The Holy Martyr Plato, brother of the holy Martyr Antiochus the Physician, was born at the city of Ancyra in Galatia. While still a youth he left home and went through the cities, inspiredly preaching the Word of God to pagans, amazing his audience with the persuasiveness and beauty of his speech, and his profound knowledge of Greek learning. Because of his preaching he was arrested and brought for trial to the temple of Zeus before the governor Agrippina. At first the judge attempted by flattery to sway the saint into a renunciation of Christ. He assured the youth, that he might be on a par of intellect with the greatest of the philosophers - Plato - if he but worshipped also the pagan gods. To this Saint Plato answered that the wisdom of the philosopher, although great, was but ephemeral and limited, whereas the true, eternal and unbounded wisdom comprised the Gospel teachings. Then the judge as the reward for renunciation promised to give him as wife his beautiful daughter, but in case of refusal threatened him with torture and death. Saint Plato replied that his choice was a temporal death for the sake of eternal life. The patience of the governor was exhausted, and he gave orders to beat the martyr mercilessly, and then send him off to prison.
When they led Saint Plato off to prison, he turned to the people gathered about the temple, and he called on all not to forsake the Christian faith. Seven days later they again led the Martyr Plato for trial before Agrippina in the temple of Zeus, where they had the implements of torture already assembled: boiling cauldrons, red-hot iron, and sharp hooks. The judge offered the martyr a choice: either to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods or to feel on himself the effects of these implements of torture. Again the saint steadfastly refused to worship idols, and after his tortures they threw him in prison for eighteen more days without bread or water. But seeing that this did not shake the martyr, they offered him in exchange for his life and freedom but to pronounce the words "great god Apollo." "I want not to sin by word," answered the martyr. By order of Agrippina the holy Martyr Plato was then beheaded (+ 302 or 306).
The Holy Martyr Romanus was deacon at a church in Palestinian Caesarea. During one of the persecutions against Christians he resettled at Antioch, where he encouraged Christians in the faith by his example and fervent preaching.
When the Antioch governor Asklepiades was considering the destruction of the Christian temple, Saint Romanus called out the believers to stand up for their sanctuary. He persuaded them that if they managed to protect the church, then down here on earth would be rejoicing, in the Church Militant, and if they were to perish in defense of the church, there would still be rejoicing in the Heavenly Church Triumphant. Seeing such a firm resolve amongst the people, the governor did not dare to carry out his plans.
A certain while afterwards, when a pagan celebration had started in the city and many people from the surroundings had come to Antioch, Saint Romanus began denouncing the idol-worship and called on all to follow Christ. They arrested him and subjected him to torture. During the time of tortures the martyr saw in the crowd the holy Christian Lad Barulas and, having directed the governor to him, said: "The young lad is smarter than thee, in thine old age, since that he doth know the True God. Thou however dost worship mere idols." The governor Asklepiades gave orders to bring the boy to him. To all the questions of the governor, Barulas firmly and without fear confessed is faith in Christ, the True God. Asklepiades in a rage gave orders to fiercely whip the Martyr Barulas, and then behead him. Before his death the holy lad asked his mother, who was present at the execution, to give him something to drink, but the mother quieted him down to endure all the torments for the Lord Jesus Christ. She herself put his head onto the block, and after the execution buried him (+ 303).
The Martyr Romanus was sentenced to burning, but a sudden gust of rain extinguished the fire. The saint began glorifying Christ and insulting the pagan gods. The governor gave orders to cut out his tongue, but even deprived of his tongue Saint Romanus continued loudly to glorify the Lord. Then the torturers sentenced him to hanging (+ 303).
Sainted Gregory the Wonderworker (Thaumaturgus), Bishop of Neocaesarea, was born in the city of Neocaesarea (northern Asia Minor) into a pagan family. Having received a fine education, from his youth, he strived for Truth, but the thinkers of antiquity were not able to quench his thirst for knowledge. Truth was revealed to him only in the Holy Gospel, and the youth became a Christian.
For the continuation of his studies Saint Gregory set off to Alexandria, known then as a centre for pagan and Christian learning. The youth, eager for knowledge, went to the Alexandrian Catechetical School, where the presbyter Origen taught. Origen was a famous teacher, possessing a great strength of mind and profound knowledge. Saint Gregory became a student of the presbyter Origen. Afterwards, the saint wrote thus about his mentor: "This man received from God a sublime gift - to be an interpreter of the Word of God for people, to apprehend the Word of God, as God Himself did use it, and to explain it to people, insofar as they were able to understand it." Saint Gregory studied for eight years with the presbyter Origen and received Baptism from him.
The ascetic life of Saint Gregory, his continence, purity, and lack of covetousness aroused envy among his conceited and sin-loving peers, pagans that they were, and they decided to slander Saint Gregory.
One time, when he was conversing with students on the city-square, a seductress notorious throughout the city came up to him and demanded payment, for alleged sinful services rendered. At first Saint Gregory gently took exception with her, that she was mistaken and assumed that he was someone else. But the profligate woman would not be quieted. He then asked a friend to give her the money. Just as the profligate woman took in hand the unjust recompense, she immediately fell to the ground in a demonic fit, and the fraud became evident. Saint Gregory said a prayer over her, and the devil left her.
Having returned to Neocaesarea, the saint renounced the worldly affairs into which influential townsmen persistently sought to push him. He fled into the wilderness, where by fasting and prayer he attained to high spiritual accomplishment and grace-bearing gifts of perspicacity and prophecy. Saint Gregory loved life in the wilderness and wanted to remain in solitude until the end of his days, but the Lord willed otherwise.
The bishop of the Cappadocian city of Amasea, Thedimos, having learned about the ascetic life of Saint Gregory, decided to have him made bishop of Neocaesarea. But having foreseen in spirit the intent of Vladyka Thedimos, the saint hid himself from the messengers of the bishop who were entrusted to find him. Then Bishop Thedimos ordained the out of sight saint as bishop of Neocaesarea, beseeching the Lord, that He Himself would sanctify the unusual ordination. Sainted Gregory perceived the extraordinary event as a manifestation of the will of God and he did not dare to protest. This episode in the life of Saint Gregory was recorded by Sainted Gregory of Nyssa. He relates, that Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea received the highest priestly dignity only after the performing over him of all the sacerdotal requirements by Bishop Thedimos of Amasea.
Before ordination, when it was necessary for him to pronounce the Confession of the Faith, Saint Gregory prayed fervently and diligently imploring God and the Mother of God to reveal to him the true form of worship of the Most Holy Trinity. At the time of prayer the All Pure Virgin Mary appeared to him, radiant like unto the sun, and together with Her was the Apostle John the Theologian dressed in archepiscopal vestments. At the bidding of the Mother of God, the Apostle John taught the saint how to correctly and properly confess the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Saint Gregory wrote down everything that the Apostle John the Theologian revealed to him. The Mystery of the Symbol-Creed of the Faith, written down by Sainted Gregory of Neocaesarea is a great Divine Revelation in the history of the Church. On it is based the teaching about the Holy Trinity in Orthodox Theology. Subsequently it was made use of by the holy Fathers of the Church: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and Gregory of Nyssa. The Symbol of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea was later examined and affirmed in the year 325 by the First Ecumenical Council, showing his enduring significance for Orthodoxy.
Having become a bishop, Saint Gregory set off to Neocaesarea. Along the way from Amasea he expelled devils from a pagan temple, the priest of which he converted to Christ. The convert was witness to still another miracle of the saint: through his word a large heap of stone shifted from its place. The preaching of the saint was direct, lively, and fruitful. He taught and worked miracles in the Name of Christ: he healed the sick, he helped the needy, he settled quarrels and complaints. Two brothers in sharing an inheritance were not able to agree over a lake property of their dead father. Each of the brothers gathered round himself like-minded friends. They were ready to come to blows. Saint Gregory persuaded them to delay the finish of their dispute until the following day, and he himself prayed all night long at the shore of the lake causing the quarrel. When dawn broke, everyone saw that the cause of the dispute was no more - the lake had gone underground. Through the intense prayer of the saint there now flowed but a stream, and the course of its flow defining the boundary line.
Another time, during the construction of a church, he gave command in the Name of Christ for an hill to move and make room at the place of the foundation.
When a persecution against Christians began under the emperor Decius (249-251), Saint Gregory led his flock to a faraway mountain. A certain pagan, knowing about the place of the Christians, told this to the persecutors. Soldiers surrounded the mountain. The saint went out into an open place, raised up his hands to heaven and, having given orders to his deacon on what to do, he began to pray. The soldiers searched the whole mountain, and they went several times right past those praying, but not seeing them, they gave up and went. In the city they reported that on the mountain there was nowhere to hide: no one was there, and only two trees stood alongside each other. The informer was struck with amazement, he repented his ways and became a fervent Christian.
Saint Gregory returned to Neocaesarea after the end of the persecution. By his blessing church feastdays were established in honour of the martyrs that had suffered for Christ. During these times there began to spread about the false teachings of the heretic Paul of Samosata (Samosata was a city in Syria). This heretic confused together the Essence of the Undivided Trinity with the Essence of One God the Father, confounding the minds of many Christians by his talks and writings. The heretic Paul of Samosata was condemned at the first Antioch Council, assembled in the year 264. Saint Gregory occupied a prominent place at this Council.
By his saintly life, his effective preaching, working of miracles and graced guiding of his flock, the saint steadily increased the number of converts to Christ. Before his death (c. 266-270) there remained in the city only 17 pagans. But when Sainted Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neocaesaea, first entered onto the cathedra, there were in the city only 17 Christians.
The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, was also named Levi (Mk. 2: 14; Lk. 5: 27); he was an Apostle from among the Twelve (Mk. 3: 18; Lk. 6: 45; Acts 1: 13), and was brother of the Apostle James Alphaeus (Mk. 2: 14). He was a publican, i.e. a tax-collector for Rome, in a time when the Jews had come under the rule of the Roman empire. He lived in the Galileian city of Capernaum [Capharnum]. Matthew, in hearing the voice of Jesus Christ: "Come, follow Me," (Mt. 9: 9) left off from his duties and followed the Saviour. Christ and His disciples did not refuse the invitation of Matthew and they visited at his house, where they shared table with the friends and acquaintances of the publican, who like the host were publicans and known sinners. This event extremely bothered the pharisees and scribes ["knizhniki", lit. bookmen or scholars].
Publicans, in collecting taxes from their countrymen, did this with great profit for themselves. Usually greedy and cruel people, the Jews considered them pernicious and betrayers of their country and religion. The word "publican" connoted for the Jews the sense of "public-sinner" and "idol-worshipper". To even speak with a tax-collector was considered a sin, and to associate with one was defilement. But the Jewish teachers were not able to comprehend that the Lord was "come to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Mt. 9: 13)
Matthew, acknowledging his sinfulness, recompensed fourfold anyone he had overcharged, and he distributed his remaining possessions to the poor, and together with the other apostles he followed after Christ. Saint Matthew was attentive to the instructions of the Divine Teacher, he beheld His innumerable miracles, he went together with the twelve apostles preaching to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel," (Mt. 10: 6) he was a witness to the suffering, death, and Resurrection of the Saviour, and of His glorious Ascension into Heaven.
Having received the gifts of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which descended upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Matthew for the first eight years preached in Palestine. And before his departure to preach the Gospel in faraway lands, at the request of the Jews remaining at Jerusalem, the holy Apostle Matthew in his Gospel gave account of the earthly life of the Saviour of the world - of the God-man Jesus Christ and His teaching.
In the order of the books of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew comes first. Palestine is said to be the place of writing of the Gospel. The Gospel was written by Saint Matthew in the year 42, in his native Jewish language, and then translated into Greek. The Hebrew text has not survived for us, but many of the linguistic and cultural-historical peculiarities of the Greek translation remind of it.
The Apostle Matthew preached among people having quite certain religious expectations about the Messias. His Gospel manifests itself as a vivid proof that Jesus Christ is the real Messias, foretold of by the prophets, and that another there would not be (Mt. 11: 3). The preachings and deeds of the Saviour are presented by the evangelist in three divisions, constituting three aspects of the service of the Messias: as Prophet and Law-Giver (Ch. 5-7), Lord over the world both visible and invisible (Ch. 8-25), and finally as High Priest offered as Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind (Ch. 26-27). The theological content of the Gospel, besides the Christological themes, includes also the teaching about the Kingdom of God and about the Church, which the Lord sets forth in parables about the inner preparation for entering into the Kingdom (Ch. 5-7), about the worthiness of servers of the Church in the world (Ch. 10-11), about the signs of the Kingdom and its growth in the souls of mankind (Ch. 13), about the humility and simplicity of the inheritors of the Kingdom (Mt. 18: 1-35; 19: 13-30; 20: 1-16; 25-27; 23: 1-28), and about the eschatological revelations of the Kingdom in the Second Coming of Christ within the daily spiritual life of the Church (Ch. 24-25). The Kingdom of Heaven and the Church are closely interconnected in the spiritual experience of Christianity: the Church is the historical embodiment of the Kingdom of Heaven in the world, and the Kingdom of Heaven is the Church of Christ in its eschatological perfection (Mt. 16: 18-19; 28: 18-20).
The holy Apostle made the rounds with the "good-news" [euangelia in Greek or evangelium in Latin - the meaning of the word "gospel"] to Syria, Media, Persia, Parthia, and finishing his preaching work in Ethiopia with a martyr's death. This land was inhabited by tribes of cannibals with primitive customs and beliefs. The holy Apostle Matthew by his preaching there converted some of the idol-worshippers to faith in Christ. He founded the Church and built a temple in the city of Mirmena, establishing there as bishop his companion by the name of Plato.
When the holy apostle was fervently beseeching God for the conversion of the Ethiopians, during the time of prayer the Lord Himself appeared to him in the form of a youth, and having given him a staff, commanded him to put it upright at the doors of the church. The Lord said, that from this staff would grow a tree and it would bear fruit, and from its roots would flow a stream of water. And in washing themselves in the water and eating of the fruit, the Ethiopians lost their wild ways and became gentle and good.
When the holy apostle carried the staff towards the church, on the pathway there met him the wife and son of the ruler of the land, Fulvian, who were afflicted by unclean spirits. By the Name of Christ the holy apostle healed them. This miracle converted to the Lord quite a number of the pagans. But the ruler did not want that his subjects should become Christians and cease to worship the pagan gods. He accused the apostle of sorcery and gave orders to execute him. They put Saint Matthew head downwards, heaped up brushwood and ignited it. When the bonfire flared up, everyone then saw that the fire did no harm to Saint Matthew. Then Fulvian gave orders to add more wood to the fire, and frenzied with boldness, he commanded to set up around the bonfire twelve idols. But the flames spread to the idols and caught on even Fulvian. The frightened Ethiopian turned to the saint with an entreaty for mercy, and by the prayer of the martyr the flame went out. The body of the holy apostle remained unharmed, and he expired to the Lord (+60).
The ruler Fulvian deeply repented his deed, but still he had doubts. By his command, they put the body of Saint Matthew into an iron coffin and threw it into the sea. In doing this Fulvian said, that if the God of Matthew would preserve the body of the apostle in the water, as He preserved him in the fire, then this would be proper reason to worship this One True God.
On that night the Apostle Matthew appeared to Bishop Plato in a dream vision, and commanded him to go with clergy to the shore of the sea and to find his body there. Together with the bishop on his way to the shore of the sea went Righteous Fulvian and his retinue. The coffin carried back by the waves was with honour taken to the church built by the apostle. Then Fulvian begged forgiveness of the holy Apostle Matthew, after which Bishop Plato baptised him, giving him the name Matthew in obedience to a command of God. Soon Saint Fulvian-Matthew abdicated his rule and became a presbyter. Upon the death of Bishop Plato, the Apostle Matthew appeared to him and exhorted him to head the Ethiopian Church. Having become a bishop, Saint Matthew-Fulvian toiled much at preaching the Word of God, continuing with the work of his heavenly patron saint.
The Holy Martyrs and Confessors Guria, Shamuna, and Habib: During the time of persecution against Christians under the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311), two friends were arrested in the city of Edessa, the Christians Guria and Shamuna, preachers of the Word of God.
At the demand to offer sacrifice to the gods the saints answered with a decisive refusal and confessed their faith in Christ. For this they were subjected to cruel tortures: they beat them, hung them up by their hands, tied heavy weights to their feet, and cast them into a stifling prison. The martyrs endured everything with firmness and a prayer to the Lord, which one of the witnesses to the martyrs wrote down: "O Lord my God, without Whose will not a single sparrow falleth into the snare. Thou it was, Who wast diffused in the heart of David in sorrow, Who proved the Prophet David stronger than lions, and granted for a child of Abraham to be victor over torture and flames. Now also Thou knowest, O Lord, the infirmity of our nature, Thou beholdest the struggle set afront us. For the enemy striveth to tear away from Thee the work of Thy right hand and to deprive us from the essence of Thine Glory. But do Thou, with Thine compassionate eye watching over us, preserve in us the inextinguishable light of Thy Commandments. By Thy light guide our steps, and grant us to delight in Thy bliss, for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages." By night they took the martyrs out beyond the city and beheaded them (+299-306). Christians buried their holy bodies.
After some years the last pagan emperor Licinius (311-324) began a persecution against Christians. A deacon of the Edessa Church by the name of Habib, whom the emperor ordered to be arrested for his zealous spreading of the true faith, presented himself before the executioners, since he did not want other Christians to suffer because of the search for him. The saint confessed his faith in Christ and was sentenced to burning. The martyr went willingly into the fire and with prayer gave up his soul to the Lord (+322). When the fire went out, the mother and kinsmen of the saint found his body unharmed. They buried the martyr next to Saints Guria and Shamuna.
After the death of the saints, numerous miracles were wrought by them for those who with faith and love entreated their help. Thus, one time a certain Gothic soldier, sent for service at Edessa, took as his spouse the pious maiden Euphymia. Before this he vowed to her mother Sophia at the graves of the Martyrs Guria, Shamuna, and Habib, that he would do his spouse no harm, and would never insult her, but would always love and cherish her. At the completion of his service in Edessa, he took Euphymia with him back to his native land. Afterwards it turned out, that he had deceived her: in his native land he already had a wife, and Euphymia became her slave. Euphymia had to suffer much abuse and humiliation. When she gave birth to a son, the jealous Goth woman then poisoned him. Euphymia turned with prayer to the holy Martyrs Guria, Shamuna, and Habib - witnesses to the oath of the deceiver - and the Lord delivered Euphymia from her suffering and miraculously returned her to Edessa, where she was welcomed by her mother. After a certain while the Gothic oath-breaker was again sent for service to Edessa. All the city learned about his misdeeds after his denunciation by Sophia, and by order of the governor of the city the Goth was executed.
Glorifying the holy martyrs in an akathist, Holy Church addresses them: "Hail, Guria, Shamuna, and Habib, Heavenly Patrons of honourable marriage".
The Holy Apostle Philip was a native of the city of Bethsaida (or Bethesda, in Galilee). He had a profound depth of knowledge of the Holy Scripture, and rightly discerning the meaning of the Old Testament prophecies, he awaited the coming of the Messias. Through the summoning of the Saviour (Jn. 1:43), Philip followed Him. The Apostle Philip is spoken about several times in the Holy Gospel: he brought to Christ the Apostle Nathanael (Jn. 1:46); the Lord asks him how much money would be needful to buy bread for five thousand men (Jn. 6:5-7); he brought certain of the Hellenised Jews wanting to see Jesus (Jn. 12:21-22); and finally, at the time of the Last Supper he asked Christ about God the Father (Jn. 14:8).
After the Ascension of the Lord, the Apostle Philip preached the Word of God in Galilee, accompanying his preaching with miracles. Thus he restored to life a dead infant in the arms of its mother. From Galilee he set off to Greece, and preached amongst the Jews that had settled there. Certain of them reported in Jerusalem about the preaching of the apostle, in response to which there arrived in Hellas (Greece) from Jerusalem scribes with the Jewish high priest at their head, for a persecution against the Apostle Philip. The Apostle Philip exposed the lie of the high priest, who said that the disciples of Christ had stolen away and hidden the body of Christ, telling instead how the Pharisees had bribed the soldiers on watch to deliberately spread this rumour. When the Jewish high priest and his companions began to insult the Lord and lunged at the Apostle Philip, they suddenly were struck blind. By prayer the apostle restored everyone to sight, and in beholding this miracle, many believed in Christ. The Apostle Philip established a bishop for them, by the name of Narcissos (listed within the rank of the Seventy Disciples).
From Hellas the Apostle Philip set out to Parthia, and then to the city of Azota, where he healed an eye affliction of the daughter of a local resident named Nikoclides, who had received him into his home, and then baptised with all his whole family.
From Azota the Apostle Philip set out to Syrian Hieropolis where, stirred up by the Pharisees, the Jews burned the house of Heros, who had taken in the Apostle Philip, and they wanted to kill the apostle. But in witnessing miracles wrought by the apostle - the healing of the hand of the city official Aristarchos, withered in attempting to strike the apostle, and also a dead lad restored to life - they repented and many accepted holy Baptism. Having made Heros bishop at Hieropolis, the Apostle Philip went on to Syria, Asia Minor, Lydia, Emessa, and everywhere preaching the Gospel and undergoing sufferings. Both he and his sister Mariamna accompanying him were pelted with stones, locked up in prison, and thrown out of villages.
Then the Apostle Philip arrived in Phrygia, in the city of Phrygian Hieropolis, where there were many pagan temples, among which was a pagan temple devoted to snake worship, having within it an enormous serpent. The Apostle Philip by the power of prayer killed the serpent and healed many bitten by the snakes. Among those healed was the wife of the city governor Amphypatos. Having learned that his wife had accepted Christianity, the governor Amphypatos gave orders to arrest Saint Philip, his sister, and the Apostle Bartholomew travelling with them. At the urging of the pagan priests of the temple of the serpent, Amphypatos gave orders to crucify the holy Apostles Philip and Bartholomew. At this time there began an earthquake, and it knocked down to the ground all those present at the judgement place. Hanging upon the cross at the pagan temple of the serpent, the Apostle Philip prayed for the salvation of those that had crucified him, to save them from the ravages of the earthquake. Seeing this happen, the people believed in Christ and began to demand that the apostles be taken down from the crosses. The Apostle Bartholomew, in being taken down from the cross was still alive, and he baptised all those believing and established a bishop for them.
But the Apostle Philip, through whose prayers everyone remained alive, except for Amphypatos and the pagan priests, died on the cross.
Mariamna his sister buried his body, and together with the Apostle Bartholomew she set out preaching to Armenia, where the Apostle Bartholomew was crucified; Mariamna herself then preached until her own death at Likaoneia (Comm. 17 February).
Sainted John Chrysostom (Zlatoust), Archbishop of Constantinople, one of the Three Ecumenical Hierarchs, was born at Antioch in about the year 347 into the family of a military commander. His father, Secundus, died soon after the birth of his son. His mother, Anthusa, widowed at twenty years of age, did not seek to remarry but rather devoted all her efforts to the raising of her son in the dictates of Christian piety. The youth studied under the finest philosophers and rhetoricians. But, scorning the vain disciplines of pagan knowledge, the future hierarch turned himself to the profound study of Holy Scripture and prayerful contemplation. Saint Meletios, Bishop of Antioch, loved John like a son, guided him in the faith, and in the year 367 baptised him. After three years John was made a church reader. Later on, when Saint Meletios had been sent off into exile by the emperor Valens in the year 372, John together with Theodore (afterwards bishop of Mopsuetia) studied under the experienced instructors of ascetic life, the presbyters Flavian and Diodor of Tarsis. The highly refined Diodor had especial influence upon the youth. When John's mother died, he accepted monasticism, which he called the "true philosophy". Soon John and his friend Basil came to be regarded for the occupying of episcopal cathedras, and the friends decided to withdraw into the wilderness, fleeing assignment. But Saint John, himself evading the dignity of archbishop out of humility, secretly assisted in the consecration of Basil.
During this period Saint John wrote his "Six Discourses on the Priesthood," a great work of Orthodox pastoral theology. The saint spent four years in the toils of wilderness life, asceticising under the guidance of an experienced spiritual guide. And here he wrote three books entitled, "Against the Opponents of Those Attracted to the Monastic Life," and a collection entitled, "A Comparison of the Monk with the Emperor" (or, "Comparison of Imperial Power, Wealth and Eminence, with the True and Christian Wisdom-Loving Monastic Life"), both works which are pervaded by a profound reflection of the worthiness of the monastic vocation. For two years the saint maintained complete silence, situated in a solitary cave. But to recover his health the saint was obliged to return to Antioch. In the year 381 the bishop of Antioch Saint Meletios ordained him deacon. The years following were devoted to work over new theological tomes: "Concerning Providence" ("To the Ascetic Stagirios"), "Book Concerning Virginity," "To a Young Widow" (two discourses), and the "Book About Saint Babylos and Against Julian and the Pagans."
In the year 386 Saint John was ordained presbyter by the bishop of Antioch, Flavian. They imposed upon him the duty to preach the Word of God. Saint John was a splendid preacher, and for his rare talent with God-inspired words he received from his flock the title "Golden-Tongued" (Grk. "Chrysostomos", Slav. "Zlatoust"). For twelve years the saint preached in church amidst a crowded throng of people, deeply stirring the hearts of his listeners, usually twice a week, but sometimes daily.
In his pastoral zeal to provide Christians a rather better comprehension of Holy Scripture, Saint John made recourse to sacred-textual hermeneutics - the discipline of commentary explanation of the Word of God (i.e. exegesis). Among his exegetical works are commentaries on entire books of the Holy Scripture (Genesis, the Psalter, the Gospels of Matthew and John, the Epistles of the Apostle Paul), and also many an homily on individual texts of the Holy Bible, but likewise instructions on the Feastdays, laudations on the Saints, and also apologetic (i.e. defensive) homilies (against Anomoeans, Judaisers, and pagans). Saint John as presbyter zealously fulfilled the command of caring for the needy: under him the Antioch Church each day provided sustenance to as many as 3,000 virgins and widows, not including in this number the shut-ins, wanderers and the sick.
At the beginning of Great Lent in 388 the saint began his commentary on the Book of Genesis. Over the forty day period he preached 32 homilies. During Passion week he spoke about the Betrayal and about the Cross, and during the Paschal Bright Week his parishioners were daily instructed by his pastoral discourse. His exegesis on the Book of Genesis was concluded only at the end of October (388). With Pascha in the following year the saint began his examination of the Gospel of John, and towards the end of the year 389 he switched over to the Gospel of Matthew. In the year 391 the Antioch Christians listened to his commentary on the Epistles of the holy Apostle Paul to the Romans and to the Corinthians. In 393 he addressed the Epistles to the Galatians, the Ephesians, Timothy, Titus, and the Psalms. In his homily on the Epistle to the Ephesians, Saint John denounced an Antioch schism: "I tell ye and I witness before ye, that to tear asunder the Church means nothing less, than to fall into heresy. The Church is the house of the Heavenly Father, One Body and One Spirit."
The fame of the holy preacher grew, and in the year 397 with the demise of the Constantinople archbishop Nektarios, successor to Sainted Gregory the Theologian, Saint John Chrysostom was summoned from Antioch for placement upon the Constantinople cathedra. At the capital, the holy archpastor was not able to preach as often as he had at Antioch. Many matters awaited resolving by the saint, and he began with the most important - with the spiritual perfection of the priesthood. And in this he himself was the best example. The financial means apportioned for the archbishop were channelled by the saint into the upkeep of several hospices for the sick and two hostels for pilgrims. The archpastor sufficed on scant food, and he refused invitations to meals. The zeal of the saint in affirming the Christian faith spread not only to the inhabitants of Constantinople, but also to Thrace - to include Slavs and Goths, and to Asia Minor and the Pontine region. He established a bishop for the Bosphorus Church, situated in the Crimea. Saint John sent off zealous missionaries to Phoenicia, to Persia, and to the Skyths, to convert pagans to Christ. He also wrote missives to Syria to bring back the Marcionites into the Church, and he accomplished this. Preserving the oneness of the Church, the saint would not permit a powerful Gothic military commander, who was dictating terms to the emperor, to open an Arian church at Constantinople. The saint exerted much effort in the arranging of august Divine Services: he compiled a Liturgy, he introduced antiphonal singing for the all-night vigil, and he wrote several prayers for the sacramental rite of anointing the sick with oil. The dissolute morals of people in the capital, especially at the imperial court, found in the person of the saintly hierarch its denunciation, irrespective of person. When the empress Eudoxia connived at the confiscation of the last properties of the widow and children of a disgraced dignitary, the saint rose to their defense. The arrogant empress did not concede and nursed a grudge against the archpastor. The hatred of Eudoxia against the saint blazed forth anew when malefactors told her that apparently the saint had her particularly in mind in his instruction on women of vanity. A trial-court was convened composed of hierarchs who earlier had been justly condemned by Chrysostom: Theophilos of Alexandria, the Gabala bishop Severian, who shortly before had been banished from the capital because of improprieties, and others. This court of judgement declared Saint John deposed, and for his insult to the empress to be subject to execution. The emperor substituted exile for execution. At the church surged an angry crowd, resolved to defend their pastor. The saint, in order to avoid a riot, gave himself over into the hands of the authorities. That very night at Constantinople there occurred an earthquake. The court was ashudder. The terrified Eudoxia urgently besought the emperor to bring back the saint and promptly dispatched a letter to the banished pastor, beseeching him to return. And anew, in the capital church, the saint in a short talk praised the Lord, "For All His Ways." The slanderers fled to Alexandria. But already after a mere two months a new denunciation provoked the wrath of Eudoxia. In March of the year 404 there gathered an unjust Council, decreeing the exile of Saint John. Upon his removal from the capital, a conflagration reduced to ashes the temple of Saint Sophia and the Senate edifice. Devastating barbarian incursions soon followed, and in October 404 Eudoxia died. Even pagans saw in these events Heavenly chastisement for the unjust judgement rendered against the saint of God.
Situated in Armenia, the saint strove all the more to encourage his spiritual children. In numerous letters (245 are preserved) to bishops in Asia, Africa, Europe, and particularly to his friends in Constantinople, Saint John consoled the suffering, guiding and giving support to his followers. In the Winter of 406 Saint John was confined to his bed with sickness. But his enemies were not to be appeased. From the capital came orders to transfer Saint John to desolate Pitius (in Abkhazia). Worn out by sickness, under accompanying military escort for three months in the rain and frost, the saint made his final transferral - at Comana his powers failed him. At the crypt of Saint Basiliskos, comforted by a vision of the martyr ("Despair not, brother John! Tomorrow we shalt be together"), and having communed the Holy Mysteries, the ecumenical hierarch with the words, "Glory to God for everything!" expired to the Lord on 14 September 407. The holy relics of Saint John Chrysostom were solemnly transferred to Constantinople in the year 438. The student of Saint John, the Monk Isidor Pelusiotes wrote: "The house of David is grown strong, and the house of Saul enfeebled: he is victor over the storms of life, and is entered into Heavenly repose." The memory of Sainted John Chrysostom is celebrated by Holy Church on 27 and 30 January and 13 November.
Sainted John the Almsgiver, Patriarch of Alexandria, was born on Cyprus in the seventh century into the family of the illustrious dignitary Epiphanios. At the wish of his parents he entered into marriage and had children. When the wife and the children of the saint died, he became a monk: strict at fasting, prayer, and love for brother.
His spiritual exploits gain him reknown, and when the Patriarchal cathedra at Alexandria fell vacant, the emperor Heraclius and all the clergy besought Saint John to occupy the Patriarchal throne.
The saint worthily assumed his archpastoral service, concerning himself over the moral and dogmatic welfare of his flock. During his time as patriarch he denounced and drove out from Alexandria the heresy of the Antioch Monophysite Phyllonos.
But his chief task he considered to be charity and beneficence towards all those in need. At the beginning of his patriarchal service he ordered an accounting of all the poor and downtrodden in Alexandria, which turned out to be over seven thousand men. To all these unfortunates the saint daily distributed food for free. Twice during the week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, he emerged from the doors of the Patriarchal cathedral, and sitting on the church portico, he received everyone in need: he settled quarrels, aided the wronged, and distributed alms. Three times a week he visited those in the sick-houses, and rendered help to the suffering. It was during this period that the emperor Heraclius led a tremendous army against the Persian emperor Chosroes II. It resulted with the Persians ravaging and burning Jerusalem, and taking a multitude of captives. The holy Patriarch John gave over a large portion of the church treasury for their ransom.
The saint never refused suppliants. One time along the road to the sick-house he encountered a beggar and commanded that he be given six silver coins. The beggar, having made a change of clothes, ran on ahead of the Patriarch and again began to entreat alms. Saint John again gave him six silver coins. When however the beggar a third time besought charity, and the servants began to thrust away the obtrusive fellow, the Patriarch ordered that he be given twelve pieces of silver, saying: "Is Christ not indeed putting me to the test?" Twice the saint gave money to a merchant that had suffered shipwreck, and a third time gave him a ship belonging to the Patriarchate and filled with grain, with which the merchant had a successful journey and repaid his obligations.
Saint John the Merciful was known for his gentle attitude towards people. One time the saint was compelled because of some offense to remove from the Church a certain clergyman. This fellow was angry at the Patriarch, and so the saint wanted to summon him and talk it out, but it slipped his mind. But when he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, the saint was suddenly reminded by the words of the Gospel: when thou bringest forth thine gift to the altar and do recollect, that thine brother hath something against thee, leave hold thine gift and first make peace with thine brother (Mt. 5:23-24). The saint came out of the altar, called over the offending clergyman to him, and falling down on his knees before him, in front of all the people he asked forgiveness. The clergyman, shaken with surprise, repented his doings and afterwards became a pious priest.
Likewise there was a time when a certain citizen insulted George, a nephew of the Patriarch. George asked the saint to avenge the wrong. The saint promised to reward the offender, in a manner that all Alexandria would see. This calmed George down, and Saint John began to instruct him, speaking about the necessity of meekness and humility, and then, having summoned the insulter, he declared, that he would release him from payment of a church tax on his land. Alexandria indeed was amazed by such a "revenge," and George learned the lesson in the teaching of his uncle.
Saint John, a strict ascetic and man of prayer, was always mindful of his soul, and of death. He commissioned for himself a crypt-coffin, but he did not bid the master-craftsmen to finish it off, instead each feastday he would have them come and ask, if it was time to finish the work.
Shortly before his death, Saint John through illness was compelled to resign his cathedra and set off to the island of Cyprus. On the ship-journey the saint in his illness had a sign: in a sleep-vision a resplendent man appeared to him and said: "The King of kings doth summon thee unto Himself." The vision announced the impending death of the Patriarch. Having arrived at Cyprus, in his native city of Amaphunteia, the saint in peace expired to the Lord (616-620).
The Holy Great Martyr Menas, an Egyptian by birth, was a soldier and served in the city Kotuan under the centurion Firmilian during the reign of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian (284-305). When the co-emperors began the then fiercest persecution against Christians in history, the saint lost all desire to serve these persecutors and, having left the service, he withdrew to a mountain, where he asceticised in fasting and prayer. Once during the time of a pagan feastday he happened to arrive in the city, in which earlier he had served. At the climax of the festal games, which all the city had come out to see, rang out the accusing voice of the saint of God, preaching faith in Christ, the Saviour of the world.
At trial before the governor Pyrrhos the saint bravely confessed his faith and said that he had come hither in order to denounce all of impiety. Saint Menas spurned he suggestion to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, and he was put to cruel tortures, after which he as beheaded. This occurred in the year 304. The body of the holy martyr was ordered to be burnt. Christians by night gathered up from the burnt-out fire the undestroyed remains of the martyr, which later were installed in a church in his name, built after the cessation of the persecution, at the place of the suffering and death of the Great Martyr Menas.
The Holy Disciples from the Seventy: Erastus, Olympas, Herodian, Sosipater, Quartus, and Tertius lived during the first century.
Saint Herodian was a kinsman of the Apostle Paul (Rom. 16:11), and left the bishop's cathedra at Patras so as to go to Rome with the Apostle Peter. The holy Disciple Olympas, about whom the holy Apostle Paul recollects (Rom. 16:15), was also a companion of the Apostle Peter. Both of these Disciples from the 70 were beheaded on the very day and hour when the Apostle Peter was crucified.
The holy Disciples Erastus, Sosipater, Quartus, and Tertius were disciples of the holy Apostle Paul. The Apostle to the Gentiles speaks of them in the Epistle to the Romans: "Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen, do greet you..." (Rom. 16:21); "And also do I, Tertius, who wrote down this epistle, greet you" (Rom. 16:22); "And Erastus, the city treasurer, doth greet you, and brother Quartus" (Rom. 16:23).
The Disciple Sosipater, a native of Achaeia, was bishop of Iconium where also he died. The Disciple Erastus was at first a deacon and treasurer of the Jerusalem Church, and later on bishop at Paneadis. The holy Disciple Quartus endured much suffering for his piety and converted many pagans to Christ, dying peacefully in the dignity of bishop in the city of Beirut. The holy Disciple Tertius, having written down the dictation of the Apostle Paul contained in the Epistle to the Romans, was the second bishop of Iconium, where also he died.
The Nun Matrona was born in the city of Pergium Pamphylia (Asia Minor) in the fifth century. They gave her in marriage to a well-off man named Dometian. When her daughter Theodotia was born, they resettled in Constantinople. The twenty-five year old Matrona loved to walk to the temple of God. She spent entire days there, ardently praying to the Lord and weeping for her sins.
At the church the saint made the acquaintance of two pious women-elders, Eugenia and Susanna, who from the time of their youth asceticised there in work and prayer. Matrona began to imitate the God-pleasing life of an ascetic, humbling her flesh by abstinence and fasting, for which she had to endure criticism by her husband. Her soul yearned for a full renunciation of the world. After long hesitation Saint Matrona decided to leave her family and besought the Lord to reveal whether her intent was pleasing to Him. The Lord heard the prayer of His servant. Once during a light sleep she had a dream that she had fled her husband, who was in pursuit of her. The saint concealed herself in a throng of monks approaching her, and her husband did not notice her. Matrona accepted this dream as a divine directive to enter a men's monastery, where her husband would not guess to look for her. She gave over her daughter for raising to the woman-elder Susanna, and having cut her own hair and disguised herself in men's attire, she went to the monastery of the Monk Bassion. There the Nun Matrona passed herself off as the eunuch Babylos and was accepted into the number of the brethren. Apprehensive lest the monks learn that she was a woman, the saint passed her time in constant quietude and much work. The brethren marveled at the great virtue of Babylos. One time the saint with the other monks was working in the monastery vineyard. The newly-made monk Barnabos noted that her ear-lobe was pierced and asked about it. "It is necessary, brother, to till the soil and not watch other people, which is not proper for a monk," answered the saint.
After a certain while it was revealed in a dream to the Monk Bassion, the hegumen of the monastery, that the eunuch Babylos was a woman. It was likewise revealed to Blessed Akakios, hegumen of the nearby Abrahamite monastery. The Monk Bassion summoned Saint Matrona and strictly demanded an answer, for what purpose she had infiltrated the monastery, whether to corrupt the monks or shame the monastery. With tears the saint told the hegumen about all her past life, about her pursuing husband, hostile to her efforts and prayers, and about the dream-vision, directing her to go to the men's monastery. Becoming convinced that her intent was pure and chaste, the Monk Bassion sent off Saint Matrona to a women's monastery in the city of Emesa. In this monastery the saint dwelt for many years, inspiring the sisters by her high monastic achievement. When the hegumeness died, by the unanimous wish of the nuns the Nun Matrona became head of the convent.
The fame about her virtuous activities, and about a miraculous gift of healing, which she acquired from the Lord, spread far beyond the walls of the monastery. Dometian also heard about the deeds of the nun. When Saint Matrona learned that her husband was come to the monastery and wanted to see her, she secretly went off to Jerusalem, and then to Mount Sinai, and from there to Beirut, where she settled in an abandoned pagan temple. The local inhabitants learned of her reclusion, and began to come to her. The holy ascetic turned many from their pagan impiety and converted them to Christ. Women and girls began to settle by the dwelling of the nun and soon there emerged a new monastery. Having fulfilled the will of God, revealed to her in a dream, the saint left Beirut and journeyed to Constantinople where she learned that her husband had died. With the blessing of her spiritual father, the Monk Bassion, the ascetic founded in Constantinople a women's monastery, to which transferred also sisters from the Beirut convent founded by her. The Constantinople monastery of the Nun Matrona was known for its strict monastic rule and the virtuous life of its sisters.
In extreme old age Saint Matrona was deigned a vision of the celestial paradise and the place prepared for her there after 75 years of monastic work. At the age of one hundred, the Nun Matrona, having blessed the sisters, quietly expired to the Lord (about the year 492).
The Celebration of the Synaxis (Assemblage) of the Leader of the Heavenly Hosts Michael, and the Other Heavenly Bodiless Hosts was established at the beginning of the fourth century at the local Laodician Council, which occurred several years before the First Ecumenical Council.
The Laodician Council by its 35th Canon condemned and renounced as heretical the worship of angels as creators and rulers of the world and it affirmed their proper Orthodox veneration. A feastday was established in November - the ninth month from March (with which month the year began in ancient times) - in accordance with the 9 Ranks of Angels. The eighth day of the month was decreed for the intended Sobor (Assemblage) of all the Heavenly Powers, in conjunction with the Day of the Dread Last Judgement of God, which the holy fathers called the "Eighth Day,"since after this age in which the seven days of Creation have elapsed will come the "Eighth Day," and then "shalt come the Son of Man in His Glory and all the holy Angels together with Him." (Mt. 25:31)
The Angelic Ranks are divided into three Hierarchies: highest, middle, and lowest. In the Highest Hierarchy are included the three Ranks: the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones. Closest of all to the Most Holy Trinity stand the six-winged Seraphim (Flaming, and Fiery) (Is. 6:12). They blaze with love for God and impel others to it.
After the Seraphim there stand before the Lord the many-eyed Cherubim (Gen. 3: 24). Their name means: outpouring of wisdom, enlightenment, since through them, radiating with the light of divine knowledge and understanding of the mysteries of God, there is sent down wisdom and enlightenment for true divine knowledge.
After the Cherubim, through grace given them for their service, stand the God-bearing Thrones (Col. 1:16), mysteriously and incomprehensibly upholding God. They serve the uprightness of God's justice.
The Middle Angelic Hierarchy consists of three Ranks: Dominions, Powers, and Authorities.
Dominions (Col. 1:16) hold dominion over the successive ranks of Angels. They instruct the earthly authorities, established from God, to wise governance. The Dominions influence rule by miracles, they quell sinful impulses, subordinate the flesh to the spirit, and provide mastery over the will to conquer temptation.
Powers (1 Pet. 3:22) fulfill the will of God. They work the miracles and send down the grace of wonderworking and perspicacity to saints pleasing to God. The Powers give assist to people in bearing obediences, encourage them in patience, and give them spiritual strength and fortitude.
Authorities (1 Pet. 3:22, Col. 1:16) have authority to quell the power of the devil. They repel from people demonic temptations, uphold ascetics and guard them, helping people in the struggle with evil ponderings.
In the Lowest Hierarchy are included the three Ranks: Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
Principalities (Col. 1:16) have command over the lower angels, instructing them in the fulfilling of Divine commands. To them are entrusted to direct the universe, and protect lands, nations and peoples. Principalities instruct people to render honour to everyone, as becomes their station. They teach those in authority to fulfill their necessary obligations, not for personal glory and gain, but out of respect for God and benefit for neighbour.
Archangels (1 Thess. 4:16) announce about the great and most holy, they reveal the mysteries of the faith, prophecy and understanding of the will of God, they intensify deep faith in people, enlightening their minds with the light of the Holy Gospel.
Angels (1 Pet. 3:22) are closest to all to people. They proclaim the intent of God, guiding people to virtuous and holy life. They protect believers restraining them from falling, and they raise up the fallen; never do they abandon us and always they are prepared to help us, if we so desire.
All the Ranks of the Heavenly Powers have in common the name Angels by virtue of their service. The Lord reveals His will to the highest of the Angels, and they in turn inform the others.
Over all the Nine Ranks, the Lord put the Holy Leader ("Archistrategos") Michael (his name in translation from the Hebrew means "who is like unto God"), a faithful servitor of God, wherein he hurled down from Heaven the arrogantly proud day‑star Lucifer together with the other fallen spirits. And to the remaining Angelic powers he cried out: "Let us attend! Let us stand aright before our Creator and not ponder that which is displeasing unto God!" According to Church tradition, in the church service to the Archistrategos Michael concerning him, he participated in many other Old Testament events. During the time of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt he went before them in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Through him the power of the Lord was made manifest, annihilating the Egyptians and Pharaoh who were in pursuit of the Israelites. The Archangel Michael defended Israel in all its misfortunes.
He appeared to Jesus Son of Navin (Joshua) and revealed the will of the Lord at the taking of Jericho (Josh. 5:13-16). The power of the great Archistrategos of God was manifest in the annihilation of the 185 thousand soldiers of the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib (4 Kings 19:35); also in the smiting of the impious leader Antiochos Illiodoros; and in the protecting from fire of the Three Holy Youths - Ananias, Azarias, and Misail, thrown into the fiery furnace for their refusal to worship an idol (Dan. 3:22‑25).
Through the will of God, the Archistrategos Michael transported the Prophet Avvakum (Habbakuk) from Judea to Babylon, so as to give food to Daniel, locked up in a lions' den (Kondak of Akathist, 8).
The Archangel Michael prevented the devil from displaying the body of the holy Prophet Moses to the Jews for idolisation (Jude 1:9).
From Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are likewise known the Archangels: Gabriel - strength (power) of God, herald and servitor of Divine almightiness (Dan. 8:16, Lk. 1:26); Raphael - the healing of God, the curer of human infirmities (Tobit 3:16, 12:15); Uriel - the fire or light of God, enlightener (3 Ezdras 5:20); Selaphiel - the prayer of God, impelling to prayer (3 Ezdras 5:16); Jehudiel - the glorifying of God, encouraging exertion for the glory of the Lord and interceding about the reward of efforts; Barachiel - distributor of the blessing of God for good deeds, entreating the mercy of God for people; Jeremiel - the raising up to God (3 Ezdras 4:36).
On icons the Archangels are depicted in accord with the trait of their service:
Michael - tramples the devil underfoot, and in his left hand holds a green date-tree branch, and in his right hand a spear with a white banner (or sometimes a fiery sword), on which is outlined a scarlet cross.
Gabriel - with a branch from paradise, presented by him to the Most Holy Virgin, or with a shining lantern in his right hand and with a mirror made of jasper in his left.
Raphael - holds a vessel with healing medications in his left hand, and with his right hand leads Tobias, carrying the fish [for healing - Tobit 5-8].
Uriel - in raised right hand hold a bare sword at the level of his chest, and in his lowered left hand "a fiery flame".
Selaphiel - in a prayerful posture, gazing downwards, hands folded to the chest.
Jehudiel - in his right hand holds a golden crown, in his left a whip of three red (or black) branches.
Barachiel - on his garb are a multitude of rose blossoms.
Jeremiel - holds in his hand balance-scales.
The Monk Lazarus of Galeseius was born in Lydia, in the city of Magnesium. As a youth educated and loving God, Lazarus became a monk at the monastery of Saint Sava, the founder of great ascetic piety in Palestine. The monk spent ten years within the walls of the monastery, winning the love and respect of the brethren for his intense monastic effort.
Ordained presbyter by the Jerusalem Patriarch, the Monk Lazarus returned to his native country and settled not far from Ephesus, on desolate Mount Galesius. Here he was granted a wondrous vision: a fiery pillar, rising up to the heavens, was encircled by Angels, singing: "Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered." On the place where this vision appeared to the saint, he built a church in honour of the Resurrection of Christ and took upon himself the feat of pillar-dwelling. Monks soon began to flock to the great ascetic, thirsting for wise spiritual nourishment by the divinely inspired word and blessed example of the saint. Thus arose a monastery.
Having received a revelation about his impeding end, the monk related this to the brethren, but through the tearful prayers of all, the Lord prolonged the earthly life of Saint Lazarus for another fifteen years.
The Monk Lazarus died at 72 years of age, in the year 1053. The brethren buried the body of the saint at the pillar upon which he had pursued asceticism. The saint was glorified by many miracles after his death.
Saint Paul, Archbishop of Constantinople, was chosen to the patriarchal cathedra after the death of Patriarch Alexander (+ 340), when the Arian heresy had again flared up. Many of the Arians were present at the Council which selected the new patriarch. They revolted in opposition to the choice of Saint Paul, but the Orthodox at the Council were in the majority. The emperor Constantius, ruling over the Eastern half of the Roman empire, was an Arian. At the time of the election of the patriarch he was not in Constantinople. Upon his return, he convened a council, which illegally declared the dethronement of Saint Paul, and the emperor banished him from the capital. In place of the saint they raised up Eusebios of Nicomedia. Patriarch Paul withdrew to Rome, where also were other Orthodox bishops banished by Eusebios.
Not for long did Eusebios rule the Constantinople Church. When he died, Saint Paul returned to Constantinople. He was greeted by his flock with love. But Constantius exiled the saint a second time, and so he returned to Rome. The Western emperor Constans wrote his Eastern co-ruler an harsh letter, which he dispatched to Constantinople along with the holy exiled archpastor. The threats worked, and Saint Paul was reinstated upon the patriarchal throne.
But soon the pious emperor Constans, a defender of the Orthodox, was treacherously murdered during a palace coup. They again banished Saint Paul from Constantinople and this time sent him off in exile to Armenia, to the city of Kukuz, where he accepted a martyr's death. When the Patriarch was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, Arians rushed upon him by force and strangled him with his own hierarchical omophor. This occurred in the year 350. In the year 381 the holy Emperor Theodosius the Great solemnly transferred the relics of Saint Paul the Confessor from Kukuz to Constantinople. In 1326 the relics of Saint Paul were then transferred to Venice.
Saint Athanasias the Great, a contemporary of Saint Paul, writes briefly about his exiles: "Saint Paul the first time was dispatched by Constantine to Pontus, the second time fettered in chains by Constantius, and then he was locked up in Mesopotamian Syngara and from there moved to Emesus, and the fourth time to Cappadocian Kukuz in the Taurian wilderness."
The Holy Martyrs Galaction and Epistemis: A rich and distinguished couple named Clitophon and Leucippia lived in the city of Phoenician Emesa, and for a long time they were childless. The spouses gave over much gold to the pagan priests, but still they remained childless.
The city of Emesa in the third century was governed by a Syrian named Secundus, put there by the Roman Caesars. He was a merciless and zealous persecutor of Christians, and to intimidate them he gave orders to display out on the streets the instruments of refined torture. The slightest suspicion of belonging to "the sect of the Galileian" (as thus Christians were called by the pagans), sufficed to get a man arrested and handed over for torture. In spite of this, many Christians voluntarily gave themselves over into the hands of the executioners, in their desire to suffer for Christ.
A certain old man, by the name of Onuphrius, concealing beneath his beggar's rags his monastic and priestly dignity, walked from house to house in Emesa, begging alms. Everywhere where he saw the possibility to turn people away from the pagan error, there he preached about Christ. One time he came to the magnificent house of Leucippia. In accepting alms from her he sensed that the woman was in sorrow, and he asked what was the cause of this sadness. She told the elder about her familial misfortune. In consoling her, Onuphrius began to tell her about the One True God, about His almightiness and mercy, and that He always grants the prayer of those turning to Him with faith. Hope filled the soul of Leucippia. She believed and accepted Holy Baptism. Soon after this in a dream it was revealed to her, that she would give birth to a son, who would be a true follower of Christ. At first Leucippia concealed from her husband her delight, but after the infant was born, she revealed the secret to her husband and persuaded him likewise to be baptised.
They named the baby Galaction. His parents raised him in the Christian faith and provided him a fine education. He could make for himself an illustrious career, but Galaction sought rather for an immaculate and monastic life in solitude and prayer.
When Galaction turned age 24, his father resolved to marry him off and they found him a bride, a beautiful and illustrious girl by the name of Epistemis. The son did not oppose the will of his father; however, through the will of God, the nuptials were for a certain while postponed. Visiting often with his betrothed, Galaction gradually revealed about his faith to her, and he converted her to Christ and he himself secretly baptised her. Together with Epistemis he baptised also one of her servants, Eutolmius. The newly-illumined decided, on the initiative of Galaction, to devote themselves to a monastic life. Quitting the city, they hid themselves away on Mount Publion, where there were two monasteries, one for men and the other for women. The new monastics had to take with them all the necessities for physical toil, since the inhabitants of both monasteries were both old and infirm. For several years the monastics asceticised at work, fasting and prayer. But one time Epistemis had a vision in her sleep: Galaction and she stood in a wondrous palace before the Resplendent King, and the King bestowed on them golden crowns. This was a presentiment of their impending martyr's end.
The existence of the monasteries became known to the pagans, and a military detachment was sent off to apprehend their inhabitants. But the monks and the nuns succeeded in hiding themselves away in the hills. Galaction however had no desire to flee and so he remained in his cell, reading Holy Scripture. When Epistemis saw that the soldiers were leading away Galaction in chains, she began to implore the hegumeness to permit her to go also, since she wanted to accept torture for Christ together with her fiancée-teacher. The hegumeness with tears blessed Epistemis to do so.
The saints endured terrible torments, whilst supplicating and glorifying Christ. By order of the judge they were quartered asunder.
Eutolmius, the former servant of Epistemis, and who had become her brother in Christ and co-ascetic in monastic deeds, secretly gave reverent burial to the bodies of the holy martyrs. He later wrote in eulogy of their lives, for both his contemporaries and posterity.
The Monk Joannicius the Great was born in Bithynia in the year 752 in the village of Marikat. His parents were destitute and could not provide him even the basics of an education. From childhood he had to tend the family cattle - their sole wealth. Love for God and prayer completely held sway in the soul of the lad Joannicius. Often, having shielded the herd with the sign of the Cross, he went to a secluded place and spent the whole day praying, and neither thieves nor wild beasts came near his herd.
By order of the emperor Leo IV (775-780), a multitude of officials spread through the cities and towns to draft fine young men for military service. Young Joannicius was also drafted into the imperial army. He earned the respect of his fellow soldiers for his good disposition, but also as a brave soldier and fierceness to enemies. Saint Joannicius served in the imperial army for six years. More than once he was rewarded by his commanders and the emperor. But military service weighed heavily on him, his soul thirsted for spiritual deeds and solitude. And the Lord summoned His servant to Him for service.
The Monk Joannicius, having renounced the world, was intent to go off at once into the wilderness. However, on the advice of an elder experienced in monastic deeds, he spent a further two years at the monastery. Here the saint became accustomed to monastic obedience, to monastic rules and practices, he studied reading and writing, and he learned by heart thirty psalms of David. After this, on the urging by God, the monk withdrew into the wilderness. For three years he remained in deep solitude in the wilderness, and only once a month a shepherd brought him some bread and water. The ascetic spent day and night in prayer and psalmody. After each verse of singing the psalms the Monk Joannicius made a prayer, which in somewhat altered form the Orthodox Church keeps to this day: "My hope is the Father, my refuge is Christ, and my protection is the Holy Spirit."
By chance encountering his former companions from military service, the saint quit the wilderness and withdrew to Mount Konturea. Only after twelve years of ascetic life did the hermit accept monastic tonsure. The saint spent three years after the tonsure in seclusion, wrapped in chains, after which he set off to Chelidon to the great faster Saint George. The ascetics spent together three years. During this time the Monk Joannicius learned by heart the entire Psalter. Having gotten up in age, the Monk Joannicius settled in the Antidiev monastery and dwelt there in seclusion until his end.
The Monk Joannicius spent seventy years in ascetic deeds and attained to an high spiritual perfection. Through the mercy of God the saint acquired the gift of prophecy, as his student Pachomius has related. The monastic elder during the time of prayer hovered over the ground. One time he traversed a river flooded to overflowing. The saint could make himself invisible for people and make others invisible: one time the Monk Joannicius led out from prison Greek captives under the watch of a crowd of guards. Poison and fire, with which the envious wanted to destroy the saint, did him no harm, and predatory beasts did not touch him. It is known, that he freed the island of Thasos from a multitude of snakes. The Monk Joannicius likewise saved a young nun, who was preparing to quit the monastery on a whim to marry; he took upon himself the agonised maiden's suffering of passion, and by fasting and prayer annihilated the seductive assault of the devil.
Foreseeing his end, Saint Joannicius expired to the Lord on 4 November 846, at the age of 94.
Bishop Akepsimos headed the Christian Church in the Persian city of Naesson. His flock devotedly loved their hierarch for his ascetic life and tireless pastoral work. The emperor Sapor gave orders to seek out and kill Christian clergy. Saint Akepsimos also was arrested, being then already an eighty year old man. They took him to the city of Arbela, where he came before the judge Ardarkh - a pagan priest of the sun god. The holy elder refused to offer sacrifice to the Persian gods. For this he was fiercely beaten and thrown into prison, where on the following day they threw in with him, after fierce beatings, the seventy year old Presbyter Joseph and Deacon Haiphal. For three years the saints were held in confinement, and worn down by hunger and thirst.
Emperor Sapor came to the temple of the god of fire, located not far from Arbela, and wanted to take a look at the three holy martyrs. Exhausted and covered with festering wounds, the saints were brought before the emperor and at his demand they again firmly refused to worship the pagan gods, instead confessing their faith in Christ. The holy bishop was beheaded, but the presbyter and deacon were sent off within the city and there to be stoned.
The execution of the presbyter Joseph was prolonged for several hours. A guard was placed near the place of execution, so that Christians would not take the body of the holy martyr. On the fourth night a strong windstorm raged near the city, lightning killed the guard, the wind threw about stones, and the body of Saint Joseph disappeared.
The deacon Haifal was taken to the village of Patrias and there he was stoned. Christians secretly buried his body. On the grave of the saint there grew a tree, the fruit of which brought healings.
Acindynus, Pegasius, and Anempodistus were courtiers of the Persian emperor Sapor II (310-381), and clandestinely they were Christians. When the emperor started his persecution against Christians, envious pagans denounced them before him. Summoned to the emperor for trial, the holy martyrs fearlessly confessed their faith in the Holy Trinity. The emperor gave orders to beat them with whips. Twice the exhausted executioners switched places, but the holy martyrs let out neither a cry nor a groan. Even the emperor could not endure the strain and he lost consciousness. Everyone thought him dead. But the saints appealed to God, and the emperor came to himself. And having recovered, Sapor accused the saints of sorcery and gave orders to take the holy martyrs over a bonfire, so as to suffocate them with the smoke. But by the prayers of the saints the fire extinguished, and the ropes binding them sundered. When the emperor asked them how this had occurred, the holy martyrs told him about Christ working the miracle. Blinded by rage, the emperor began to blaspheme the Name of the Lord. Then the saints exclaimed, "Let thy mouth be speechless," and the emperor lost his voice. Having gone mad with terror and rage, he tried with gestures to give the order to take away the holy martyrs to prison. Those round about were not able to understand him, and he began to go into an even greater rage, madly plucking off his mantle, he tore at his hair and beat himself upon the face. Saint Acindynus took pity on him and in the Name of the Lord delivered him from the speechlessness. But this time the emperor attributed everything to magic and he continued the torture of the saints. They placed them upon an iron grate and lighted a fire beneath it. The saints started to pray. Suddenly it rained and put out the fire. Beholding the miracle accomplished through the prayers of the holy martyrs, many people believed in Christ and confessed their faith. The saints glorified God and called on the believing to accept Baptism by the rain sent down upon them.
One of the executioners, Aphthonius, publicly asked forgiveness of the holy martyrs for causing them suffering, and he bravely went to execution for Christ. The dignitary Elpidephorus and even the mother of the emperor confessed faith in the One True God. The emperor saw how much the number of Christians was increased and how the torturing of Saints Acindynus, Pegasius and Anempodistus actually encouraged the Christian faith. He declared to the people that the holy Martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, Anempodistus and Elpidephorus with them would have their heads cut off, and that their bodies could not be taken by Christians for burial. When they led the holy martyrs beyond the city walls for execution, a tremendous crowd accompanied them, glorifying Christ. By order of the emperor, soldiers massacred all the Christians (about 7,000) in the procession. Together with the others also was killed Elpidephorus.
Acindynus, Pegasius, and Anempodist together with the mother of the emperor were burnt on the following day. Christians, coming secretly by night to the place of the execution of the saints, found the bodies of the holy martyrs unharmed by the fire and with reverence they buried them.
Saints Cosmas and Damian were natives of Asia Minor. Their father, a pagan, died while they were still quite small children. Their mother, Theodotia, raised the brothers in Christian piety. The example of their mother and the reading of holy books preserved them in chasteness of life in accord with the command of the Lord, and Cosmas and Damian grew up into righteous and virtuous men.
Trained and having become skilled as physicians, they acquired a graced gift of the Holy Spirit - to heal by the power of prayer people's illnesses both of body and soul, and they treated even animals. With fervent love for both God and neighbour, the brothers went forth into social service. For the maladies which the brothers treated they never took payment, and they strictly observed the command of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Freely have ye received, freely in turn give" (Mt. 10: 8). The fame of Saints Cosmas and Damian spread throughout all the surrounding region, and people called them unmercenaries.
One time the saints were summoned to a grievously ill woman whom all the doctors had refused to treat because of her seemingly hopeless condition. Through the faith of Palladia (thus was her name) and through the fervent prayer of the holy brothers, the Lord healed the deadly disease and she got up from her bed perfectly healthy and giving praise to God. In gratitude for being healed and wanting them to accept a small gift from her, Palladia went quietly to Damian. She presented him with three eggs and said: "Take this small gift in the Name of the Holy Life-Creating Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Hearing the Name of the Holy Trinity, the unmercenary one did not dare to refuse.
Cosmas, however, when he learned of what had happened, became very sad. He thought that his brother had broken their strict vow. And soon approached the time when Saint Cosmas was to expire to the Lord. Dying, he gave last instructions that his brother should not be buried alongside him. After a short while Saint Damian also died. All were greatly perplexed where Saint Damian's grave should be. But through the will of God a miracle occurred: there came to the people a camel, which the saints had treated for its wildness, and it spoke with a human voice saying that they should not doubt to put Damian alongside Cosmas, because it was not for the reward that Damian accepted the gift from the woman, but on account of the Name of God. The venerable remains of the holy brothers were buried together at Theremanea (Mesopotamia).
Many miracles were worked upon the death of the holy unmercenaries. There lived at Theremanea, nearby the church of Cosmas and Damian, a certain man by the name of Malchos. One day in setting off on a distant journey, and leaving behind his wife all alone for what would be a long time, he prayerfully entrusted her to the heavenly protection of the holy brothers. But the enemy of the race of mankind, having taken hold over one of Malchos' friends, planned to destroy the woman. A certain while went by, and this man went to her at home and said that Malchos had sent him to take her to him. The woman believed him and went along. He led her to a solitary place and wanted to molest and kill her. The woman, seeing that disaster threatened her, called upon God with deep faith. Two fiercesome men then appeared, and the cunning man let go of the woman, and took to flight: he fell off a cliff! The men led the woman home. At her own home, bowing to them deeply she asked: "What name do they call you, my rescuers, to whom I shalt be grateful to the end of my days?" "We are the servants of Christ, Cosmas and Damian," they answered, and became invisible. The woman with trembling and with joy told everyone about what had happened with her, and glorifying God she went up with tears to the icon of the holy brothers and offered up prayers of thanks for her deliverance. And from that time the holy brothers were venerated as protectors of the holiness and inviolability of Christian marriage, and as givers of harmony to conjugal life. And from ancient times their veneration spread also to Russia.
The Holy Disciples from the Seventy, Stachys, Apelles, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, And Aristobulus.
The holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called ordained Stachys to the dignity of bishop of Byzantium, where he was bishop for sixteen years, zealously preaching the Gospel of Christ and converting pagans to the true faith.
Saint Amplias was bishop in the city of Diospolis. Saint Urban was bishop in Macedonia. They also were bishops by the consecration of the holy Apostle Andrew. For preaching the Gospel they were put to a martyr's death by Jews and pagan Greeks.
Saint Narcissus was bishop in the city of Athens. Saint Apellias was bishop at Heraclium.
Saint Paul made Saint Aristobulus a bishop and sent him to preach the Gospel in Britain, where he converted many to Christ.
The Hieromartyr Zenobius, Bishop of Aegea, and his sister Zenobia suffered a martyr's death in the year 285 in Cilicia.
From childhood they were raised in the holy Christian faith by their parents, and they led pious and chaste lives. In their mature years, shunning the love of money, they distributed away their wealth and inheritance, giving it to the poor. For his beneficence and holy life the Lord rewarded Zenobius with the gift of healing various maladies. He was chosen bishop of a Christian community in Cilicia.
In the dignity of bishop, Saint Zenobius zealously spread the Christian faith among the pagans. When the emperor Diocletian (284-305) began a persecution against Christians, Bishop Zenobius was the first one arrested and brought to trial to the governor Licius. "I shalt speak with thee but briefly," said Licius to the saint, "for I propose to thee: life, if thou worshipest our gods; or death, if thou dost not." The saint answered, "This present life without Christ is death; better I prepare to endure the present torment for my Creator, and then with Him live eternally, than to renounce Him because of the present life, and then be tormented eternally in hades."
By order of Licius, they nailed him to a cross and began the torture. The sister of the bishop, seeing the suffering of her brother, wanted then to stop it with him. She bravely confessed her own faith in Christ before the governor, for which she also was given over to torture.
By the power of the Lord they remained alive after torture on a red-hot cot and in a boiling kettle. The saints were then beheaded. Presbyter Hermogenes secretly buried the bodies of the martyrs.
The Monastic Martyress Anastasia the Roman in infancy lost her parents, and she was then taken under the care of the head of a women's monastery, named Sophia. The hegumeness raised Anastasia in fervent faith, in the fear of God and obedience.
During these times there began the persecution against Christians by the emperor Decius (249-251). The city administrator, Probus, on the orders of the emperor commanded that Anastasia be brought to him.
Having been blessed by her eldress-mentor for the deed of suffering for the Name of Christ, the young Martyress Anastasia humbly came out to meet the armed soldiers. Seeing her youth and beauty, Probus at first attempted by false flattery to tempt her and lead her into a renunciation of faith in Christ: "Why waste thy years, deprived of pleasure? What is there to gain in giving thyself over to tortures and death for the Crucified? Worship our gods, get thyself some handsome husband, and live in glory and honour."
The saint steadfastly replied: "My Bridegroom, my riches, my life, and my happiness is my Lord Jesus Christ, and with the threat of torments thou canst not part me from the Lord!"
Fiercesome tortures were then begun. The holy martyress bravely endured them, glorifying and praising the Lord. In anger the torturers cut out her tongue. The people, seeing the inhuman and disgusting treatment of the saint, became indignant, and the governor of the city was compelled to bring the torture to a close, by beheading the martyress.
The body of Saint Anastasia was thrown out beyond the city for devouring by wild animals, but the Lord did not permit that a mockery should be made with the holy remains. Learning of this through the Lord, the hegumeness Sophia found the torn body of the martyress, and with the help of two Christians she consigned it to earth.
