The Holy Virgins Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora (305-311), were sisters by birth, and they were from Bithynia (Asia Minor).
Distinguished for their especial piety, the Christian sisters wanted to preserve their virginity and avoid worldly association. They chose for themselves a solitary place in the wilderness and spent their lives in deeds of fasting and prayer.
Reports about the holy life of the virgins soon spread about, since through their prayers healings of the sick began to occur. The Bithynia region was governed at that time by a governor named Frontonus, who gave orders to arrest the sisters and bring them before him. At first he tried to persuade them to renounce Christ, promising great honours and rewards. But the holy sisters steadfastly confessed their faith before him, rejecting all the suggestions of the governor, and declaring to him, that they did not value temporal earthly blessings, and that they were prepared to die for their Heavenly Bridegroom. Going into a rage, the governor took out his wrath on the eldest of them, Saint Menodora. The saint bravely endured the torments and finally, she cried out: "Lord Jesus Christ, joy of my heart, my hope, in peace receive Thou my soul!" And with these words she gave up her spirit to God.
Four days later they brought to the court the younger sisters Metrodora and Nymphodora. They put before them the battered body of their elder sister to frighten them. The virgins wept over her, but they likewise remained steadfast. Then they subjected Saint Metrodora to torture. She died, crying out with her last breath to her beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Then they turned to the third sister Nymphodora. Before her lay the bruised bodies of her elder sisters. Frontonus hoped that this spectacle would intimidate the young virgin. Under pretense that he was charmed by her youth and beauty, he began amiably to urge her to worship the pagan gods, promising great rewards and honours. Saint Nymphodora rebuffed his words, and shared the fate of her older sisters. She was tortured to death with blows from iron rods.
The bodies of the holy martyrs were to be burnt on a bonfire, but a strong rain extinguished the blazing fire, and lightning felled Frontonus and his servant. Christians took up the bodies of the holy sisters and reverently buried them at the so-called Warm Springs at Pythias (Bithynia). Part of the relics of the holy martyrs are preserved at Athos in the Pokrov-Protection cathedral of the Russian Panteleimon monastery, and the hand of Saint Metrodora is situated on the Holy Mountain in the monastery of the Pantocrator.
In September of each year, sorghum-making time comes in southern Illinois. Perhaps it would be better to say it once came, for sorghum-making has diminished almost to the vanishing point.
Once there were many molasses mills in Egypt, and almost every farmstead had its patch of sorghum intended to provide the major source of winter sweets. Now the mills and cane patches alike are scarce. Boys wandering over the countryside can no longer pause to gather a stalk of cane, peel it, and chew the sugary juice from the pulp. Neither can they visit the sorghum mill and scrape the candied molasses from the sides of the pan with small wooden paddles and eat it. Some older persons with lingering memories colored by youthful appetites will recall such occasions with pleasure.
Some who remember sorghum mills and fresh sorghum compare it with maple syrup for use on hot buttered pancakes or flapjacks. If, however, one is forced to eat hot biscuits, the kind that mother made, many insist that sorghum stands supreme.
Sorghum once was a staple crop. Old time one-horse grain drills were equipped with special plates for drilling the seed. At that same time, Sear's catalogue offered large steel rollers to crush the cane and pans in which to boil juice. In fact, one could order a complete mill from Sears.
Harvest-time cane patches were attractive. The leaves took on a tinge of yellow, and the stalks became blotched with a golden bloom like that seen on some ripened fruits. Large seed clusters nodded from the tops of the stalks. Stripping and harvesting cane was not an easy task, but boys did not seem to mind. It gave them opportunity to design and make their own strippers — swordlike wooden implements about three feet long and often notched along the working edge. Occasionally one of these strippers is yet found tucked on a rafter of some old shed or barn. After the leaves were stripped from the stalks, the seed cluster at their top was clipped off with a corn knife and saved to feed chickens. The cane was then cut and gathered into small, carefully ordered piles and hauled to the mill. It was necessary to harvest cane before cold weather arrived, for even a light frost, if followed by a shower or heavy dew, would "run down into the cane and ruin it." If the weather became cold enough to freeze, cane stored in the yard at the mill was likewise ruined.
When time came for making molasses and the stalks were crushed between steel rollers, the juice went to the the large evaporating pan placed on a stone or brick foundation, which served as a furnace. This flat shallow pan some four feet wide and having baffles across it often was twenty or more feet long. Juice fed into it at one end and boiling vigorously was skillfully stirred around the baffles toward the other end. The scum that arose was skimmed off and sometimes fed to pigs. Skimmings gathered near the finish ends of the pan were quite sweet and often were used to make California beer — a mild home brew.
The refined molasses, by now a rich amber color, was drawn off at the chimney end of the long pan and carefully stored for winter use. The container used was often a wooden barrel made by a local cooper. It was a mark of a good cooper to be able to produce barrels that would hold boiling sorghum.
In addition to being mixed with butter as a spread for pancakes or biscuits, sorghum was used in several other ways. A favorite use was to make molasses candy. For this purpose a small amount of water and a cup of brown sugar sometimes were added with a lump of butter, though these additions were not necessary. This mixture was cooked in a skillet
until it "haired." At this point, some candy-makers stirred in a pinch of baking soda, but too much soda spoiled it. As soon as the hot mixture quit foaming, it was poured into buttered tins or plates.
When sufficiently cooled, the candy would be cut into blocks like fudge, or removed from the containers and pulled. If the hands were carefully buttered, the warm candy could easily be pulled into golden-colored taffy, and formed into long twisted rolls that were cut into sticks. In addition to the nourishment that molasses candy provided, its chewing afforded considerable jaw exercise. It also helped to gum up all who handled it.
Another popular use of sorghum was for the making of popcorn balls. To do this, a large pan of corn was popped, and boiling sorghum that had been cooked to candy consistence was poured over it. Balls were then molded. When cooled, they were firm and could be carried about, even taken to school in the lunch pail, or occasionally in a boy's coat pocket wrapped in oiled paper. They were a popular confection.
The use of sorghum didn't end here. Combined with ground black pepper, grated ginger and vinegar, it was made into a cough syrup or cold remedy. Whether effective or not, it certainly was pungent. Also, nothing excelled sorghum as sweetening for gingerbread or ginger cookies. The writer still seriously questions whether real gingerbread can be made without sorghum.
The strangest use ever made or sorghum to my knowledge was in the Gallatin County Courthouse at Shawneetown. When time came to paint murals on the walls of the circuit court room, it was necessary that portions of the wall be primed or sized before the artist did his work. Sorghum was the primer.
"Legends & Lore of Southern Illinois" - John W. Allen
Righteous Saint Joachim, son of Barpathir, was a descendant of King David, to whom God had revealed that from the descendants of his line would be born the Saviour of the world. Righteous Saint Anna was the daughter of Matthan and through her father she was of the tribe of Levi, and through her mother of the tribe of Judah. The spouses lived at Nazareth in Galilee.
They were childless into their old age and all their life they grieved over this. They had to endure derision and scorn, since at that time childlessness was considered a disgrace. But they never grumbled and only but fervently prayed to God, humbly trusting on His will.
Once during the time of a great feast, the gifts which Righteous Joachim took to Jerusalem for offering to God were not accepted by the priest Ruben, who considered that a childless man was not worthy to offer sacrifice to God. This pained the old man very much, and he, regarding himself the most sinful of people, decided not to return home, but to settle in solitude in a desolate place.
His righteous spouse Anna, having learned what sort of humiliation her husband had endured, in prayer and fasting began sorrowfully to pray to God for granting her a child. In his desolate solitude and with fasting Righteous Joachim also besought God for this.
And the prayer of the saintly couple was heard: to both of them an Angel announced, that there would be born of them a Daughter, Who would bless all the race of mankind. By order of this Heavenly Messenger, Righteous Joachim and Anna met at Jerusalem, where through the promise of God was born to them the Daughter, named Mary.
Saint Joachim died a few years later after the Entry into the Temple of his Blessed Daughter, at about age 80. Saint Anna died at age 70, two years after him, spending the time in the Temple alongside her Daughter.
The Most Holy Virgin Mary was born at a time when people had reached such limits of decay of moral values that it seemed altogether impossible to restore them. The best minds of this era were aware and often said openly that God must needs come down into the world so as to restore faith and not tolerate the ruination of the race of mankind.
The Son of God chose for the salvation of mankind to take on human nature, and the All-Pure Virgin Mary, - alone worthy to contain in Herself and to incarnate the Source of purity and holiness, - He chose as His Mother.
The Birth of Our Most Holy Lady Mother of God and Ever Virgin Mary is celebrated by the Church as a day of universal joy. Within the context of the Old and the New Testaments, on this radiant day was born the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, having been forechosen through the ages by Divine Providence to bring about the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Word of God, and She is revealed as the Mother of the Saviour of the World, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Most Holy Virgin Mary was born in the small city of Galilee, Nazareth. Her parents were Righteous Joachim from the tribe of the King and Prophet David, and Anna from the tribe of the First-Priest Aaron. The couple was without child, since Saint Anna was barren. Having reached old age, Joachim and Anna did not lose hope on the mercy of God. They had strong faith that for God everything is possible, and that He would be able to solve the barrenness of Anna, even in her old age, as He had once solved the barrenness of Sarah, spouse of the Patriarch Abraham.
Saints Joachim and Anna made a vow to dedicate the child which the Lord might bestow on them, into the service of God in the Temple. Childlessness was considered among the Hebrew nation as a Divine punishment for sin, and therefore the righteous Saints Joachim and Anna had to endure abuse from their own countrymen.
On one of the feast-days at the Temple in Jerusalem the elderly Joachim brought his sacrifice in offering to God, but the High Priest would not accept it, considering Joachim to be unworthy since he was childless.
Saint Joachim in deep grief went into the wilderness and there he prayed with tears to the Lord for the granting of a child. Saint Anna, having learned about what had happened at the Jerusalem Temple, wept bitterly; never once did she complain against the Lord, but rather she prayed, asking God's mercy on her family. The Lord fulfilled her petitions when the pious spouses had attained to extreme old age and prepared themselves by virtuous life for a sublime calling: to be the parents of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the future Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Archangel Gabriel brought Joachim and Anna the joyous message: their prayers were heard by God, and of them would be born a Most Blessed Daughter Mary, through Whom would come the Salvation of all the World. The Most Holy Virgin Mary of Herself in purity and virtue surpassed not only all mankind but also the Angels; She was manifest as the Living Temple of God, such that the Church sings in its festal verses of song: "the Heavenly Gate, bringing Christ into the world for the salvation of our souls" (2nd Stichos on "Lord, I have cried", Tone Six).
The Birth of the Mother of God marks the change of the times, wherein the great and comforting promises of God begin to be fulfilled about the salvation of the human race from slavery to the devil. This event has brought nigh to earth the grace of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of Truth, piety, virtue, and life immortal.
Our Mother First Born of All Creation is revealed to all of us by grace as a merciful Intercessor and Mother, to Whom we steadfastly recourse with filial devotion.
The Martyr Sozon, a native of Licaonea, was a shepherd.
He read the Holy Scriptures attentively, and he loved to share his knowledge about the One God with the shepherds who gathered together with him. He brought many to the faith in Christ and to Baptism.
By night-time once, when he sat under an oak tree, he had a vision foretelling his deed of martyrdom for Christ.
He set off to the city of Cilician Pompeiopolis, where a festal pagan celebration was being prepared for a golden idol, standing in a pagan temple. Unseen by anyone, saint Sozon went into the pagan temple and broke off the hand of the idol, and having smashed it he gave the gold to the poor.
The missing hands of the idol caused an uproar and commotion in the city: many were under suspicion, given over to interrogation and torture. Not wanting to be the cause of suffering for other people, Saint Sozon went to the emperor Maximian (284-305) and declared that it was he that broke the hand from the idol. "I did this," he said, "so that ye might see the lack of power of your god, which offered me no resistance. It is not a god, but rather a deaf and dumb idol. I wanted to smash it all into pieces, so that people would no longer worship its wrought hands."
The emperor in a fitful rage commanded that Saint Sozon be tortured mercilessly. They hung him up and struck at him with iron claws, and then they put on his legs iron shackles with nails inside and took him through the city. After this they again suspended him and beat him with iron rods until his bones broke.
In these terrible torments Saint Sozon gave up his spirit to God (+c.304). By decree of the emperor, slaves set a strong fire so as to burn the body of the martyr, but suddenly lightning flashed, it thundered loudly and a strong rain poured down over the flames of the fire. Christians took the body of the martyr by night and gave it over to burial. By his grave and at the place where he had the vision, there occurred healing of many of the sick. A church later was built in memory of the sufferings of the holy martyr.
The Remembrance of the Miracle, worked by the leader of the Heavenly Hosts, the Archangel Michael, at Chonae.
In Phrygia, not far from the city of Hieropolis, in a place called Kherotopos, there was a church named for the Archangel Michael, and outside the church flowed a health-curative spring. This church was built through the zeal of a certain inhabitant of the city of Laodicea in gratitude to God and to the holy Archangel Michael, who had appeared in a dream vision to this man - the father of a mute girl, and who then had not yet been illumined by holy Baptism, and revealed to him that his daughter would receive the gift of speech in drinking from the water of the spring. During her drinking the girl actually did receive healing and began to speak.
After this miracle, the father with his daughter and all their family were baptised, and in fervent gratitude the father built the church in honour of the holy Archangel Michael. And for healing began to come to the water-spring not only Christians, but also pagans. In so doing, many of the pagans turned from their idols and were converted to the faith in Christ.
At this church of the holy Archangel Michael a certain pious man by the name of Archippos served over the span of sixty years as church-attendant. By his preaching and by the example of his saintly life he brought many a pagan to faith in Christ. With the general malice of that time towards Christians, and even moreso against Archippos, who had never forsaken the church and gave example of a real servant of Christ, the pagans gave thought to destroying the church and at the same time kill Archippos. Towards this end they made a confluence of two mountainous rushing streams and directed its combined flow against the church.
Saint Archippos prayed fervently to the Archangel Michael to ward off the danger. Through his prayer the Archangel Michael appeared at the temple, and with a blow of his staff opened into the mountain a wide fissure and commanded to flow into it the rushing torrents of water. The temple thus remained unharmed.
In beholding such an awesome miracle, the pagans fled in terror, and Archippos together with Christians gathered in church glorified God and gave thanks to the holy Archangel Michael for the help. The place where the miracle happened received the name "Chonae", which means "opening" or "fissure".
The Holy Prophet Zacharias and Holy Righteous Elizabeth were the parents of the holy Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist of the Lord, John.
They were descended from the lineage of Aaron: Saint Zacharias, son of Barach, was a priest in the Jerusalem Temple, and Saint Elizabeth was a relative of the Most Holy Mother of God.
The righteous spouses, "comporting themselves through all the commandments of the Lord blameless" (Lk. 1:5-25), suffered barrenness, which in the Old Testament times was considered a punishment from God.
One time during the occasion of service in the Temple, Saint Zacharias received the news from an Angel that his aged wife would bear him a son, who "wilt be great before the Lord" (Lk.1:15) and "wilt go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias." (Lk.1:17)
Zacharias was doubtful of the possibility of the fulfilling of this prediction, and for his weakness of faith he was punished by becoming unable to speak. When Righteous Elizabeth gave birth to a son, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit she announced that his name was John, although earlier in their family line no one had been given such a name as this. They asked Righteous Zacharias and he likewise wrote down on the writing-board the name John. Immediately the gift of speech returned to him, and inspired of the Holy Spirit, he began to prophesy about his son as being the Forerunner of the Lord.
When impious king Herod heard from the Magi about the birth of the Messias, he decided to kill at Bethlehem and its surroundings all the infants up to two years old, hoping that in this number would be also the newborn Messias. Herod well know about the unusual birth of John and he wanted to kill him, fearing that he was the foretold King of the Jews. But Righteous Elizabeth hid herself away with the infant in the hills. The murderers searched everywhere for John. Righteous Elizabeth, catching sight of her pursuers, began tearfully to implore God concerning their safety, and immediately the hill opening up concealed her together with the infant from their pursuers.
In these tragic days Saint Zacharias was taking his turn making services at the Jerusalem Temple. Soldiers sent by Herod tried in vain to learn from him the whereabouts of his son. Then, by command of Herod, they murdered this holy prophet, having stabbed him betwixt the offertory and the altar (Mt.23:35). Righteous Elizabeth died forty days after her spouse, and Saint John, preserved by the Lord, dwelt in the wilderness until the day of his appearance to the nation of Israel.
