The Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY APOSTLES HERODION, AGABUS, RUFUS, ASYNCRITUS, PHLEGON, AND HERMAS
They were all of the Seventy Apostles. The Apostle Paul mentions them all in his epistles. Herodion was a kinsman of Paul. Salute, Paul writes to the Romans, Herodion my kinsman (16:11). Herodion suffered much from the Jews as Bishop of Neopatras: they beat him with rods upon the head, struck him with stones upon the mouth, and pierced him with knives. And when they left him as dead, Saint Herodion arose and continued to serve the apostles. In Rome he assisted the Apostle Peter, and was beheaded together with many other Christians on that very same day when Peter was crucified. Saint Agabus possessed the spirit of prophecy. In the Acts of the Apostles two of his prophecies are mentioned. First, he foretold the great famine throughout the whole world, which indeed came to pass in the time of Emperor Claudius. And second, when he met the Apostle Paul in Caesarea, who was going to Jerusalem, Agabus took Paul's belt and bound his own hands and feet, saying: Thus saith the Holy Spirit: the man whose belt this is, him shall the Jews so bind in Jerusalem (21:11). Saint Rufus was Bishop of Thebes in Greece. The Apostle Paul mentions him also: Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord (Rom. 16:13). He was Bishop of Hyrcania in Asia. Saint Phlegon, who is mentioned in the same passage, was Bishop of Marathon, a city in Thrace. Saint Hermas, mentioned with the others, was Bishop in Dalmatia. All of them, as bees of Christ, carried the honey of the Gospel to various lands, suffering much for the love of Christ. All of them departed to the eternal Kingdom of the beloved Christ.
2. SAINT NIPHON, BISHOP OF NOVGOROD
He distinguished himself by great zeal in building and restoring the churches of God, and by great courage in opposing violent princes. Thirteen days before his death, Saint Theodosius appeared to him and announced his imminent departure to the other world. He reposed in the year 1156.
3. SAINT CELESTINE, POPE OF ROME
A great zealot of the Orthodox faith. At the time of the Third Ecumenical Council he wrote an epistle against the heretic Nestorius. He reposed peacefully in the year 432.
“As bees of Christ, they carried the honey of the Gospel to various lands.”
Hymn of Praise
THE HOLY APOSTLES
The chosen ones of God, the apostles holy,
Ran swiftly in the race and reached the goal.
The vain world they despised, toward God they stretched,
The earthly they sacrificed, the eternal they gained.
Love toward Christ, stronger than all powers,
Through the darkness of paganism shone for them as light.
The race is finished, the battle won,
An army of heroes to Christ is led.
Of victory crowns Christ has in abundance,
If thou too didst wish, crowned thou couldst be.
O holy apostles, entreat ye God,
That He deprive us not of the heavenly Kingdom.
Reflection
There is heroism above heroism and ascetic labor above ascetic labor. Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus invited Hilarion the Great to dinner, and wishing to show the greatest hospitality toward his renowned guest, he brought a roasted chicken to the table and offered it. Hilarion said to him: "Forgive me, but since I took the monastic habit I have eaten nothing that was slain!" To this Epiphanius replied: "And I, since I took the monastic habit, have never gone to bed without first forgiving my adversary!" Amazed, Hilarion said: "Thy virtue, holy Master, is greater than mine!" This is a great lesson for all of us. Fasting is an excellent thing, but the forgiveness of offenses is still more excellent. By fasting a man trains himself for magnanimity, but by the forgiveness of offenses he demonstrates magnanimity. The former precedes the latter, but the former alone does not save without the latter.
“Fasting is an excellent thing, but the forgiveness of offenses is still more excellent.”
Contemplation
To contemplate the risen Lord Jesus, namely:
1. In an earthly body, before the Resurrection, in a body subject to hunger, pain, and death;
2. In a heavenly body, after the Resurrection, in a body not subject to hunger, pain, and death.
Homily
on the resurrection of the dead
**But some man will say: How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? (1 Cor. 15:35)**
The Apostle Paul knows in advance the objections that unbelievers will make to the resurrection from the dead, and he refutes them in advance. How are the dead raised up? Unbelievers ask even today — those who do not see the miracles of resurrection in nature even with bodily eyes, let alone with spiritual ones. Thou fool, the apostle continues, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. Until the seed in the earth dies, no plant springs forth — that is, something altogether different from the seed. But the unbeliever looks with his eyes and does not see, and still asks: How shall a dead man be raised? How? In the same manner as Christ was raised. He descended dead into the tomb, and arose alive. Nature also demonstrates the resurrection from death; but more powerfully than nature does the risen Lord demonstrate it. In order to make it easier for us to believe and to hope — to believe in the resurrection in general, and to hope in our own resurrection — He Himself arose from the tomb, having before that raised Lazarus the Four-Days-Dead, and the son of the widow of Nain, and the daughter of Jairus.
But with what body shall the dead arise? ask the unbelievers. With such a body as God wills. In God there are innumerable kinds of bodies. All bodies, however, the apostle divides into two groups: earthly and heavenly. In heavenly bodies, therefore, shall those be clothed who have died in earthly bodies: the incorruptible shall replace the corruptible, the immortal shall replace the mortal, the beautiful shall replace the ugly. But even in a heavenly body a man will recognize himself and others around him, just as a man recognizes himself whether clothed in a beggar's rags or dressed in the royal purple.
O most bountiful Lord, deliver us not unto eternal corruption, but as sons of the King clothe us in the garment of immortality. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“The incorruptible shall replace the corruptible, the immortal shall replace the mortal, the beautiful shall replace the ugly.”