Saint Patrick lived during the first century and was bishop of the city of Prussa in Bythnia (Asia Minor). He openly and boldly preached the teachings of Christ the Saviour and denounced the error of the pagans. For this he was taken together with the three presbyters - Akakios, Menander, and Polienos, and led for interrogation to the governor of the city, Julius.
At the time Julius was on journey for treatment at an hot-springs, and he gave orders to bring along after him also the Christian bishop with the presbyters, bound in iron chains. Having washed in the hot-springs, Julius offered sacrifice to his gods and, summoning Saint Patrick and the other prisoners, he demanded them to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, threatening punishments in case of refusal.
Saint Patrick replied to this: "I am a Christian and I worship the One True God, Jesus Christ, Who hath created the heavens and the earth and these warm springs for the benefit of all mankind." On the command of Julius they threw the saint into the hot spring, and with firm faith the martyr prayed for help: "Lord, Jesus Christ, help me, Thy servant," and he remained unharmed.
In a rage of impotence Julius gave orders to cut off the head of Saint Patrick and his three presbyters. The end for the martyrs occurred in about the year 100 after the Birth of Christ.
The Holy Martyr Theodotus and the Holy Seven Virgins - Tecusa, Thaina, Claudia, Matrona, Julia, Alexandra, and Euphrasia, lived during the second half of the third century in the city of Ancyra, Galatia district, and died as martyrs for Christ at the beginning of the fourth century.
Saint Theodotus was an inn-keeper, had his own inn and was married. Then already he had attained to high spiritual accomplishment: he maintained prudence and purity, cultivated temperance in himself, subjugated the flesh to the spirit, and became practised in fasting and prayer. By his conversations he brought Jews and pagans to the Christian faith, and sinners to repentance and improvement. Saint Theodotus received the gift of healing from the Lord and he treated the sick by placing his hands on them.
During the time of the persecution under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), a certain Theoteknes, known for his cruelty, was appointed as governor in the city of Ancyra. Many Christians fled from the city, having forsaken their homes and property. Theoteknes made a proclamation to all Christians that they were under obligation to offer sacrifice to idols, and in the event of refusal they were to be given over to torture and death. Pagans delivered Christians over to torture, and then divided up their property.
A famine befell the country. During these grim days, Saint Theodotus gave shelter in his inn to Christians left homeless. He fed them, hid away those being pursued, and from his supplies gave to devastated churches everything necessary for making the Divine Liturgy. He fearlessly went into the prisons, rendering help to the innocently condemned, encouraging them to be faithful to Christ the Saviour to the very end. Theodotus did not fear to bury the remains of holy martyrs, either carrying them off secretly or ransoming them from the soldiers for money. When the Christian churches at Ancyra were destroyed and closed, Divine Liturgy began to be celebrated in his inn. Perceiving that the deed of martyrdom awaited him too, Saint Theodotus in conversation with the priest Phrontonos predicted that in a short while they would bring to him the relics of martyrs, at a place chosen by both of them. In surety of his words, Saint Theodotus gave his ring to the priest.
During this while, seven holy virgins had accepted death for Christ, of whom the eldest - Saint Tecusa - was an aunt of Saint Theodotus. The holy virgins - Tecusa, Thaina, Claudia, Matrona, Julia, Alexandra, and Euphrasia - from their youth had dedicated themselves to God, and lived in constant prayer, fasting, temperance, and good deeds. All of them had attained to an elderly age. Brought to trial as Christians, the holy virgins in front of Theoteknes bravely confessed their faith in Christ and were given over to torture, but remained steadfast. The governor thereupon gave them over to shameless youths for desecration. The holy virgins prayed intensely, asking help from God. Saint Tecusa fell down at the feet of a youth, and taking back her veil she showed him her greyed hair. The youths became startled, started weeping and ran off. The governor then ordered that the saints take part in "the ablution of the idols," which was done by pagan priests, but again the holy virgins refused. For this they were sentenced to death. A heavy stone was tied to the legs of each, and all seven of the holy virgins was drowned in a lake.
On the following night Saint Tecusa appeared in a dream to Saint Theodotus, asking him to take up her body and give it Christian burial. Saint Theodotus, taking with him his friend Polychronios and several other Christians, set off to the lake. It was dark, and a burning torch led the way. Amidst them in front of the guard, posted by the pagans at the shore of the lake, appeared the holy martyr Sosander. The frightened guard ran off in terror. The wind drove the water towards the other side of the lake. The Christians took up the bodies of the holy martyresses and carried them to church, whence they were given over to burial.
Learning about the theft of the bodies of the holy martyresses, the governor went into a rage and gave orders to strike at all Christians and give them over to torture. Polychronios also was seized. Not able to endure the torture, he informed on Saint Theodotus, as the perpetrator of the theft of the bodies. Saint Theodotus began to prepare to die for Christ; having come up together with all the Christians zealous in prayer, he made bequest of his body to the priest Phrontonos, to whom earlier he had given his ring. The saint came before the judge. They showed him various instruments of torture and instead of them they promised him honours and riches, if he recanted from Christ. Saint Theodotus glorified the Lord Jesus Christ, and confessed his faith in Him. In anger the pagans gave the saint over to constant torture, but the power of God sustained the holy martyr. He remained alive and was cast into prison. On the following morning the governor again gave orders to torture the saint, but he soon perceived that it was impossible to break his courage. He then gave orders to behead the martyr. The execution was done, but sensing that a storm was approaching, the soldiers set fire to the body of the martyr. And soldiers, sitting in a tent, remained to guard the body. At this point the priest Phrontonos appeared from a nearby way, leading a donkey with a load of wine from his vineyard. The donkey suddenly fell down near the place where lay the body of Saint Theodotus. The soldiers helped get the donkey back up and they told Phrontonos that they were guarding the body of the executed Christian Theodotus. The priest perceived that the Lord had intentionally sent him hither. He placed the holy remains on the donkey and took them to the place, indicated by Saint Theodotus for his burial, and with honour he committed them to the earth. Afterwards he built up a church on this spot. Saint Theodotus accepted death for Christ on 7 June 303 or 304, and his memory is commemorated on 18 May, on the day of death of the holy virgins.
The account of the life and martyr's act of Saint Theodotus and the suffering of the holy virgins was compiled by the contemporary and companion of Saint Theodotus, and an eye-witness of his death - Nilos, living in the city of Ancyra during the period of persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian.
The Holy Disciple from the Seventy Andronicus, and his helper in apostolic works, Saint Junia, were relatives of the holy Apostle Paul. They laboured much, preaching the Gospel to pagans, about which the Apostle Paul makes mention in his Epistle to the Romans: "Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsfolk and prisoners with me, acknowledged amongst the Apostles and having still before me believed in Christ" (Rom. 16: 7).
Saint Andronicus was ordained bishop of Pannonia, but the preaching took Saint Junia and him also to other lands, far from the boundaries of his diocese. By the efforts of Saints Andronicus and Junia the Church of Christ was strengthened, pagans were converted to the knowledge of God, many pagan temples ceased functioning, and in their place were erected Christian churches. From the service in honour of these saints it is known, that they suffered martyrdom for the Name of Christ.
In the fifth century, during the reign of the emperors Arcadius and Honorius, their holy relics were uncovered on the outskirts of Constantinople together with the relics of other martyrs "at the Eugenius gate."
It was revealed to the pious cleric Nicholas Kalligraphos that among these seventeen martyrs were also the relics of the holy Disciple Andronicus. Afterwards on this spot was built a magnificent church.
The Monk Theodore was called "Sanctified" because he was the first in his monastery ordained to the priesthood.
The Monk Theodore came from Egypt and was the son of rich and illustrious Christian parents. The yearning for monastic life early showed up in him. One time at the house of his parents during the feast of Theophany there was a large party, and the lad did not want to take part in the festivities, grieving that because of earthly joys he would be deprived of joys in the life to come. At fourteen years of age he secretly left home and settled in one of the monasteries.
Hearing about Pachomius the Great, he burned with the desire to see the ascetic. The Monk Pachomius received the arriving lad with love, having been informed by God beforehand about his coming. Remaining at the monastery, the Monk Theodore quickly succeeded in all his monastic tasks, particularly in the full obedience to his guide and in his compassion towards the surrounding brethren. Theodore's mother, learning that he was at the Tabennisa monastery, came to the Monk Pachomius with a letter from the bishop, imploring a meeting with her son. But the Monk Theodore, fearing to break his vow of renunciation from the world, refused to meet with his mother.
Seeing the strength of mind and ability of Saint Theodore, the Monk Pachomius once directed him to speak an instruction to the brethren on Holy Scripture. Saint Theodore was then but twenty years old. He unquestioningly obeyed and began to speak, but certain of the older brethren took offence that a newly begun monk should read them a discourse, and they departed. The Monk Pachomius thereupon said to them: "Ye have given in to the devil and by your conceit your efforts art come to naught. Ye rejected not Theodore, but rather the Word of God, and have deprived yourselves of the Holy Spirit."
Saint Pachomius appointed the Monk Theodore as overseer of the Tabennisa monastery, and withdrew to a more solitary monastery. Saint Theodore with filial love continued to concern himself over his instructor, and in the final illness of the Monk Pachomius he looked after him, and when the great abba reposed to the Lord, he closed his eyes. After the death of the Monk Pachomius, Saint Theodore directed the Tabennisa monastery, and later on he was at the head of all the Thebaid monasteries. The Monk Theodore the Sanctified was famed for holiness of life and a copious gift of wonderworking, and he was well known to Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Saint Theodore reposed in his old age in the year 368.
The Monk Pachomius the Great, together with Anthony the Great, Macarius the Great, and Euthymius the Great, was both an exemplar of wilderness dwelling, and a founder of the monastic "life-in-common" coenobitism in Egypt. The Monk Pachomius was born in the third century in the Thebaid (Upper Egypt). His parents were pagans and he received an excellent secular education. From youth he had the traits of good character, he was prudent of sensible in mind. When Pachomius reached age twenty, he was called up into the army of the emperor Constantine (in the year 315). They settled the new conscripts into the edifice of a city prison under a guard of sentries. The local Christians came with supplies of food, and they fed the soldiers and took sincere care of them. When the youth learned that these people acted thus for the sake of their God, fulfilling His commandment about love for neighbour, this made a deep impression upon his pure soul. Pachomius made a vow to become a Christian. Having returned from the army after the victory, Pachomius accepted holy Baptism, resettled himself into the lonely settlement of Shenesit and immediately he began to lead a strict ascetic life. Sensing the need for spiritual guidance, he turned to the Thebaid wilderness dweller Palamon. He was fondly accepted by the elder, and he began to proceed through monastic efforts on the example of his instructor.
One time, after ten years of wilderness life, the Monk Pachomius was making his way through the desert, when he halted at the ruins of the former village of Tabennis and here he heard a Voice, ordering him to form at this place a monastery. Pachomius reported about this to the elder Palamon, and they both considered the words heard to be a command from God. They set out to Tabennis and began by building there a small monastic hovel. The holy elder Palamon blessed the beginning foundations of the monastery and made a prediction of its future glory. But soon also the Monk Palamon expired to the Lord. An Angel of God then appeared to Saint Pachomius in the form of a schemamonk and entrusted to him an ustav-rule of monastic life. And soon his own elder brother John came and settled there together with him.
The Monk Pachomius underwent many a temptation and assault from the enemy of the race of man, but the Monk Pachomius bravely warded off all the temptations by his prayer to God and endurance.
Gradually there began a gathering of followers to the Monk Pachomius. Their teacher impressed everyone by his love for work, whereby he managed to accomplish all kinds of monastic tasks: he cultivated a garden, he conversed with those that arrived seeking guidance, and he tended to the sick. The Monk Pachomius introduced a monastic rule of "life-in-common," making everything the same for everyone in food and attire. The monks of the monastery were to toil at the obediences assigned them for the common good of the monastery. Among the various obediences was the re-copying of books. The monks were not to possess their own money nor to accept anything from their kinsfolk. The Monk Pachomius considered that an obedience, fulfilled with zeal, was higher than fasting or prayer, and he demanded from the monks an exact observance of the monastic rule, strictly chastising flaggards.
To the Monk Pachomius one time came his sister Maria, who for a long time had wanted to see her brother. But the strict ascetic refused seeing her and via the gatekeeper he gave her the blessing to enter upon the path of monastic life, promising his help with this. Maria wept, but did as her brother had ordered. The Tabennis monks built her a hut on the opposite side of the River Nile. And to Maria also there began to gather nuns, and soon there was formed a women's monastery with a strict monastic rule, provided by the Monk Pachomius.
The number of monks at the monastery grew quickly, and it necessitated the building of seven more monasteries in the vicinity. The number of monks reached 7,000 - all under the guidance of the Monk Pachomius, who visited at all the monasteries and administered them. But at the same time Saint Pachomius remained a deeply humble monk, who was always ready to comply with and accept the remarks of each brother.
Severe and strict towards himself, the Monk Pachomius had great kindness and condescension towards the spiritually immature deficiencies of monks. One of the monks was ardent for the deed of martyrdom, but the Monk Pachomius swayed him from this yearning and instructed him quietly to fulfill his monastic obedience, taming the pride in himself and training him in humility. One time a monk would not heed his advice and went off from the monastery, during which time he was set upon by brigands, who under the threat of death forced him to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Filled with despair, the monk returned to the monastery. The Monk Pachomius ordered him to pray intensely night and day, keep strict fast and live in complete solitude. The monk followed his advice, and this saved his soul from despair.
The monk taught to avoid against judging others and he himself feared to be judgmental of anyone even in thought.
It was with an especial love that the Monk Pachomius concerned himself over the sick monks. He visited them, he cheered up the disheartened, he urged them to be thankful to God and put their hope in His holy will. For the sick he lightened the fasting, if this should aid in their recovery of health. One time in the absence of the monk, the cook did not prepare the monks any cooked food, on the presumption that the brethren loved to fast. Instead of doing his obedience, this monk plaited 500 mats, something which the Monk Pachomius had not encouraged. In punishment for the disobedience, all the mats prepared by the cook were ordered burnt.
The Monk Pachomius always taught the monks to have hope only upon the help and mercy of God. At the monastery it happened that there was an insufficiency of grain. The saint spent the whole night at prayer, and in the morning there came from the main city a large quantity of bread for the monastery, at no expense. The Lord granted the Monk Pachomius the gift of wonderworking and healing the sick.
The Lord revealed to him the ultimate fate of monasticism. The monk learned that successive monks would not have such zeal in their efforts as did the first, and they would walk in the darkness of not having experienced guides. Prostrating himself upon the ground, the Monk Pachomius wept bitterly, calling out to the Lord and imploring mercy for them. In answer he heard a Voice: "Pachomius, be mindful of the mercy of God. About the monks to come, know that they shalt receive recompense, since that they too shalt have occasion to suffer the life burdensome for the monk."
Towards the end of his life the Monk Pachomius likewise fell ill from a pestilence that afflicted the region. His closest and beloved disciple, the Monk Theodore, tended to him with a filial love. The Monk Pachomius died in about the year 348 at age 53, and he was buried on an hill near the monastery.
The Holy Martyr Isidore lived during the third century on the Island of Chios, and was a native of Alexandria. During the first year of rule of the emperor Decius (249-251) there was issued an edict to make a census of all those capable to serve in the armies of the Roman empire. Saint Isidore, tall and strong of body, was drafted into the regiment of the military-commander Numerius. Saint Isidore was a Christian, he led a life of temperance and abstinence, he was chaste and he shunned all the pagan customs.
Another imperial edict then commanded, that all the soldiers were to worship the Roman pagan gods and to offer them sacrifice. Not to obey the edict carried the penalty of torture and death. The centurion reported to the military-commander Numerius, that Isidore was a Christian. At the interrogation before Numerius Saint Isidore without flinching confessed his faith in Christ the Saviour and refused to offer sacrifice to idols. Numerius urged the saint not to expose himself to tortures and to obey the will of the emperor, but Saint Isidore answered that he would obey only the will of the eternal God, Christ the Saviour, and never would he renounce Him. The saint was handed over to torture.
During the time of torments he praised Christ God and denounced the pagan idols. The military-commander gave orders to cut out the tongue of the saint, but even after this the saint continued distinctly to give glory to Christ. Numerius in fright fell to the ground and himself lost the gift of speech. Getting up with the help of soldiers, by means of gestures he demanded a small board and on it wrote an order to cut off the head of Saint Isidore. Saint Isidore welcomed his death sentence with joy and said: "I glorify Thee, O my Master, that by Thy mercy Thou hast accepted me in Thine Heavenly Habitation!" The death of the martyr occurred in the year 251. After execution his body was cast out without burial, but another saint, the secret Christian Ammonios, took up his body and committed it to earth. Later on Ammonios himself accepted a martyr's death in the city of Kyzikos.
At the beginning of the twelfth century the Russian pilgrim Daniel saw the relics of the holy Martyr Isidore on the Island of Chios. His relics were later transferred to Constantinople and placed in the church of Saint Irene.
Saint Glyceria suffered as a martyr for her faith in Christ in the second century, during the time of a persecution against Christians under the emperor Antoninus (138-161). She was descended from illustrious lineage: her father Macarius was the city-governor of Rome, and afterwards he resettled to the Thracian city of Trojanopolis. But Saint Glyceria early on lost both her father and mother. Falling in with Christians, she converted to the true faith, and daily she visited the church of God.
The Trojanopolis governor, Sabinus, having received the imperial edict about compelling Christians to offer sacrifice to the idols, and so he set the inhabitants of the city a day of general worship of the idol Zeus. Saint Glyceria firmly resolved to suffer for Christ, she told the Christians about her intention, and she besought them to pray that the Lord would send her the strength to undergo the sufferings. On the festal day of Zeus Saint Glyceria, having traced on her forehead the Sign of the Cross, went into the pagan temple; the saint stood on a raised spot in the rays of the sun, and snatched from her head the veil, showing all the holy Cross, traced on her forehead. She prayed heatedly to God, that He should bring the pagans to their senses and destroy the stone idol of Zeus. Suddenly thunder was heard, the statue of Zeus crashed to the floor and smashed into little pieces. In a rage, the governor Sabinus and the pagan priests commanded the people to pelt Saint Glyceria with stones, but the stones that were thrown did not touch the saint.
They locked up Saint Glyceria in prison, where the Christian priest Philokrates came to her and encouraged the martyress in the deed before her. In the morning, when the tortures had started, suddenly amidst the torturers there appeared an Angel, and they all fell to the ground, overcome with terror. When the vision vanished, then by order of Sabinus, himself hardly able to speak, they again led off the saint to prison. They securely shut the door and sealed it with the personal ring of the governor, so that no one could get in to her. During all her time of being thus locked in, Angels of God brought Saint Glyceria food and drink.
Some many days afterwards Sabinus came to the prison and he himself removed the seal. Going in to the saint, he was shaken, seeing her alive and well. Setting off for the city of Heraclium, Sabinus gave orders to bring along there also Saint Glyceria. From this city there came out to meet her the Christians of Heraclium with the bishop Dometius at the head, and in front of everyone he uttered a prayer to the Lord for strengthening the saint in the act of martyrdom. At Heraclium they cast Saint Glyceria into a red-hot furnace, but the fire in it at once extinguished. Then the governor, in a mindless fury, gave orders to strip the skin from the head of Saint Glyceria. Then they threw the bared martyress into prison onto sharp stones, where she prayed incessantly, and at midnight in the prison there appeared an Angel which healed her of her wounds.
The prison guard Laodicius, having come in the morning for the saint, at first did not recognise her, and thinking that the martyress had been hidden away he wanted to kill himself in fear of punishment, but Saint Glyceria stopped him. Shaken by the miracle, Laodicius believed in the True God and he besought prayers of the saint, that he also might suffer and die for Christ together with her. "Follow Christ and thou wilt be saved," the holy martyress answered him. Laodicius placed upon himself the chains, with which the saint was bound, and at the trial he declared to the governor and everyone present about the miraculous healing of Saint Glyceria by an Angel and he confessed himself a Christian. The newly chosen one of God was immediately beheaded by the sword. Christians, having secretly taken up his remains, reverently gave them burial, but Saint Glyceria was given over for devouring by wild beasts. She went to execution with great joy, but the lioness set loose upon the saint meekly crawled up to her and, curling up, lay at her feet. Finally, the saint turned with a prayer to the Lord, imploring that He take her unto Himself. In answer she heard a Voice from Heaven, summoning her to the Heavenly bliss. At this moment there was set loose upon the saint another lioness, which pounced upon the martyress and killed her, but did not rend her apart. Bishop Dometius and the Heraclium Christians reverently buried the holy Martyress Glyceria. She suffered for Christ in about the year 177. Her holy relics were glorified with a flow of curative myrrh.
Sainted Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, lived during the fourth century in Phoenicia. By descent he was Jewish, and in his youth he received a fine education. He was converted to the Christian faith after he saw how a certain monk, Lucian by name, gave away his own clothing to a poor person. Struck by the compassion of the monk, Epiphanius besought him to instruct him in Christianity. He accepted Baptism and settled in the monastery, organised by his teacher Lucian.
At the monastery he pursued asceticism under the guidance of the experienced elder Ilarion, and he occupied himself with the copying of Greek books and progressing in the monastic life. Saint Epiphanius for his ascetic deeds was granted the gift of wonderworking, but in order to avoid human glory, he set out from the monastery into the Spanidrion wilderness. Robbers caught him there and held him for three months in captivity. By his talk about repentance, the saint brought one of the gang of robbers to the holy faith in the True God. When they set free the holy ascetic, with him also went the robber. Saint Epiphanius took him to his monastery and baptised him with the name John. And from that time he became a faithful disciple of Saint Epiphanius, and he carefully recorded in writing about the life and miracles of his preceptor.
Reports about the righteous life of Saint Epiphanius spread far beyond the bounds of the monastery. The saint set out a second time into the wilderness with his disciple John. But even in the wilderness disciples started to come to him. Thus emerged a new monastery. After a certain while Saint Epiphanius undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for veneration of its holy artifacts and from there returned to the Spanidrion monastery.
The people of the city of Lycia dispatched the monk Polybios to Saint Epiphanius with a request to occupy the bishop's throne of their dead archpastor. But the perspicacious ascetic, having learned of this intention, secretly set out into the Pathysian wilderness to the great ascetic Ilarion, under whose guidance he pursued asceticism in his youthful years. The saints spent two months in mutual prayer, and then Ilarion sent Saint Epiphanius to Salamis. Bishops were gathered there for the selecting of a new archpastor in place of one recently died. The Lord revealed to the eldest of them, Bishop Papios, that the Monk Epiphanius arriving in the city should be chosen bishop. When Epiphanius arrived, Saint Papios led him into the church, where in obedience to the will of the participants of the Council, Epiphanius was obliged to give his consent. Thus occurred the elevation of Saint Epiphanius to the bishop's cathedra of Salamis in about the year 367.
Sainted Epiphanius won reknown upon the archpastoral chair by his great zeal for the faith, love and charity towards the poor, and simplicity of character. He underwent much from the slander and enmity of some of his clergy. For his purity of life, Sainted Epiphanius received the granting to see at Divine Liturgy the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Holy Gifts. One time the saint, celebrating the Mystery, was deprived of this vision. He then became suspicious of one of the clergy and quietly said to him: "Depart, my son, since today thou art unworthy to participate at the celebrating of the Mystery."
On this event the writings of his disciple John break off, since he then fell sick and died. The further record of the life of Saint Epiphanius was continued by a second of his disciples, Polybios (afterwards bishop of city of Rinocyreia).
Through the intrigues of the empress Eudoxia and the Alexandria patriarch Theophilos, towards the end of his life Saint Epiphanius was summoned to Constantinople for a church council, which was convened for judgment upon the great saint, John Chrysostom. But Saint Epiphanius, not wanting to take part in a lawless council, left Constantinople. While sailing upon the ship, the saint sensed the nearness of his death, and he gave his disciples final instructions - to keep the Commandments of God and to preserve the mind from impure thoughts - and two days later he died. The people of Salamis met the body of their archpastor with carriages, and on 12 May 403 they buried him with reverence in a new church built by the saint.
The Seventh Ecumenical Council named Sainted Epiphanius as a Father and Teacher of the Church. In the writings of Saint Epiphanius, the "Panarion" and the "Ankoratos" contain refutation of the Arian and other heresies. In others of his works are encountered valuable church-historical traditions and directives on the Greek translation of the Bible.
Saint Mocius was a presbyter in Macedonia in the city of Amphypolis. During a time of persecution against Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), Saint Mocius exhorted the pagans, who had assembled for the pagan feast to the divinity Dionysos (Bacchus), to forsake iniquity and the vile customs which accompanied this solemnity, and to repent and be converted to the Lord Jesus Christ and be cleansed through holy baptism.
The saint was brought to trial to the governor of Laodiceia; he confessed before him the true faith, and against the threats he answered: "My death for Christ is a great accomplishment for me."
Saint Mocius was subjected to torture, which he bore with marvelous endurance, and in no wise ceasing to denounce the idol-worshippers. Taken to the pagan temple of Dionysos, the saint shattered the idols with the Name of Jesus Christ. After this he was put into a red-hot oven, where he remained unharmed, but the flames coming out of the oven scorched the governor.
And again the assigned commander subjected Saint Mocius to fierce torture, which with the help of God he stoically endured; given for devouring by wild beasts, he remained unharmed - the lions but lay down at the feet of the saint. The people, having witnessed such miracles, began to urge that the saint be set free. The governor ordered the saint to be sent to the city of Perinth, and from there to Byzantium, where Saint Mocius was executed. Before his death he gave thanks to the Lord, for having bestown upon him the strength to go to the very end with the act of martyrdom. "Lord, receive my spirit in peace," were his last words, after which he was beheaded. Saint Mocius died in about the year 295. Later on, the emperor Constantine built a church in honour of the Hieromartyr Mocius and transferred his holy passion-bearing relics into it.
The Holy Apostle Simon Zelotes hailed from Cana of Galilee. The first miracle which the Saviour worked, the transforming of water into wine, occurred at the house of Simon: at the time of a wedding-feast there was insufficient wine for the guests. Then the Lord, at the prompting of the Most Holy Mother of God, transformed water into wine. Struck by the miracle, Simon with all his heart and soul believed in the Lord Jesus as the Promised Messiah and, having left behind everything, he followed after Him.
Simon received the title "Zelotes", i.e. the zealot, meaning a person who is zealous. On the day of Pentecost he received the gift of the Holy Spirit together with the other Apostles.
The holy Apostle Simon preached the teaching of Christ at Judea, Egypt, Libya, Cyrenia, and Britain. At Abkhazia he accepted a martyr's death, and was crucified on a cross. He was buried at the city of Nikopsia around Sukhum. Afterwards (in the nineteenth century), at the place where the holy Apostle Simon asceticised near Mount Iveria, there was established the Novoathonite monastery of Simon the Canaanite. To the present day is preserved the cave wherein the holy Apostle Simon asceticised.
The holy Prophet Isaias lived 700 years before the Birth of Christ, and was descended of royal lineage. The father of Isaias, Amos, raised his son in the fear of God and in the law of the Lord. Having attained the age of maturity, the Prophet Isaias entered into marriage with a pious maiden-prophetess (Is. 8:3) and had a son Jashub (Is. 8:18).
Saint Isaias was called to prophetic service during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judea, and he prophesied for sixty years during the reign of kings Joatham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh. The start of his service was marked by the following vision: he beheld the Lord God, sitting in a majestic heavenly temple upon an high throne. Six-winged Seraphim encircled Him. With two wings they covered their faces, and with two wings they covered their feet, and with two wings they flew about crying out one to another "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord Sabaoth, heaven and earth are filled of His Glory!" The pillars of the heavenly temple did shake from their shouts, and in the temple swelled the smoke of incense. The prophet cried out in terror: "Oh, accursed a man am I, granted to behold the Lord Sabaoth, and having impure lips and living amidst an impure people!" Then was sent him one of the Seraphim, having in hand a red-hot coal, which he took with tongs from the altar of the Lord. He touched it to the mouth of the Prophet Isaias and said: "Here, I have touched it to thine lips and the Lord doth do away with thine offences and doth cleanse thy sins." After this Isaias heard the voice of the Lord, directed towards him: "Whom shalt I send and who wilt go to the Jews, who wilt go for Us?" Isaias answered: "Here am I, send me, Lord, and I shalt go" (Is. 6:1ff). And the Lord sent him to the Jews to exhort them to turn from the ways of impiety and idol-worship and to offer repentance. To those that repent and turn to the True God, the Lord promised mercy and forgiveness, but punishment and the judgment of God are appointed the unrepentant. Then Isaias asked the Lord, how long would the falling-away of the Jewish nation from God continue. The Lord answered: "Until that time, as they neglect the city, nor be there people in the houses and this land be made desolate. Just as when a tree be felled and from the stump come forth new shoots, so also from the destruction of the nation wilt remain an holy remnant, from which emergeth a new tribe."
Isaias left behind him a book of prophecy, in which he denounces the Jews for their unfaithfulness to the God of their fathers, and he predicts the captivity of the Jews and their return from captivity during the time of the emperor Cyrus, the destruction and renewal of Jerusalem and of the Temple. Together with this he predicts the historical fate also of the other nations bordering the Jews. But what is most important of all for us, the Prophet Isaias with particular clearness and detail prophesies about the coming of the Messiah - Christ the Saviour. The prophet names the Messiah as God and Man, Teacher of all the nations, Founder of the Kingdom of Peace and Love. The prophet foretells the Birth of the Messiah from a Virgin, and with particular clearness he describes the Suffering of the Messiah for the sins of the world, he foresees His Resurrection and the universal spreading of His Church. By his clear foretelling about Christ the Saviour, the Prophet Isaias merited being called an Old Testament Evangelist. To him belong the words: "This One beareth our sins and is smitten for us... He was wounded for our sins and tortured for our transgressions. The chastisement of our world was upon Him, and by His wounds we were healed..." (Is. 53:4-5. Vide Book of Prophet Isaias: 7:14, 11:1, 9:6, 53:4, 60:13, etc.).
The holy Prophet Isaias had also a gift of wonderworking. And thus so, when during the time of a siege of Jerusalem by enemies the besieged had become exhausted with thirst, he by his prayer drew out from beneath Mount Sion a spring of water, which was called Siloam, i.e. "sent from God." It was to this spring afterwards that the Saviour sent the man blind from birth to wash, and for whom was restored sight by Him. By the prayer of the Prophet Isaias, the Lord prolonged the life of Hezekiah for fifteen years.
The Prophet Isaias died a martyr's death. By order of the Jewish king Manasseh he was sawn through by a wood-saw. The prophet was buried not far from the Pool of Siloam. The relics of the holy Prophet Isaias were afterwards transferred by the emperor Theodosius the Younger to Constantinople and installed in the church of Saint Lawrence at Blachernae. At the present time part of the head of the Prophet Isaias is preserved at Athos in the Chilandaria monastery.
About the times and the events which occurred during the life of the Prophet Isaias, the 4th Book of Kings speaks (Ch. 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, etc.), and likewise 2 Chronicles (Ch. 26-32).
The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian occupies a unique place in the ranks of the chosen disciples of Christ the Saviour. Often in iconography the Apostle John is depicted as a gentle, majestic, and spiritual elder, with features of innocent tenderness, with the imprint of complete calm upon his forehead and the deep look of a contemplator of unuttered revelations. Another main trait of the spiritual countenance of the Apostle John is revealed through his teaching about love, for which the title "Apostle of Love" is preeminently designated to him. Actually, all his writings are permeated by love, the basic concept of which leads to the comprehension that God in His Being is Love (1 Jn. 4:8). In his writings, Saint John dwells especially upon the manifestations of the inexpressible love of God for the world and for mankind, the love of his Divine Teacher. He constantly exhorts his disciples to mutual love one for another.
The service of Love was the entire pathway of life of the Apostle John the Theologian.
The qualities of calmness and profound contemplation were in him combined with an ardent fidelity, tender and boundless love with intensity and even a certain abruptness. From the brief indications of the Evangelists it is apparent that he was endowed in the highest degree with an ardent nature, and his hearty passionateness sometimes reached such a stormy zealousness that Jesus Christ was compelled to give the admonishment that it was discordant with the spirit of the new teaching (Mk. 9:38-40; Lk. 9:49-50, 54‑56) and He called the Apostle John and his brother by birth the Apostle James "Sons of Thunder" ("Boanerges"). During this while Saint John shows scant modesty, and besides his particular position among the Apostles as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," he did not stand out among the other disciples of the Saviour. The distinguishing features of his character were the observance and sensitivity to events, permeated by a keen sense of obedience to the Will of God. Impressions received from without rarely showed up in his word or actions, but they penetrated deeply and powerfully into the inner life of the holy Apostle John. Always sensitive to others, his heart ached for the perishing. The Apostle John with pious tremulation was attentive to the Divinely-inspired teaching of his Master, to the fulness of grace and truth, in pure and sublime comprehending the Glory of the Son of God. No feature of the earthly life of Christ the Saviour slipped past the penetrating gaze of the Apostle John, nor did any event occur that did not leave a deep impression on his memory, since in him was concentrated all the fulness and wholeness of the human person. The thoughts also of the Apostle John the Theologian are imbued with such an integral wholeness. The dichotomy of person did not exist for him. In accord with his precepts, where there is not full devotion, there is nothing. Having chosen the path of service to Christ, to the end of his life he fulfilled it with complete and undivided devotion. The Apostle John speaks about wholistic a devotion to Christ, about the fulness of life in Him, wherefore also sin is considered by him not as a weakness and injury of human nature, but as evil, as a negative principle, which is completely set in opposition to the good (Jn. 8:34; 1 Jn. 3:4, 8-9). In his perspective, it is necessary to belong either to Christ or to the devil, it is not possible to be of a mediocre, lukewarm, undecided condition (1 Jn. 2:22, 4:3; Rev. 3:15-16). Therefore he served the Lord with undivided love and self-denial, having repudiated everything that appertains to the ancient enemy of mankind, the enemy of truth and the father of lies (1 Jn. 2:21-22). Just as strongly as he loves Christ, just as strongly he contemns the Anti-Christ; just as intensely he loves truth, with an equal intensity does he contemn falsehood, for light doth expel darkness (Jn. 8:12; 12:35-36). By the manifestation of the inner fire of love he witnesses with the unique power of spirit about the Divinity of Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:1-18; 1 Jn. 5:1-12).
To the Apostle John was given to express the last word of the Divine Revelation (i.e., the final book of the Holy Scripture), ushering in the most treasured mysteries of the Divine inner life, known only to the eternal Word of God, the Only-Begotten Son.
Truth is reflected in his mind and in his words, wherein he senses and grasps it in his heart. He has comprehension of eternal Truth, and as he sees it, he transmits it to his beloved spiritual children. The Apostle John with simplicity affirms or denies and speaks always with absolute precision (1 Jn. 1:1). He hears the voice of the Lord, revealing to him what He Himself hears from the Father.
The theology of the Apostle John abolishes the borderline between the present and the future. Looking at the present time, he does not halt at it, but transports his gaze to the eternal in the past time and to the eternal in the future time. And therefore he, exhorting for holiness in life, solemnly proclaims, that "all, born of God, sin not" (1 Jn. 5:18; 3:9). In communion with God the true Christian partakes of life Divine, whereby the future of mankind is accomplished already on earth. In his explanation and disclosing of the teaching about the Economia of salvation, the Apostle John crosses over into the area of the eternal present, in which Heaven would co-incide with earth and the earth would be enlightened with the Light of Heavenly Glory.
Thus did the Galilean fisherman, this son of Zebedee, become Theologian proclaiming through Revelation the mystery of world-existence and the fate of mankind.
The celebration on 8 May of the holy Apostle John the Theologian was established by the Church in remembrance of the annual drawing forth on this day at the place of his burial of fine rose ashes, which believers gathered for healing from various maladies. The account about the life of the holy Evangelist John the Theologian is situated under 26 September, the day of his repose.
Remembrance of the Appearance in the Heavens of the Cross of the Lord at Jerusalem (351): After the death of the first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, the imperial throne was occupied by his son Constantius, who inclined towards the heresy of Arius, which denied the one selfsame essence of the Son of God with the Father. In the reaffirming of holy Orthodoxy, the Lord manifest at Jerusalem a wondrous sign. On the day of Holy Pentecost, 7 May 351, at the third hour of the morning in the heavens there appeared the image of the equal-proportioned Cross of the Lord, shining with an inexpressible light, and brighter than the light of the sun. All the people were eye-witness to this, and they were struck with great dread and amazement.
The appearance of the Sign of the Cross began over holy Mount Golgotha, whereupon it was that the Lord had been crucified, and it reached to the Mount of Olives, extending from Golgotha a distance of 15 stadia. The Sign was transfused with all the colours of the rainbow and it caught the sight of all the people. Many of the people, leaving off from whatever they were doing, went outside the houses and with awe stood contemplating the wondrous sign. Then a numerous throng of the people of Jerusalem with trembling and joy hastened to the holy Church of the Resurrection.
The holy Jerusalem Patriarch Cyril (350-387) advised the emissary of the emperor Constantius about this miraculous occurrence of the appearance of the Sign of the Cross, and he urged him to return to the Orthodox faith. And Sozomen, an historian of the Ancient Church, likewise testifies, that through this appearance of the Holy Cross many of the Jews and pagan Greeks came to the true faith, repenting in Christ God, and accepted Holy Baptism.
Saint Job the Righteous lived about 2000-1500 years before the Birth of Christ, in Northern Arabia, in the country of Austidia in the land of Uz. His life and sufferings are recorded in the Bible (Book of Job). There exists an opinion that Job was by descent a nephew of Abraham, and that he was the son of Abraham's brother Nakhor.
Job was a man God-fearing and pious. With all his soul he was devoted to the Lord God and in everything conducted himself in accord with God's will, refraining from everything evil not only in deeds, but also in thoughts. The Lord blessed his earthly existence and rewarded Righteous Job with great wealth: he had many cattle and all kinds of possessions. Righteous Job's seven sons and three daughters were amiable amongst themselves and gathered for common repast all together in turns at each of their homes. Every seven days Righteous Job made for his children offerings to God, saying: "If perchance any of them hath sinned or offended God in their heart." For his justness and honesty Saint Job was held in high esteem by his fellow citizens and he had great influence in public matters.
One time however, when the Holy Angels did stand before the Throne of God, Satan appeared amongst them. The Lord God asked Satan, whether he had seen His servant Job, a man righteous and without blemish. Satan answered audaciously that it was not for nothing that Job was God-fearing - since God was watching over him and multiplying his riches, but if misfortune were sent him, he would then cease to bless God. Then the Lord, wishing to prove Job's patience and faith, said to Satan: "Everything that Job hath I give into thine hand, but only he himself touch not." After this Job suddenly lost all his wealth, and then also all his children. Righteous Job turned to God and said: "Naked did I emerge from the womb of my mother, and naked shall I be returned to my mother the earth. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blest be the Name of the Lord!" And thus did Job not sin before the Lord God, nor utter even an unthinking word.
When the Angels of God again did stand before the Lord and amongst them Satan also, then said the devil that Job was righteous since that he himself was without harm. Thereupon declared the Lord: "I permit thee to do with him, what thou wishest, sparing only his soul." After this Satan inflicted upon Righteous Job an horrid illness, leprous boils, which covered him head to foot. The sufferer was compelled to remove himself from the company of people, he sat outside the city on an heap of ashes and had to scrape at his wounds with a shard of clay. All his friends and acquaintances abandoned him. His wife had to see after her own welfare, toiling and roaming from house to house. She not only did not support her husband with patience, but rather she thought that God was punishing Job for some kind of secret sins, and she wept and wailed against God. She reproached also her husband and finally advised Righteous Job to curse God and die. Righteous Job sorrowed grievously, but even in these sufferings he remained faithful to God. He answered his wife: "Thou speakest like someone hysterical. Shall we have from God only the good, and have nothing bad?" And Righteous Job did sin in nothing before God.
Hearing about the misfortunes of Job, three of his friends came from afar off to comfort his sorrow. They reckoned that Job was being punished by God for his sins, and they urged this righteous man, though innocent, to repent. The righteous one answered that he was suffering not for sins, but that these tribulations were sent him from the Lord in accord with the Divine Will, which is inscrutable for man. His friends however did not believe him and they continued to think that the Lord was dealing with Job in accord with the laws obtaining under human standards, thus punishing Job for the committing of sins. In begrieved sorrow of soul Righteous Job turned with a prayer to God, beseeching Him Himself to bear witness before them of his innocence. God thereupon manifested Himself in a tempestuous whirlwind and reproached Job, in that he had tried to penetrate by his reason into the mystery of the world-order and the judgemental-purposes of God. The Righteous Job with all his heart repented himself in these thoughts and said: "I am as nothing, and I foreswear and repent myself in dust and ashes." The Lord thereupon commanded the friends of Job to have recourse to him in asking him to offer sacrifice for them. "Since," said the Lord, "only the person Job do I accept it of, lest I spurn ye for this, that ye did speak concerning Me not thus rightly, as hath instead My servant Job." Job offered sacrifice to God for his friends, and the Lord accepted his intercession, and the Lord likewise returned to Righteous Job his health and gave him twice over more than he had previously. In place of his deceased children was born to him seven sons and three daughters, more beautiful than any other in that land. After bearing his sufferings, Job lived yet another 140 years (altogether he lived 248 years) and he lived to see his descendants down to the fourth generation.
Saint Job prefigures the Lord Jesus Christ, having come down to earth and suffering for the salvation of mankind, and then glorified in His glorious Resurrection.
"I know," said Righteous Job, afflicted with the leprous boils, "I know that my Redeemer liveth and He wilt raise up from the dust on the last day my decayed skin, and I in my flesh shall see God. I shall see Him myself with mine own eyes, and not through the eyes of some other see Him. In expectation of this, my heart doth jump within my bosom!" (Job 19:25-27).
"Know ye, the judgment, in which be justified only those having true wisdom - the fear of the Lord, and true understanding - the departing from evil." (Job 28: 28).
Saint John Chrysostom says: "There was no human misfortune which this man did not undergo. He was the firmest and most adamant, beset by sudden tribulation by hunger and by woe, and sickness, and bereft of children, and loss of riches, and then suffering abuse from his wife, insult from his friends, reproach from his servants. And in everything he showed himself more solid than a stone, and a source before the Law also of Grace."
The Holy Great Martyress Irene lived during the first century and until baptism had the name Penelope. She was daughter of the pagan Licinius, governor of the city of Migdonia (in Macedonia, or Thrace). Licinius built for his daughter a separate splendid palace, where she lived with her governess Karia, surrounded by her peers and her servants. Daily there came to Penelope a tutor by the name of Apelian, who taught her the sciences. Apelian was a Christian, and during the time of study he told the maiden about Christ the Saviour and taught her the Christian teaching and the Christian virtues.
When Penelope became an adolescent, her parents began to think about her marriage. During this period of her life the Lord instructed her in a miraculous manner: to her at the window there flew one after the other of three birds - a dove with an olive twig, an eagle with a garland, and a raven with a snake. Penelope's teacher Apelian explained to her the meaning of these signs: the Dove, symbolising the virtues of the maiden - humility, meekness, and chasteness - bearing an olive twig, the grace of God received in Baptism; the Eagle - symbol of sublimity of spirit, attained through meditation upon God - bearing a garland for victory over the invisible enemy as a reward from the Lord. The Raven, however, bearing the snake was a sign that the devil would rise up against her and would cause her grief, sorrow and persecution. At the end of the conversation Apelian said that the Lord wished to betroth her to Himself and that Penelope would undergo much suffering for her Heavenly Bridegroom. After this Penelope refused marriage, accepted Baptism from the hands of the Disciple Timothy, who was a disciple of the holy Apostle Paul, and she was named Irene. She began even to urge her own parents to accept the Christian faith. The mother was pleased with the conversion of her daughter to Christ; the father at first did not hinder his daughter, but then he began to demand of her the worship to the pagan gods. When however Saint Irene firmly and decisively refused, the enraged Licinius then gave orders to tie up his daughter and throw her beneath the hooves of frenzied horses. The horses remained motionless. But one of them got loose from its harness, threw itself at Licinius, seized him by the right hand and tore it from his arm, then knocked Licinius down and began to trample him. They then untied the holy maiden, and through her prayer Licinius in the presence of eyewitnesses rose up unharmed, with his hand intact. Seeing such a miracle, Licinius with his wife and many of the people, in number about 3000 men, believed in Christ and refrained from the pagan gods. Resigning the governance of the city, Licinius settled into the palace of his daughter, intending to devote himself to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Irene however began to preach the teaching of Christ among the pagans and she converted them to the path of salvation. She lived in the house of her teacher Apelian.
Having learned of this, Sedecius, the new governor of the city, summoned Apelian and questioned him about the manner of life of Irene. Apelian answered that Irene, just like other Christians, lived in strict temperance, in constant prayer and reading of holy books. Sedecius summoned the saint to him and began to urge her to cease preaching about Christ and to offer sacrifice to the gods. Saint Irene staunchly confessed her faith before the governor, not fearing his wrath, and prepared to undergo suffering for Christ. By order of Sedecius she was thrown into a pit, filled with vipers and serpents. The saint spent ten days in the pit and remained unharmed, since an angel of the Lord protected her and brought her food. Sedecius ascribed this miracle to sorcery and he subjected the saint to a cruel torture: he gave orders to saw her with an iron saw. But the saws broke one after the other and caused no harm to the body of the holy virgin. Finally, a fourth saw reddened the body of the holy martyress with blood. Sedecius with derision said to the martyress: "Where then is thy God? If He be powerful, let Him help thee!" Suddenly a whirlwind shot up, gave forth a blinding flast of lightning, striking down many of the torturers, thunder crashed, and a strong rain poured down. Beholding such a sign from Heaven, many believed in Christ the Saviour. Sedecius did not understand the obvious display of the power of God and he subjected the saint to new torments, but the Lord preserved her unharmed. Finally the people rebelled having to look upon the sufferings of the innocent virgin, and they rose up against Sedecius and expelled him from the city.
Having replaced Sedecius as governor, they still subjected Saint Irene to various cruel torments, during which while by the power of God she continued to remain unharmed, and the people under the influence of her preaching and accomplishing of miracles all the more in number were converted to Christ, having turned away from the worship of soulless idols. Over 10,000 pagans were converted by Saint Irene.
The saint went from her native city Migdonia to Kallipolis, and there she continued to preach about Christ. The governor of the city by the name of Babadonos subjected the martyress to new punishments, but seeing that the saint remained unharmed, he came to his senses and believed in Christ. A large number of pagans believed together with him, all whom received holy Baptism from the Disciple Timothy.
After this Saint Irene settled in other cities of Thrace - Konstantinos and then Mesembros - preaching about Christ and working miracles, healing the sick and undergoing suffering for Christ.
In the city of Ephesus the Lord revealed to her that the time of her end was approaching. Then Saint Irene in the company of her teacher the elder Apelian and other Christians went out from the city to a hilly cave and, having signed herself with the sign of the cross, she went into it, having directed her companions to close the entrance to the cave with a large stone, which they did. Four days after this, when Christians visited the cave, they did not find the body of the saint in it. Thus reposed the holy Great Martyress Irene.
The Holy Pelagia lived during the third century in the city of Tarsis in the Cilician district of Asia Minor. She was the daughter of illustrious pagans and when she heard preaching from her Christian acquaintances about Jesus Christ the Son of God, she believed in Him and desired to preserve her chastity, dedicating her whole life to the Lord.
The heir of emperor Diocletian (a youth adopted by him), having seen the maiden Pelagia, was captivated by her beauty and wanted to take her to be his wife. But the holy virgin told the youth that she was betrothed to the Immortal Bridegroom, the Son of God, and therefore she had renounced earthly marriage. This answer of Pelagia caused great anger in the imperial youth, but he decided to leave her in peace for a while, hoping that she would change her frame of mind.
During this same time, Pelagia convinced her mother to send her off to her nurse who had raised her in childhood, secretly hoping to locate the bishop of Tarsis, Klinon, who had fled to a mountain during a time of persecution against Christians, and to accept Holy Baptism from him. In a dream vision there appeared the form of the bishop Klinon, profoundly impressing itself upon her memory. Saint Pelagia set off to her nurse in a chariot, in rich clothes and accompanied by a whole retinue of servants, as her mother had desired her to. Along the way Saint Pelagia, through some particular ordering of events by God, met bishop Klinon. Pelagia immediately recognised the bishop, whose image had appeared to her in the dream. She fell at his feet, requesting baptism. At the prayer of the bishop there flowed from the ground a spring of water. Bishop Klinon made the sign of the cross over Saint Pelagia, and during the time of the mystery, angels appeared and covered the chosen one of God with a bright mantle.
Having communed the pious virgin with the Holy Mysteries, bishop Klinon raised himself up in prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord together with her, and then sent her off to continue her journey. Having returned to the servants awaiting her, Saint Pelagia preached to them about Christ, and many of them were converted and believed. She tried to convert her own mother to faith in Christ, but the obdurate woman sent a message to the imperial youth, saying that Pelagia was a Christian and did not wish to be his spouse. The youth comprehended that Pelagia was lost for him, and not wishing to give her over to torture, he fell upon his sword. Pelagia's mother thereupon became fearful of the wrath of the emperor, and tied her daughter and led her to the court of Diocletian as being a Christian and also the probable cause of the death of the heir to the throne.
The emperor was captivated by the unusual beauty of the maiden and tried to sway her from her faith in Christ, promising her every earthly blessing and to make her his own wife. But the holy maiden refused the offer of the emperor with contempt and said: "Thou art insane, emperor, telling me such a speech. Know, that I wilt not do thy bidding, and I loath thy vile marriage, since I have a Bridegroom, Christ, the King of Heaven. I desire not thine imperial, worldly, short-durationed crowns, since my Lord in the Heavenly Kingdom has prepared for me three imperishable crowns. The first for faith, since I have believed with all my heart in the True God; the second for purity, because I have entrusted to Him my virginity; the third for martyrdom, since I want to accept for Him every suffering and to offer up my soul because of my love for Him."
Diocletian thereupon sentenced Pelagia to be burnt in a glowing red-hot copper oven. Not permitting the executioners to touch her body, the holy martyress herself, signing herself with the sign of the cross, went with a prayer into the red-hot oven in which her flesh melted like myrrh, filling all the city with sweet fragrance. The bones of Saint Pelagia remained unharmed and were removed by the pagans to outside the city. Four lions then came from out of the wilderness and sat around the bones, letting neither bird nor wild beast get at them. The lions protected the remains of the saint until such time as bishop Klinon came to that place. He gathered them up and buried them with honour. During the reign of emperor Constantine (306-337), when the persecutions against Christians had stopped, there was built a church at the place of burial of Saint Pelagia.
Saints Timothy and Maura suffered for the faith during the time of persecution under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). Saint Timothy came from the village of Perapa (Egyptian Thebaid), and was the son of a priest by the name of Pikolpossos. He was made a reader among the church clergy and likewise a keeper and copyist of Divine service books. Saint Timothy came under denunciation that he was a keeper of Christian books, which by order of the emperor were to be confiscated and burned. They brought Saint Timothy before the governor Arian, who demanded him to hand over the clergy books. For his refusal to obey the command, they subjected the saint to horrible tortures. They shoved into his ears two red-hot iron rods, from which the sufferer lost his eyesight and became blind. Saint Timothy bravely endured the pain and he gave thanks to God, for granting him to suffer for Him. The torturers hung up the saint head downwards, putting in his mouth a piece of wood, and they tied a heavy stone to his neck. The suffering of Saint Timothy was so extreme, that the very ones executing the torment began to implore the governor to ease up on the torture. And about this time they informed Arian, that Timothy had a young wife by the name of Maura, whom he had married a mere twenty days before. Arian gave orders to bring Maura, hoping, that with her present they could break the will of the martyr. At the request of Maura, they removed the piece of wood from the mouth of the martyr, so that he could speak. Saint Timothy urged his wife not to be afraid of the tortures and to go the path with him. Saint Maura answered: "I am prepared to die with thee," and boldly she confessed herself a Christian. Arian gave orders to tear out the hair from her head and to cut off the fingers from her hands. Saint Maura with joy underwent the torment and even thanked the governor for the torture, suffered in the redemption of sins. Then Arian gave orders to throw Saint Maura into a boiling cauldron, but she did not sense any pain and she remained unharmed. Suspecting that the servants out of sympathy for the martyress had filled the cauldron with cold water, Arian went up and ordered the saint to splash him on the hand with water from the cauldron. When the martyr did this, Arian screamed with pain and drew back his scalded hand. Then, momentarily admitting the power of the miracle, Arian confessed God in Whom Maura believed as the True God, and he gave orders to release the saint. But the devil still held great power over the governor, and soon he again began to urge Saint Maura to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Having gotten nowhere, Arian was overcome all the more by a satanic rage and he began to come up with new tortures. Then the people began to murmur and demand a stop to the abuse of this innocent woman. But Saint Maura, turning to the people, said: "Let no one defend me, I have one Defender - God, on Whom I trust."
Finally, after long torments Arian gave orders to crucify the martyrs. Over the course of ten days they hung on crosses face to face with each other.
On the tenth day of martyrdom the saints offered up their souls to the Lord. This occurred in the year 286. Afterwards at Constantinople there began solemn celebration of the memory of the holy Martyrs Timothy and Maura, and a church was built in their honour.
Sainted Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria, was a great father of the Church and a pillar of Orthodoxy. He was born in about the year 297 in the city of Alexandria into a family of pious Christians. He received a fine secular education, but still more he acquired profound knowledge by diligent study of the Holy Scripture. From his childhood years the future great hierarch Athanasius became known to the Alexandrian Patriarch, Saint Alexander, through the following circumstances. One time a group of children, among whom was the lad Athanasius, was playing at the shore of the sea. The Christian children decided to baptise their pagan playmates. The lad Athanasius, whom the children chose as "bishop," performed the baptism, precisely repeating the words, heard by him in church during this sacrament. Patriarch Alexander observed all this from a window. He then commanded that there be brought him the children and their parents, and having conversed with them for a long while, and having attested that the baptism performed by the children at play was in everything in accord with the Church rule, he acknowledged the Baptism as real and supplemented it with the sacrament of Chrismation. From this moment the Patriarch looked after the spiritual upbringing of the youth Athanasius and in time brought him into the clergy, at first as a reader, and then he ordained him to the dignity of deacon.
It was in this dignity of deacon that Saint Athanasius accompanied Patriarch Alexander in the year 325 to the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea. At the Council, Saint Athanasius stepped forth with a refutation of the heresy of Arius. This speech met with the approval of the Orthodox fathers of the Council, but the Arians - those openly so and those concealed - came to hate Athanasius and subjected him to persecutions for all the rest of his life.
After the death of holy Patriarch Alexander, Saint Athanasius was unanimously chosen his successor to the See of Alexandria. He long refused, accounting himself unworthy, but at the insistence of all the Orthodox populace that it was in agreement, at age 28 he was ordained to the dignity of bishop and put at the head of the Alexandrian Church. For 47 years Saint Athanasius guided the Church, and during this time he suffered much persecution and grief from his antagonists. Several times he was expelled from Alexandria and hid himself from the Arians in desolate places, since they repeatedly tried to kill him. Saint Athanasius spent more than twenty years in his exiles, and returned then to his flock, and then again was subjected to banishment. There was a moment in time when he remained as the only Orthodox bishop, a moment when all the other bishops had deviated into heresy. At the false councils of Arian bishops he was declared deprived of the bishop's dignity. Despite the persecution of many years, the saint continued firmly to defend the purity of the Orthodox faith, and he wrote incessantly both missives and tracts against the Arian heresy. When Julian the Apostate (361-363) began a persecution against Christians, his wrath then first fell upon Saint Athanasius, whom he considered the great pillar of Orthodoxy. Julian intended to kill the saint so as to strike Christianity a grievous blow, but he himself soon perished infamously. Mortally wounded by an arrow during the time of a battle, he cried out with despair: "Thou art victorious, Galilean." After the death of Julian, Saint Athanasius guided the Alexandrian Church for seven years and died in 373, at age 76.
Numerous works of Saint Athanasius have been preserved: four "Orations," directed against the Arian heresy; likewise an Epistle to Epictetus, bishop of the Church of Corinth, about the Divine and Human natures in Jesus Christ; four Epistles to Serapion, bishop of Thmuis, about the Divine Holy Spirit and Its Equality with the Father and the Son - directed against the heresy of Macedonias. There have been preserved also other works of apologetical character in defence of Orthodoxy, among which is the Letter to the emperor Constantius. Commentaries of Saint Athanasius on Holy Scripture are known of, and also books of a moral didactic character, as well as a detailed biography of the Monk Anthony the Great, with whom Saint Athanasius was very close. Saint John Chrysostom advised every Orthodox Christian to read this life. The memory of Sainted Athanasius is celebrated also on 18 January conjointly with the memory of Sainted Cyril of Alexandria.
The Holy Prophet Jeremias, one of the four great Old Testament prophets, was son of the priest Helkiah from the city of Anathoth near Jerusalem, and he lived 600 years before the Birth of Christ, under the Israelite king Josias and four of his successors. He was called to prophetic service in his fifteenth year of life, when the Lord revealed to him that even before his birth the Lord had assigned him to be a prophet. Jeremias refused, pointing to his own youthfulness and lack of skill at speaking, but the Lord promised to be always with him and to watch over him. He touched the mouth of the chosen one and said: "Lo I do put Mine words into thy mouth, I do entrust unto thee from this day the fate of nations and kingdoms. By thy prophetic word will they fall and rise up." (Jer. 1:9-10) And from that time Jeremias prophesied for twenty-three years, denouncing the Jews for abandoning the True God and worshipping idols, predicting for them woes and devastating wars. He stood by the gates of the city, and at the entrance to the Temple, everywhere where the people gathered, and he exhorted them with imprecations and often with tears. But the people answered him with mockery and abuse, and they even tried to kill him.
Depicting the slavery to the king of Babylon impending for the Jews, Jeremias at the command of God put on his own neck at first a wooden, and then an iron yoke, and thus he went about among the people. Enraged at the dire predictions of the prophet, the Jewish elders threw the Prophet Jeremias into an imprisoning pit, filled with horrid slimy creatures, where he all but died. Through the intercession of the God-fearing royal official Habdemelek, the prophet was pulled out of the pit, but he did not cease with the prophecies, and for this he was carted off to prison. Under the Jewish king Zedekiah his prophesy was fulfilled: Nebuchadnezzar came, made slaughter of the nation, carried off a remnant into captivity, and Jerusalem was pillaged and destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar released the prophet from prison and permitted him to live where he wanted. The prophet remained at the ruins of Jerusalem and bewailed the misfortune of his fatherland. According to tradition, the Prophet Jeremias took the Ark of the Covenant with the Law‑Tablets and hid it in one of the caves of Mount Nabath (Nebo), such that the Jews were no more able to find it (II Mac. 2). Afterwards a new Ark of the Covenant was fashioned, but it lacked in the glory of the first.
Among the Jews remaining in their fatherland there soon arose internecine clashes: the viceroy of Nebuchadnezzar, Hodoliah, was murdered, and the Jews, fearing the wrath of Babylon, decided to flee into Egypt. The Prophet Jeremias disagreed with their intention, predicting that the punishment which they feared would befall them in Egypt. But the Jews would not hearken to the prophet, and taking him by force with them, they went into Egypt and settled in the city of Tathnis. And there the prophet lived for four years and was respected by the Egyptians, since with his prayer he killed crocodiles and other nasty creatures infesting these parts. But when he began to prophesy, that the king of Babylon would invade the land of Egypt and annihilate the Jews settled in it, the Jews then murdered the Prophet Jeremias. In that very same year the prophesy of the saint was fulfilled. There exists a tradition, that 250 years later Alexander the Great of Macedonia transported the relics of the holy Prophet Jeremias to Alexandria.
The Prophet Jeremias wrote his Book of "Prophesies" ("Jeremias"), and also the Book of "Lamentations" about the Desolation of Jerusalem and the Exile. The times in which he lived and prophesied are spoken of in the fourth Book of Kings (Ch. 23-25) and in the second Book of Chronicles (36:12) and in second Maccabbees (Ch. 2).
In the Gospel of Matthew it points out that the betrayal of Judas was foretold by the Prophet Jeremias: "And they took thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him on Whom the sons of Israel had set a price, and they gave them over for the potter's field, as did say the Lord unto me." (Mt. 27:9-10)
The Holy Apostle James, Son of Zebedee, one of the Twelve Apostles, was called by our Lord Jesus Christ for apostolic service together with his brother, the Apostle John the Theologian. It was to them and to the holy Apostle Peter pre-eminently over the other Apostles that Jesus Christ revealed His Divine Mysteries: at the Resuscitation of the Daughter of Jairus, on Mount Tabor (at the Transfiguration), and in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Saint James, after the Descent of the Holy Spirit, preached in Spain and in other lands, and then he returned to Jerusalem. He openly and boldly taught about Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world, and with the words of Holy Scripture he denounced the Pharisees and the Scribes, reproaching them with malice of heart and unbelief. The Jews had not the ability to refute the apostolic discourse and for money they hired the pseudo-philosopher and sorcerer Hermogenes, so that he would enter into a disputation with the apostle and confute his arguments about Christ as the Promised Messiah having come into the world. The sorcerer sent to the apostle his student Philip, who was converted to belief in Christ. Then Hermogenes himself became persuaded of the power of God, he burnt his books on magic, accepted holy Baptism and became a true follower of Christ.
The unbelieving among the Jews persuaded Herod Agrippa (40-44) to arrest the Apostle James and sentence him to death. Saint James calmly heard out the death sentence and continued to bear witness about Christ. One of the false witnesses against the apostle by the name of Josiah was struck by the courage of Saint James. He came to believe in the truth of the words about the coming of Christ the Messiah. When they led forth the apostle for execution, Josiah fell at his feet, repenting his sin and asking forgiveness. The apostle hugged him, gave him a kiss and said: "Peace and forgiveness be unto thee." Then Josiah confessed before everyone his faith in Christ, and he was beheaded together with Saint James in the year 44 at Jerusalem.
The city of Cyzice is located in Asia Minor at the coast of the Dardenelles (Hellespont) Straits. Christianity there began to spread about already during the time of the preaching of the Apostle Paul. But under the times of persecutions by the pagans events came to this - that some of the Christians fled the city, while others kept their faith in Christ in secret. Therefore by the time of the end of the third century Cyzice was still basically a pagan city, although there was also a Christian church there. The situation in the city distressed true Christians, who sought to uphold the Christian faith. From there were also the Nine holy Martyrs: Theognides, Ruphos, Antipater, Theostikhos, Artemon, Magnos, Theodotos, Thaumasios, and Philemon. They hailed from various places, and were of different ages: both the young like Saint Antipater, and the very old like Saint Ruphos, and they came from various positions in society: among them were soldiers, countryfolk and city-people, and clergy. But all of them declared their faith in Christ and were all the more intense in their yearning for the spread and strengthening of the True Faith.
Having shown up in the city of Cyzice, the saints boldly confessed Christ and fearlessly denounced the pagan impiety. They were arrested and brought to trial before the city governor. Over the course of several days they were tortured, locked up in prison and again led out from it, and promised their freedom for a renunciation of Christ. But the valiant martyrs of Christ continued to glorify the Name of Christ. All nine martyrs were beheaded by the sword (+ c.284-292), and their bodies buried nearby the city.
In the year 324, when the Eastern half of the Roman empire came under the rule of Saint Constantine the Great, and the persecutions against Christians ended, the Cyzice Christians removed the undecayed bodies of the nine martyrs from the ground and placed them in a church, built in their honour.
Various miracles occurred from the holy relics: the sick were healed, and the mentally aberrant brought to their senses. The faith of Christ grew within the city through the intercession of the holy martyrs, and many of the pagans were converted to Christianity.
When Julian the Apostate (361-363) came to rule, the pagans of Cyzice turned to him with a complaint against the Christians for the destruction of pagan temples. Julian gave orders to rebuild the pagan temples and to lock up in prison bishop Eleusios. Bishop Eleusios was set free after the death of Julian, and the light of the Christian faith shined anew through the assistance of the holy martyrs.
The Disciple Jason hailed from Tarsus (Asia Minor). He was the first Christian in the city. The Disciple Sosipater was a native of Achaeia. They both became disciples of the Apostle Paul, who even called them his "kinsmen." (Rom. 16:21) Saint Jason was made bishop in his native city of Tarsus, and Saint Sosipater in Iconium. They set out to the west preaching the Gospel, and in the year 63 they reached the island of Kerkyra (Korfu) in the Ionian Sea near Greece.
There they built a church in the name of the Protomartyr Stephen and they baptised many. The governor of the island learned about this and locked them up in prison, where they saw seven thieves: Satornius, Iakyscholus, Faustian, Jannuarius, Marsalius, Euphrasius, and Mammius. The disciples converted them to Christ. For their confession of Christ the seven prisoners died as martyrs in a cauldron of molten tar, wax, and sulfur.
The prison guard, having beheld their act of martyrdom, declared himself a Christian. For this they cut off his left hand, then both feet, and finally his head. The governor ordered the disciples Jason and Sosipater to be whipped and again locked up in prison.
When the daughter of the governor, the maiden Kerkyra, learned how the martyrs would suffer for Christ, she declared herself a Christian and gave away all her finery to the poor. The infuriated governor attempted to persuade his daughter into a renunciation of Christ, but Saint Kerkyra stood firm against both persuasions and against threats. Then the enraged father devised a terrible punishment for his daughter: he gave orders to situate her in a separate prison cell and bring in to her the robber and murderer Murinus, so that he would defile the betrothed of Christ.
But when the robber approached the door of the prison cell, a bear pounced upon him. Saint Kerkyra heard the noise and in the Name of Christ she drove off the beast, and then by her prayer she healed the wounds of Murinus. After this Saint Kerkyra enlightened him with the faith of Christ, and Saint Murinus declared himself a Christian and thereupon was executed.
The governor gave orders to burn down the prison, but the holy virgin remained alive. Then by order of her enraged father, she was suspended upon a tree, choked with bitter smoke, and executed with arrows. After her death, the governor decided to execute all the Christians on the island of Kerkyra. The Martyrs Zinon, Eusebios, Neonos, and Vitalius, having been enlightened by the Disciples Jason and Sosipater, were burnt.
The inhabitants of Kerkyra, escaping from the persecution, crossed over to an adjoining island. The governor set sail with a detachment of soldiers, but was swallowed up by the waves. The governor succeeding him gave orders to throw the Disciples Jason and Sosipater into a cauldron of boiling tar, but when he beheld them unharmed, with tears he cried out: "O God of Jason and Sosipater, have mercy on me!"
Having been set free, the disciples baptised the governor and gave him the name Sebastian. With his help the Disciples Jason and Sosipater built several churches on the island and, living there until old age, by their fervent preaching increased the flock of Christ.
