March 19translatedThis page has been translated from Serbian to English. It may contain minor phrasing or syntactic issues.

Chrysanthus was the only son of a great nobleman named Polemius, who had moved from Alexandria to Rome. As the son of wealthy parents, Chrysanthus studied all the worldly schools, having the most learned men as his teachers. But worldly wisdom confused him and left him uncertain as to what was truth. And he grieved over this. But God, Who provides for all and for everything, relieved his grief: into the hands of the young Chrysanthus came a written Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Having read these, Chrysanthus was illumined by the truth. Yet he desired a teacher, and found one in the person of a certain Carpophorus, a priest, who both instructed him and baptized him. But this did not please his father, who tried everything to turn him away from the faith of Christ. Having accomplished nothing, the wicked father first sought to corrupt him by shutting him alone with shameless girls. But Chrysanthus overcame himself in this also, and preserved his purity. Then his father compelled him to marry a pagan girl named Daria. But Chrysanthus counseled Daria to receive the faith of Christ as well, and to live as brother and sister, though outwardly in marriage. When his father died, Chrysanthus began freely to confess Christ and to live as a Christian — both he and all his household. In the time of Emperor Numerianus, both he and Daria were terribly tortured on account of their faith. But even their very torturer Claudius, seeing the patience of these honorable martyrs and the miracles that manifested themselves during their torment, received the faith of Christ together with his whole household. For this, Claudius was drowned in water, both his sons were beheaded, and his wife at the place of execution, having read a prayer, breathed her last. Daria was so steadfast in her torments that the pagans cried out: Daria is a goddess! At last the order was given that Chrysanthus and Daria be buried alive under stones in a deep pit. A church was later built on that site. Near that pit there was a certain cave, into which some Christians once gathered for prayer and communion in memory of the holy martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria. When the pagans learned of this, they rushed to seal up that cave, and thus by death drove those Christians from this world into a better world, where Christ the Lord reigns in eternity. These glorious martyrs, Chrysanthus and Daria, and the others with them — among whom were Diodorus the priest and Marian the deacon — suffered for Christ in Rome in the years 283 and 284.

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven (Matt. 24:30)

What this sign of the Son of Man will be like was once shown forth in a small way. It is the Cross, brighter than the sun, which appeared over Jerusalem before the coming of an earlier embodiment of the Antichrist — namely Emperor Julian the Apostate. And instead of any homily on that wondrous sign, it is best, brethren, to quote here the letter of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem written to Emperor Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great and the predecessor of Julian the Apostate. Part of that letter reads: "During these holy days of Pentecost, on the seventh day of May, around nine o'clock in the morning, a great Cross, all of light, appeared in the sky above the Holy Golgotha, stretching to the holy Mount of Olives, and manifested itself quite clearly not to one or two alone, but to all the multitudinous inhabitants of the city — and not, as one might think, as a fleeting vision like a fantasy, but visible to the eye for many hours above the earth. In its luminous brilliance it surpassed the rays of the sun; for if it had not been so, it would have been overcome by them and would not have been seen, had it not been emitting rays more powerful than the sun before the eyes of all beholders. In that hour the multitudinous inhabitants of the city rushed in haste to the holy church, seized with fear and joy at that vision of God — young men and old men, husbands and wives, every age, even the most secluded maidens, local inhabitants and strangers, Christians and pagans who had come from other lands — all with one accord, as with one mouth, glorified the miracle-working Christ Jesus our Lord, the Only-begotten Son of God, and truly and by experience learned that the Christian pious teaching is not in enticing words of wisdom, but in demonstration of spirit and power (1 Cor. 2:4), and is not only proclaimed by men but is attested from heaven by God *(Heb. 2:3-4)*... We consider it our duty not to keep silent about this heavenly vision of God, but to inform also Thy God-glorified piety thereof. For which cause I have hastened to accomplish this by this letter."

O my brethren, all things are possible to God — both to show created things to men, and to create the uncreated. But most important for us is this: that He both can and wills to deliver our soul from sin and death, and to grant us eternal life. Let us pray to Him for this day and night.

O Lord Almighty. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.