The Lives of the Saints
1. SAINT GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA
Gregory was the brother of Saint Basil the Great. He was at first only a presbyter, since he was married, and when his wife, the blessed Theosebia, died, they elected him and consecrated him as bishop in Nyssa. He was distinguished by enormous worldly learning and spiritual experience. He participated in the Second Ecumenical Council. It is thought that he composed the second part of the Creed. A great preacher, interpreter of Holy Scripture, and theologian. Because of his defeat, the Arians had particularly set upon him as their terrible opponent, and in the time of Emperor Valens, their like-minded ally, they succeeded in deposing him from the episcopal throne and driving him into exile. This Holy Father spent eight years in exile patiently enduring all miseries and all humiliations. Finally he ended his life in deep old age at the end of the fourth century, passing into the Kingdom of God and remaining through all the ages on earth as a great luminary of the Church.
2. VENERABLE AMMON
Ammon was an Egyptian ascetic. For fourteen years he labored and prayed to God only to conquer anger within himself. He attained such perfection of goodness that he was no longer conscious that evil existed in the world. A particular expert in Holy Scripture. He reposed at the beginning of the fifth century.
3. SAINT MARCIAN
Marcian was born in Rome, but as a presbyter lived out his life to the end in Constantinople, for the most part during the reign of Marcian and Pulcheria. Having inherited great wealth from his parents, he spent it unsparingly on two purposes: on building or renovating churches and on alms for the poor. He built two new churches in Constantinople, famous for their beauty and holiness: Saint Anastasia and Saint Irene. When they asked him why he spent so much on churches, he answered: "If I had a daughter, and wanted to marry her to some nobleman, would I not spend much gold to adorn her as a worthy bride? But here I am adorning the Church, the bride of Christ." As much as this wondrous man was generous toward churches and the poor, so much was he harsh, and very harsh, toward himself, following the apostolic counsel: "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content" (I Timothy 6:8). It is written of him: "He was all in God and God in him, and he presented himself to God filled with years and good deeds," in the year 471.
“He was all in God and God in him.”
Hymn of Praise
The Spirit holds the gifts,
The Spirit distributes the gifts,
To one gentle mercy, to another bold understanding,
To another extraordinary virginal purity,
To another living love, or rightness of mind
According to the strength of faith the Spirit bestows a new gift:
If faith grows that moves mountains,
The treasury of the Spirit is then opened
And gift upon gift, like rain, falls upon the faithful one.
Because of great faith Saint Gregory
To spiritual heights like an eagle soared.
Because of great faith Saint Marcian also
Was illumined by heavenly mercy:
To Gregory was given the light of theology,
To Marcian mercy—the oil of doxology.
O heavenly Spirit, Lord and King,
Do not withhold from us either Thy wondrous gifts,
But by the prayer of Thy chosen vessels
Save us from condemnation on the day of the Dread Judgment.
“If faith grows that moves mountains, the treasury of the Spirit is then opened.”
Reflection
Vanity about clothing especially gains momentum in our time. He who has nothing else to be proud of, that one is proud of his clothing. And he who would have something else, more precious than clothing, to be proud of, that one is not proud. Just as gold that does not come to the surface of the earth, so also the spiritual values of a person are not shown outwardly. It is told how a certain famous philosopher saw a young man being proud of his clothing, and approached him and whispered in his ear: "That same fleece was worn before you by a ram, and yet he was only a ram!" To be a Christian and be proud of clothing is even madder than to be an emperor and be proud of the dust under one's feet. While Saint Arsenius wore gold-woven garments in the imperial court, no one called him Great. He was called Great when he recklessly gave himself entirely to the service of God and dressed in rags.
“That same fleece was worn before you by a ram, and yet he was only a ram!”
Contemplation
Contemplate the poverty of the Lord Jesus, namely:
1. The poverty of the King who was born in a cave;
2. The poverty of the Almighty in hunger and thirst;
3. The poverty of the Richest One in communion with the poor on earth.
Homily
on contentment with what is most necessary to us
And having food and raiment let us be therewith content (I Timothy 6:8)
God's apostles taught others what they themselves had fulfilled by their life. When they had food and clothing, they were content. Even when it happened that they had neither food nor clothing, they were content. For their contentment did not flow from without but welled up from within. Their contentment was not so cheap as animal contentment, but more precious, much more precious and rarer. Inner contentment, contentment from the peace and love of God in the heart, that is the contentment of higher men, that was apostolic contentment. In great battles generals dress and eat like common soldiers, and do not seek contentment in food and clothing but in victory. Victory is the main contentment of those who struggle. And Christians are, brethren, in constant struggle, in the struggle for the victory of spirit over matter, in the struggle for the overcoming of the higher over the lower, of man over beast. Is it not, therefore, more than ridiculous to wage struggle and not care about victory but about outward ornaments and decorations? Is it not foolish to give signs of recognition to one's enemy? Our invisible enemy rejoices in our vanity, and supports us in every vain thought, and occupies us with all possible irrational trifles and time-wasters, only to impose upon our mind heavy forgetfulness of that for which we are on earth. He presents to us the worthless as important, and the secondary as primary, and the destructive as useful, only to carry off the victory over us and destroy us forever.
O Lord holy, mighty and immortal, who didst create us from clay, and into the clay didst breathe a living soul, do not allow, O Lord, that the clay prevail! Help our spirit always to be stronger than the earth. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Is it not more than ridiculous to wage struggle and not care about victory but about outward ornaments?”