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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.

Restoration of the Holy IconsThis 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.

Joseph the BetrothedProphet King DavidSt. Iakovos, the Brother of the LordThey 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

Ss. 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.

Circumcision of 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 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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.

Saint Philip the Deacon with the Eunuch of Candace [Acts 8:27-30]. 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).

The Holy Prophet MicahMicah 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.

3. Our Holy Mother Syncletike (Syncletica).

Our Holy Mother Syncletike.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.’

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Our Holy Father Theodosius 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

The Holy Apostle Peter Delivered From Prison.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.

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.

Our Holy Father Antony 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.

St Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of AlexandriaBorn 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.

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.

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.

Our Holy Father Euthymius 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

St Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of ConstantinopleBorn 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.

St John ChrysostomThe 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

The Three Great Hierarchs: Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John
  ChrysostomEach 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.

Holy Unmercenaries 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.

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.

The Presentation of the Lord in the TempleOn 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.

The Presentation of the Lord in the TempleThis 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Holy Prophet 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.

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).

Hieromartyr 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Apostle PhelemonArchippus 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.

St John the BaptistThe 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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

3. St. Gregory the Dialogist, Pope of Rome.

St Gregory the DialogistSon 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).

St. Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople. 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.

St. Benedict of NursiaBorn 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.

Holy Apostle AristobulusHe 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).

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.

St Alexios, 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.

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.

St. PhotineThis 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).

Three New-Martyrs of Mt. Athos - Ss. Ignatios, Evthimios & AkakiosHe 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, The Holy Virgin Martyr of Mangazeya.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.

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.

Archangel GabrielThe 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).

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.

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 RufusSt. Rufus was Bishop of Thebes in Greece. The Apostle Paul mentions him also: ‘Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord’ (Rom. 16:13).

St. Asyncritus (Rom. 16:14) was Bishop of Hyrcania in Asia.

St PhlegonSt. Phlegon, who is mentioned in the same place as St. Rufus, was bishop in the Thracian city of Marathon.

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

Ss. 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.

The Hieromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum in AsiaHe 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.

St. Athanasius of MeteoraBorn 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.

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.

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.

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.

St. Sava, Archbishop of Serbia.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.

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.

St. Jason 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.
St. Sosipater

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.

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).

The Holy Apostle James (Iakovos).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).

Pr. JeremiasBorn 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.

St Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria.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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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).

The Holy Prophet 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.

St Nicolas the Wonderworker 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.

3. The Holy Martyr Christopher.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ss. Cyril & MethodiosThey 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.

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.

The Holy New Martyr Nicholas of Metsovon.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.

Ss. Constantine and HelenaConstantine’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.

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).

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.

The Beheading of St. John the BaptistIn 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.

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.

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.

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.

Saints Mary, Lazarus, and MarthaAfter 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.

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.

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.

St Cyril, 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.

Saint Nathanael (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.

Saint Barnabas. Church of the Holy Cross, Platanistasa, Cyprus (15th c.).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.

The Icon: ‘Axion Estin,’.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.

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.

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).

The Holy Prophet 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Our Holy Father Sisoës</b> <b>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).

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.

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.

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.

Holy and Great Martyr Ephemia (Euphemia).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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

The Holy Prophet Elias.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 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.

Our Holy Fathers Simeon the Fool for Christ.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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Paraskeva.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.

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.

Ss. John and Prochorus on PatmosAll 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.

The Holy Apostle Silas.The Holy Apostle Crescens.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.

Epitaphios.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.

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.

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.

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 p