Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY MARTYR MATRONA
As a poor girl she became a servant in the household of a Jew in Thessalonica. The wife of that Jew continually mocked Matrona for her faith in Christ, and drove her to renounce Christ and to go to the synagogue. But meek Matrona conscientiously went about her work and answered her mistress nothing, and in secret prayed to Christ God. One time the Jewess learned that Matrona had gone to the church without her knowledge, and in great anger asked her why she had gone to the church and not to the synagogue. To which Matrona answered: "Because in the Christian Church God dwells, but from the Jewish synagogue He has departed." Enraged at so courageous an answer, the Jewess beat her and locked her in a dark room, where, beyond all this, she also bound her. But the next day she found her unbound by the power of God, kneeling in prayer and praising God. Twice more after this she locked her away, until at last she killed her by starvation. Then the wicked woman took the body of the holy girl and threw it from the height of her house to the ground. The Christians took the body of the martyr and buried her with honor; and Bishop Alexander, having learned of the many miracles that occurred through the holy martyr, built a church over her grave. And the wicked Jewess was soon overtaken by righteous punishment: from that very same spot on the house from which she had thrown down the body of Matrona, she herself slipped, fell onto the pavement, and was killed.
2. VENERABLE JOHN THE CLAIRVOYANT
He was a carpenter until his twenty-fifth year, and then, driven by an irresistible desire for unceasing prayer, he withdrew to the desert, where he lived until his death, that is, until his ninetieth year. Though bodily, he was as though bodiless. He could see into the heart of every man who drew near him, and could discern his name and his desire and thought. He foretold to Emperor Theodosius the outcome of his battles; he gave prophecies to generals, to monks, and to all who had need to know what was hidden for them in the darkness of coming days. A certain prince begged him to receive his wife, who had a great desire to see him. The holy man was unwilling to satisfy idle curiosity, but appeared to the prince's wife in a dream just as he was. And when the wife described the vision, her husband confirmed that it was indeed the saint's likeness. He instructed every visitor in humility, as the foundational virtue, always citing examples from life of how pride had brought many lofty characters to ruin and led them into grievous sins. He endured great attacks from evil spirits. Once Satan appeared to him with a multitude of demons in the guise of radiant angels. And these pressed him to bow down to Satan, deceiving him that it was Christ. But he answered wisely: "To my King Jesus Christ I bow down every day; if it were He, He would have no need to demand that I bow down to Him now in particular." After these words, all the evil power vanished like smoke. He died peacefully, kneeling in prayer, in his ninetieth year.
3. VENERABLE PAPHNUTIUS
A disciple of Saint Anthony the Great. By the holiness of his life he turned many sinners to the path of repentance (such as Saint Taïsia, October 8th). He resembled a bodiless angel more than a bodily man. He fell asleep in the Lord at the end of the fourth century.
Hymn of Praise
VENERABLE JOHN THE CLAIRVOYANT
John the Clairvoyant, teacher of humility,
Spoke of humility with tears of joy:
— O beloved children, children of the true faith,
The more humble ye are, the dearer ye are to God!
Without humility, no ascetic labor profits,
The proud man surrenders his soul to the devil.
If thou dost empty thy soul of thyself,
Then will the living Lord fill thee.
What is more humble than God Himself?
Nowhere does He exalt His own precedence.
In secret, without noise, He sets the whole world in order.
Therefore the foolish think He does not even exist.
Were air to blow without whistling or howling,
The foolish would say that it too does not exist!
Whoever possesses humility, blames himself,
And in every virtue he easily succeeds.
Humility is nothing other than poverty of spirit,
The blessed teaching of the Savior:
To have no trust in oneself,
To place all one's hope in God.
This is holy humility. Whoever violates it
Prepares the blackest ruin for his soul.
All the saints are strict in this:
No one is saved without great humility!
The humble man is joyful, for God rules over him.
The humble man is as one saved — O beloved children!
“What is more humble than God Himself? In secret, without noise, He sets the whole world in order. Therefore the foolish think He does not even exist.”
Reflection
"He who thinks of evil has no purity in him," says Saint Simeon the New Theologian, and adds further: "For how can the heart be pure in one who defiles himself with impure thoughts, as a mirror is darkened by dust?" Dost thou see at what an unattainable height the religion of Christ stands above all other faiths and worldly wisdoms? He who merely thinks of evil, even if he commits no evil deed, is guilty before God and before his own soul. For he offends God and loses his own soul. To be a Christian in the true sense means to exert a gigantic effort in cleansing one's heart and one's mind from evil thoughts. What an effort this is — on this subject there exists a whole science which in our days has become almost entirely sealed off, even for Christians, and an enormous actual experience of holy men and women that vindicates this science. To cleanse oneself of evil and impure thoughts, this root of all evils, was the aim of the great ascetics, the cave-dwellers and the hesychasts.
“He who thinks of evil has no purity in him, for how can the heart be pure in one who defiles himself with impure thoughts?”
Contemplation
Contemplate the Lord Jesus in death, namely:
1. How He Who raised the dead hangs dead in body upon the Cross;
2. How He died for our sake, that we might have more life and more truth concerning immortal life.
Homily
on Christians as kings and priests
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests (Rev. 5:10)
The Lord Jesus desires to make all men like Himself. As the Son of God, He desires that all men be adopted as sons of God. As King, He desires them to be co-kings with Him. As Priest — that they be co-priests with Him. As All-powerful — that they share in His power. As Immortal — that they share in His immortality. As Holy — that they share in His holiness. As Risen — that all be children of the resurrection. This is what the Lord willed, and therefore He descended to earth: to separate us from the beasts, to raise us above the life of animals, and to give us dominion over all visible creation, such as was the dominion Adam had in Paradise before sin.
Because of this His philanthropic and salvific plan for mankind, the Lord was crucified on the Cross by the elders of the Jews, and from us Christians as well He has, unto this day, reaped thorns of ingratitude and incomprehension beyond counting. We show ourselves ungrateful and unreasonable whenever we trample and crush His commandments underfoot. With their sins every sinner weaves a new crown of thorns and places it on His holy head. When did He offend us, that we should act thus? When did He think even one evil thought against any of us, that we should repay Him with evil? He descended into our fetid pit, where we had grown accustomed to living with serpents and scorpions, and drew us upward, to the heights, to light and purity, to the Kingdom. He desires to make us kings and priests, yet we push away His saving hand and return to the pit among the serpents and scorpions.
O brethren, enough and more than enough of this humiliation of Him and destruction of ourselves! Let us grasp firmly the hand of our Savior and go after Him. He wishes us well. He does us good. He suffered for our good. He is the only, the only Friend we have who does not change. O Lord, to Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“He descended into our fetid pit and drew us upward, to the heights, to light and purity, to the Kingdom.”