Science of the Saints, 8 August, Saint Emilian, Bishop of Cyzicus.

Sainted Emilian, Bishop of Cyzicus, lived during the reign of the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He was summoned together with other bishops to the court of the emperor, who insistently urged the bishops to refrain from the veneration of holy icons. Saint Emilian was the first firmly to answer the emperor, that the question about the veneration of holy icons ought to be discussed and decided only within the Church by spiritual personages, and not at the imperial court. In the year 815 he was sent to prison for the orthodox faith, where he died as a confessor.

Science of the Saints, 7 August, Saint Dometius.

The Monk Dometius lived during the Fourth Century, and he was by birth a Persian. In his youthful years he was converted to the faith by a Christian named Uaros. Forsaking Persia, he withdrew to the frontier-city of Niziba (in Mesopotamia), where he accepted Baptism in one of the monasteries and was tonsured into monasticism. But then fleeing the ill-will of the monastery inhabitants, the Monk Dometius moved on to the monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus in the city of Theodosiopolis. The monastery was under the guidance of an archimandrite named Nurbelos - a strict ascetic, about whom it was reported, that over the course of 60 years he did not taste of cooked food, nor did he lay down for sleep, but rather took his rest standing up, supporting himself upon his staff. 

In this monastery the Monk Dometius was ordained to the dignity of deacon, but when the archimandrite decided to have him made a presbyter, the saint in reckoning himself unworthy hid himself away on a desolate mountain in Syria, in the region of Cyr. 

Reports about him constantly spread about among the surrounding inhabitants. They began to come to him for healing and for help. Many a pagan was brought to the faith in Christ by Dometius. And one time, in the locality where Saint Dometius asceticised with his disciples, the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363) arrived, journeying along on his campaign against the Persians. By order of the emperor, soldiers searched out Saint Dometius praying with his disciples in a cave, and stoned them to death (+ 363).

Science of the Saints, 6 August, Transfiguration of Our Lord.

We believe, that He manifest within the Transfiguration not some other manner of light, but only that which was concealed beneath His exterior of flesh. This Light was the Light of the Divine Nature, and as such it was Uncreated and Divine. So also, in the teachings of the theologian-fathers, Jesus Christ was transfigured on the Mount, not taking upon Himself something new nor being changed into something new, nor something which formerly He did not possess. Rather, it was to show His disciples that which He already was, opening their eyes and rendering them from blindness into sight. For do ye not see, that eyes with sight in accord with natural things, would be blind as regards this Light?

And thus, this Light is not a light of the senses, and those contemplating it do not simply see with sensual eyes, but rather they are changed by the power of the Divine Spirit. They were transformed and only in such manner did they see the transformation, transpiring amidst the very assumption of our perishability, with in place of this the deification through union with the Word of God. And thus also She that miraculously conceived and gave birth did recognise, that He born of Her is the Incarnated God. Thus too it was for Simeon, who but only received hold of this Infant into his arms, and the Aged Anna, coming out [from the Jerusalem Temple] for the Meeting -- since it was that the Divine Power did illumine, as through a glass windowpane, giving light for all those having pure eyes of heart. 

Science of the Saints, 5 August, Saint Eusignius.

The Martyr Eusignius was born at Antioch in the mid Third Century. Over the course of sixty years he served in the Roman armies of the emperors Diocletian, Maximian Hercules, Constantius Chlorus, Constantine the Great and his sons.

Saint Eusignius was a companion of Saint Basiliscus (Comm. 3 March and 22 May), and he provided an account of his deed of martyrdom (+ c. 308). 

At the beginning of the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, Saint Eusignius was a witness to the appearance in the sky of the starry Cross, a prediction of victory. 

Saint Eusignius retired in his old age from military service and returned to his own country. There he spent his time in prayer, fasting, and attending the temple of God. And thus he lived until the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363), who yearned for a return to paganism. 

Through the denunciation of one of the Antioch citizens, Saint Eusignius stood trial as a Christian before the emperor Julian in the year 362. He fearlessly accused the emperor of apostacy from Christ, and reproached him with the example of his relative, Constantine the Great, and he described in detail how he himself had been an eyewitness to the appearance in the sky of the sign of the Cross. Julian did not spare the quite old Saint Eusignius, then 110 years old, but rather ordered him beheaded.

Science of the Saints, 4 August, The Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus.

The Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus: Maximilian, Iamblichus, Martinian, John, Dionysius, Eksacustodianus (Constantine) and Antoninus, lived in the Third Century. 

Saint Maximilian was the son of the city administrator of Ephesus, and the other six youths were sons of other illustrious Ephesus citizens. The youths were friends from childhood, and all were together in military service. 

When the emperor Decius (249-251) arrived in Ephesus, he commanded all the citizenry to appear for offering sacrifice to the pagan gods; torture and death by execution awaited the recalcitrant. By denunciation from those currying the emperor's favour, the seven youths of Ephesus were summoned to reply to the charges. 

Standing before the emperor, the seven youths confessed their faith in Christ. Their illustrious military decorations - the military sashes - were quickly taken from them. Decius however set them at liberty, hoping, that they would change their minds while he was away on military campaign. The youths fled from the city and hid in a cave on Mount Okhlonos, where they passed the time at prayer, preparing for the deed of martyrdom. 

The very youngest of them, Saint Iamblichus, having clothed himself in beggar's attire, went into the city and bought bread. In one of these journeys into the city he heard, that the emperor had returned and sought them, so as to bring them to trial. Saint Maximilian exhorted his companions to come out of the cave and bravely appear at trial. 

Having learned where the lads were hidden, the emperor gave orders to seal the entrance of the cave with stones, so that the lads would perish in it from hunger and thirst. Two of the dignitaries, coming before the walled-up entrance to the cave, were secret Christians. Wanting to preserve the memory of the saints, they set in among the stones a sealed container, in which were located two tin sheaves. On them were inscribed the names of the seven youths and the details of their suffering and death.

But the Lord brought upon the youths a miraculous sleep, continuing almost two centuries. During this while the persecutions against Christians had ceased, although during the reign of the holy nobleborn emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450) there had appeared heretics who rejected the belief in the Resurrection of the Dead at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some of them said: "How can there be a resurrection of the dead, when there would be neither soul, nor body, since they are disintegrated?" Others affirmed: "Only the souls alone would have a restoration, since it would be impossible for bodies to arise and live after a thousand years, when even the dust from them would not remain." The Lord therefore revealed the mystery of the awaited Resurrection of the Dead and of the Future Life also through His seven youths.

The master of that region of land, on which Mount Okhlonos was situated, discovered the stone construction, and his workers opened up the entrance to the cave. The Lord had kept alive the youths, and they as it were awoke from their habitual sleep, not suspecting, that almost 200 years had elapsed. Their bodies and clothing were completely undecayed. Preparing to accept torture, the youths entrusted to Saint Iamblichus yet once again to buy bread for them in the city to keep up their strength. Going towards the city, the youth was astonished, seeing the holy cross on the gates. And hearing the freely uttered Name of Jesus Christ, he began to doubt that he was approaching his own city. Praying for the bread, the youth gave the merchant money with the image of the emperor Decius on it, and he was detained, as one possibly concealing an horde of old money. They took Saint Iamblichus to the city administrator, who at this time happened to be the bishop of Ephesus. Hearing the bewildering answers of the youth, the bishop perceived, that God was revealing through him some sort of mystery, and set out himself with other people to the cave. 

At the entrance to the cave the bishop took out the sealed container and opened it. He read upon the tin sheaves the names of the seven youths and the details of the sealing-up of the cave on the orders of the emperor Decius. Going into the cave and seeing the youths alive, everyone rejoiced and perceived that the Lord, through their awakening from long sleep, was disclosing to the Church the mystery of the Resurrection of the Dead. Soon the emperor himself arrived in Ephesus and conversed with the youths in the cave. Then the holy youths in view of everyone lay down their heads upon the ground and again fell asleep, this time until the General Resurrection. The emperor wanted to place each of the youths into a jeweled coffin, but appearing to him in a dream, the holy youths said, that their bodies were to be left in the cave upon the ground. In the Twelfth Century the Russian pilgrim the hegumen Daniel saw in the cave these holy remains of the seven youths.

Science of the Saints, 3 August, Saints Isaac, Dalmatius, and Faustus.

The Monks Isaac, Dalmatius, and Faustus were hegumens of a Dalmatian monastery.

The Monk Dalmatius had served in the army of the holy nobleborn emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395) and gained his notice. Having left the world somewhere between the years 381-383, the Monk Dalmatius together with his son Faustus went to the monastery of the Monk Isaac near Constantinople. The Monk Isaac vowed father and son into monasticism, and they both began to lead a strict ascetic life. 

Once during Great Lent the Monk Dalmatius did not partake of food during the course of 40 days, and later having regained his strength, he was vouchsafed worthy of a Divine vision. 

Having drawn near the end of his earthly life, the Monk Isaac put in his place as monastery head the Monk Dalmatius, through whose name the monastery became known as the Dalmatian.

The Monk Dalmatius showed himself a zealous proponent of orthodoxy at the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus (431), which censured the heresy of Nestorius.

After the Council the holy fathers elevated the Monk Dalmatius to the dignity of archimandrite of the Dalmatian monastery, at which he died at age ninety (after year 446). 

About the Monk Faustus is known that he, like his father, was a great ascetic and in monastic deeds he particularly excelled at fasting. After the death of his father, Faustus became hegumen of the monastery.

Science of the Saints, 2 August, Translation of the Relics of Saint Stephen, Protomartyr

The Transfer from Jerusalem to Constantinople of the Relics of the Holy Protomartyr Stephen occurred in about the year 428.

After the holy Protomartyr Archdeacon Stephen was pelted with stones by the Jews, they threw his holy body without burial for devouring by the beasts and birds. The renowned Jewish law-teacher Gamaliel, having begun to be inclined towards faith in Jesus Christ as the Messias and also defending the Apostles at the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:34-40), on the second night sent people devoted to him to take up the body of the Protomartyr. Gamaliel gave him burial on his own grounds, in a cave, not far from Jerusalem. 

When in turn there died the secret disciple of the Lord, Nicodemus, who had come to Christ at night (Jn. 3:1-21; 7:50-52; 19:38-42), Gamaliel likewise buried him nearby the grave of Archdeacon Stephen. 

Afterwards Gamaliel himself, having accepted holy Baptism together with his son Habib, was buried near the grave of the Protomartyr Stephen and Saint Nicodemus. 

In the year 415 the relics of the saint were uncovered in a miraculous manner and solemnly transferred to Jerusalem by the archbishop John together with the bishops Eleutherius of Sebasteia and Eleutherius of Jericho. From that time began healings from the relics.

Afterwards, during the reign of holy nobleborn emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450), the relics of the holy Protomartyr Stephen were transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople and placed in a church in honour of the holy Deacon Laurentius, and after the construction of a temple in honour of the Protomartyr Stephen the relics were transferred there on 2 August. The right hand of the Protomartyr is preserved in the Serapionov chamber of the Troitsky-Sergiev Lavra.