Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY MARTYRS EUTROPIUS, CLEONICUS, AND BASILISCUS
They were companions of Saint Theodore the Tyro. And when the glorious Theodore gloriously reposed, they remained in prison after him, and were not sentenced for some time due to a change of the imperial governor in the city of Amasia. When a new governor arrived, even more inhuman than his predecessor, he commanded that this trio be brought before him. All three were young men — Eutropius and Cleonicus being brothers by birth, and Basiliscus a kinsman of Saint Theodore. But all three were as born brothers in brotherly love. Thus they declared before the governor: "As the Holy Trinity is undivided, so are we undivided in faith and inseparable in love." All the governor's flatteries were in vain, as were his attempts to bribe Eutropius. First he invited him to dine with him, which Eutropius declined, speaking from the Psalms: blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly; then he offered him an enormous treasure — a hundred and fifty pounds of silver — which Eutropius also declined, reminding the governor that Judas lost his soul on account of silver. After all attempts, tortures, and torments, the first two were condemned to crucifixion and Basiliscus to beheading by sword. And the two brothers were crucified upon two crosses, for which they gave praise to Christ who counted them worthy of the same death by which He Himself died; while the third, Basiliscus, was beheaded by the sword. And all departed to the kingdom of joy where their commander, Saint Theodore, glorified by Christ the Lord and Victor before them, awaited them. They suffered honorably in the year 308.
2. SAINT PIAMUNA THE EGYPTIAN
For Christ's sake she would not marry, but gave herself to the ascetic life in her mother's house. She took only a little food, and that every other day, and spent her time in prayer and contemplation. She had the gift of clairvoyance. She reposed peacefully, having betrothed her soul to the Lord, around the year 377.
3. AN UNKNOWN MAIDEN FROM A WEALTHY HOUSE IN ALEXANDRIA
She had a good father who suffered greatly and came to a bad end, and a wicked mother who lived well and died in peace and was buried with honor. Unable to decide whether to live by the example of her father or by the example of her mother, this maiden had a vision which revealed to her the state of her father and mother in the other world. She saw her father in the Kingdom of God and her mother in darkness and torment. This determined her to devote her entire life to God, and like her father to hold fast to the law of God regardless of all adversities and misfortunes she might have to endure. And she kept the law of God until the end, with God's help, and was counted worthy of the heavenly kingdom, in which she was united with her God-loving father.
Hymn of Praise
HOLY MARTYRS EUTROPIUS, CLEONICUS, AND BASILISCUS
The mind gathered and lifted up to God Most High,
The heart aflame with love toward Him,
Heeds not torments, nor cares for the body —
Over such a one the Lord alone holds sway.
The mind cleaved to Christ — this is the most important thing,
This Saint Eutropius came to know in torment,
And his brother Cleonicus, and the beloved Basiliscus,
All three were in the fire as if in the dew.
The mind cleaved to Christ heeds not torments,
If suffering endures, prayer endures also,
It thinks not of suffering but fashions prayer:
He who fears God fears not suffering.
Two brothers by birth raised up upon the cross:
Their bodies writhe, yet their spirits are undisturbed,
Both glorify God who glorified them,
And delivered to them such an honorable death.
Their bodily garment is rent and stripped away,
But the spirit presses toward heaven, stronger than the body:
Receive, O God, they cry, our spirit into the heights,
To Thee eternal glory, O Son of God!
“He who fears God fears not suffering.”
Reflection
Humanly speaking, Christ raised Himself through obedience to headship in the Church, in the world, and in human history. No one becomes a good leader who has not passed through the school of obedience. Adam lost his authority and headship over the animals and the forces of nature at the very moment he showed himself disobedient to God. "Obedience is for obedience; if anyone hearkens to God, God hearkens to him," said Abba Moses. And yet it is evident that God hearkens to men more than men hearken to God, given how often and how many times men daily transgress the commandments of God. The fact that the immortal God hearkens to us corruptible ones more than we hearken to Him ought to fill with shame everyone who still has a conscience.
When Saint Eutropius was being tortured along with his two companions, he prayed to God: "Come to our aid as Thou didst come to Thy servant Theodore the Tyro!" At that moment the earth trembled and the obedient Lord appeared with angels and with Saint Theodore. And the Lord said to the suffering ones: "During your torments I stood before your faces, beholding your endurance. Your names shall be inscribed in the Book of Life."
“The fact that the immortal God hearkens to us corruptible ones more than we hearken to Him ought to fill with shame everyone who still has a conscience.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the Lord Jesus at the Last Supper, namely:
1. How He chose bread and wine — two ordinary elements of nourishment — and through them established His visible-invisible bond with the Church until the end;
2. How the Last Supper has been continued until this day and shall be continued until the end of time as the Mystery of Holy Communion;
3. How every day and almost every hour somewhere in the world bread and wine are consecrated by some priest and received as the body and blood of Christ — a wondrous vision!
Homily
on love for one's neighbor
Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you (Phil. 1:24)
Illumined by the love of Christ, the Apostle Paul acknowledges in the Epistle to the Philippians that death is gain for him, since his life is Christ. His love for Christ draws him toward death, that he might stand beside Christ the sooner; yet his love for the faithful draws him back to remain in the body. And yet these are not two loves tearing the apostle apart in two directions, but one and the same love which opens before him two treasuries of good: one treasury — the blessed world in heaven, and the other — the souls of believers on earth. That heavenly good is enlarged by this earthly good; this treasury pours itself into that one. To go to heaven — love and reward draw the apostle there; to remain on earth — love and duty hold him here.
And when a mortal man, my brethren, finds it more needful to remain in the body out of love for his brethren, how much less of a wonder is it that the immortal God perceived, before the apostle, that it was more needful to be in the spiritual kingdom? Does not this confession of Paul before the Philippians explain to us entirely clearly the motives of the incarnation of the Son of God? There in the heavens is the true Kingdom of Christ and the true life of Christ, without admixture of sin and death. But the love of the Son of God for men found it more needful to be in a body, on earth, among men. Truly we must be grateful to the Apostle Paul, who in explaining himself has explained to us the mystery of Christ's coming and abiding in the flesh.
O Lord, Thou art wondrous in Thy saints. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“To go to heaven — love and reward draw the apostle there; to remain on earth — love and duty hold him here.”