Sicily, near the town of Agrigentum
(where he was later bishop), of his devout parents Chariton and Theodota. His whole life
was woven through with God’s wonders. He went to Jerusalem, was chosen as bishop, and
was saved from slander in a miraculous way. He himself was a great wonder-worker, for he
was greatly pleasing to God, and was a great spiritual guide and ascetic. He took part in
the Fifth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 553. After severe temptations, he entered
peacefully into rest at the end of the sixth century or the beginning of the seventh.
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3. St. Alexander of the Neva (Nevsky).
The son of Prince Yaroslav, his heart was drawn to God from his youth. He overcame the Swedes on the River Neva on July 15th, 1240, whence he took the name ‘of the Neva’. On that occasion, Ss. Boris and Gleb appeared to one of Alexander’s generals and promised their aid to the great prince, their kinsman. Among the Golden Horde of the Tartars (Cossacks), he refused to sacrifice to idols or pass through fire. The Tartar khan valued him for his wisdom, and his physical strength and beauty. He built many churches, and performed innumerable works of mercy. He entered into rest at the age of forty-three, on November 14th, 1263, today being the commemoration of the translation of his relics to the city of Vladimir.
4. St. Mitrophan, Bishop of Voronezh.
A famous Russian hierarch, ascetic and patriot, he was first a friend and then a strong critic of Peter I. He entered into rest on November 23rd, 1703. His wonder-working relics were discovered in 1832.
FOR CONSIDERATION
God permits misfortune to come upon the righteous, to their greater glorification; for misfortune overcome reveals both the glory of God and the glory of the righteous. Holy Gregory of Agrigentum was in all things righteous and pleasing to God. God let misfortune come upon him, a like misfortune to that which overtook St. Athanasius and St. Makarios: two priests, Sabinus and Crescens, to whom Gregory had done much good, could not abide his virtue (for such is the nature of guilt, that it cannot abide virtue). Sabinus and Crescens, then, found a notorious harlot and bribed her to slander Gregory, saying that he had had immoral relations with her. Once, when Gregory was in church, the woman hid in his bedroom, and when he came out of church with the people, this woman appeared from his room. These two priests then began to revile Gregory as an immoral man. Gregory was calm, and prepared for whatever suffering might come. They shut him up in prison, and then took him under escort to Rome. The pope believed his slanderers, and kept Gregory in prison for two years without trial. A council was then summoned to look into the affair, but before judgement was given by men, God gave His. The woman became mad, and was brought before the council as one demented. As a madwoman, she was not able to testify. Gregory the wonder-worker prayed to God for her and she was healed, the evil spirit leaving her forthwith. She testified through her tears that she had been bribed to slander the man of God and that, after this slander, an evil spirit had taken up residence in her and put her in its power. Sabinus and Crescens, along with the other slanderers—more than a hundred of them—suddenly found their faces turned coal-black, and they were punished with exile. Holy Gregory was returned to his diocese, and received with great exultation by his people.
December 7th – Civil Calendar
November 24th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Mercurios.
When the Emperor Decius was once making war on the
barbarians, there was in the army the commander of an Armenian regiment called the Martesians.
This commander was called Mercurios. In the battle, an angel of God appeared to Mercurios, put a
sword in his hand and told him that he would overcome the enemy. Mercurius displayed a wonderful
courage, mowing the enemy down like grass with his sword. After this glorious victory, the
emperor made him supreme commander of his army, but some jealous men denounced him to the emperor
as a Christian. Mercurios did not deny this before the emperor, but openly acknowledged it. He
was most terribly tortured: cut with knives in strips and burned in a furnace, but an angel of
God appeared in the prison and healed him. Finally the emperor pronounced the sentence that
General Mercurios be beheaded with the sword in Cappadocia. When they beheaded him, his body
became as white as snow, and from it there arose a wonderful, incense-like fragrance. Many of the
sick were healed by his wonder-working relics. This glorious soldier of Christ suffered for the
Faith some time between 251 and 259.
2. The Hieromartyr Clement, Bishop of Rome.
Born in Rome and of royal blood, he was a contemporary of the apostles. His mother and two brothers were caught by a storm on a voyage and driven to different places. His father then went off to find his wife and sons, and himself disappeared. Clement, being then twenty-four years old, set off eastwards to look for his parents and brothers. In Alexandria, he made the acquaintance of the Apostle Barnabas, and afterwards became a friend of the Apostle Peter, who was already being followed by Clement’s two brothers, Faustinus and Faustinian. By God’s providence, the Apostle Peter found Clement’s aged mother, who was living as a beggar-woman, and then his father also. Thus the whole family was reunited, and they all returned to Rome as Christians. Clement remained linked with the great apostles, who made him bishop before their death. Linus was bishop in Rome, then Cletus—both of them only for a short time—and then Clement. He governed the Church of God with burning zeal, and from day to day, brought large numbers of unbelievers to the Faith. He set seven scribes to record the lives of the Christian martyrs who were at that time suffering for their Lord. The Emperor Trajan drove him out to Cherson, where Clement found about two thousand exiled Christians, who were all put to the hard toil of cutting stone in an arid region. The Christians welcomed Clement with great joy, and he was to them a living source of comfort. By his prayers, he brought water from the dry ground and converted so many of the pagan inhabitants to Christianity that there were seventy-five churches built in that place in one year. To prevent the further spreading of the Christian Faith, Clement was condemned to death, and drowned in the sea with a stone round his neck in the year 101. His wonder-working relics were taken out of the sea only in the time of Ss. Kyril and Methodius.
3. The Hieromartyr Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria.
He was the disciple and successor of St. Theonas, Archbishop of Alexandria, and was for a time a teacher at Origen’s famous school of philosophy. He came to the archiepiscopal throne in 299, and died a martyr by the grave of the holy Apostle Mark in 311. He governed the Church in an acutely difficult period, when unbelievers were attacking the faithful from without and heretics from within. Six hundred and seventy Christians suffered in Alexandria in his time, whole families often perishing on the scaffold. At this time, Arius was troubling the faithful with his false teaching. St. Peter drove him from the Church and anathematized him in both this world and the next. The Lord Himself appeared to this great and wonderful saint in prison.
4. The Holy Maiden Mastridia.
She lived in Alexandria and led a solitary life of prayer and handwork. A young man became consumed with lustful passion towards her, and pestered her incessantly. Determined not to sin against God, and seeing that it would not be easy to shake off this dissolute youth, St. Mastridia once asked him what it was in her that most attracted him. He replied: ‘Your eyes!’ and Mastridia took the needle with which she was sewing and put out her eyes. Thus she preserved her own peace and the young man’s soul, who repented deeply and became a monk.
Author’s note: This Mastridia is apparently not the same as the one who is commemorated on February 7th. The latter is from Jerusalem, while this one is from Alexandria. The latter fled from scandal to the desert, and this one put out her eyes.
FOR CONSIDERATION
It is related of St. Peter of Alexandria that he never sat on the patriarchal throne, but sat at the foot of the steps up to it. When the faithful expressed their disapproval of the fact that their hierarch never sat in his own place, he replied: ‘Whenever I come up to the throne, I see a heavenly light upon it, and so I do not dare to go up and sit on it.’ Besides this vision, St. Peter had another, yet more wonderful. While he was lying in prison, the infamous heretic Arius pretended that he had repented of his heresy and sent word to the captive Peter that he had rejected his errors and asked to be received back into the Church. Arius did this solely because he counted on Peter’s being killed and himself inheriting the patriarchal throne, thereby giving him the opportunity of spreading and confirming his heresy. Before giving him any answer, Peter prayed to God in the prison. While he was praying, a strange light illumined the prison, and the Lord Jesus appeared to him as a twelve-year-old boy, in light more resplendent than the sun, so brilliant that He could not be gazed upon. The Lord was clad in a white garment that was torn down the front from neck to hem. He was clutching the garment round Himself, as though to hide His nakedness. Seeing this, St. Peter was greatly troubled and horrified, and cried out: ‘My Savior, who has torn Thy garment?’ The Lord replied: ‘That madman Arius. He has torn it, because he is turning My people from Me, the people whom I bought with My blood. Be careful not to receive him into communion with the Church, for his thoughts are evil and devilish about Me and My people.’ Hearing this, St. Peter replied to his priests Achilles and Alexander that they should not accede to Arius’ request, for he was false and evil, and the saint anathematized Arius in both worlds. He also prophesied that first Achilles and then Alexander would follow him as patriarch, and this came to pass.
December 8th – Civil Calendar
November 25th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Katherine.
The daughter of King Constus, she lived with her
mother in Alexandria after her father’s death. Her mother was secretly a Christian, and
through her spiritual father, brought Katherine to the Christian Faith. In a vision, St.
Katherine received a ring from the Lord Jesus Himself as a sign of her betrothal to Him. This
ring remains on her finger to this day. Katherine was greatly gifted by God, exceptionally
well-educated in Greek philosophy, medicine, rhetoric and logic, and added great physical beauty
to this. When the wicked Emperor Maxentius offered sacrifice to idols and ordered everyone to do
the same, St. Katherine came with daring before him and denounced his idolatrous errors. The
emperor, seeing that she surpassed him in wisdom and learning, summoned 150 of the wisest men, to
dispute with her about faith and put her to shame, but Katherine was wiser than they, and put
them to shame. The furious emperor commanded that all 150 wise men be burned. These wise men, at
St. Katherine’s prayers, all confessed the name of Christ at the moment of death, and
proclaimed themselves Christians. When the martyr was in prison, she brought Porphyrius the
general, with two hundred of his soldiers, to the Faith, and also the empress, Augusta-Vasilissa.
They all suffered for Christ. At St. Katherine’s martyrdom, an angel of God appeared to
her, stopping and breaking the wheel on which she was being tortured, and after that the Lord
Christ Himself appeared to her, strengthening her. After many tortures, Katherine was beheaded
with the sword at the age of eighteen, on November 25th, 310. Milk flowed from her body in place
of blood. Her wonder-working relics are preserved on Sinai.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Many learned pagans have come into the Church of Christ and received Baptism because the Church preaches immortal life as an established fact and not as some conjecture of man’s understanding. St. Clement of Rome studied the whole of Greek philosophy, and his soul remained empty and unsatisfied. As a young man of twenty-four, he desired with his whole soul to discover if there was another, better life than this. Philosophy had given him the thinking of various people, but no certain proof. He mourned for his lost parents and brothers, and constantly tormented himself with the question: Would he see them again in another life? The all-seeing God so guided him that he met a man who spoke to him of the Christians and their belief in life beyond the grave. This roused the young Clement to set off at once from Rome for Judea, that he might, there in the very cradle of the Christian Faith, come to positive knowledge concerning life beyond the grave. When he heard the preaching of the Apostle Peter, based entirely on Christ risen from the dead, Clement scorned all the conjecture of philosophy and sincerely embraced the Christian Faith, receiving Baptism and giving himself utterly to the service of the Church of God. As then, so today: he who has a firm faith in the risen Christ and a clear certainty of life beyond the grave will endeavor to fulfill all of God’s commandments.
December 9th – Civil Calendar
November 26th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Alypios the Stylite.
Born in Hadrianopolis, a city in Paphlagonia, he was from his youth dedicated to the service of God. As a deacon, he served in the church in that city with Bishop Theodore. But, desiring a solitary life of prayer and meditation, Alypios withdrew to a Greek cemetery outside the city, from which people fled as from a place of terror, as demonic visions had been seen there. Here he erected a cross, and built a church in honor of St. Ephemia, who had appeared to him in a dream. Near the church, he built a high pillar, climbed up onto it and spent fifty-three years there in fasting and prayer. Neither the mockery of men nor the evil demons could drive him away or shake his purpose. This saint endured endless assaults from the demons. They not only tried to terrify him with demonic apparitions, but also stoned him and gave him no peace day nor night for a long time. But Alypios courageously defended himself against this diabolical power with the sign of the Cross and the name of Jesus. Finally, the vanquished demons left him and fled, and men began to revere him and to come to him for his prayers, comfort, teaching and healing. Two monasteries were built beside his pillar, on one side for men and on the other for women. His mother and sisters lived in the women’s monastery. St. Alypios guided the monks and nuns from his pillar by word and example, and shone like the sun in the sky for them all, showing them the way of salvation. This man of God had such grace that he was often bathed in heavenly light, and a pillar of this light stretched above him to heaven. Alypios was a great and mighty wonder-worker, both in his lifetime and after his death. Living for a hundred years, he entered into rest in the year 640, in the time of Emperor Herakleios. Of his holy relics, the head is preserved in the monastery of Koutloumousiou on the Holy Mountain.
2. Our Holy Father Iakovos the Solitary.
A Syrian, he was a disciple of St. Maron (Feb. 14th) and a contemporary of St. Simeon the Stylite. He lived in asceticism under the open sky and fed on soaked lentils. He performed great wonders, even raising the dead in the name of Christ. The Emperor Leo asked him for his thoughts on the Council of Chalcedon. He entered peacefully into rest in the year 457.
3. Our Holy Father Stylianos.
 From Paphlagonia, he was a fellow-countryman and
contemporary of St. Alypios. He had a great love for the Lord Jesus, and because of this,
gave himself to strict asceticism. He rejected all things, only to have an undivided love
for his Lord. At the time of his death, an angel appeared to take his soul, and his face
became radiant like the sun. He was a great wonder-worker both before and after his death,
and was of special help to sick children and childless parents.
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4. Our Holy Father Nikon, the Preacher of Repentance.
 He was born in Armenia. Drawn by
the Lord’s words: ‘He who forsakes father or mother will receive a
hundred-fold, and inherit eternal life’ (Matt. 19:29), Nikon indeed left all for the
sake of Christ and went to a monastery, where he became a monk. When he had become
perfected in all the virtues, he left the monastery and went to preach the Gospel to the
people. He incessantly cried: ‘Repent!’ and thus became known as ‘the
Preacher of Repentance’. As a preacher, he covered the whole of Anatolia and the
Peloponnese, performing many wonders in the name of Christ. He went peacefully to his
beloved Lord in Sparta in 998.
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5. St. Innocent (Innokenty) of Irkutsk.
He died in 1731, and his wonder-working relics were discovered in 1804.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A tale of the elder Barlaam to Ioasaph: In a certain town there was a local custom, namely the choosing as king a stranger who did not know their laws and customs. When they had crowned him king, they arrayed him in exquisite and costly robes, fed him sumptuously and surrounded him with every luxury. When a year had passed, they deposed their king, stripped him of all his goods and his royal robes and drove him, completely naked, off to a distant island, where he had neither bread nor roof nor companionship, and where, in want and abasement, he would end his days. The citizens would then choose another king, also a stranger and also for only a year, then a third, then a fourth and so on. It came to pass at one time that they chose a very wise and prudent man. He discovered from his servants what happened to the king of the town at the end of a year and therefore, during the course of the year, zealously collected food and goods and all sorts of everyday necessities together on the island. When the year had passed, and he was stripped naked and cast onto the island, he found himself in the midst of an enormous quantity of food, silver, gold and precious stones, and continued to live there in an even better way than he had as king of the town. The interpretation is this: the town represents the world; the inhabitants represent the evil spirits; the foolish and wise kings are men. The foolish think only of their comfort in this life, counting it eternal and losing all in the end in death, going naked of all good works to hell. The wise, on the contrary, do many good works, that they then send, like goods, into the other world to await them there, and where they reign in greater splendor and beauty than they did on earth.
December 10th – Civil Calendar
November 27th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Iakovos (James) the Persian.
Born in the Persian town of Elapa, or Vilat, of
Christian parents, he was brought up in the Christian Faith and married a Christian wife. The
Persian king, Yazdgird, loved Iakovos for his gifts and for his skill, and made him a noble at
his court. Flattered by the king, Iakovos was deluded and offered sacrifice to idols, which the
king also worshipped. His mother and wife, hearing of this, wrote him a reproachful letter in
which they grieved over him as an apostate and one spiritually dead, begging him at the end of
the letter to repent and return to Christ. Moved by this letter, Iakovos repented bitterly, and
courageously confessed his faith in Christ the Lord before the king. The furious king condemned
him to death, and added that his body was to be cut to pieces, little by little, until he changed
his faith. The executioners fulfilled this command of the accursed king to the letter, and first
cut off Iakovos’ fingers, then his toes, his legs and arms, his shoulders and finally his
head. During the entire process, the repentant martyr gave thanks to God. A fragrance came from
his wounds as of cypress. Thus this wonderful man repented of his sin, and his soul went to
Christ his God in the heavenly kingdom. He suffered in about 400. His head is to be found in
Rome, and a part of his relics in Portugal, where his memory is kept on May 22nd.
2. The Seventeen Holy Fathers Martyred in India.
These Christian monks suffered in India under King Abenner. Inflamed with anger against the elder Barlaam for having baptized his son Ioasaph, King Abenner sent men in pursuit of Barlaam. The pursuers did not catch him, but seized seventeen other monks and brought them before the king. The king condemned them to death, and their eyes were first put out, their tongues cut out and their arms and legs broken before they were beheaded with the sword. But the Christian Faith in the Indian kingdom was only the more strengthened by the blood of these glorious soldiers of Christ the Lord.
3. Our Holy Father Romanos the Wonder-worker.
He lived in asceticism in the vicinity of Antioch. He never kindled a fire in his cell, or lit a candle. He died peacefully, and was a wonder-worker both during his lifetime and after his death. He helps childless women when they ask his aid.
4. Our Holy Father Pinuphrios.
A contemporary of St. Cassian (Feb. 29th), he was a great Egyptian ascetic. He lived in the fourth century and followed the ascetic life in various places, fleeing the praise of men. He had many disciples, who strove to emulate the lofty example of their teacher.
5. Our Holy Father Nathanael.
A Nitrian monk, he prayed to God both day and night, and was enlightened by pondering on the things of God. He did not cross the threshold of his cell for thirty-eight years. He entered into rest in the Lord in the second half of the sixth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
When the executioner cut off St. Iakovos’ right thumb, he said: ‘A vine is pruned thus, that new growth may come in its time.’ When they cut off the next finger, he said: ‘Receive, O Lord, the second branch of Thy sowing.’ As the third was cut off, he said: ‘I bless the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.’ As the fourth was cut off: ‘Thou Who acceptest praise from the four beasts, accept the suffering of these four fingers.’ At the fifth: ‘May my rejoicing be as great as that of the five wise virgins at the marriage.’ At the sixth: ‘Praise be to Thee, O Lord, Who didst at the sixth hour stretch out Thy most pure arms on the Cross, and hast made me worthy to offer Thee my six fingers.’ At the seventh: ‘Like David, who glorified Thee seven times a day, so do I today glorify Thee with these seven fingers, cut off for Thy sake.’ At the eighth: ‘Thou Thyself, O Lord, didst rest on the eighth day.’ At the ninth: ‘At the ninth hour, O Lord, Thou didst give Thy spirit into the hands of Thy Father, O my Christ, and I offer Thee thanks for the suffering of this ninth finger.’ At the tenth: ‘I sing to Thee, O Lord, upon a ten-stringed lute, and I bless Thee that Thou hast made me worthy to endure the cutting-off of the fingers of my two hands for the ten commandments written on the tablets of stone.’ Oh, what wonderful faith and love! Oh, the princely soul of this prince of Christ’s!
December 11th – Civil Calendar
November 28th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Stephen the New.
As aforetime Hannah the mother of Samuel, so Anna the mother of Stephen prayed God to give her a son. Praying thus at one time in the Vlachernai church in front of the icon of the most holy Mother of God, a light sleep fell on her in which she saw the holy Virgin, radiant like the sun, and heard her voice: ‘Woman, go in peace; in fulfillment of your prayer, you have a son in your womb.’ Anna indeed conceived and bore a son, this holy Stephen. He received the monastic schema at the age of sixteen on Mount St. Auxentius near Constantinople, at the hands of the elder John, from whom he learned divine wisdom and asceticism. When John entered into rest in the Lord, Stephen remained on that mountain in strict asceticism, taking on himself labor upon labor. His holiness drew many disciples to him. When the Emperor Constantine Kopronymos began to persecute the icons even more ferociously than his foul father, Leo the Isaurian, Stephen showed himself to be a zealous defender of the veneration of the holy icons. The demented emperor listened to various slanders against Stephen, and himself devised a number of intrigues, solely to break Stephen and to get him out of the way. Stephen was exiled to the island of Prokonnesos, and then taken to Constantinople, put in chains and cast into prison. There he met three hundred and forty-two captive monks, brought from all ends of the kingdom and thrown into prison for their veneration of icons. In the prison, they followed the whole order of church services as in a monastery. The wicked emperor condemned Stephen to death. The saint foresaw his death forty days before, and took his leave of the brethren. The emperor’s servants took him from the prison, and beating and buffeting him, dragged him through the streets of Constantinople, calling on all who were on the emperor’s side to stone this ‘enemy of the emperor’. One of the heretics aimed a blow at the saint’s head with a piece of wood, and the saint breathed his last. As Stephen the Protomartyr had suffered at the hands of the Jews, so this Stephen suffered at the hands of the iconoclast heretics. This glorious soldier of Christ suffered in the year 767, at the age of fifty-three, and was crowned with unfading glory.
2. Our Holy Mother Anna.
A woman of gentle birth, she was tonsured as a nun by St. Stephen the New after her husband’s death. The Emperor Kopronymos urged her to say that she had had physical relations with St. Stephen, in order to humiliate him before the people, but this holy woman refused to become involved in the emperor’s intrigues against the saint, whom she venerated as her spiritual father. She was whipped for this, and then thrown into prison, where she gave her holy soul into God’s hands.
3. The Holy New-martyr Christos.
He was an Albanian Christian living in Constantinople, and was a gardener by profession. In the course of selling his fruit, he incurred the resentment of a Turk who slandered him to the judge, saying that he had promised to embrace Islam and then retracted. After interrogation, he was put in chains and thrown into prison. In prison, he was urged to eat, but he refused, saying: ‘It is better for me to go before my Christ fasting.’ After that, he took out some money that he had concealed under his belt, and gave it to one of the captives with the request that he use it for several liturgies to be celebrated for his soul. He was beheaded by the Turks in 1748, and was glorified forever in the kingdom of Christ our God.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The reading of examples of steadfastness in the Faith and the greatness of soul of the saints of God makes us steadfast in faith and great of soul. When Kopronymos’ men urged St. Stephen to reject the veneration of icons and thus please the iconoclast emperor, Stephen stretched out his hand, clenched his fist and said: ‘If I had in myself only a fistful of blood, I would shed it for the icon of Christ!’
The Emperor Maurice had six sons, of which the sixth and youngest was not yet weaned. For this youngest son, the emperor kept a wet-nurse at the court to feed it. A harsh end overtook the Emperor Maurice: Phokas dethroned him and condemned him to death together with all his six sons. The six boys were flogged one after the other before their father’s eyes. When the nurse had to hand over the youngest to be murdered, she, with true greatness of soul, mourned over the outcome of the unhappy emperor and his children, and at that moment resolved to preserve one of them alive. So, when they went to drag the child from her breast, she handed over her own son, and he was beheaded. Finally, the Emperor Maurice was himself beheaded. The emperor’s youngest son grew up believing his nurse to be his mother. When she revealed the secret to him, he became very serious, then deliberately left the world and withdrew to Mount Sinai, where he became a monk and consecrated himself to God, that he might in this way requite the innocent baby that had been put to death in his place.
December 12th – Civil Calendar
November 29th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Paramon, and 370 others with him.
In Asian Bithynia, the governor, Aquilinus, was ferociously persecuting Christians. He once seized three hundred and seventy Christians and took them with him in bonds to some place where there was a temple to the god Poseidon. Here, the wicked governor tried to force them to offer sacrifice to idols. Although he threatened with death any who refused to obey his command, not a single one of the Christians submitted to it. At that time, there passed along the road running beside the temple a respected man called Paramon. He stopped beside the group of bound men and learned what was happening, then cried out: ‘Oh, how many innocent and righteous men does this foul governor desire to slaughter because they will not bow down to his dumb and dead idols?’ Paramon then continued on his way, and the furious governor sent servants to kill him. They caught up with him and seized him, first piercing his tongue with a thorn and then stripping him and stabbing him all over. Holy Paramon, with prayer in his heart, gave his soul into God’s hands. After that, these three hundred and seventy martyrs, great sons of God and innocent lambs, were beheaded with the sword and thus entered into the immortal kingdom of Christ the Lord. They suffered in the year 250.
2. Our Holy Father Akakios (Acacius) of Mount Latros.
In his famous book, ‘The Ladder,’ St. John Climacus records the life of this saint. The young Akakios was a novice with an evil elder in the Monastery of Kellivara. The foul-tempered elder daily groused and grumbled at Akakios, and often beat him, tormenting and ill-treating him in every possible way. Akakios did not complain, but bore it all patiently and with trust that it would work for his salvation. When people saw his bruises and asked him how he survived, he replied: ‘Well, as before the Lord God’. After nine years of obedience and ill-treatment, Akakios died. The elder buried him and then went off to lament to another elder, a holy man, saying: ‘Akakios, my disciple, is dead.’ ‘I don’t believe it,’ replied the holy elder, ‘Akakios is not dead.’ They then both went to the dead man’s grave, and the holy elder called out: ‘Brother Akakios, are you dead?’ The obedient Akakios, obedient even in death, replied: ‘I am not dead; the obedient cannot die.’ Then the evil elder repented and shut himself in a cell near Akakios’ grave, where he spent the rest of his life in repentance and prayer.
3. The Holy Martyr Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth.
A well-known pastor and teacher, he was beheaded for Christ the Lord in 182.
4. St. Tiridates, King of Armenia.
He was a contemporary of Diocletian. He at first persecuted Christians with great ferocity, but God’s punishment fell on him and he went mad and became like a beast, as happened aforetime to Nebuchadnezzar. St. Gregory miraculously healed him of his madness (see Sept. 30th). From that time until his death, Tiridates spent his life in repentance and devotion. He died peacefully in the fourth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
God’s punishment often falls on sinners immediately after they have sinned, that the sinners may fear and the righteous be encouraged. However, it sometimes falls much later, suddenly and unexpectedly, that sinners may know that God forgets nothing. The earth swallowed up Dathan and Abiron immediately after they had sinned, but King Balthazzar saw the hand that wrote his deadly outcome at a time when he felt himself at ease at a wedding feast, among friends and admirers.
A gravely-sick soldier was brought to St. Stephen the New, to be healed by his prayers. Stephen told him to venerate the icons of Christ and the Mother of God. The soldier did this, and was immediately healed, and this wonder was spoken of on all sides. Hearing of it, the iconoclast Emperor Kopronymos summoned this soldier and questioned him. When the soldier acknowledged that he had received healing from the holy icons, the emperor furiously began to rebuke him for his veneration of them. The terrified soldier repudiated his veneration before the emperor, and was ashamed of his faith in the icons. When this soldier left the court and mounted his horse, it became maddened under him, threw him off and trampled him with its hooves until he gave up the spirit. This is an example of a punishment that follows immediately on the sin.
King Tiridates, a persecutor of Christians, threw St. Gregory into a deep pit and killed thirty-seven holy nuns, and he went unpunished. Later, when the king and his entourage had gone hunting for pleasure, madness suddenly fell on him. The reason for his madness and the means of restoring him to sanity were revealed to his devout sister in a dream. St. Gregory was taken out of his pit, and at his prayers, King Tiridates was healed, repented and received Baptism.
Punishment sometimes follows as quickly on sin as day does night, and sometimes as slowly as year follows year. But it never fails to come, except at those times when repentance takes the place of punishment.
December 13th – Civil Calendar
November 30th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called.
He was the son of Jonah and brother of Peter,
born in Bethsaida and a fisherman by profession. He was first a disciple of St. John the Baptist,
but when John pointed to the Lord Jesus and said: ‘Behold the Lamb of God’ (Jn.
1:36), St. Andrew left his first teacher and followed Christ. After that, Andrew brought his
brother Peter to the Lord. After the descent of the Holy Spirit, it fell to the lot of the first
of Christ’s apostles, St. Andrew, to preach the Gospel in Byzantium and Thrace, then in the
lands along the Danube, in Russia and around the Black Sea, and finally in Epirus, Greece and the
Peloponnese, where he suffered. In Byzantium he installed St. Stachys as its first bishop; in
Kiev he raised the Cross on high and prophesied a Christian future for the Russian people; in
Thrace, Epirus, Greece and the Peloponnese, he brought many people to the Faith and gave them
bishops and priests. In the city of Patras he performed many wonders in the name of Christ and
brought many to the Lord, among whom were the brother and wife of the imperial governor,
Aegeatus. Aegeatus, infuriated by this, put Andrew to torture and then crucified him. While he
was still alive on the cross, the apostle of Christ taught the Christians who were gathered round
him. The people wanted to take him down from the cross, but he would not let them. Finally, the
apostle prayed to God and a strange radiance surrounded him. This light lasted for half an hour,
and when it disappeared, the apostle gave his holy soul into God’s hands. Thus the
first-called apostle, who first of the twelve great apostles came to know the Lord and followed
Him, finished his earthly course. St. Andrew suffered for his Lord in the year 62. His relics
were translated to Constantinople, but his head was later taken to Rome and one hand to
Moscow.
2. St. Frumentios, the Enlightener of Abyssinia.
In the time of the Emperor Constantine the Great, a learned man from Tyre called Meropios traveled to India. He took with him two young Christians, brothers called Edessios and Frumentios. On the journey, the ship foundered in a storm on the Abyssinian coast, and the wild Abyssinians killed all the people from the ship except these two brothers, Edessios and Frumentios. They lived in Abyssinia for several years and succeeded in entering the service of the king. Frumentios began to preach the Christian Faith, at first fairly cautiously, and became convinced that the land was ripe for such preaching. The two brothers then took ship, Edessios to Tyre to his parents and Frumentios to Alexandria, to Patriarch Athanasius the Great. Frumentios described the situation in Abyssinia to the patriarch and sought pastors to bring the people to the Faith. St. Athanasius consecrated Frumentios bishop, and he returned to Abyssinia where, by his zeal and his miracles, he brought the whole of Abyssinia to the Faith during his lifetime. This great pastor of Christ’s flock and enlightener of Abyssinia died peacefully in the year 370, and entered into the kingdom of his Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘All is given to the apostles,’ says St. John Chrysostom. This means: all gifts, all powers, all the fullness of the grace that God gives to all the faithful is given to the apostles. We see this in the life of the great Apostle Andrew the First-Called: how he is apostle and evangelist, prophet, pastor and teacher (Eph. 4:11). As an evangelist, he carried the good news of the Gospel to the four corners of the earth; as a prophet he prophesied the Baptism of the Russian people and the greatness of Kiev as a city and as a center of Christianity; as a pastor he founded and organized many churches; as a teacher he tirelessly taught right up to his crucifixion, and then on the cross till his last breath. And, on top of this, he was a martyr. This was by a gift of the Holy Spirit that is not given to all. We see in this apostle, as in all the others, the fullness of the grace of the Holy Spirit.
That every act performed by a follower of Christ must be supported by grace is testified to by St. Frumentios. When he returned to Abyssinia from Alexandria as a consecrated bishop, he began to perform great wonders, thus bringing the people to the Faith in great masses. The envious king then asked him: ‘You lived among us for so many years, and we never saw you work such wonders. Whence is it that you do so now?’ To this blessed Frumentios replied: ‘This is not my action, but that of the grace of the priesthood,’ and the saint then explained to the king how he had, for the sake of Christ, forsaken his parents, marriage and the whole world, and how he had, through consecration at the hands of St. Athanasius, received the grace of priesthood, the grace of wonder-working.
December 14th – Civil Calendar
December 1st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Naum (Nahum).
Born of the tribe of Simeon in a place called Elkosh, on the further side of the Jordan, he lived seven hundred years before Christ and foretold the fall of Nineveh two hundred years after the Prophet Jonah. The people of Nineveh had repented after hearing Jonah’s preaching, and God had protected them and not destroyed them. But, with the passage of time, they came to forget God’s mercy and turned again to evil. Naum foretold their doom, warning them that, if they showed no repentance, they would receive no protection. The entire city was so utterly destroyed by earthquake, flood and fire that its location is no longer known. Holy Naum lived for forty-five years before going to his rest in the Lord, leaving us a small book of his true and genuine prophecies.
2. St. Philaret the Merciful.
From the village of Amnia in Paphlagonia, Philaret was at first a man of some substance, but as a result of his constant almsgiving, he became utterly destitute. He was not afraid of poverty, and went on with his charitable works with trust in the Lord Who has said: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy,’ paying no attention to the disapproval of his wife and children. Once, when he was ploughing in his meadow, a man came to him with the news of the death of his ox in harness, and of his inability to plough with only one ox, so Philaret unharnessed his own and gave it to him. He gave away his remaining horse to a man who was called away to battle, and the calf from his remaining cow—and, when he saw how the cow pined after her calf, gave the man the cow as well. And so the aged Philaret was left hungry in an empty house. But he prayed to God, entrusting himself to Him. God does not abandon the righteous man, allowing him to be shamed in his hope. At that time, the Empress Irene was on the throne with her young son Constantine, and in accordance with the custom of the time, the empress sent men through the whole empire to find the best and most distinguished maiden to wed her son. By divine providence, these men happened upon Philaret’s home and beheld his very beautiful and modest grand-daughter Maria, the daughter of Hypatia, and they took her to Constantinople. The emperor was well-pleased with her and took her to wife, and brought Philaret and all his family to the capital, showering honor and wealth upon them. Philaret did not become proud in this change of fortune, but with gratitude to God, performed still greater deeds of charity than before, remaining thus for the rest of his days. At the age of ninety, he called all his children to him, and having blessed them and instructed them to cleave to God and His law, foretold to each of them how their lives would develop, just as our forefather Jacob did aforetime. When he had done this, he went to a monastery and there gave his soul into God’s hands. At his death, his face shone like the sun and a sweet fragrance arose from his body, and miracles were worked over his relics. This righteous man of God went to his rest in 797. His wife and all his children and grandchildren lived and died in the Lord.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Virtue is like a thirst. When a man begins to drink, he becomes yet more thirsty and seeks to drink more and more often. Whoever begins to practice the virtue of compassion knows and acknowledges no limit. St. Philaret was no less generous in poverty than he was in wealth. When his grand-daughter became empress, he became a rich man once again, and not a wit less generous. One day, he told his wife and children to prepare the most lavish feast they could, and said: ‘Let us invite our King and Lord and all His great men to our feast’. Everyone thought that the elder meant to invite his son-in-law, the emperor, and so they worked especially hard to prepare the feast. However, Philaret went around the streets and gathered all the poor, the wretched, the despised, the lame and the enfeebled, and brought them to the feast. He sat them down at table and told his wife and sons to serve them. At the end of the feast, he gave each guest a gold coin. Then everyone understood that by ‘the King,’ he meant the Lord Christ Himself, and by the ‘great men,’ the poor and helpless. He used to say that one must not decide beforehand what money to give to the poor, but to give whatever was in the hand when it came out of one’s pocket, for the hand would find whatever God in His providence had given.
December 15th – Civil Calendar
December 2nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Abbakum (Habakkuk).
The son of Sapnat, of the tribe of Simeon, he prophesied six
hundred years before Christ, in the time of King Manasseh, and foretold the devastation of
Jerusalem. When Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem, Abbakum went into the land
of the Ishmaelites, whence he returned to Jerusalem and made his living working on the land. One
day, when he was carrying lunch to the workers in the fields, an angel of the Lord suddenly
appeared to him and said: ‘Go, carry the meal that thou hast into Babylon, unto Daniel who
is in the lion’s den.’ Abbakum replied: ‘Lord, I never saw Babylon, neither do
I know where the den is’ (Daniel 14:33 in the Greek text). Then the angel seized him by the
hair and carried him straight to Babylon, over an immense distance, to the lion’s den where
Daniel had been cast by King Cyrus because he would not worship idols. ‘O Daniel,
Daniel,’ cried Abbakum, ‘take the dinner which God hath sent thee!’ And Daniel
took it and ate. Then the angel of God again took hold of Abbakum and carried him back to his
field in Judea. Abbakum preached and prophesied about the liberation of Jerusalem and the coming
of Christ. He entered into rest in great old age and was buried at Keilah. His relics were
discovered during the reign of Theodosios the Great.
2. The Holy Martyr Myrope.
Myrope was born in Ephesus of Christian parents. After the death of her father, she went to the island of Chios with her mother, and there suffered for Christ. The passion of this holy virgin took place soon after the passion and death of the soldier-martyr Isidore (May 14th). When the torturers had beheaded Isidore, the courageous Myrope took the body away secretly and buried it in a special place. The wicked prince Numerian heard that the martyr’s body had been stolen, and threatened to execute the guards. Hearing that innocent people were to suffer for her act, blessed Myrope came before the authorities and confessed that it was she who had taken the martyr’s body and buried it. On the prince’s orders, Christ’s holy virgin was savagely beaten, and cast into prison covered with wounds. But the Lord did not leave His martyr comfortless. A heavenly light illumined the prison in the dead of night, and many angels, with St. Isidore in their midst, appeared to her. ‘Peace to thee, Myrope,’ St. Isidore said to her, ‘thy prayer has ascended to God, and thou shalt soon be with us and receive the crown prepared for thee’. The holy martyr was filled with joy, and at that moment surrendered her soul into God’s hands. A sweet fragrance came forth from her body and filled the whole prison. One of the guards who witnessed all this was moved to belief in Christ and was baptized, and soon thereafter suffered a martyr’s death. St. Myrope entered into eternity in the year 251.
3. St. Uroš, King of Serbia.
The son of King Dušan, he ruled during the difficult time of the fall of the Kingdom of Serbia. Humble, pious and gentle, he refused to attempt to restrain the power of the powerful nobles by force. Amongst these was Vukašin, who brought about his death. Good King Uroš suffered a martyr’s death on December 2nd, 1367, at the age of thirty-one. Killed by men, he was glorified by God. His wonder-working relics were preserved in the monastery of Jazak in the Fruška Gora, whence they were taken to Belgrade in 1942, during the Second World War, and placed in the Cathedral beside the bodies of Prince Lazar and Despot Stefan Štiljanović. During the reign of this benevolent king, the monastery of St. Naum was built beside Lake Ochrid by one of Uroš’s nobles, Gregory (Grgur).
4. Our Holy Father Athanasius, the Recluse of the Kiev Caves.
After a long life of asceticism, this holy man died and was washed, attired and prepared for burial. He lay dead for two days, then suddenly returned to life. When they came to bury him, they found him sitting up and weeping. He shut himself in his cell and lived a further twelve years on bread and water. He entered into rest in the Lord in 1176.
5. St. Jesse, Bishop of Tsiklan.
One of the thirteen Syrian fathers (May 7th), he was a great wonder-worker. He changed the course of a distant river by his prayers, and caused it to flow close to the city of Tsiklan. His relics are preserved in the church dedicated to him in that Syrian city.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘Who has ever come with tidings of the other world?’ This is a frequent question on the lips of unbelievers. One should reply: ‘Repent of your sins if you wish to find out; make yourselves worthy, and you will see.’ The Prophet Abbakum journeyed with an angel; St. Myrope saw a host of angels, with St. Isidore the Martyr among them. St. Athanasius of the Caves was dead to the world for two days and alive only in the next. Upon the return of his soul to his body, they all gathered round him, asking him: ‘How have you come back to life? What have you seen? What have you heard?’ He would say nothing about it, being deeply amazed at what he had seen in the other world, and would only say: ‘Save yourselves!’ When many of them pressed him hard to say what he had seen in the other world after his death, he replied: ‘If I should tell you, you would not believe me or want to listen to me.’ When they urged him yet further, he said: ‘Repent every moment, and pray to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His most pure Mother.’
Even in our own time, cases of seeming death occur. The visions and reports of those who have seemed to die and have then returned to life are not contradictory, but complement and augment one another. For example: every person who ‘dies’ sees some part of that other world that is vast, immeasurably larger than this world. Many see their long-dead kinsfolk and talk with them—this being quite a common occurrence. In 1926, in the village of Vevčani, Meletije P. was on his deathbed. He was talking with his children who had died twenty years earlier. When his living relatives said to him: ‘You’re rambling!’ he replied: ‘I’m not; I’m talking with them just as I’m talking with you, and I can see them just as clearly as I can see you!’
December 16th – Civil Calendar
December 3rd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Sophonias (Zephaniah).
Born on the mountain of Savarat and of the tribe of Simeon, he lived and prophesied in the seventh century before Christ, in the time of Josiah the pious King of Judah, and was a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremias. With his great humility, pure mind and constant striving after God, he was found worthy of seeing into the future. He foretold the day of the wrath of God and the punishment of Gaza, Ashkalon, Ashdod, Ekron, Nineveh, Jerusalem and Egypt. He looked upon Jerusalem as ‘a filthy, polluted and oppressing city;...her princes within her are like roaring lions; her judges are ravening wolves;...her prophets are insolent and treacherous persons; her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law’ (Zeph. 3:1-4). Foreseeing the coming of the Messiah, he cried out with rapture: ‘Sing, O daughter of Sion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!’ (3:14). This clairvoyant of secrets and mysteries went to his rest in the place where he was born, there to await the general resurrection and his reward from God.
2. St. John the Silent (the Hesychast).
Born in Nicopolis in Armenia, he was the son of Encratius and Ephemia. He became a monk at the age of eighteen and gave himself to asceticism, thoroughly cleansing his heart with tears, prayer and fasting. After ten years, he was made Bishop of Colonia. The example of his life drew his brother, Pergamius, and his uncle, Theodore, both noted members of the court of the Emperors Zeno and Justinian, to lead lives pleasing to God. Seeing the evil and intrigues of the world and his inability to put matters right, he abandoned the episcopal throne and went to the monastery of St. Sava near Jerusalem, disguised as a simple monk. He remained there a number of years quite unknown, conscientiously and capably performing whatever service the abbot gave him. Thereupon St. Sava suggested to the patriarch that he be ordained priest. When the patriarch came to do this, John confessed that he already bore the rank of bishop. Then St. John shut himself into his cell and spent year after year in silence and prayer. Afterwards, he spent nine years in the desert, sustaining himself with wild herbs, and then he returned to the monastery. He wrested the faithful away from the heresy of Origen, and made a great contribution to the struggle against that heresy and its condemnation. He was able to perceive the spiritual realm with clarity, and heal the sick. He could easily subdue demons, having already conquered himself. He entered peacefully into rest in 558 at the age of a hundred and four, being great in humility, power and godly wisdom.
3. The Hieromartyr Theodore, Archbishop of Alexandria.
After serving as patriarch for two years, he was tortured by the pagans. They put a crown of thorns on his head, and finally beheaded him for the Faith in 606.
4. Our Holy Father Theodoulos.
A noted patrician at the court of Theodosios the Great, he abandoned the vanity of this world after the death of his wife, and left Constantinople for a pillar near Ephesus, on which he spent a good thirty years in asceticism.
5. Our Holy Father Sava of Storozhev.
He was a disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh and a great wonder-worker. After his death, he appeared to many people, sometimes to instruct, sometimes to warn and sometimes to heal. He went from this life to the better one in 1406.
FOR CONSIDERATION
God hearkens to the prayers of the just and answers them sometimes at once and in full, and at other times only later, at the proper time and according to the needs of the Church. In other words, in answering the prayer of a righteous man, God has in mind either that man’s salvation or the well-being of the whole Church. St. John the Silent prayed to God to reveal to him how the soul takes leave of the body, and while still at prayer, he was taken out of himself and had the following vision: A good man died in front of the church in Bethlehem, and angels took his soul from his body and bore it up to heaven with sweet singing. Coming out of his ecstasy, St. John set out at once on the road from St. Sava’s to Bethlehem. When he reached Bethlehem, he saw the dead body in front of the church, just as it had been in his vision.
When the great Sava the Sanctified died, John was in great grief and anguish. St. Sava appeared to him in a vision and said: ‘Do not grieve, Father John, because, although I am separated from you in the body, I am still with you in the spirit.’ Then John begged him. ‘Father, pray to the Lord to take me with you!’ and Sava replied: ‘That is impossible for now, for a great tribulation has yet to come on the monastery. God desires you to remain to comfort and strengthen the faithful against the heretics.’ St. John did not realize at once the sort of heretic to which the holy father was referring, but he found out later, when the Origenists began to shake the Church of God.
December 17th – Civil Calendar
December 4th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Barbara.
This famous follower of Christ was betrothed to Him
from her early years. Her father, Dioscoros, was a pagan in the city of Heliopolis in Lebanon,
and was famed for his wealth and standing. Dioscoros shut up his only daughter, who was both
intelligent and beautiful, in a high tower, surrounded her with all possible comforts, gave her a
host of attendants, set up idols for worship and built her a bath house with two windows. As she
gazed through the windows of the tower upon the earth below and the starry sky above,
Barbara’s mind was opened by the grace of God, and she came to know Him as the one, true
God and Creator, although she had no human teacher to bring her to the knowledge of Him. Once,
when her father was away from the city, she came out of the tower, and by God’s providence,
met some Christians who told her about the true Christian Faith. Barbara’s heart was set on
fire with love for Christ. She had a third window cut in the bath house as a symbol of the Holy
Trinity, and traced a Cross with her finger on one wall of it, which etched itself deep in the
stone as if cut by a chisel. A spring of water gushed forth from the bath house floor from her
footprint, and it later gave healing from sickness to many. When Dioscoros found out about his
daughter’s faith, he beat her harshly and drove her from the tower, chasing after her to
kill her, but a cliff opened and hid Barbara from her irate father. When she appeared again,
Dioscoros took her to Marcian, the governor of the city, who handed her over for torture. The
innocent Barbara was stripped and beaten until her entire body was covered in bloody wounds, but
the Lord Himself appeared to her in the prison with many angels, and healed her. A certain woman,
Juliana, beheld this and conceived a desire for martyrdom herself. Both of them were fearfully
tortured and taken around the city to be mocked, then their breasts were cut off and much blood
flowed from them. They were finally led out to the place of execution, and Juliana was slain by
soldiers while Barbara was killed by her own father. On the same day, lightning struck
Dioscoros’ house, killing both him and Marcian. St. Barbara suffered in 306, and her
wonder-working relics are preserved in Kiev. Greatly glorified in the kingdom of Christ, she has
appeared many times down to our own days, sometimes alone and sometimes in the company of the
most holy Mother of God. St. Barbara is the protectress from sudden death.
2. St. John of Damascus.
He was first a minister of Caliph Abdul-Malek, and then became a monk
in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified. For his ardent advocacy of the veneration of icons
while still a courtier during the reign of the iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian, he was
slandered by the emperor to the caliph, who had his right hand cut off. John fell down in prayer
before the icon of the most holy Mother of God, and his hand was rejoined to his arm and
miraculously healed. When he beheld this wonder, the caliph repented, but John no longer desired
to remain at court as a nobleman, but to withdraw to a monastery. There, he was from the
beginning a model of humility and obedience and of all the works of asceticism prescribed for
monks. He wrote the hymns for the Parting of the Soul from the Body, put together the Octoechos,
the Irmologion, the Menologion and the Pascha Canon, and wrote many theological works of an
inspired profundity. A great monk, hymnographer and theologian, and a great warrior for the truth
of Christ, Damascene is counted among the great fathers of the Church. He entered peacefully into
rest in about 749, being seventy-five years old.
3. St. Gennadius (Gennady), Archbishop of Novgorod.
A writer of note, a champion of truth and one who suffered for the truth of Christ, he brought the various books of Sacred Scripture together in one book and composed a system to find the date of Pascha (the Pachalia) for the next five hundred and thirty-two years. He entered into rest in the Lord in 1505. His wonder-working relics are preserved in the Chudov monastery in Moscow.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Obedience, coupled with humility, is the basis of the spiritual life and the foundation of salvation—and the foundation also of the whole edifice of the Church of God. The great John Damascene, great in every virtue, left as a monk a deep impression on the history of the Church by his extraordinary example of obedience and humility. His elder and spiritual father, wishing to test him, one day handed him some woven baskets and told him to take them into Damascus and sell them there. The elder laid down a very high price for the baskets, thinking that they would not sell at such a price and would have to be brought back. John had, then, firstly to undertake a very long journey; secondly, to enter as a poor monk the city where he had earlier been the man next to the caliph; thirdly, to ask an absurdly high price for the baskets; and fourthly, should the baskets not be sold, he had to endure the long journey there and back for nothing. The elder wished, in this way, to test the obedience, the humility and the patience of his famous disciple. John silently prostrated before the elder, and without a word, took up the baskets and set out. When he came to Damascus, he stood in the market-place and waited for customers. When he told interested passers-by the price of his goods, they began to laugh and mock him as a lunatic. He stood there the whole day, exposed to mockery and ridicule, but God, Who sees all things, did not abandon His patient servant. A passing citizen happened to glance at John, and although John was wearing a monk’s poor habit and his face was shrunken and pale from fasting, the man recognized him as the former nobleman and first minister of the caliph, in whose service he also had been. John also recognized him, but they began to deal as strangers. Even though John told him the ridiculously high price of the baskets, the man bought them and paid the price without comment, mindful of the good deeds that St. John Damascene had once done for him. Then holy John returned singing triumphantly to the monastery, and brought joy to his elder.
December 18th – Civil Calendar
December 5th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Sava the Sanctified.
The unknown village of Mutalaska, in the province of
Cappadocia, became famous through this great light of the Orthodox Church, for St. Sava was born
there. He left the home of his parents, John and Sophia, at the age of eight and became a monk in
a nearby monastery called ‘Flavian’s’. After ten years, he moved to the
monasteries of Palestine, staying longest in the monastery of St. Efthymios the Great (Jan. 20th)
and Theoktistos. Efthymios, who had the gift of discernment, foretold that he would be a famous
monk and leader of monks, and that he would found a monastery that would be greater than any
other of that day. After St. Efthymios’ death, Sava went into the desert, where he lived
for five years as a hermit in a cave which an angel of God showed him. After that, when he had
become a perfected monk, he began by divine providence to gather round him many desirous of the
spiritual life. They very quickly grew in number, so that Sava had to build both a church and
many cells. Some Armenians also came to him, and he set aside a cave for them, and they
celebrated the services there in their own language. When his father died, his aged mother Sophia
came to him and he made her a nun and gave her a cell away from the monastery, where she lived in
asceticism till her death. This holy father endured many attacks from those close to him, from
heretics, and from demons. But he overcame them all in these ways: those close to him he won over
by his goodness and forbearance, the heretics by an unshakable confession of the Orthodox Faith,
and the demons with the sign of the Cross and the invocation of God’s aid. He had a
particularly severe battle with the demons on the mountain of Castellium, where he founded the
second of his seven monasteries. He and his neighbor, Theodosios the Great, are considered to be
the greatest lights and pillars of Orthodoxy in the East. Kings and patriarchs were brought to
the right Faith by them, and these holy and wonderful men, strong in the power of God, served
each and every man as an example of humility. St. Sava entered into rest in 532 at the age of
ninety-four, after a life of great labor and great reward.
Among all his other great and good works, let this be remembered above all: that he compiled the first Order of Services for use in monasteries, now known as the Jerusalem Typikon.
2. Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs of Karyes.
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They suffered at the time of the Union of
Lyons, at the hands of the Papists. The Union was the work of the pope and the Emperor
Michael Palaiologos (1260-81). The Protos of the Holy Mountain was hanged, and the others
were beheaded with the sword. For details of this, see October 10th.
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3. Our Holy Father Nectarios of Bitola.
Born in Bitola, he lived in asceticism in the monastery of the Holy Physicians Kosmas and Damian, together with his father who was also a monk. He later went to Karyes, where he continued his asceticism in the cell of the Holy Archangels, under the direction of the elders of Philotheou and Dionysiou. After conquering human envy, demonic attacks and painful illnesses, he entered into the kingdom of Christ on December 5th, 1500. His incorrupt and fragrant relics are preserved in his cell.
4. Our Holy Fathers Karion and Zachariah.
Father and son, they were great Egyptian ascetics. Karion left his wife and their two children and went off to become a monk. The young Zachariah was taken into the monastery as a child, and he outstripped in asceticism both his father and many other notable ascetics. When they asked Zachariah: ‘Who is truly a monk?’ he replied: ‘He who constantly exercises himself in the fulfilling of God’s commandments.’
FOR CONSIDERATION
A man may be great in some skill, as a statesman or a military leader, but no one amongst men is greater than the man great in faith, hope and love. The greatness of the faith and hope in God held by St. Sava the Sanctified is best shown by the following incident: One day the monastery treasurer came to Sava and said he would not be able to sound the semantron* the following Saturday and Sunday to summon the brethren for the common service and meal, because there was not a trace of flour in the monastery, nor anything at all to eat or drink. For the same reason, even the divine Liturgy was impossible. The saint replied without hesitation: ‘I shall not cancel the Liturgy because of a lack of flour. He Who commanded us not to be concerned for bodily things is faithful to His word, and is able to sustain us in a time of hunger.’ And he placed all his trust in God. In this extremity, he was prepared to send some of the church vessels and vestments to be sold in the city, so that the divine services might not be foregone, nor the brothers a customary meal. But, before Saturday dawned, some men, moved by divine providence, brought thirty mules laden with wheat, wine and oil to the monastery. ‘What do you say now, my brother?’ Sava asked the treasurer. ‘Shall we not strike the semantron and gather the fathers?’ The treasurer was ashamed of his lack of faith, and begged the abbot’s forgiveness. Sava’s biographer called him ‘severe with demons, but mild with men’. Some monks rebelled against St. Sava, and were driven from the monastery by order of Patriarch Elias. They built themselves huts on the bed of the Tekoa River, and lived there in dire straits without the bare necessities of life. Hearing that they were starving, St. Sava loaded mules with flour and took them to them himself. Seeing that they had no church, he built them one. At first the monks received him with hatred, but afterwards they returned his love with love, and repented of their former evil towards him.
* Semantron (in Serbian, klepalo)—a long piece of wood, shaped for resonance, which is struck rapidly with a mallet. It became widely used in place of a bell under Turkish rule, when Christians were forbidden to ring bells because the Turks held the superstition that bells call demons.—Translator.
December 19th – Civil Calendar
December 6th – Church Calendar
1. St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia.
This saint, famed throughout the
entire world today, was the only son of his eminent and wealthy parents, Theophanes and Nona,
citizens of Patara in Lycia. They dedicated to God the only son He gave them. St. Nicholas was
instructed in the spiritual life by his uncle Nicholas, Bishop of Patara (see below), and became
a monk at ‘New Sion,’ a monastery founded by his uncle. On the death of his parents,
Nicholas distributed all the property he inherited to the poor and kept nothing back for himself.
As a priest in Patara, he was known for his charitable works, fulfilling the Lord’s words:
‘Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth’ (Matt. 6:3). When he embraced
a life of solitude and silence, thinking to live in that way until his death, a voice from on
high came to him: ‘Nicholas, set about your work among the people if you desire to receive
a crown from Me.’ Immediately after that, by God’s wondrous providence, he was chosen
as archbishop of the city of Myra in Lycia. Merciful, wise and fearless, Nicholas was a true
shepherd to his flock. He was cast into prison during the persecutions of Diocletian and
Maximian, but even there continued to instruct the people in the law of God. He was present at
the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325, and in his zeal, struck Arius with his hand. For
this act, he was removed from the council and from his episcopal duties, until some of the chief
hierarchs had a vision of our Lord Christ and His most holy Mother showing their sympathy with
Nicholas.
This wonderful saint was a defender of the truth of God, and was ever a spirited champion of justice among the people. On two occasions, he saved three men from undeserved sentences of death. Merciful, trustworthy and loving right, he walked among the people like an angel of God. People considered him a saint even during his lifetime, and invoked his aid when in torment or distress. He would appear both in dreams and in reality to those who called upon him for help, responding speedily to them, whether close at hand or far away. His face would shine with light as Moses’ did aforetime, and his mere presence among people would bring solace, peace and goodwill. In old age, he sickened of a slight illness, and went to his rest in the Lord after a life full of labor and fruitful toil. He now enjoys eternal happiness in the kingdom of heaven, continuing to help the faithful on earth by his miracles, and to spread the glory of God. He entered into rest on December 6th, 343.
2. St. Nicholas, Bishop of Patara.
The uncle of the great St. Nicholas, he set his nephew on the spiritual path and ordained him priest.
3. The Holy Martyr Nicholas of Karamanos.
He was harshly tortured by the Turks, and was hanged in Smyrna in 1657.
4. St. Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch.
A man well-versed in Hellenistic philosophy, he became a Christian through reading the holy Scriptures and became a great champion of the Christian Faith. His work ‘On the Faith’ is extant today. He governed the Church in Antioch for thirteen years, and went to his rest in the year 181.
FOR CONSIDERATION
On icons of St. Nicholas, our Lord and Savior will often be seen on one side with the Gospels in His hand, and the most holy Mother of God on the other with an episcopal omophorion in hers. This has a twofold historical significance: it denotes, firstly, Nicholas’ calling to the episcopal office, and secondly his vindication and reinstatement following the punishment for his clash with Arius. St. Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople, writes: ‘One night, St. Nicholas saw our Savior in glory, standing by him and holding out to him the Gospels adorned with gold and pearls, and the Mother of God standing on his other side and placing an omophorion on his shoulders. Shortly after this vision, John, the then Archbishop of Myra, died, and Nicholas was installed as Archbishop of that city.’ That was the first occasion. The second occurred at the time of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea. Unable to put a stop by argument to the senseless blasphemy of Arius against the Son of God and His most pure Mother, St. Nicholas struck Arius in the face. The holy fathers at the council strongly disapproved of such behavior, and they banned Nicholas from the council and stripped him of all marks of his episcopal rank. That very night, several of the fathers had the selfsame vision: how the Lord stood on one side of Nicholas with the Gospels and the Mother of God on the other with an omophorion, offering to the saint those marks of rank that had been stripped from him. Seeing this, the fathers were amazed, and quickly returned to Nicholas that which they had taken from him. They began from that time to respect him as a great man, and to interpret his action against Arius not as some senseless rage but as the expression of great zeal for God’s truth.
December 20th – Civil Calendar
December 7th – Church Calendar
1. St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (Mediolanum).
This great father of the Orthodox Church was of
eminent parentage. His father was the imperial governor of Gaul and Spain, and a pagan, while his
mother was a Christian. While he was still in his cradle, a swarm of bees once settled on him,
left some honey on his lips and flew off; and while still a child, he thrust out his hand and
said prophetically: ‘Kiss it, for I shall be a bishop!’ On the death of his father,
the emperor made him governor of Liguria, of which province Milan was the chief city. When the
bishop of Milan died, there was great dissension between the Orthodox Christians and the
heretical Arians about the choice of a new bishop. Ambrose went into the church to keep order,
this being his responsibility. Thereupon, a child at its mother’s breast cried out:
‘Ambrose for bishop!’ All the people took this to be the voice of God, and
unanimously elected Ambrose as their bishop, although it was against his will. Ambrose was
baptized, and passed through all the necessary ranks in one week, and was consecrated bishop. In
this capacity, he strengthened the faith of the Orthodox, restrained heretics, adorned churches,
spread the Faith among the pagans, wrote many instructive books and was an example of a true
Christian and a true shepherd. He also composed the Te Deum, the great hymn of thanksgiving. This
renowned hierarch, who was visited by people from distant lands for his wisdom and gracious
words, was very austere in his personal life, being no stranger to toil and full of good works.
He slept little, worked and prayed constantly and fasted every day except Saturday and Sunday.
God therefore permitted him to witness many of His wonders, and to perform many himself. He
discovered the relics of Ss. Protasius, Gervasius, Nazarius and Celsus (see Oct. 14th). Humble
before lesser men, he was fearless before the great. He reproached the Empress Justina for
heresy, cursed Maximus for tyranny and murder and forbade the Emperor Theodosios to enter a
church until he had repented of his sin. He refused to meet the powerful Eugenius, the
self-styled emperor. God granted this man, who was so pleasing to Him, such grace that he could
raise the dead, drive demons from men, heal the sick of every ailment and see into the future. He
died peacefully at daybreak on the day of Pascha in the year 397.
2. The Holy Martyrs in Africa.
They suffered for the truth of Orthodoxy in the reign of Gunerik of the Vandals (477-484), at the hands of the heretical Arians. Two priests were burned, sixty had their tongues torn out and three hundred laymen were beheaded. All of them suffered terribly, but they overcame falsehood by their deaths, and Orthodoxy was strengthened and was handed down to us pure and untarnished. The Lord crowned them with crowns of glory in His immortal kingdom.
3. Our Holy Father Gregory the Hesychast.
A Serb by birth, he was the founder of the monastery of St. Nicholas on the Holy Mountain, which is known by the name of Grigoriou after him. He built himself a cell about four hours’ journey from the monastery, where he wept over his sins and prayed. In 1761, a serious fire broke out in the monastery, and at that time some of the monks took his relics to Serbia. This man of God entered into eternal rest in 1406.
4. Our Holy Father Nilus of Stolobnoye.
A worker on the land, born in Novgorod, he went off into a lonely place and survived on plants and gleanings. He was instructed by a voice from on high to move to the island of Stolobnoye (Table Island). Once, some robbers burst into his cell, and were immediately blinded. He dug his own grave close to his cell, and wept over it every day. He entered into eternal rest in the kingdom of Christ in 1554, and his wonder-working relics are preserved in the place where he led his life of fasting.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Fear of God drives all fear of men from the heart. In all the great hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, we notice a wonderful combination of humility and fearlessness. St. Nicholas seized the sword of an executioner so that he could not execute innocent men. St. John Chrysostom castigated the Empress Evdoxia for her misdeeds, with no consideration for the unpleasantness and danger to his life to which he exposed himself in consequence. There are many other similar examples: when the Emperor Valentinian the Elder had listened to the stern criticism of St. Ambrose, he said to him: ‘I knew of your fearlessness when I helped in your election as bishop. Correct our faults, teach the law of God and cure our unrighteousness.’ When Valentinian the Younger, at the instigation of his mother Justina (who was an Arian), ordered that the cathedral in Milan be opened for heretics, Ambrose shut himself in the church with the faithful, and would not come out for three days. He sent word to the emperor and empress that, if they desired his death, he was prepared at any time ‘here in the church to be run through, either by a sword or a spear’. Hearing this, the emperor and empress rescinded their order. When a quarrel broke out in Thessalonica, and the Emperor Theodosios the Great had more than seven thousand people beheaded, Ambrose was so furious with the emperor that, when he visited Milan and wished to enter the church, the saint forbade him to do so. The emperor said to St. Ambrose: ‘David sinned, and yet was not deprived of God’s mercy.’ The bishop replied: ‘As you have imitated David in sin, so now imitate him in repentance also.’ The emperor was ashamed and turned back, and repented bitterly of the sin he had committed.
December 21st – Civil Calendar
December 8th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Patapios.
Born and brought up in the Faith and in the fear of God by pious parents in the Egyptian city of Thebes, he early perceived and rejected the empty vanity of the world and went into the Egyptian desert, where he devoted himself to cleansing his heart from every worldly thought and desire for the sake of divine love. When his virtues became known among the people, they began to come to him and seek relief from their troubles. Afraid of human glory, which darkens a man’s mind and separates it from God, Patapios fled from the desert to Constantinople, for this wonderful saint thought that he could more easily hide himself from men in the heart of a city than in the desert. He built himself a hut close to the Vlachernai church and there, enclosed and unknown, took up again his interrupted life of asceticism. But the light cannot be hidden. A child, blind from birth, was led by divine providence to St. Patapios and begged him to offer a prayer that he might be given his sight and look upon God’s creation, and praise God all the more. Patapios had pity on the suffering child and prayed to God, and the child saw. Through this miracle, Patapios’ godly life became known throughout the entire capital, and people began to turn to him for healing, comfort and teaching. Patapios healed one eminent man of dropsy after blessing him with a cross and anointing him with oil. Making the sign of the Cross in the air, he freed a youth from an unclean spirit which had cruelly tormented him, and the evil spirit went out of God’s creature like smoke, uttering a great cry. He made the sign of the Cross over a woman who had sores on her breasts all filled with worms, and she was healed. St. Patapios worked many other miracles, all through prayer in the name of Christ and by the power of the Cross. He entered into rest in great old age, going to the kingdom of God in the seventh century.
2. The Holy Apostles Sosthenes, Apollos, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Onesiphorus, Cephas and Caesar.
  All these are
commemorated on January 4th with the other lesser apostles. St. Apollos is also
commemorated on September 10th, St. Onesiphorus on September 7th, and Cephas and Caesar on
March 30th. St. Sosthenes was Bishop of Caesarea and Tychicus succeeded him in the same
city. Epaphroditus was bishop in Colophon in Pamphylia, Cephas in Iconium and Caesar in the
Peloponnese. They all preached the Gospel of Christ with burning love, and endured
suffering for His name’s sake before they entered into the kingdom of eternal joy.
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FOR CONSIDERATION
He who entrusts himself completely to God is led by Him towards salvation, and is used by Him for the good of many others. St. Nicholas, entrusting himself to the will of God, fled from human vanity, from his town of Patara, and came to the city of Myra in Lycia, where he knew no one and was known by none. With no means at all of supporting himself (for, although he had been rich, he had abandoned everything), without acquaintance and without any plan, he went unnoticed about the city, waiting for God to direct his footsteps. At that time, John, the archbishop of the city, died and the synod that was assembled for the election of a new archbishop could not agree on any one candidate. Finally, the members of the synod decided to fast and pray that God would show them who was most worthy of the position. God heard the prayers of His servants, and disclosed to them who was the most worthy. While the presiding bishop was standing at prayer, a man appeared to him, clothed in white, and told him to go out early and stand in front of the church, awaiting the first man to arrive for morning prayer. ‘Make him archbishop; he is called Nicholas,’ he said. The bishop informed the others of what he had heard and seen, and he went to the church early the next morning and waited. St. Nicholas, who was accustomed to rising early to pray, came to the church. Seeing him, the bishop asked: ‘What is your name, my son?’ Nicholas was silent. The bishop asked him again, and this time he answered: ‘I am called Nicholas, and am your lordship’s servant.’ Then the bishop took him by the hand, and leading him into the synod, said: ‘Receive, my brethren, your pastor, whom the Holy Spirit has anointed and who has been elected not by a human synod, but by divine providence.’
December 22nd – Civil Calendar
December 9th – Church Calendar
1. The Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Mother of God.
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Righteous Joachim and Anna were childless for fifty years
of their married life. In their old age, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to them, to each
one separately, and told them that God had heard their prayer and that a daughter would be
born to them. Then St. Anna conceived by her husband, and after nine months, bore a
daughter blessed by God and all generations of men: the most holy Virgin Mary and Mother of
God. There is a fuller account of all this on September 9th.
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2. St. Hannah, Mother of the Prophet Samuel.
Hannah was the wife of Elkanah from Ramathaim-Zophim, or Arimathea (I Kgs. [I Sam.] 1). She had had no child, being barren, and she wept and grieved bitterly for this. But God in His mercy took pity on her, and removed her barrenness in response to her ceaseless prayers and sighs. Hannah bore a son, Samuel, and dedicated him to God from his childhood. Samuel was a great leader of the nation of Israel, and a prophet who anointed two kings, Saul and David. St. Hannah sang a hymn of thanksgiving to God, a hymn wonderful in its wisdom and beauty, which is used to this day in church services (I Kgs. [I Sam.] 2:1).
3. Our Holy Father Stephen the New Light.
This godly man was born and brought up in Constantinople in the house of his parents Zacharias and Theophano, his father being a priest at the Great Church in the time of Patriarch Methodius. When she was carrying him in her womb, his mother fed only on bread and water, and when the child was born, a cross of light shone on his breast. Because of this, and because of his pure and godly way of life, he is named ‘the New Light’. At the age of eighteen, Stephen shut himself up in a cell attached to the church of St. Peter the Apostle, and devoted himself to prayer and fasting. Once St. Peter appeared to him, and said: ‘Peace be to thee, my child; thou hast made a good beginning. May the Lord strengthen thee.’ After that, he spent many years in a cell by the church of the holy martyr Antipas. This saint also appeared to him, encouraging him: ‘Know that I will not abandon thee.’ Stephen took greater and greater labors upon himself. He ate only twice a week, and that unsalted cabbage. In all, this holy man spent fifty-five years in asceticism for the sake of the kingdom of Christ, and went to his rest in the Lord in 879, at the age of seventy-three.
4. St. Sophronios, Archbishop of Cyprus.
He was born and brought up in Cyprus. Because of his great spiritual erudition and his many virtues, in particular his compassion, he was made archbishop after St. Damian. Having faithfully served the Church and led a life pleasing to God, he died peacefully in the sixth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
God repays a hundred-fold that which is loaned to Him through the poor. There was once a Christian woman married to a pagan, and they lived together in love and poverty. When the husband had put by fifty pieces of silver, he remarked to his wife that they should lend the money out on interest, because their savings would otherwise be frittered away coin by coin, and they would be left with nothing. His wife replied: ‘If you want to lend the money, lend it to the Christian God.’ ‘And where is this Christian God?’ he asked. His wife took him to the church and told him to distribute all the money to the beggars in front of it, saying: ‘The God of the Christians will accept it from them, for they all belong to Him.’ So, giving every single one of the fifty coins of silver to the poor, they went home. After a while, they were left without bread in the house, and the woman told her husband to go to the church for the money that he had lent to God. Off the husband went to the church, but he saw only beggars there, and in doubt about who would give him the money, he paced around the church building. Suddenly, he saw a silver coin lying before him. He picked it up, bought a fish with it and took it home, where he complained to his wife that he had not seen anybody, and nobody had given him anything at all, but that he had come upon a single coin on the ground quite by chance. His wife replied: ‘God is invisible, and works in an unseen way.’ When she opened the fish, she found a glittering stone in it. She gave it to her husband, who took it to a merchant to see what he could get for it. The merchant offered him five silver pieces, and the man began to laugh, thinking the merchant was joking in offering so high a price. However, the merchant thought that the man was laughing on account of the meanness of his offer, and offered him first ten, then fifteen, thirty and finally fifty silver pieces. The man then realized that it was a precious stone, and began to demur. The merchant raised his price higher and higher, until he reached three hundred pieces of silver. Then the man accepted the three hundred pieces and went off home full of joy. ‘Do you see how good the Christian God is?’ asked his wife. The amazed husband was baptized straight away, and lived to glorify God together with his wife.
December 23rd – Civil Calendar
December 10th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Menas, Hermogenes and Evgraphus.
Both Menas and Hermogenes were born in Athens. They both lived in Byzantion, where they enjoyed the high favor of the emperor and the honor of the people. Menas was known for his great learning and gift of speech, and although he acted outwardly as a pagan, he was in his heart a convinced Christian. Hermogenes was Eparch of Byzantion, and was a pagan through and through. He was, however, a merciful man and performed many good deeds. When dissension broke out between the Christians and the pagans in the city of Alexandria, the Emperor Maximinus (308-313) sent Menas to calm the turmoil and drive the Christians from the city. Menas went and restored peace, but he also declared himself to be a Christian and brought many of the pagans to the true Faith by the power of his words and the witness of his many miracles. When the emperor heard this, he sent Hermogenes to punish Menas and to liquidate the Christians. Hermogenes brought Menas to trial, and he cut off his feet and his tongue, gouged out his eyes and then threw him into prison. The Lord Jesus Himself appeared to him there, to heal and console His suffering servant. When he saw Menas miraculously healed, Hermogenes was baptized and began to preach the mighty Faith of Christ, being made Bishop of Alexandria. Then the furious Emperor Maximinus came himself to Alexandria and put Menas and Hermogenes to harsh torture, which they endured courageously with the help of God’s grace. Beholding the fortitude of these soldiers of Christ and the miracles God wrought upon them, Evgraphus, Menas’ secretary, went into the judgement-hall and shouted to the emperor’s face: ‘I too am a Christian!’ The emperor flew into a rage, took a sword and beheaded Evgraphus himself, and then he commanded the executioner to behead Menas and Hermogenes. Their holy relics, thrown into the sea, floated in a miraculous way to Byzantion, where the bishop, forewarned in a dream, met them with great ceremony and buried them with honor.
2. Our Holy Mother Angelina and St. John the Despot.
The daughter of Prince George Skenderbeg of Albania and the wife of Stefan, Despot of Serbia and son of Despot George (Đurađ), she endured exile with her husband and shared with him all the vicissitudes of life in Serbia, and also in Albania and Italy. She brought up her two sons, Maxim and John, in a truly Christian spirit. Becoming a nun on her husband’s death, she devoted herself to prayer, works of charity and the building and repair of churches. A faithful wife, a good mother and a perfect Christian, she indeed merited the title ‘Mother Angelina’ given her by the people. Her wonder-working relics are preserved, along with the relics of her righteous husband Stefan and her devoted sons Maxim and John, in the monastery of Krušedol, though some of them were destroyed by the Turks. She entered into rest and into life eternal at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
3. The Holy Martyr Gemellos.
An honored citizen of Ankyra, Gemellos appeared before the Emperor Julian the Apostate when he visited the city, and openly reproached him for his apostasy. For this, he was tortured and crucified in the year 361. While he was enduring his passion on the cross, a voice was heard from heaven: ‘Blessed art thou, Gemellos!’
4. Our Holy Father Thomas of Bithynia.
A great faster, a conqueror of demons and a clairvoyant, he once received a letter from the Emperor Leo the Wise, and replied without opening it. He entered into rest in the Lord in great old age, in the ninth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The living Lord has innumerable ways of knowing when to be gentle and when to chastise, to deliver the faithful from temptation, to bring unbelievers to the Faith and to punish its incorrigible persecutors. When the wicked Maximian had slain Christ’s martyrs Menas, Hermogenes and Evgraphus, he set sail with his retinue from Alexandria en route for Constantinople. He was at that moment blinded, as his soul and mind had long been blind, and began to complain to those around him of invisible hands that were beating him. He soon died an evil death, as he had lived an evil life. In the time of St. Ambrose, the following incident occurred: The heretical Empress Justina had persuaded Euthymius, a great Milanese landowner, to seize the bishop she hated and take him somewhere far off into exile. Euthymius prepared a cart, and found lodgings in a house close to the church, the more easily to keep watch on Ambrose and bear him off in the cart. On the very day on which he had everything prepared to seize St. Ambrose, an imperial order arrived, sending Euthymius into instant exile for some crime. The soldiers came, seized the wicked man and took him off to exile in the very cart that he had prepared for Ambrose. On another occasion, an Arian came into the church where St. Ambrose was celebrating, bent on hearing Ambrose say something for which they could condemn him. Looking around, the heretic saw God’s saint teaching the people, and an angel of light alongside him, whispering in his ear. This made the Arian greatly afraid and ashamed, and casting off his heresy, he returned to Orthodoxy.
December 24th – Civil Calendar
December 11th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Father Daniel the Stylite.
Born in the village of Maroutha, near the city of
Samosata in Mesopotamia, of Christian parents, Elias and Martha, he was a gift of God through the
tearful prayers of his mother, who was barren, and was dedicated to God in his youth. He embraced
the monastic state at the age of twelve and visited St. Simeon the Stylite, receiving his
blessing. Desirous of solitude, Daniel left his monastery and withdrew to an abandoned pagan
temple on the shore of the Black Sea. He endured many assaults from demons, but overcame them all
by prayer, endurance and the sign of the Cross. After that, he climbed up onto a pillar, where he
remained till his death, enduring with equanimity both heat and cold, and attacks from both men
and demons. Many disciples gathered around his pillar, and he led them towards eternal life by
his example and his words. God rewarded His devoted servant with great grace in this life, and he
worked many miracles of help to men, and foretold future events. People came to his pillar from
all parts, seeking help and advice from the saint of God. Kings and patriarchs came to him, as
well as simple folk. The Emperor Leo the Great used to bring his foreign guests, princes and
nobles, and show them Daniel on his pillar, saying: ‘Here is the wonder of my
empire!’ Daniel foretold the day of his own death, taught his disciples as a father would
his children, and took leave of them. At the time of his death, his disciples saw angels,
prophets, apostles and martyrs around the pillar. Having lived in asceticism for eighty years,
this angelic man entered into rest, and into the kingdom of Christ, in 489.
2. Our Holy Father Luke the Stylite.
Luke lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. He fought as a soldier in the war against the Bulgars and witnessed the slaughter of many thousands, but he himself emerged from the war alive and unharmed. Seeing the finger of God in his deliverance, he scorned all the vanity of this world, took himself off to a pillar near Chalcedon and there spent forty-five years in asceticism, cleansing his soul from every sinful thought and desire. He entered into rest after a life pleasing to God, some time between 970 and 980, and went to the better life.
3. Our Holy Father Nikon the Dry.
He was enslaved by the Tartars as a monk of the Kiev Caves, and spent three years in captivity, fettered, tortured and abused. When his kinsmen brought the money to ransom him from his owner, he refused, saying: ‘If the Lord had wanted me to be free, He would not have given me into the hands of these lawless men.’ Once he told his owner that Christ would free him in three days. The Tartar thought that this meant that his slave was going to run away, so he cut his tendons below the knee. On the third day, though, Nikon was indeed carried by invisible hands to Kiev. After a time, the Tartar came to Kiev and recognized his former slave. He repented and was baptized, and the former owner became the servant and disciple of his erstwhile slave. Nikon, called ‘the Dry’ because of the great emaciation of his body, was a great visionary and wonder-worker. He entered peacefully into rest in the Lord on December 11th, 1101.
4. The Holy Martyr Meirax.
An Egyptian, he was tricked by the Mohammedan emir into accepting Islam. He later repented, went into a mosque bearing a cross, declared himself a Christian and called upon the Moslems to forsake their errors and turn to the Truth. He was tortured and martyred in about 640.
FOR CONSIDERATION
‘The Lord preserveth all them that love Him’ (Ps. 144:21). The lives of the saints affirm this with sun-like clarity. Certain envious priests complained to Patriarch Anatolios about St. Daniel, slandering him and saying that he was a magician. This sprang from their jealousy of the young ascetic, who had outstripped them in every virtue and had drawn many to himself by his manner of life. The patriarch summoned Daniel, and examined him in his faith and his way of life. Daniel having laid all before him, the patriarch rose from his seat and embraced him, speaking highly of him and sending him away in peace. Several days later, Patriarch Anatolios fell ill, and he called Daniel and asked him to pray to God for his recovery. Daniel prayed, and the patriarch was instantly restored to health. When the patriarch sought to reward Daniel in some way, the young saint asked, as his reward, that his slanderers be pardoned. The patriarch said: ‘How could I not forgive them when they are the means of such a great blessing—that I should come to know you and obtain healing through you?’ Indeed, ‘the Lord preserveth all them that love Him,’ and turns to good the evil that men devise.
While St. Nikon the Dry was a slave among the Tartars, his master became sick and was at the point of death. Realizing that he was in this state, he ordered his sons to crucify Nikon on his grave. St. Nikon foresaw the future Baptism of his cruel master, and prayed to God for his recovery. Against all expectation, the Tartar recovered. Thus, through prayer, Nikon saved himself from physical death and his master from the death of his soul.
December 25th – Civil Calendar
December 12th – Church Calendar
1. St. Spiridon the Wonder-worker, Bishop of Trimythous.
The island of Cyprus was both the
birthplace of this famous saint, and the place in which he spent his life in the service of the
Church. He was of simple farming stock, and remained simple and humble to the end of his days. He
married young and had children, but when his wife died, he devoted himself entirely to the
service of God. He was chosen for his devotion as Bishop of Trimythous, and even as a bishop did
not change his simple style of life, taking charge of his cattle himself and tilling his own
land. He consumed very little of his own produce, giving the greater part to the poor. He
performed great wonders by God’s power, making rain fall in a drought, stopping the course
of a river, raising several of the dead, healing the Emperor Constans of a grave sickness, seeing
and hearing angels, foreseeing future events and penetrating the secrets of the human heart. He
turned many to the true Faith, and did much else. He was present at the First Ecumenical Council
in Nicaea in 325, and by his simple and clear expositions of the Faith, as well as by convincing
miracles, brought back many heretics to Orthodoxy. He dressed so simply that once, when he was
invited by the emperor to the imperial court, a soldier took him for a beggar and struck him a
blow. The meek and guileless Spiridon turned him the other cheek. He glorified God with many
miracles, and was of great aid both to individuals and to the whole Church of God. He entered
into rest in the Lord in 348, and his wonder-working relics now lie on the island of Corfu and
continue to glorify God with many wonders.
2. The Hieromartyr Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem.
He was at first bishop in Cappadocia, but during the persecution under Severus in 203, was thrown into prison and then exiled. After that, he accepted the see of Jerusalem, and there founded a famous library that was of great use to Eusebius when he was writing his Ecclesiastical History. He was tortured in various ways during the reign of Decius, and was thrown to the wild beasts. Alive and unharmed, he was cast back into prison, where he finished his earthly course and went to the Lord in the year 251.
3. The Holy Martyr Synesius.
He boldly preached the truth of Christ as a young reader in Rome, and denounced the idolaters. He was beheaded for his outspokenness during the reign of Aurelian, towards the end of the third century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Nothing will help us if we are not generous and forgiving towards human weakness in others. If we do not forgive others, how can we hope that God will forgive us? St. Spiridon once sold a merchant a hundred goats at a given price, and told the buyer to produce the money. Knowing that Spiridon himself would never count it, he put down enough for ninety-nine goats and secreted the money for the hundredth. Spiridon then counted out a hundred goats for him, but when the merchant and his servant started driving them away, one of them returned bleating. It was driven off again, and again returned. It kept returning to the flock, and would not go with the other goats. The saint then whispered into the merchant’s ear: ‘You know, my son, that animal is not acting like this without a reason. Have you, perhaps, withheld the price?’ The merchant was ashamed and acknowledged his sin, and as soon as he had paid the full amount, the goat immediately went off and joined the rest of the flock.
On another occasion, some thieves went into St. Spiridon’s pasture. When they had seized as many rams as they wanted, they tried to leave the field, but an invisible force riveted them to the earth and they could not move from the spot. At dawn, the bishop came to the pasture, and seeing the thieves, reproached them mildly and told them to try, in the future, to live by their own labor and not by thieving. He then caught a ram and gave it to them, saying: ‘Take this, so that your trouble and night vigil should not have been in vain,’ and he sent them away in peace.
December 26th – Civil Calendar
December 13th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Evstratius, Auxentius, Evgenius, Mardarius and Orestes.
These five courageous men shone like five resplendent stars in the dark days of the anti-Christian Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. St. Evstratius was a Roman general in the city of Satalios, Evgenius (Eugene) was one of his comrades in arms and Orestes likewise a respected soldier. Auxentius was a priest and Mardarius a simple citizen who came, like Evstratius, from the town of Aravraca. The imperial governors, Lysias and Agricola, tortured Auxentius first as he was a priest. Beholding the innocent suffering of the Christians, Evstratius presented himself before Lysias and declared that he also was a Christian. While Evstratius was being tortured, Evgenius stood up before the judge and cried out: ‘I am a Christian too, Lysias!’ When they were driving Evstratius and the other martyrs through the town, Mardarius saw them from the roof of his house, and he took leave of his wife and two frail daughters and hastened after them, shouting into the faces of their tormentors: ‘I am a Christian too, like the Lord Evstratius!’ Orestes was a young and handsome soldier, who stood head and shoulders above all the other soldiers. One day, when he was at target practice in Lysias’ presence, the cross he was wearing fell from his breast, and Lysias realized that he was a Christian. Orestes openly confessed his faith, and was martyred with the others. Auxentius was beheaded, Evgenius and Mardarius died under torture, Orestes was exposed on a red-hot iron grid and Evstratius died in a flaming furnace. St. Vlasios (see Feb. 11th) gave Communion to St. Evstratius in prison before his death. Their relics were later taken to Constantinople, and are preserved in the church dedicated to them—The Holy Five Companions. They were seen alive in that church, and St. Orestes appeared to St. Dimitri of Rostov (see Oct. 28th). A beautiful prayer by St. Evstratius is extant, which is read at the Midnight Service on Saturdays: ‘I glorify Thy majesty, O Lord, for Thou hast regarded my lowliness and hast not shut me up in the hands of my enemies, but hast saved my soul from want...’
2. The Holy Martyr Lucy the Virgin.
 With her mother, Lucy visited the grave of St.
Agatha in Catania, and the saint appeared to her. Her mother, who had an issue of blood,
was miraculously cured in the church at that time. Lucy gave away all her goods to the
poor, and this embittered her betrothed, who denounced her to Paschasius the judge as a
Christian. The wicked judge ordered that she be taken to a brothel and defiled, but by the
power of God, she remained immovable, as if rooted to the earth, and not even a vast number
of people was able to move her from the spot. An enraged pagan then ran her through the
throat with a sword, and she commended her soul to God and entered into the kingdom of
eternity. She suffered in the year 304.
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3. The Hieromartyr Gavrilo (Gabriel), Patriarch of Serbia.
In the fearful period of Turkish rule in Serbia, this great hierarch went to Russia, where he took part in the Moscow Synod of 1655. When he returned to Serbia, he was denounced as a traitor. Certain wicked Jews also brought against him the charge of having converted several Jews to the Christian Faith. These Jews, in order to stir up the Turkish authorities, made a special point of the fact that he had worked for the Baptism of Turks. He was tried, and sentenced to forcible conversion to Islam. Since Gavrilo would have none of this, he was, after a period of imprisonment, sentenced to death and hanged in Prousa (Bursa) in 1659, and so went to his beloved Christ, to receive at His hands the double wreath of hierarch and martyr.
FOR CONSIDERATION
To give alms out of one’s own need is true almsgiving. Not even the most hardened sinner sins then, for it is an act precious before God. When St. Lucy had seen her sick mother miraculously healed, she suggested to her that her possessions be used as alms to the needy. Her mother replied that she was not willing to relinquish her goods until her death, but agreed that, when that happened, Lucy should use them in whatever way she wished. ‘First cover my eyes with earth,’ she said, ‘and then do what you will with them.’ Lucy said: ‘He who gives to God only what he cannot take with him into the grave, or make use of in this life, is not very pleasing to God. If you want to do something pleasing to Him, give Him that which you yourself need. In death, you can use nothing at all, and need from Him things that you cannot take with you. It is better to give to Christ that which you have while you are alive and well. Give to Him all that you have set aside for me, and do it now!’ The devout mother hearkened to her wise daughter, and did so.
When the torturer Paschasius was trying to force this holy maiden into carnal sin, Lucy tried to keep the thought of it from entering her will. When the torturer threatened that his men would defile her by force, saying with a smirk: ‘When you have been defiled, the Holy Spirit will flee from you,’ Lucy, full of grace, replied: ‘The body cannot be defiled without the consent of the mind,’ and holy Lucy went to her death having given away all her goods and having preserved her pure young body from defilement.
December 27th – Civil Calendar
December 14th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyrs Thyrsos, Lefkios, and Kallinikos.
Saints Thyrsos (Thyrsus) and Lefkios (Leucius) were eminent citizens of Bithynian Caesarea; the latter being baptized and the former still a catechumen. Kallinikos (Callinicus), however, was a pagan priest who offered sacrifice to idols. When Cumbricius, heir to the Emperor Decius, began to torture and murder the Christians, the intrepid Lefkios stood before him and reproached him: ‘Why have you begun to make war on your own soul, Cumbricius?’ The enraged judge ordered that he be flogged and tortured, and then beheaded with the sword. In terrible torment, Lefkios went to his execution as joyfully as if he were going to a wedding. When he beheld Lefkios’ courageous death, blessed Thyrsos was inflamed with divine zeal, and like Lefkios, went before the judge and rebuked him for his crimes and his lack of belief in the one, true God. He was therefore beaten and cast into prison. He was healed of his wounds by the invisible hand of God, which also opened the prison doors and led him forth. Thyrsos went at once to Phileas, the Bishop of Caesarea, to be baptized by him. After his Baptism, he was again seized and tortured, but he endured all the torments as if in a dream and not in reality. Many idols fell down through the power of his prayer. When he saw this, Kallinikos, a pagan priest, was converted to the Christian Faith, so both he and Thyrsos were condemned to death. Kallinikos was beheaded with the sword, and Thyrsos was placed in a wooden coffin to be sawn asunder, but God’s power prevented this and the saw could not penetrate the wood. Then Thyrsos arose from the coffin, praying and thanking God for his sufferings, and he peacefully gave his soul into the Lord’s hands. At the end of the fourth century, the Emperor Flavian built a church to St. Thyrsos near Constantinople, and placed his holy relics in it. The saint appeared in a vision to the Empress Pulcheria, and suggested that she bury the relics of the Forty Martyrs beside his own.
2. The Holy Martyrs Philemon, Apollonios, Arrianos and others.
During the reign of Diocletian, Arrianos, a judge in Egypt, cruelly persecuted the Christians there. He seized Apollonios and threatened him with torture. Apollonios became afraid of the tortures, and bribed an unknown musician, Philemon, a pagan, to offer sacrifice to the idols in his place, dressed in his clothes. When Philemon went before the idols, the light of the Christian Faith suddenly shone in his heart, and he made the sign of the Cross. He then went out of the temple and began to shout: ‘I am a Christian, a servant of Christ the living God!’ Hearing this, the judge laughed, thinking that Philemon was mocking the Christians. Later, Philemon was subjected to fearful tortures. Finally, both Philemon and Apollonios were beheaded by Arrianos the judge. Then Arrianos himself became a Christian, because his blind eye was healed in a miraculous way at Philemon’s grave. He was condemned to death by the emperor, and was martyred together with four soldiers who had likewise declared themselves to be Christians.
FOR CONSIDERATION
There are three sorts of praiseworthy zeal: zeal in cleansing oneself from sinful desires and thoughts, zeal for the truth of the Faith and zeal for God’s justice among men. All three were perfectly present in the soul of St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker. He showed zeal in self-purification through his whole life, keeping a careful watch over his heart. His zeal for the truth of the Faith was especially evident at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, where he entered into a fearful conflict with Arius. His zeal for God’s justice among men was seen especially in two notable events, when on each occasion he saved three innocent men from the death penalty. Once, in his absence from Myra, the avaricious military governor, Efstathios, sentenced three men to be beheaded, he having accepted a bribe from their enemies. When he was informed of this, St. Nicholas returned to Myra in the greatest haste. The condemned men had been led out to the place of execution, and the executioner had already raised his sword over them. At that instant, St. Nicholas seized the sword, pulled it out of the executioner’s hand and set the condemned men free. He then rebuked Efstathios and brought him to shame and repentance. In a similar way, three generals, Nepotianus, Ursus and Erpilionus, were slandered before Evlavios the governor of Constantinople and the emperor himself. The emperor signed the death-warrant. On the eve of their execution, the three men prayed to God, saying: ‘O God of Nicholas, deliver us innocent men from death!’ That night, St. Nicholas appeared to both the emperor and the governor in their sleep, denounced them for their injustice and ordered them to free the three men from prison at once. The next day, the emperor and the governor each related to the other the selfsame nocturnal vision, and they set the generals free both from their death-sentence and from prison.
December 28th – Civil Calendar
December 15th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Eleutherius.
A good fruit of a good tree, this wonderful saint had noble
and eminent parents. He was born in Rome, where his father was in imperial service. His mother,
Anthea, heard the Gospel from the great Apostle Paul himself, and was baptized by him. Being
early left a widow, she entrusted her only son to the education and service of the Bishop of
Rome, Anacletus. Seeing how greatly Eleutherius was gifted and illumined by the grace of God, the
bishop ordained him deacon at the age of fifteen, priest at eighteen and bishop at twenty.
Endowed by God with wisdom, he made up for what he lacked in years. This godly man was made
bishop in Illyria, with his seat at Valona in Albania. He kept his flock like a good shepherd,
adding to their number from day to day. The Emperor Hadrian, a persecutor of Christians, sent a
commander, Felix, with soldiers, to seize Eleutherius and take him to Rome. When the furious
Felix arrived in Valona and went into the church, and heard and saw God’s holy hierarch,
his heart was suddenly changed and he became a Christian. Eleutherius baptized him and set off
with him for Rome, as merrily as though he were going to a feast, not to trial and torture. The
emperor put the gently-born Eleutherius to harsh torture, flogging him, burning him on an iron
grid, boiling him in pitch and burning him in a fiery furnace. But, by God’s power,
Eleutherius was delivered from all these deadly torments. Seeing all this, Choribus the governor
proclaimed that he himself was a Christian. Choribus was tortured and then beheaded, and so also
blessed Felix. Finally, the imperial executioners cut off the honored head of St. Eleutherius.
When his mother, holy Anthea, came and stood over the dead body of her son, she was also
beheaded. Their bodies were taken to Valona, where St. Eleutherius glorifies the name of Christ
to this day by many wonders. He suffered in the time of Hadrian, in the year 120.
2. St. Stephen the Confessor of Sourozh.
Born in Cappadocia and educated under the care of the patriarch, St. Germanos, he went off into solitude and lived hidden from the world. An angel appeared to St. Germanos and told him to make Stephen bishop of the town of Sourozh (now Sudak in the Crimea), and this the patriarch did. Stephen brought many to the Christian Faith by his zeal, and suffered much at the hands of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian because of his, Stephen’s, struggle against the iconoclasts, prophesying to the emperor his imminent decease. After the evil death of this evil ruler, Stephen returned to his diocese and was pastor to his flock as a true man of God, departing this life peacefully at the end of the eighth century.
3. Our Holy Father Paul of Latros.
Born in Pergamum (Pergamos), he lived in asceticism on a mountain called Latros in Asia Minor. He was glorified by his asceticism and his many miracles, and entered peacefully into rest in old age, going to the Lord in the year 950.
4. Our Holy Father Pardus the Solitary.
In his youth, he was a wagoneer, but because of an unintentional sin, he left the world and withdrew to the desert to live in asceticism. He lived in Palestine in the sixth century.
FOR CONSIDERATION
For unintentional murder, earthly law frees the murderer. The Church lays penance on the unintentional murderer, a penance much lighter than that for a willful murderer, but does not leave him without a penance. If a priest kills unintentionally, for instance, the Church forbids him to serve as a priest for the rest of his life. Christians with sensitive souls and sharpened consciences take on themselves a harsher penance than the Church lays down. St. Pardus, as a wagoneer, once arrived in Jericho. Leaving his ass in front of an inn, he went in. At that moment, a child fell in front of the ass, and the animal trampled on it and killed it. When Pardus saw the dead and trampled child, killed by his ass, his heart was so burdened that he felt as though he were himself guilty of the child’s death. This conscience-stricken man laid on himself the harshest penance: he abandoned his trade, forsook the world although he was very young, and went off into the arid desert for strict bodily asceticism and spiritual toil and repentance. With many tears, he offered God his repentance for the murder of the child. He desired to give his life for that of the child, and prayed to God that He would somehow bring this about. He searched out a lion, hoping that it would eat him, but the lion fled from him. He lay in the narrow track that the lion had taken, hoping the beast would kill him, but the lion leapt over him and would not touch him. Seeing, therefore, that it was God’s will that he live and not perish, he calmed down, but remained to his death a lowly penitent. Is this not a sensitive, loving and God-fearing soul? Is not this the refined and sharpened conscience of a true Christian?
December 29th – Civil Calendar
December 16th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Haggai.
Born in Babylon in the time of the captivity of Israel, he was of the tribe of Levi. He prophesied in 520 B.C., and visited Jerusalem as a young man. He urged Zerubbabel and Jesus the priest to restore the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, prophesying for this temple greater glory than the former Temple of Solomon: ‘The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts’ (2:9), for the Lord, the Savior, would appear in the new temple. He lived to see the first half of the new temple completed by Zerubbabel, and died in old age, and rested with his fathers.
2. St. Nicholas Chrysoverges, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He governed the Church from 984 to 996, and ordained the great Symeon the New Theologian priest when this spiritual giant was chosen as the superior of the monastery of the holy Martyr Mamas in Constantinople. In his days, there came to pass a wonderful revelation of the Archangel Gabriel at Karyes, when he at that time taught the monk to praise the Mother of God with the hymn ‘Axion Estin’ (It is Verily Worthy), writing the hymn on tablets in a chapel of one of the cells, which has been known from that time by the name ‘Axion Estin’ (see June 13th). He was a great and eminent hierarch, and entered peacefully into rest in the kingdom of God.
3. St. Theophano the Empress.
She was born of eminent parents, Constantine and Anna, who were kin to several emperors. Her parents were for a long time childless, and besought the Mother of God to give them a family. God gave them this daughter, Theophano. Imbued with a Christian spirit right from her youth, Theophano outstripped her companions in every Christian virtue. When she had grown up, she entered into marriage with Leo, the son of the Emperor Basil the Macedonian, and endured much misfortune alongside her husband. Reacting to the slander that Leo carried a knife in his breast with which, at the right opportunity, to kill his father, the gullible Basil shut his son and daughter-in-law up in prison, and these two innocent souls spent three years there. Then, one day, on the feast of the holy Prophet Elias (Elijah), the emperor summoned all his nobles to court for a feast. At one moment, the emperor’s parrot suddenly spoke these words: ‘Alack, alack, my lord Leo!’ and it repeated these words a number of times. This caused great confusion among the courtiers, and they all begged the emperor to release his son and daughter-in-law. The emperor was touched, and did so. After his father’s death, this Leo became emperor, being called ‘the Wise’. Theophano did not consider her imperial dignity to be of much account, but being utterly given to God, she gave thought to the salvation of her soul, fasting and praying and giving alms, founding monasteries and churches. No lying word ever passed her lips, nor any unnecessary speech or the least slander. At the time of her death, she called together her closest friends and took leave of them, then gave her soul to God, in 892. The Emperor Leo wanted to build a church over her grave, and when the patriarch refused to allow this, built the church of All Saints, saying that, if Theophano were a saint, she would be glorified together with the others. At that time, the feast of All Saints was introduced, to be celebrated on the Sunday after the feast of Pentecost.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The saints devoted immense labor to the killing of pride and selfishness in themselves, and to the accustoming of themselves to total obedience and consecration, be it by their own preference when they had the choice or by the direct act of God. The monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified was distinguished by a particular discipline, order and willing obedience. When St. John Damascene arrived at this monastery, none of the eminent spiritual guides would venture to take this famous nobleman and writer as his cell-servant. Then the abbot gave him to an elder who was simple and strict. The elder forbade John to write any hymns, and told John to do nothing without his knowledge and permission. It happened, however, that one of the monks, who had a brother in the same monastery, died, and the monk was in unspeakable grief for his dead brother. At the great entreaties of the brethren, John wrote stichera for the departed for the dead man—the hymns at a funeral that the Church uses today. Having composed them, John began to sing them. When his elder heard the hymns, he was furious and drove John away. Hearing of John’s banishment, the brethren plucked up courage, and going to the elder, begged him to forgive John and receive him back, but the elder remained unmoved. John wept bitterly, and lamented at having transgressed his elder’s command. The brethren once more besought the elder for John, to lay some penance on him and then forgive him. Then the elder laid this penance on his disciple: to clean the lavatories of every cell in the monastery with his own hands if he desired forgiveness. The sorrowful brethren told John of this, thinking that he would leave the monastery rather than do it, but when John received the elder’s message, he rejoiced greatly, and with joy, carried out his command. Seeing this, the elder burst into tears, embraced John and said through his tears: ‘Oh, what a sufferer for Christ have I fathered! Oh, what a true son of holy obedience this man is!’
After this, the elder was rebuked by an angel for stopping St. John from writing his beautiful hymns glorifying Christ and His holy Mother. St. John thereafter wrote many of the hymns that the Church uses today.
December 30th – Civil Calendar
December 17th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Prophet Daniel and the Three Children: Ananias, Azarias and Misael.
All four of
them were of the royal tribe of Judah. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed and plundered Jerusalem,
Daniel, as a boy, was taken off into slavery together with Jehoiachin, King of Judah, and many
other Israelites. The account of his life, sufferings and prophecies can be found in detail in
his book. Utterly given to God, Daniel from his early youth received from God the gift of great
discernment. His fame among the Jews in Babylon began when he denounced two lecherous and
unrighteous elders, and saved the chaste Susannah from an unjust death. But his fame among the
Babylonians stemmed from the day when he solved and interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar.
For this, the king made him a prince at his court. When the king made a golden idol in the Plain
of Dura, the Three Children refused to worship it, for which they were cast into the burning
fiery furnace. But an Angel of God appeared in the furnace and soothed the flames, so that the
Children walked in the furnace untouched by the fire, and sang: ‘Blessed art Thou, Lord God
of our fathers!’ The king saw this marvel, and was amazed. He then brought the Children out
of the furnace and did them great honor.
In the time of King Belshazzar, when the king was eating and drinking with his guests at a feast out of consecrated vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem, an invisible hand wrote these three words on the wall: ‘Mene, Tekel, Upharsin’. No one could interpret these words but Daniel. That night, King Belshazzar was killed. Daniel was thrown into a den of lions for his faith in the one, living God, and God preserved him alive. Daniel saw God on His throne with the angelic powers, often saw angels, had insight into the future of certain people, of kingdoms and of the whole human race, and prophesied the time of the coming of the Savior on earth. According to St. Kyril of Alexandria, Daniel and the Three Children lived to great old age in Babylon, and were beheaded with the sword for the true Faith. When Ananias was beheaded, Azarias held out his robe and caught his head, then Misael caught Azarias’ head and Daniel Misael’s. An angel of God carried their bodies to Judea, to Mount Gebal, and placed them under a rock. According to tradition, these four men arose at the time of the death of the Lord Jesus and appeared to many, then fell asleep again. Daniel is counted as one of the four Great Prophets (with Isaias, Jeremias and Ezekiel). He lived and prophesied halfway through the thousand years before Christ.
2. Our Holy Father Daniel.
He was a nobleman, and governor of the island of Niberta, near Cadiz in Spain. Being acquainted with all the vanity of this world, he forsook its glory and riches and went to Rome, where he became a monk. After this, he went to Constantinople, where he spoke with the Emperors Constantine and Romanos Porphyrogenitus, then continued on to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, he received the Great Habit at the hands of Patriarch Christodoulos, who gave him the name Stephen. Abused by the Saracens, who put pressure on him to shave off his beard, he went to Egypt, where he suffered greatly and died for the name of Christ. He entered into the kingdom of Christ in the tenth century.
3. Our Holy Fathers, the New-Martyrs Paisius (Paisy) and Avakum.
Paisius was abbot of the monastery of Trnava near Čačak in Serbia, and Avakum his companion and deacon. Both of them were, as Christians, impaled on stakes by the Turks on Kalemegdan in Belgrade, on December 17th, 1814. Dragging his spike through the streets of Belgrade, the courageous Habakkuk sang. When his mother begged him with tears to save his life by accepting Islam, this wonderful soldier of Christ replied to her, thanking her for her motherhood and not for her advice, and quoting the great figures of the Old Testament who suffered for, and glorified, God, and looking to the end of his own martyrdom in the immortal kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Bodily purity is primarily attained through fasting, and through bodily purity comes spiritual purity. Abstinence from food, according to the words of that son of grace, St. Ephraim the Syrian, means: ‘Not to desire or demand much food, either sweet or costly; to eat nothing outside the stated times; not to give oneself over to gratification of the appetite; not to stir up hunger in oneself by looking at good food; and not to desire one or another sort of food.’ There is a great fallacy that abstinence from food and the eating of fasting foods are harmful to physical health. It is a known fact that those who fast are the longest-lived and the least prone to sickness. The holy Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Children offer us an example of this. When the king commanded his eunuch to feed the young men on meat from the royal table, and give them good wine to drink, Daniel told the eunuch that they were not willing to take the meat and wine from the king’s table, but wanted only herbs (for Daniel did not want to eat meat sprinkled with blood from the idolatrous sacrifices). But the eunuch was afraid that the young men would be weakened by the fasting food, and spoke of his fear to Daniel. Then the prophet suggested that he make a test, to see whether the fasting food would weaken them or not: to give food from the king’s table to the other young men at court, but to feed these four only on herbs for ten days, and then compare them. The eunuch did what Daniel advised. After ten days, the faces of the four young fasters were fairer and their bodies stronger than those of the Babylonian youths, who had eaten and drunk from the king’s table.
December 31st – Civil Calendar
December 18th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Sebastian and those with him.
This glorious martyr of Christ was born in Italy and brought up in the city of Milan. He was destined in his youth to be a soldier, and as an educated, handsome and courageous man, commended himself to the Emperor Diocletian, who made him captain of the imperial guard. He secretly confessed the Christian Faith, and prayed to the living God. An honorable, upright and merciful man, Sebastian was greatly loved by his soldiers. Whenever possible, he saved Christians from torture and death, and when this was not possible, gave them courage to die for Christ the living God without turning back. Two brothers, Marcus and Marcellinus, who were in prison for Christ and already on the verge of denying Him and worshipping idols, were confirmed in their faith and strengthened in their martyrdom by Sebastian. As he spoke with them, exhorting them not to fear death for Christ, his face was illumined like that of an angel of God. Sebastian supported his words by marvels: he healed Zoë the wife of Nicostratus the jailer, who had been dumb for six years, and brought Nicostratus and his whole household to Baptism; he healed the two sick sons of Claudius the commander, and brought him and his whole household also to Baptism; he healed Tranquillianus, the father of Marcus and Marcellinus, of gout and pains in his legs which had troubled him for eleven years, and brought him to Baptism together with his whole household; he healed the Roman Eparch, Chromatius, of the same infirmity and brought him and his son Tiburtius to Baptism. Of these, Zoë was the first to suffer, being seized while at prayer beside the tomb of the Apostle Peter. After torture, she was thrown into the Tiber River. Then Tiburtius was seized, and the judge placed live coals before him, challenging him to choose life or death: to cast incense on the coals and cense the idols, or to stand himself barefoot on the coals. St. Tibertius made the sign of the Cross and stood barefoot on the coals, and remained unharmed. He was then beheaded with the sword. Nicostratus was killed with a stake, Tranquillianus was drowned and Marcus and Marcellinus were run through by spears. Then Sebastian was taken before the Emperor Diocletian. The emperor rebuked him for his betrayal, but he said: ‘I always pray to my Christ for your health, and for the peace of the Roman Empire.’ The emperor ordered that he be stripped and shot at with arrows. The soldiers then shot at him, until the martyr’s whole body was so covered with arrows that it was invisible beneath them. When they thought that he was dead, he showed himself alive and healed of all his wounds. Then the pagans beat him to death with staves. He suffered gloriously for Christ his Lord and entered into the heavenly kingdom in 287, when Gaius was Bishop of Rome.
2. St. Florus, Bishop of Amisos.
He lived in the time of the Emperors Justin II (565-574) and Maurice (582-602), being the son of a nobleman. He forsook the bustle and vanity of the world and withdrew to a monastery, to live in asceticism for the salvation of his soul. He was then chosen as bishop of the town of Amisos in Cappadocia. As an ascetic and a hierarch, he was pleasing to God and entered peacefully into His kingdom.
3. St. Modestos, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
He was only five months old when his parents died, but by God’s providence, he was brought up in a Christian spirit. When he was grown up, he was sold as a slave to a pagan in Egypt, but he succeeded in bringing his owner to the Christian Faith, and he freed him. He withdrew to Mount Sinai, where he lived in asceticism. He was then chosen as Patriarch of Jerusalem, and governed Christ’s flock like a true shepherd, entering peacefully into rest in 634.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Man is presented with a choice in this life: the kingdom of this world or the kingdom of heaven. God puts no pressure on this choice, but each man chooses freely. When the brothers Marcus and Marcellinus were condemned to death, the pagan judge left them for a month to ponder on whether they would deny Christ and His kingdom, or be put to death. Their kinsmen came to the prison with one sort of advice, and Sebastian with another. Their kinsmen wept and implored them to do what the judge wanted and spare their youth. Their tearful father showed them his grey hairs and his infirmity; their mother besought them by the milk of the breasts by which she nourished them; their children wept around them. They all in concert urged them to reject the heavenly kingdom for the sake of the earthly, but holy Sebastian counseled the opposite, saying: ‘O courageous soldiers of Christ, do you mean to lose the eternal wreath for the sake of the flattery of your kinsmen? Do you mean to lower the banner of victory for the sake of women’s tears? This life is transient, and so unworthy and faithless that it cannot save even those who love it. What is this life worth, even if we live a hundred years? When the last day dawns, will not all our past years and all earthly delights seem as though they had never been? It is indeed folly to fear the loss of this fleeting life, when one will receive that eternal life in which delight, riches and rejoicing begin, the life that has no end. Remember the Lord’s words: “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household’’ (Matt. 10:36). They are no friends of yours, who are trying to turn you from God.’ With these and many other words, Sebastian prevailed, and the holy martyrs sought the kingdom of heaven rather than the earthly, and joyfully went to their death for Christ.
January 1st – Civil Calendar
December 19th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Boniface.
Martyrdom for Christ makes sinners into saints. This is shown by the example of St. Boniface. He was at first servant to a wealthy and dissolute woman, Aglaïs, in Rome, and had unclean and unlawful relations with her. Aglaïs evinced the desire to have the relics of some martyr in her house as a blessing so that God would forgive them for their sinful life through the prayers to the martyr, so she sent her servant to Asia to find and buy for her what she desired. Boniface took some slaves with him and a fair amount of money, and at the moment of parting, said to Aglaïs: ‘If I can’t find any martyrs and if they bring you back my body, martyred for Christ, will you receive it with honor?’ Aglaïs rebuked him, saying that this is serious business. Coming to the city of Tarsus, Boniface saw many Christians undergoing torture: some were having their legs cut off, some their hands, others their eyes put out, yet others were dying on the gallows and so forth. Boniface’s heart was changed, and he repented of his sinful life with tears. He called out among the Christian martyrs: ‘I too am a Christian!’ The judge took him for interrogation and ordered that he be harshly flogged, then that boiling lead be poured into his mouth, and as this did him no harm, that he be beheaded. The slaves then took his body back to Rome. An angel of God appeared to Aglaïs and said: ‘Take him who was at one time your servant, but is now our brother and fellow-servant; he is the guardian of your soul and the protector of your life.’ Aglaïs went in wonder to meet them at the dock, took Boniface’s body, built a church for his relics and placed them there. She then repented, gave away all her goods to the poor and withdrew from the world, living a further fifteen years in bitter penitence. St. Boniface suffered in the year 290.
2. St. Gregory, Bishop of Omir.
He was at first a deacon in the church in Mediolanum (Milan), and had many visions. By God’s providence, he was taken to the city of Alexandria, where Patriarch Proterios, in response to a heavenly revelation, consecrated him bishop of the land of Omir in southern Arabia, which the holy King Elesbaan (Oct. 24th) had already freed from the tyranny of Dunaan the Jew. He was a good shepherd and a great wonder-worker. He organized the Church in Omir, with the help of the Christ-loving King Avram, built many churches and baptized a great number of the Jews. He performed great and terrible wonders by his prayers, even bringing about a revelation of Christ the Lord before the unbelieving Jews, which led to their Baptism. Having governed the Church for thirty years, he entered peacefully into eternal life in the late fifth century.
3. St. Boniface the Merciful, Bishop of Ferentino.
He had a rare compassion from childhood, being scolded for this by his mother. But, helped by prayer, he received a hundredfold from the Lord. He died peacefully in Italy in the sixth century.
4. Our Holy Father Elias of Murom.
He was a monk of the Kiev Caves, and died in 1188. His incorrupt relics have wonder-working power. Three fingers of his right hand are to this day raised in prayer, whence it is seen that he died at prayer. This is a commentary on those who do not make the sign of the Cross with three fingers.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Can faith remove mountains (Matt. 17:20)? Yes, undoubtedly, and it can do more than that: faith can move God Himself to compassion towards us sinners. In the Omirian town of Aphar, the majority of the inhabitants were Jews. St. Gregory strove to bring them to the Christian Faith. Then the Jews suggested to him and to King Avram that they should have a debate on faith, with the assurance that, if they were defeated, they would all embrace the Christian Faith. The debate lasted several days, in the presence of several thousand people, both Jews and Christians. The Jews, seeing that they would be defeated by the irrefutable reasons and proofs brought by Gregory, demanded that he in some way show them Christ alive, that they might see Him with their own eyes, and they would then believe. Having utter confidence in the Lord because of the purity of his heart, St. Gregory knelt, facing east, before them all and prayed to God. When he had finished his prayer, the earth quaked and there was a clap of thunder, and the heavens opened to eastward. A luminous cloud appeared from the east, aflame with brilliant rays, and slowly descended to earth at the spot where the people were gathered. In the midst of the cloud stood a Man of unspeakable beauty, with a radiant face and raiment like lightning. He walked across the cloud till He stood above Bishop Gregory. All saw Him in unsurpassable glory and beauty, and fell on their faces in fear. Gregory cried out: ‘One only is holy, One only is Lord: Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Amen!’ At this, there came a voice to the Jews from the Lord’s glory: ‘For the sake of the bishop’s prayers, the Crucified heals you of the unbelief of your forefathers,’ and the cloud slowly disappeared as it had come. The Jews were then baptized.
January 2nd – Civil Calendar
December 20th – Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, Bishop of Antioch.
This holy man was named the
‘God-Bearer’ because he always carried the name of the living God in his heart and on
his lips. Also, by tradition, he was thus named because he was held in the arms of God incarnate,
Jesus Christ. On a day when the Lord was teaching His disciples humility, He took a child and set
it among them, saying: ‘Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is
greatest in the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 18:4). This child was Ignatius. He was later a
disciple of St. John the Theologian, together with Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna. As bishop in
Antioch, he governed the Church of God as a good shepherd, and was the first to introduce
antiphonal singing into the Church, in which two choirs alternate. This way of singing was
revealed to St. Ignatius from among the angels in heaven. When the Emperor Trajan passed through
Antioch on his way to battle with the Persians, he heard about Ignatius, summoned him and urged
him to offer sacrifice to idols, so that he could be made a senator. The emperor’s urgings
and threats being in vain, holy Ignatius was put in irons and sent to Rome, escorted by ten
bestial soldiers, to be thrown to the wild beasts. Ignatius rejoiced to be suffering for his
Lord, and prayed to God that the wild beasts should be the tomb for his body, and that none
should hinder his death. After a long and difficult journey from Asia through Thrace, Macedonia
and Epirus, Ignatius reached Rome, where he was thrown to the lions in the circus. They tore him
to pieces and devoured him, leaving only a few of the larger bones and his heart. This glorious
lover of the Lord Christ suffered in the year 106 in Rome, in the time of the Emperor Trajan. He
appeared many times from the other world and worked wonders, helping to this day all who call on
him for help.
2. St. Danilo, Archbishop of Serbia.
The son of rich and God-loving parents, he was given a careful upbringing. King Milutin took him to his court, but from love of God, he fled and became a monk in the monastery of Konculsk near the Ibar. He was later abbot of Hilandar and suffered much at the hands of the plundering Latin crusaders. He was Bishop of Banja and then of Hum, and finally Archbishop of Serbia. He was from beginning to end a strict ascetic, with a special gift of tears. He made peace between Kings Dragutin and Milutin, and later between Milutin and Stefan of Dečani, and fought fiercely against the Latins and the Bogomils. Under his supervision, the monasteries of Banja and Dečani were built, and he restored and built many other churches. He also recorded the lives of the Serbian kings and saints. Untiring in the service of God to the end of his life, he entered peacefully into rest in the time of King Dušan, on the night of December 19/20th, 1338. He was a great hierarch, a great ascetic, a great worker and a great patriot.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The holy martyrs, consumed by love for Christ, were like unquenchable flames. This love eased their sufferings and made death sweet. St. John Chrysostom says of St. Ignatius: ‘He put off his body as easily as a man takes off his clothes.’ Travelling to Rome to his death, Ignatius had only one fear: that Christians would somehow impede his martyrdom for Christ, by their prayers or in some outward way. He therefore implored them constantly, in writing and in speech, not to do this. ‘Forgive me,’ he said, ‘I know what is useful to me. I but begin to be a disciple of Christ when I desire nothing, either visible or invisible, but to come to Christ. May every devilish torture come upon me: fire, crucifixion, wild beasts, the sword, tearing asunder, the breaking of my bones, the crushing of my whole body—only that I may receive Jesus Christ. It is better for me to die for Christ than to reign to the ends of the earth.... My love cleaves to the Cross, and there is no spark of love in me for any earthly thing.’ When he was taken to the circus, he spoke thus to the people: ‘Citizens of Rome, know that I am not being punished for any wrong-doing, neither have I been condemned to death for any transgressing, but for the sake of my God, by Whose love I am gripped and Whom I desire with an insatiable desire. I am His wheat; may I be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be His pure bread.’
January 3rd – Civil Calendar
December 21st – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Juliana, and the 630 martyrs with her.
This glorious virgin martyr was born in Nikomedia of pagan
parents. Hearing the Gospel preached, she turned to Christ with all her heart and began to live
in exact observance of the Lord’s commandments. A certain senator, Eleusius, was her
betrothed. In order to free herself from him, Juliana told him that she would not marry him
unless he became eparch of that city. She said this thinking that the young man would not be in
the least likely to attain to such a high position, but Eleusius worked at it, and by flattery
and bribes, gained the post of Eparch of Nikomedia. Juliana then revealed to him that she was a
Christian, and could not enter into marriage with him unless he accepted her faith, saying:
‘What would it profit us to be united physically but divided in spirit?’ Eleusius was
exasperated, and denounced her to her father. Her furious father poured scorn on her and whipped
her, and then handed her over to the eparch for torture. The eparch ordered that she be harshly
beaten; then she was thrown into prison all torn and bleeding. But the Lord healed her in the
prison, and she appeared before the eparch whole and unharmed. He then put her into a glowing
furnace, but the fire did not burn her. Seeing this wonder, many came to believe in Christ the
Lord. Five hundred men and a hundred thirty women were converted. The eparch condemned them all
to death, and ordered that they be beheaded with the sword, and their souls entered into
Paradise. Then the wicked judge condemned holy Juliana to be beheaded with the sword. Rejoicing
in spirit, Juliana went out to the scaffold, prayed on her knees to God and laid her head on the
block. Her head was cut off, and her soul went to Christ’s eternal kingdom of light, in the
year 304. God’s punishment quickly fell on Eleusius: sailing over the sea, his ship broke
up and he fell into the water. He did not find death in the waves, but swam to an island, where
the dogs tore him to pieces and devoured him.
2. St. Peter the Wonder-worker, Metropolitan of Russia.
Born in the province of Volinsk, he received the monastic schema at the age of twelve. He was a great ascetic and an icon-painter. He founded a monastery on the River Rata, and became its abbot. He was made Metropolitan of Kiev against his will, and consecrated in Constantinople by Patriarch Athanasius. As metropolitan, he suffered a great deal at the hands of the envious and of heretics, governing the Church for eighteen years as a good and zealous pastor. During his lifetime, he built himself a tomb in the Church of the Dormition, where his holy and wonder-working relics are preserved to this day. He entered into rest in 1326, and went to his true homeland.
3. The Holy Martyr Themistocles.
As a herdsman, the young Themistocles kept sheep in a field near Myra in Lycia. At that time, the persecutors of the Christians were seeking St. Dioscorides, and came upon Themistocles, asking him if he knew where Dioscorides was hiding. Themistocles, although he knew, refused to say, and declared himself a Christian. He was tortured and beheaded in the time of Decius, in 251.
FOR CONSIDERATION
He who sets his sights on Christ’s kingdom will have to encounter obstructions, and these obstructions are manifold and varied. They are mostly the evil workings of demons. Therefore every man zealous for the spiritual life must be on his guard not to take every shining vision from the other world as a divine revelation. That the adversary is able to appear as an angel of light is shown in the life of the holy martyr Juliana. When this holy maiden was lying in prison, the adversary appeared to her in angelic light, smiled at her, and counseled her to offer sacrifice to idols and so avoid torture. The frightened Juliana asked: ‘Who are you?’ The adversary replied: ‘I am an angel of God. God is greatly concerned for you, and has therefore sent me with the message that you should obey the eparch, that your body may not be covered in wounds. The Lord is gracious, and will forgive you for the weakness of your body.’ The martyr was horrified at these words, and confused, and fell to prayer with tears, begging God to show her who it was who had spoken with her. Then she heard a voice from heaven: ‘Be brave, Juliana; I am with you, giving you power and authority over the one who has come to you, and by this you will know who he is.’ And the devil was bound, and forced to reveal that he was the same who tempted Eve in Paradise, who told Cain to kill Abel and Herod to kill the children in Bethlehem, the Jews to stone Stephen, Nero to crucify Peter upside down and behead Paul, and so forth. Thus this holy maiden, fortified by God’s strength, did not give herself to delusion from the evil spirit, but by her vigilant and ardent prayer, overcame him.
January 4th – Civil Calendar
December 22nd – Church Calendar
1. The Holy and Great Martyr Anastasia the Deliverer from Poison, and those with her.
This great heroine of the
Christian Faith was born in Rome into a wealthy senatorial family, her father being a pagan and
her mother a Christian. From her early youth, she clave in love to the Lord Jesus, guided in
Christian teaching by a devout teacher, Chrysogonus. Under pressure from her father, Anastasia
married a pagan landowner, Publius, but using the pretext of bodily illness, she never had
physical relations with him. For this, her husband tortured her harshly by imprisonment and
starvation, and laid even heavier tortures on her when he discovered that she went secretly to
the prisons of the Christian martyrs, ministering to their needs, washing their wounds and
loosening their bonds. But, by God’s providence, she was freed from her wicked husband.
Publius was sent to Persia by the emperor, and was drowned on the voyage. Then St. Anastasia
began to minister openly to the Christian martyrs, and from her great inheritance, helped the
poor with alms. The Emperor Diocletian was once in the town of Aquileia, and commanded that
Chrysogonus, the confessor of Christ, be brought to him. As he was being brought, Anastasia
followed him on the way. Holy Chrysogonus was beheaded at the emperor’s command, and then
three sisters, Agapia, Chionia and Irene (April 16th) suffered, the first two being cast into
fire and the third shot through with arrows. St. Anastasia took their bodies, wrapped them in
white linen, and anointing them with aromatic spices, gave them burial. Then Anastasia went to
Macedonia, where she ministered to those who were suffering for Christ. There, she became
widely-known as a Christian, for which she was seized and taken for interrogation before various
judges. Desiring to die for her beloved Christ, Anastasia constantly clung to Him in her heart. A
certain pagan high priest, Ulphian, tried to touch St. Anastasia’s body out of lust, but he
was suddenly blinded and gave up the spirit. Condemned to death by starvation, St. Anastasia lay
in prison for thirty days, nourishing herself only with tears and prayers. After that, she was
put in a boat with several other Christians to be drowned, but God saved her from this death. She
was finally tied hand and foot to four wheels over a fire, and thus gave her holy soul into
God’s hands. She suffered and entered into Christ’s kingdom in 304.
2. The Holy Martyr Theodota with her three Children.
Left a young widow with three children, Theodota gave herself utterly to the service of God and the bringing-up of her children in piety. St. Anastasia lived with her when she was in Macedonia, and together with her, ministered to the Christian captives in the prisons. Taken for trial, Theodota confidently confessed Christ the Lord. She was then sent to the Governor of Bithynia, Niketas. When a shameless pagan tried to touch her body, an angel of God suddenly appeared beside her and struck the man. Condemned to death and thrown into a glowing furnace with her three children, St. Theodota finished her earthly course with honor and entered into the kingdom of eternal glory.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Our merciful God often sends comfort to those pleasing to Him on earth through His saints from the other world. St. Theodota suffered for Christ before St. Anastasia did. Anastasia was then thrown into a small, dingy prison to die there of hunger at the judge’s command. During the thirty days of her imprisonment, St. Theodota appeared to her every night from the other world, and strengthened her in her sufferings. When St. Anastasia had conversed many times in this way with St. Theodota, she asked her one night how it was that she was able to come to her after her death. Theodota replied that God gave to the souls of the martyrs the special grace that, after leaving this world, they could come to whomsoever they would in order to instruct or comfort. When the thirty days had passed, the torturer brought Anastasia out of the prison, amazed to see that she was still alive. He then condemned her to death by drowning, along with several others. The soldiers put the Christians into a small boat and themselves got into another, and when they got out into deep water, they upset the boat containing the Christians, so that the water would flow in and drown them. Then a wonderful thing happened: St. Theodota appeared walking on the water and took the boat to the shore, and thus they were all preserved from death together with St. Anastasia. Seeing this wonder, a hundred and twenty pagans came at once to faith in Christ and were baptized.
January 5th – Civil Calendar
December 23rd – Church Calendar
1. The Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete.
They suffered for Christ the Lord during Decius’ persecution, in the year 250. Their names were: Theodulus, Saturninus, Evporus, Gelasius, Evnikian, Zoticus, Pompey, Agathopous, Basilides and Evaristus. They were all honored and eminent citizens, the cream of the cream. When they were taken to the scaffold, they were filled with joy and discussed among themselves who would be the first to be beheaded, because each wanted to be the first to go to his beloved Christ. Then they prayed: ‘O Lord, forgive Thy servants and accept our outpoured blood on our own behalf and that of our kinsfolk and friends and all our fatherland, that all may be released from the darkness of ignorance and come to know Thee, the true light, O eternal King!’ They were beheaded and entered into the kingdom of glory, to eternal rejoicing.
2. St. Niphon the Wonder-worker.
Born in Paphlagonia, he was brought up in Constantinople at the court of a great commander. Falling into low company, the young Niphon became dissolute and gave himself to great sin and vice. Because of his sin, he could not even pray to God. By the mercy of the most holy Mother of God, he was brought back to the way of righteousness and became a monk. He had innumerable visions of the heavenly world and waged a four-year war with the demons, who whispered to him incessantly: ‘There is no God! There is no God!’ but when the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to him alive on an icon, Niphon received great power over the evil spirits and was freed from these heavy temptations. He had such insight that he saw angels and demons around men as clearly as he saw the people themselves, and he could discern men’s thoughts. He often spoke with angels and disputed with demons. He built a church to the most holy Mother of God in Constantinople, gathered many monks together and saved many souls. Alexander, the Archbishop of Alexandria, through a heavenly revelation, consecrated him bishop of the town of Constantia on Cyprus. Niphon was already old by that time, and governing the Church of God well for a short period, entered into Christ’s eternal kingdom. St. Athanasius the Great visited him at the time of his death, being then archdeacon of the church in Alexandria, and he saw Niphon’s face shine like the sun.
3. Our Holy Father Naum, the Wonder-worker of Ochrid.
He was a disciple of Ss.
Kyril and Methodius, and one of the Five Followers—those zealous fellow-workers with these
apostles of the Slavs. St. Naum traveled to Rome, where he was renowned both for his
wonder-working power and his great learning. He knew many languages. At the time of his return
from Rome, he settled, with the help of the Emperor Boris-Michael of Bulgaria, on the shores of
Lake Ochrid. While St. Clement was working in Ochrid as bishop, St. Naum built a monastery on the
southern shore of the lake. This monastery adorns that shore till this day, as the name of St.
Naum adorns the history of Slav Christianity, and has been through the ages a fount of strength
and recourse for the sick and the wretched. Many monks from all over the Balkans gathered around
St. Naum, who was a wise teacher, a strict ascetic, a wonder-worker and a man of prayer. A
tireless worker, St. Naum labored especially to translate the holy Scriptures from Greek into
Slavonic. He worked wonders both during his lifetime and after his death, and his wonder-working
relics to this day perform many miracles, particularly healing from grave illness and from
madness. He entered into rest in the first half of the tenth century, and went to the joy of his
beloved Christ.
In the Greek Synaxarion, Ss. Clement and Naum are called the new Moses and Aaron, and this marvel is recorded of them: heretics in Germany bound them and threw them into prison, but by God’s power, the prison shook, the chains fell off them, the doors of the prison opened and they went out freely.
FOR CONSIDERATION
While still in the flesh, the saints had great revelations from God and visions both from heaven and of the infernal powers. All the visions and revelations they had confirmed the Orthodox Faith in all its tenets. The saints are thus a very great joy to the faithful. St. Niphon saw the Mother of God and the Lord Christ alive in glory; he saw men’s souls leaving their bodies and their guardian angels meeting them. He spoke with angels in visions and disputed with demons. The Church teaches that sincere repentance on the part of a sinner, even at the eleventh hour, saves the soul of the penitent. St. Niphon saw the soul of one such sinner repenting at the last moment; he saw how an angel defended it from the bullying demons and carried it to Paradise. The Church teaches that suicide is a mortal sin; St. Niphon saw the soul of a suicide being dragged down to Hades by the devil, while the guardian angel of this soul went off, weeping bitterly. That was the soul of a servant who had committed suicide because his master was merciless and he was not willing to endure to the end and be saved.
January 6th – Civil Calendar
December 24th – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Evgenia, and those with her.
The daughter of Philip, Eparch of all Egypt, she was
born in Rome. At that time, the Christians had been driven out of Alexandria and were living
outside the town. The maiden Evgenia visited the Christians and received their Faith with all her
heart. She fled from her parents with her two faithful eunuchs, was baptized by Bishop Elias, and
wearing man’s clothing, went to a men’s monastery where she received the monastic
schema. She so purified her heart by voluntary asceticism that she received from God the gift of
healing the sick, and thus healed a rich woman, Melanthia. After this, though, the woman
conceived a physical passion for her, not suspecting that she was a woman. Being firmly repulsed
by Evgenia, this wicked woman, out of revenge, went to the eparch and slandered her just as
Potiphar’s wife had slandered chaste Joseph. The eparch ordered that all the monks be bound
and thrown into prison together with Evgenia. When they were brought out for trial, Evgenia
revealed herself to her father as his daughter. The overjoyed Philip was baptized, with his whole
household, and Philip was chosen as Bishop of Alexandria. Hearing of this, the Roman emperor sent
a wicked general, Terence, who, coming to Alexandria, secretly killed Philip. Then St. Evgenia
moved to Rome with her mother and brothers. In Rome, she fearlessly and zealously brought pagans
to the true Faith, especially maidens, and thus brought a beautiful maiden, Vassilia, to the
Faith. Vassilia was quickly beheaded for Christ, as Evgenia had foretold to her, and then her two
eunuchs, Protus and Hyacinth, were beheaded. Finally, martyrdom came to Evgenia, whose presence
had caused the temple of Diana to fall in ruins. The torturers first threw her into water and
then into fire, but God preserved her. The Lord Jesus Himself appeared to her in the prison and
told her that she would suffer on the day of His Nativity. And so it came about. She was beheaded
with the sword on December 25th, 262, in Rome. After her death, Evgenia appeared to her mother in
great glory, and comforted her.
2. Our Holy Father Nicholas the Soldier.
Some people think that this great saint was a Slav of Balkan origin. In the time of the Emperor Nikephoros, Nicholas was commander of the part of the army that went to war against the Bulgars. On the road, Nicholas spent the night in an inn, where he experienced a great temptation and had a strange dream. This dream came true in the war, when the Greeks were utterly routed by the Bulgars in 811. Nicholas was preserved, and out of gratitude to God, left his command and became a monk. In long asceticism, he attained such perfection that he became a great clairvoyant and man of God. He died peacefully in the ninth century, and entered into the blessed kingdom of Christ the Lord.
In the Greek Synaxarion, Our Holy Father Antiochus, a monk of Palestine, is also commemorated. He was an eye-witness of the sufferings of our holy fathers of St. Sava’s (May 16th), and as an eye-witness, recorded their sufferings at the hands of the Saracens. He also compiled another book entitled ‘Pandect’. He wrote many prayers, of which the best-known is the one read daily at Compline: ‘And grant us, O Master, as we lay us down to sleep, repose both of body and soul...’.
The Holy New-Martyr Achmed is also commemorated. A Turk by birth and a builder by trade, he embraced the Christian Faith and laid down his life for it. He suffered at the hands of the Turks in Constantinople in 1682.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Victory over temptation is victory over death. A wonderful experience had by St. Nicholas the Soldier proves this. When this commander went off with the army of the Emperor Nikephoros against the Bulgars, it happened that he spent the night at a wayside inn. The innkeeper had a daughter, a young girl, attracted by the looks and presence of the imperial commander, who tried to lead him into sin. Nicholas refused once, saying to her that she was enticing him to a satanic act, but the shameless girl came a second and then a third time to the commander’s room and attempted to seduce him. The commander refused on each occasion more and more decisively, advising her to guard her virginity and not give her body and soul over to the devil. He said finally that he was a soldier and was going to war, and that it was both unworthy and dangerous for a soldier to foul himself by such an impure act, which would rouse God’s anger and bring him to certain death. Thus this God-loving man overcame temptation. The following day he continued on his way with the army. The next night, he had the following vision: he was standing in a great open space and saw near him a strong Man, Who was the Lord Jesus Christ, sitting with His right leg crossed over His left. Before Him stood two armies facing each other on the field, Roman and Bulgar. This strong Man told him to watch carefully what was about to happen. Nicholas looked and saw the following: while the strong Man kept His right leg crossed over the left, the Roman army prevailed over the Bulgars; and when He changed His position and crossed the left leg over the right, the Bulgars prevailed and ferociously cut the Romans down. Then the strong Man took the commander over to the massacred Roman army. The whole field was covered with corpses, piled one on another. Only in the middle of these corpses was there an empty space, large enough to accommodate one body. Then the Man said to Nicholas: ‘This place was set apart for your body, but as you three times last night overcame diabolic temptation, your body and soul have been preserved from death.’ That which Nicholas saw in the night-vision, he saw reproduced exactly at the time of the battle. The army of the Rhomaioi all perished on the field of battle, but Nicholas returned home alive—not to the barracks but to a monastery.
January 7th – Civil Calendar
December 25th – Church Calendar
1. The Nativity of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.
‘And when the fullness of
time was come, God sent His only-begotten Son’ (Gal. 4:4), to save the human race. And when
the ninth month had come after the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the most holy Virgin in
Nazareth, saying: ‘Rejoice, thou who art highly favored;...thou shalt conceive and bear a
Son’—at that time a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that all the inhabitants of the
Roman Empire be taxed. In accordance with this decree, everyone had to go to his own town and
there be inscribed. Therefore righteous Joseph came with the most holy Virgin to Bethlehem, the
city of David, for they were both of the royal House of David. But, there being a great many
people in that small city for the census, Joseph and Mary could not find lodging in any house,
and found shelter in a cave which the shepherds used as a sheepfold. In this cave the most holy
Virgin gave birth to the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. Bearing Him without pain, as
He was conceived without sin of the Holy Spirit and not of man, she herself wrapped Him in
swaddling bands, worshipped Him as God and laid Him in a manger. Then righteous Joseph drew near
and worshipped Him as the divine Fruit of a virgin womb. Then the shepherds came in from the
fields, directed by an angel of God, and worshipped Him as Messiah and Savior. The shepherds had
heard a multitude of angels singing: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
goodwill among men’ (Luke 2:14). At that time there also came Magi from the East, led by a
wonderful star, bearing their gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh, and worshipped Him as King of
kings, offering Him their gifts (Matt. 2:11). Thus He came into the world Whose coming had been
foretold by the prophets and Who was born in the way that they had prophesied: of the most holy
Virgin, in the city of Bethlehem, of the lineage of David according to the flesh, at the time
when there was no longer in Jerusalem a king of the tribe of Judah, but Herod the stranger was on
the throne. After many types and prefigurings, messengers and heralds, prophets and righteous
men, wise men and kings, finally He appeared, the Lord of the world and King of kings, to perform
the work of the salvation of mankind that could not be performed by His servants. May His be
eternal glory and praise! Amen.
FOR CONSIDERATION
The Lord Jesus, born in Bethlehem, was first worshipped by shepherds and wise men from the East—the simplest and the wisest of this world. In our day also, those who most sincerely worship the Lord Jesus as God and Savior are the simplest and the wisest of this world. Twisted simplicity and crazed wisdom have always been enemies of Christ’s divinity and of His Gospel. But who were these Magi from the East? This question was closely investigated by St. Dimitri of Rostov. He asserts that they were kings of small regions or groups of towns in Persia, Arabia and Egypt. At the same time, they were greatly learned in astrology. The wonderful star that heralded the birth of the new King appeared to them. According to St. Dimitri, this star appeared nine months before the birth of the Lord Jesus; that is, at the time when the most holy Mother of God conceived Him. They spent these nine months in studying this star, in preparing for the journey and in travelling. They arrived in Bethlehem very shortly after the birth of the Savior of the world. One of them was called Melchior. He was old, withered, with long white hair and beard. He brought the Lord the gift of gold. The second man was called Gaspar; ruddy of face, young and beardless. He brought the Lord the gift of frankincense. The third was called Balthazar, black-skinned and heavily bearded. He brought the Lord the gift of myrrh. After their deaths, their bodies were taken to Constantinople, from Constantinople to Milan and from Milan to Cologne. It can be added that these three wise men represented the three chief races of men that descended from Noah’s three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. The Persian represented Japheth, the Arabian Shem and the Egyptian Ham. Thus it can be said that, through these three, the whole human race worshipped our incarnate Lord and God.
January 8th – Civil Calendar
December 26th – Church Calendar
1. The Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God.
On the second day of Nativity, the Christian Church gives
glory and praise to the most holy Mother of God, who bore our Lord and God and Savior Jesus
Christ. This feast is called a ‘general commemoration’ because, on this day, all the
faithful come together to glorify her, the Mother of God, and to celebrate a triumphant, common
feast in her honor. In Ochrid, it has been the custom from time immemorial that, on the eve of
the second day of Nativity, Vespers has been celebrated only in the church of the Mother of God,
the Chieftain. All the clergy and people there together glorify the most pure Mother of God.
2. Commemoration of the Flight into Egypt.
The Magi, astrologers from the East, having worshipped the Lord in
Bethlehem, returned home, at the command of an angel, another way. Herod, that wicked king,
planned to slaughter all the children in Bethlehem, but God saw Herod’s intention and sent
His angel to Joseph. The angel of God spoke to Joseph in a dream and commanded him to take the
Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Joseph did this. Taking the divine Child and His most
pure Mother, he traveled first to Nazareth (Lk. 2:39), where he set his household affairs in
order and then, taking his son Iakovos with them, went off to Egypt (Matt. 2:14). And so the
words of the prophet: ‘The Lord, riding upon a swift cloud, shall come into Egypt’
(Is. 19:1), were fulfilled. In old Cairo today the cave where the holy travelers lived can be
seen, and in the village of Matarea near Cairo, the tree remains under which the Mother of God
rested with the Lord Jesus, where a miraculous spring of water sprang up under the tree. They
lived in Egypt for several years, and then the travelers returned to Palestine in response to a
command by an angel of God. And so a second prophecy was fulfilled: ‘Out of Egypt have I
called My Son’ (Hosea 11:1). Herod was dead, and on his bloodstained throne sat a worthy
successor in his wicked son Archelaus. Joseph, hearing that Archelaus was reigning in Jerusalem,
returned to Galilee, to his town of Nazareth, where he settled in his own home. Galilee was at
that time ruled by another of Herod’s sons, Herod the Younger, who was somewhat better than
his wicked brother Archelaus.
3. Our Holy Father Evarestos.
Reading the works of St. Ephraim the Syrian, he abandoned the diplomatic service and became a monk. He was very strict with himself and wore chains on his body, eating dry bread only once a week. He lived for seventy-five years, and went to the Lord in about 825.
4. St. Efthymios the Confessor, Bishop of Sardis.
He took part in the Seventh Ecumenical Council, and spent about thirty years in exile for his veneration of icons. Under the Emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast, he was flogged with bull-whips, during which he died a martyr in 840 and received a wreath of glory in heaven.
5. Our Holy Father Constantine of Synnada.
He was a Jew who came to the Christian Faith. When the Cross was made on his head at his Baptism, it remained visible there till his death in Constantinople in the seventh century. He is famed for his fasting and for his many miracles. He foretold the day of his death seven years in advance.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A story of the divine Christ-Child: When Mary and Joseph were fleeing before Herod’s sword to Egypt, brigands leapt out into the road to steal what they could. Righteous Joseph was leading the donkey on which were some few possessions and on which the most holy Mother of God was riding with her Son at her breast. The robbers seized the donkey, meaning to lead it away. At that moment, one of the robbers went across to the Mother of God to see what she had at her breast. Seeing the Christ-Child, the robber marveled at His beauty and said in wonder: ‘If God were to take human flesh Himself, He would not be more beautiful than this child!’ and the robber told his fellows to take nothing from these travelers. Full of gratitude to this kindly robber, the Mother of God said to him: ‘This Child will reward you richly for having spared Him today’. Thirty-three years later, this same robber was crucified for his wrongdoing on the right of Christ’s cross. His name was Dismas, while the name of the robber on the left was Gestas. Looking at Christ the Lord, crucified in His innocence, Dismas repented of his whole life, and while Gestas reviled the Lord, Dismas rebuked his fellow-robber, saying: ‘He has done no evil’. Dismas is, then, that penitent thief to whom the Lord said: ‘Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise’ (Lk.23:41-43). Thus the Lord rewarded with Paradise him who had spared Him in childhood.
January 9th – Civil Calendar
December 27th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Protomartyr Stephen the Archdeacon.
He was a kinsman of the Apostle Paul and one
of those Jews who lived in a Hellenic milieu. Stephen was the first of the seven deacons whom the
holy apostles ordained for the service of the poor in Jerusalem. This is why he is called the
Archdeacon—the first, or chief, of them. By the power of his faith, Stephen worked many wonders
among the people. The wicked Jews disputed with him, but were always confounded by his wisdom and
the power of the Spirit Who acted through him. Then the shameful Jews, adept at calumny and
slander, stirred up the people and leaders against this innocent man. They slandered Stephen,
saying that he had blasphemed against God and against Moses, and quickly found false witnesses
who supported their assertion. Then Stephen stood before the people, and all saw his face
‘like the face of an angel’: that is, his face was illumined by the light of grace as
was the face of Moses when he talked with God. Stephen opened his mouth and spoke of God’s
manifold works and marvels, performed in the past for the people of Israel, and of the
people’s manifold transgressions and opposition to God. He especially denounced them for
the slaying of Christ the Lord, calling them ‘betrayers and murderers’ (Acts 7:52).
While they ground their teeth, Stephen looked and saw the heavens open and the glory of God, and
spoke to the Jews of what he saw: ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man
standing on the right of God’ (Acts 7:56). Then the malicious men took him out of the city
and stoned him to death. Among his murderers was his kinsman Saul, later the Apostle Paul. At
that time, the most holy Mother of God was standing on a rock at a distance with St. John the
Theologian, and witnessed the martyrdom of this first martyr for the truth of her Son and God,
and she prayed for Stephen. This happened exactly a year after the descent of the Holy Spirit
upon the apostles. St. Stephen’s body was taken secretly and buried by Gamaliel in his own
ground. He was a Jewish prince and a secret Christian. Thus this first of Christ’s martyrs
made a glorious end and entered into the kingdom of Christ our God.
2. Our Holy Father Theodore the Branded.
Theodore and his brother Theophanes were born in Palestine and were skilled in both worldly and spiritual learning. They were monks in the community of St. Sava the Sanctified, and were there ordained priests. They suffered harsh persecution for their defense of the icons under three emperors: Leo the Armenian, Michael Balbus and Theophilus. The demented Theophilus beat them with his own hands, and ordered that they have mocking verses branded on their faces, from which they became known as ‘the Branded’. They were thrown into prison in the town of Apameia in Bithynia, and Theodore died there of his wounds. Theophanes was freed in the time of the Emperors Theodore and Michael, and was made Metropolitan of Nicaea by Patriarch Methodius. He died in 845. These two wonderful brothers suffered for Christ, and received a glorious reward from Christ in the deathless kingdom of light.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A story of the divine Christ-Child: Both great prophets, Isaias and Jeremias, prophesied that the Lord would come to Egypt, and that His presence would shake the temples and destroy the idols. Isaias wrote: ‘Behold, the Lord shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence’ (Is. 19:l; cf. Jer. 43:12,13). When the divine refugees came to the city of Hermopolis (Cairo), and came near to an idolatrous temple, all the idols in the temple suddenly fell down and were broken to pieces. Palladius writes about this: ‘We saw the idolatrous temple there, in which, at the presence of the Savior, all the idols fell to the ground’. In some place there were three hundred and sixty-five idols. When the most holy Virgin went into that temple with the divine Child in her arms, all these idols fell down and were smashed, and idols all over the land of Egypt fell in the same way.
The holy Prophet Jeremias, who had lived in Egypt in old age, had foretold to the Egyptian pagan priests that the idols would fall and all the graven images would be destroyed at the time when a Virgin Mother with a Child born in a manger would come to Egypt. The priests remembered this prophecy, and in accordance with it, depicted in their temples a virgin resting in bed with a child in a manger beside her, wrapped in swaddling bands, and they venerated this picture. Pharaoh Ptolemy asked the priests what the picture meant, and they replied that it was a mystery, foretold by a prophet to their forefathers, and that they were awaiting its fulfillment. And this mystery was indeed fulfilled, and revealed not only in Egypt, but in the whole world.
January 10th – Civil Calendar
December 28th – Church Calendar
1. The 20,000 Holy Martyrs of Nikomedia.
In the time of the wicked Emperor Maximian Hercules, the Christian Faith flourished in Nikomedia, and spread from day to day. At one time the emperor, staying in the city, came to know of the large number of Christians, and he was greatly enraged and devised a means of slaughtering them all. The feast of the Nativity of Christ was approaching, and the emperor, discovering that all the Christians gathered in the church on this feast, ordered that, on that day, the church be surrounded by soldiers and set alight. When all the Christians were assembled in the church after midnight and the glorious celebration was beginning, the soldiers surrounded the church so that no one could leave, and the emperor’s envoy went into the church and told the Christians of the emperor’s command that they either immediately offer sacrifice to idols or all be burned to death. Then the archdeacon, a courageous soldier of Christ, aflame with divine zeal, began to encourage the people, reminding them of the Three Holy Children in the furnace in Babylon. ‘Look, my brethren,’ he said, ‘at the table of sacrifice in the Lord’s altar, and understand that our true Lord and God will now sacrifice on this; so shall we not lay down our lives for Him in this holy place?’ The people were fired with enthusiasm to die for Christ, and all the catechumens were baptized and chrismated. The soldiers then set fire to the church on all sides and the Christians, twenty thousand of them, were burned in the flame singing the glory of God. The church burned for five days, and a smoke with a fragrant and intoxicating smell rose from it, and a marvelous golden light was seen around it. Thus these many men, women and children died gloriously and received wreaths of eternal glory in the kingdom of Christ. They suffered and were glorified in the year 302.
2. Our Holy Father Simon the Myrrh-Streamer.
The founder of the monastery of Simonopetra on the Holy Mountain, he was famed for his asceticism, his visions and his miracles. He entered peacefully into rest and went to Christ in 1257.
3. The Holy Martyr Domna.
A virgin and priestess of the foul idols at the court of the Emperor Maximian, she read the Acts of the Apostles one day, came to faith in Christ and was baptized by Bishop Kyril in Nikomedia, together with a eunuch called Indes. St. Kyril sent her to a women’s monastery, where blessed Agatha was abbess. When the emperor began to search for Domna, Agatha dressed her in men’s clothing and sent her to a men’s monastery. This was at the time that the twenty thousand Christians were burned in the church by the Emperor Maximian. Immediately after this, by the emperor’s command, Ss. Indes, Gorgonios and Peter were thrown into the sea with rocks around their necks; Zeno the commander, who had openly denounced the emperor for his idolatry, was beheaded; St. Theophilus, a deacon with Bishop Anthimos, was killed with stones and arrows. Abbess Agatha, the nun Theophila, and the nobles Dorotheos, Mardonios, Migdonios and Efthymios were also slain for the sake of Christ. One night, Domna was walking by the sea and saw some fishermen casting their nets into the water. She was grieving deeply for St. Indes. Called by the fishermen to help them, she went to their aid, and by God’s providence, drew out three human bodies in the net. Domna recognized Indes, Gorgonios and Peter, took their bodies and gave them burial. When the emperor learned that a young man was tending and censing the graves of the Christian martyrs, he ordered that he be beheaded, and St. Domna was seized and beheaded, and was crowned with a wreath of glory in the heavenly kingdom with the other martyrs.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A story of the divine Christ Child: When the most holy Virgin, with her divine Child and righteous Joseph, drew near to the city of Hermopolis, they saw a tree before the gate of the city. The travelers were weary from their long journey, and went up to the tree to rest a little. But the tree was very tall and gave little shade. The Egyptians called this tree ‘Persea’ and worshipped it as a god, for they believed that some divinity was hidden within it. In fact, an evil spirit dwelt in this tree. So, when the divine family drew near to the tree, it trembled and the evil spirit, terrified at the presence of the Christ Child, fled. Then the tree bent its tip down and worshipped its Maker like a rational creature. The bent tree thus gave a deep shade, in which the weary travelers could rest. From that day, the tree received miraculous healing power from Christ the Lord, to heal every human sickness.
The holy travelers then went on to the village of Matarea. Near the village, they saw a fig tree, and while Joseph went into the village, the holy Virgin sheltered with the Lord under this tree. Then a marvel was seen: the tree bowed its crown down to the ground to give shade to the travelers, and its lower branches opened in such a way that mother and Child could go inside and rest. What was even stranger: a living spring of water suddenly sprang up near the fig tree. Joseph found a hut near this, and they settled there, and they drank the water from this wonderful spring. This was the only spring of living water to be found in the whole of the land of Egypt, for all the other water in Egypt comes from the Nile, which branches out into innumerable canals. Thus, like called to like: the Lord Jesus, the deathless and heavenly Spring of living water, called forth this spring of living water from the earth.
January 11th – Civil Calendar
December 29th – Church Calendar
1. The 14,000 Holy Children in Bethlehem.
When the Magi from the East failed to return to
Jerusalem from Bethlehem to tell Herod about the newborn King, but at the angel’s command,
returned to their home another way, Herod was as furious as a wild beast, and commanded that all
the children of two years and under in Bethlehem and its surroundings be killed. This terrible
command of the king’s was carried out to the letter. His soldiers cut off some of the
children’s heads with their swords, dashed others on the stones, trampled some of them
underfoot and drowned others with their own hands. The weeping and lamentation of their mothers
rose to heaven: ‘Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children’ as
had been prophesied (Jer. 13:15; Matt. 2:18). This evildoing towards the hordes of innocent
children came to pass a year after the birth of Christ, at a time when Herod was trying to find
the divine Child. He sought Zacharias’ son, John, meaning to kill him in the belief that
John was the new king. When Zacharias refused to hand John over, he was killed in the temple on
Herod’s orders. St. Simeon the God-receiver was also killed, and went to God soon after the
Meeting in the Temple. Slaying the children in Bethlehem, Herod then turned on the Jewish elders,
who had revealed to him where the Messiah would be born. He killed Hyrcanes the high priest, and
seventy elders from the Sanhedrin, and thus they who conspired with Herod to kill the new baby
King came to an evil end. After that, Herod killed his own brother and sister and wife, and three
of his sons. Finally, God’s punishment fell on him: he began to tremble, his legs swelled,
the lower part of his body became putrid, and worms came out of the sores. His nose became
blocked and an unbearable stench spread around from it. At the time of his death, he remembered
that there were many captive Jews in prison; so, that they should not rejoice at his death, he
ordered that they all be slaughtered. Thus this terrible ruler lost his inhuman soul and was
given to the devil for eternity.
2. Our Holy Father Markellos.
From Apameia in Syria, he was abbot of the community of the Unsleeping Ones in Constantinople. He was a clairvoyant, a healer and a great wonder-worker. He spoke with angels, and drove out devils with ease. After his death, he appeared to his close friend, St. Lucian, and told him that he had begged God to take Lucian quickly to His heavenly kingdom. This glorious and holy man entered into rest in 486.
3. Our Holy Fathers Mark the Gravedigger and Theophilus the Weeper.
They were monks of the Kiev Caves. St. Mark had such grace that he could command the dead and they would listen to him. ‘Wait till tomorrow, my brother; your grave isn’t ready yet,’ he is recorded as having said to a dead monk, who was already washed and prepared, and the monk opened his eyes and lived till the following day. Theophilus wept constantly for his sins, catching his tears in a basin. An angel appeared to him at the time of his death, and showed him a very large basin full of tears. These were Theophilus’ tears, that had fallen to the ground or been wiped away with his hand, or had dried on his face. Thus in heaven they know and keep all our tears along with our sufferings and labors and sighs for the sake of our salvation. These holy servants of God entered into rest in the eleventh century, and went to the kingdom of Christ.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A story of the most pure Virgin Mary: she conceived the Lord Jesus on a Friday, and bore Him on the first day of the week. It was on this first day that God said: ‘Let there be light’ (Gen. 1:3), on this day manna fell from heaven, on this day our Lord and Savior was born and was on this day baptized in the Jordan. There lived in Bethlehem at that time the aged Salome, a kinswoman of Joseph and Mary. She could not receive her kinsfolk into her house, but visited them in the shepherd’s cave. When the most holy Virgin stainlessly bore the Lord and Savior, Salome came to visit her, and was amazed that such a young girl should give birth without the aid of a midwife, should swaddle the child herself and still be on her feet. When it was explained to Salome that this birth was of God and not of man, that it was stainless and without pain and that the Virgin Mother remained a virgin after the birth as she was before it, Salome would not believe it, but stretched out her hand to the most holy Virgin’s body, to examine, after the way of a midwife, if this was so. She was punished for her unbelief and impudence: her hand was seized and withered. The old woman was greatly frightened by this, and lamented over her withered hand. Then, as it touched the divine Child, it was restored to its former wholeness, and Salome believed in the virginity of the holy Virgin Mary and the divinity of Christ.
After forty days, when, according to the custom, the most pure Virgin came with the Child to the temple in Jerusalem, Zacharias the high priest stood her in the place reserved for virgins. The Pharisees and priests were amazed at this, and wanted to move her to the place for married women, but Zacharias, gifted with insight, insisted that she was a virgin although she had given birth. Because of this, the Jewish elders hated Zacharias and advised Herod to kill him. Immediately after leaving the temple, the Mother of God and Joseph left Jerusalem for Nazareth, and then for Egypt.
January 12th – Civil Calendar
December 30th – Church Calendar
1. The Holy Martyr Anysia.
Born in Thessalonica of wealthy and eminent parents, she was brought up in the Christian Faith. She was orphaned young, and gave herself over to pondering on God and prayer in her own home. Fired with the love of Christ, she often said: ‘Oh, how false is the life of youth, for you either create scandal or are scandalized. Better is age, but oh, I am seized with sorrow at the length of time that separates us from heaven!’ She sold her goods and gave away the proceeds to the poor, and herself lived from the labor of her own hands. She kept strict fasts, slept very little and always wept in prayer. When sleep overtook her, she said to herself: ‘It is dangerous to sleep while the enemy keeps vigil.’ At that time, the wicked Emperor Maximian issued a decree that any man was free to kill Christians when and where he came across them, without trial or sentence. This holy maiden once went out into the street to go to church. It was the day of a pagan festival of the sun. A soldier saw her fairness of face and went up to her with impure lust, asking her name. She made the sign of the Cross and said to him: ‘I am Christ’s handmaid, and I’m going to church.’ After the impudent soldier came closer and began to speak as one deranged, he forcibly took her to the temple of the idols and attempted to compel her to offer sacrifice, but Anysia pushed him away and spat in his face. The soldier aimed a blow at her with his sword, and ran her through under the rib. This holy maiden suffered in 298 and was buried by Christians, and was crowned with a wreath of glory by God in the heavenly kingdom. A church was built over her grave.
2. The Holy Apostle Timon.
One of the seven deacons (Acts 6:5), and of the Seventy Apostles, he was made bishop of Bostra in Arabia and there preached the Gospel, enduring much ill-treatment at the hands of the pagans. He was thrown into fire, but remained unharmed. He finally died by crucifixion, and entered into the kingdom of Christ.
3. Our Holy Mother Theodora of Caesarea.
After strict asceticism in the monastery of St. Anna, she entered peacefully into rest in 755.
4. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Gideon.
A Greek by birth, of very poor parents, he was forced to embrace Islam as a youth. In remorse, he fled to the Holy Mountain, where, in the monastery of Karakallou, he received the monastic schema. Desiring martyrdom for Christ, he received the blessing of his spiritual father and went to the place where he had been forced into Islam, and there, openly before the Turks, confessed the Christian Faith and denounced Mohammed as a false prophet. The Turks shaved his head, placed him backwards on a donkey and led him through the town. He rejoiced at this ridicule for the sake of Christ. They then chopped off all his fingers and toes with an axe, as they had once done to St. Iakovos the Persian (Nov. 27th), and finally threw him into a place of excrement, where he gave his holy soul to God in the year 1818, in Turnovo in Thrace. His wonder-working relics are preserved in the Church of the Holy Apostles in the village of Turnovo, and a part of them is to be found in his monastery of Karakallou.
FOR CONSIDERATION
Here are two more examples of how our merciful God helps those who, in their trouble, hope in Him with faith. Blessed Theodora of Caesarea was born into a noble house and given to the monastery of St. Anna for education. Theodora was not only educated there: she also lived in asceticism, preparing herself to receive the monastic schema. The Emperor Leo the Isaurian took her from the monastery by force and betrothed her to one of his commanders. Theodora resisted the marriage with all her soul, but was as powerless as a lamb in a wolf’s claws. She lamented and prayed constantly to God in her heart that He would not forsake her. On the very day of the marriage, while the guests were feasting, news arrived from the emperor that the Scythians had invaded the empire, with a summons for the commander to set out at once with the army against them. The commander went, and never returned, being killed in battle. Thus, by God’s help, Theodora was freed, and as a pure maiden, returned to her monastery, where she received the habit, and as a nun, became known for her rare asceticism.
A second example: in the monastery of the ‘Unsleeping Ones,’ there was great want during a year of famine. St. Markellos, the abbot, welcomed some poor men one day and entertained them, then wanted to give them some money for their journey. He asked the monastery’s treasurer how much money they had altogether, and he replied that they had ten silver pieces. The abbot told him to give all ten coins to the poor men, but the treasurer did not give them all ten. He gave them nine and kept one for the monastery’s needs, as the situation was becoming acute. A rich man suddenly visited the monastery, and brought the abbot ninety talents of gold. Then the discerning Markellos summoned the treasurer and said to him: ‘Behold, God had intended to send us a hundred talents through this devout man, but as you disobeyed me and kept back one silver piece, the Provider of all has kept back ten talents.’
January 13th – Civil Calendar
December 31st – Church Calendar
1. Our Holy Mother Melanie the Roman.
Born in Rome of devout and very wealthy parents, she was forced by them to marry a young nobleman, Pinian. She was taken very seriously ill in giving birth to her second child, and told her husband that she would be healed only if he vowed before God to live with her in the future as brother and sister. Her husband agreed and Melanie, in her deep joy, was healed. When it pleased God to take both children to Himself, they agreed to sell all their possessions and give the proceeds to the destitute, the Church and the monasteries. They traveled through many lands and cities, everywhere doing good works. They visited famous spiritual guides in Upper and Lower Egypt, and received much instruction and inspiration from them. During all that time, Melanie lived in strict fasting, fervent prayer and the reading of the holy Scriptures. She followed the practice of reading the Scriptures right through, the Old and New Testaments, every three years, living with her husband as with a brother and fellow-ascetic. Going to Alexandria, they received the blessing of the patriarch, St. Cyril. After that, they went to Jerusalem and settled on the Mount of Olives. There Melanie became an anchoress, and gave herself completely to pondering, fasting and prayer. She lived thus for fourteen years, after which she came out, to help others to salvation, and founded monasteries for men and women. At the invitation of her kinsman, the senator Volusianus, a pagan, she went to Constantinople and brought him to the Christian Faith. She then returned to the Mount of Olives, where she went to God in 438, at the age of fifty-seven.
2. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Zoticus, Protector of the Poor.
He was eminent both of birth and rank. He moved to Constantinople, cast off all worldly things and received ordination to the priesthood, founding a home for the poor, containing a place for the treatment of infectious diseases, and ministering to those cared for in it. He was a close acquaintance of the Emperor Constantine the Great. In retaliation for the gold that Zoticus had had from him for his plague-victims, Constantine’s son, Constantius, tied him behind a wild ass, which was driven about until he died of his wounds. He suffered in the fourth century.
3. Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid.
Born on the island of Evia (Euboea), and educated in Constantinople by the most eminent teachers of his day, he became a priest in the Great Church. He was chosen as bishop, and sent, against his will, to Ochrid, where he spent about twenty-five years (from about 1082 to 1108). Chomatianus of Ochrid calls him ‘the wisest archbishop’. He was a man of enormous learning, both secular and theological, of refined Byzantine tastes, and was by nature melancholy and sensitive. Theophylact felt himself among the Slavs of Ochrid like an exile among barbarians. He wrote commentaries on the Four Gospels and on other books of the New Testament. These are the finest works of their sort after St. John Chrysostom, and are read to this day with great benefit. Of his other works, we know of his Letters, and a Life of St. Clement of Ochrid. In old age, Theophylact withdrew from Ochrid to Thessalonica, and finishing his earthly course, went to the blessedness of eternity.
FOR CONSIDERATION
How wisely holy men and women were able to handle their wealth! How skillfully they bought heavenly goods with their earthly riches! Oh, how low a value they set on earthly goods in themselves, treating them as dust and ashes! When St. Melanie visited the hermits in Egypt with the intention of giving them some financial help, she was astounded at their utter scorning of goods and wealth. Thus, she visited one hermit, Ephestion, and saw nothing in his cell but mats, a bowl for water, a little dry bread and a salt pot. Discovering in advance that the elder would not take money from her, she seized the opportunity to hide several gold pieces in the salt pot. But, as she was on the way back, she heard the elder running after her and calling her to stop. She stopped. The elder held the gold out to her on his palm, saying: ‘I don’t need this; take what’s yours.’ Melanie said to him: ‘If you don’t need it, give it to someone else.’ He replied: ‘No one around here would have any use for it.’ When Melanie would not take the gold back, the elder swung his arm and threw the gold into the river, and then returned to his cell.
During an outbreak of plague in Constantinople, the Emperor Constantius ordered that everyone affected be immediately thrown into the sea. St. Zoticus brought together those infected, and took them to his house to look after them there. When his money ran out, he went to the emperor and asked for money to buy precious pearls for him. The emperor gave him some money, and with this, he gathered further plague-victims and looked after them. One day, the emperor asked Zoticus for the promised pearls, and Zoticus took him and showed him the men in his house, saying: ‘These, O emperor, are living pearls, which I have acquired with toil and money for your salvation.’ The furious emperor condemned Zoticus to death. Zoticus entered into eternal life, and the emperor remained to expiate and repent of his sin.
Prologue Readings taken from The Prologue of Ochrid, by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic, translated by Mother Maria, published by Lazarica Press, Birmingham, England, copyright © 1985, all rights reserved.
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