Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY FORTY-TWO MARTYRS OF AMORION
These were all commanders of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus. When Emperor Theophilus lost the battle against the Saracens near the city of Amorion, the Saracens took the city and captured many Christians, among them these commanders. The other Christians they either slew or sold into slavery, while the commanders they cast into prison, where they were held for seven years. Muslim leaders came many times to counsel them to accept the faith of Muhammad, but the commanders would not hear of it. When the Saracens told the commanders that Muhammad was the true prophet and not Christ, the commanders asked them: if two men were disputing over a field, and one said, "the field is mine," and the other said, "no, it is mine" — and one of them had many witnesses that the field was his, while the other had not a single witness except himself — what would you say: whose is the field? The Saracens answered: surely, his who has many witnesses! — You have judged rightly, the commanders answered them. So it is with Christ and Muhammad. Christ has many witnesses — the ancient prophets, whom you yourselves acknowledge, all of whom from Moses to John the Forerunner bear witness to Him; whereas Muhammad bears witness to himself alone that he is a prophet, and has not a single witness. — The Saracens were put to shame, but then they tried again to defend their faith thus: that our faith is better than the Christian faith is shown by the fact that God gave us victory over you, and gave us the finest lands in the world, and a kingdom far greater than the Christian one. To this the commanders replied: if that were so, then the idol-worship of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans, as well as the fire-worship of the Persians, would all have been true faiths, for at one time each of these peoples conquered the others and ruled over them. It is evident that your victory and power and wealth do not prove the truth of your faith. And we know that God sometimes grants victory to Christians, and sometimes permits suffering and affliction in order to correct them and bring them to repentance and cleansing from sins. After seven years they were beheaded, in the year 845. Their bodies were thrown into the river Euphrates, but floated to the other bank, where Christians gathered them and buried them honorably.
2. BLESSED JOB
Job was born in Moscow in the year 1635. Church singing and the divine service drew him to the Church. He became the spiritual father of Tsar Peter the Great, but on account of a certain slander withdrew to the Solovetsky Monastery, where he struggled with great firmness. He reposed in the Lord in the year 1720, in the eighty-fifth year of his life. Before his death he cried out: "Blessed is the God of our fathers! Since it is so, I fear not, but depart from the world with joy."
3. HOLY MARTYRS CONON THE FATHER AND CONON THE SON
The father was already an old man and the son a youth of seventeen years. In the time of Domitian they were sawn asunder with a saw on account of their Christian faith, and were glorified in the Church on earth and in heaven. They suffered honorably in the year 275.
“Before his death he cried out: Blessed is the God of our fathers! Since it is so, I fear not, but depart from the world with joy.”
Hymn of Praise
HOLY MARTYR CONON THE SON
The emperor counsels young Conon:
"Thy father is senseless with old age,
Thou, young man, heed not his words,
But renounce and forsake Christ,
Offer sacrifice to the Roman gods,
And thou shalt be held in honor by me."
Young Conon answers boldly:
"It is written, O emperor and tormentor,
That a son does what he sees his father do,
And is not ashamed of his father's deeds.
My father teaches me the true faith,
The true faith and the knowledge of God,
To know the one God,
My gracious Creator,
To know Christ the Savior,
My Deliverer from mortality.
What thou doest to the body of my father,
Do thou also to my body:
But over the soul thou hast no power —
Our souls are our own possession
And the possession of the Son of God."
“Over the soul thou hast no power — our souls are our own possession and the possession of the Son of God.”
Reflection
For as long as you are on earth, regard yourself as a guest in the house of the Host Christ. If you are at table, it is He who entertains you. If you breathe the air, you breathe His air. If you bathe, you bathe in His water. If you travel, you travel upon His earth. If you gather possessions, you gather His; if you squander them, you squander His. If you are powerful, you are powerful by His permission. If you are in the company of men, you are in the company of His other guests. If you are in nature, you are in His garden. If you are in solitude, He is present. Wherever you go, He sees you. Whatever you do, He remembers. — He is the most attentive Host you have ever been a guest of. Be attentive to Him in turn. In the house of a good host the guest too should be good. These are all simple words, but they declare to you a great truth. All the saints knew this truth and ordered their lives according to it. For this reason the immortal Host has rewarded them with eternal life in heaven and with glory on earth.
“For as long as you are on earth, regard yourself as a guest in the house of the Host Christ.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the Mystery of Holy Communion as a life-giving medicine for soul and body, namely:
1. As a medicine that heals and cleanses the soul from the sickness of sin and revives it;
2. As a medicine that heals and cleanses the body from lust and vice and revives it;
3. As a medicine that, in reviving the man, makes him a healthy member of the immortal body of Christ — who, if he were to remain diseased unto the end, would be cut off and cast away.
Homily
on the heir and the slave
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant (Gal. 4:1)
While the prince is in the cradle, in what way is he better than the son of slaves? Neither is his body better, nor his thoughts more exalted, nor his desires more pure. As the son of a king is, so also is the son of a slave, and so also the son of a beggar. And for some years the son of a king is not distinguishable from the son of a slave. But when the son of a king grows up and with full awareness of his dignity takes authority over the kingdom, and when the son of a slave grows up and with full awareness submits to the yoke of slavery — then the enormous difference is seen. Then it is made clear that the heir and the slave are not equal, for the slave is to serve and the king is to rule.
So it is also with the Christian and the non-Christian, the apostle means to say. The non-Christian is a slave to nature; the Christian rules over nature. And the non-Christian period of the history of the human race shows how man was a slave to the elements, a slave to the body, a slave to idols and to creation. But the Christian period of the history of the human race shows how man is master and lord, a nobleman of royal lineage and heir of all things.
Even those who knew the one true God — such as the Israelites — stood before God not as children and heirs before their father, but as slaves and servants before a master and judge. But when the fullness of time was come and the Only-begotten Son of God came to earth, He brought it about that we might receive adoption as sons, and that by the Spirit of God we might address God as: Abba, Father!
Why did Christ come to earth, brethren? To make us better than slaves, to give us the right of sons and the duty of masters. The right of sons is to call God Father in the name of Christ; and the duty of masters is to rule over themselves, over their bodies, over their thoughts and desires, and over all the nature around them.
O Only-begotten Son of God, by Thy mercy and sacrifice we have received adoption as sons; O help us, by Thy help, to preserve it in purity and truth unto the end. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.