The Lives of the Saints
1. SAINT MARTIN THE CONFESSOR, POPE OF ROME
He became Pope on July 5, 649, at the very time of the fierce dispute between the Orthodox and the Monothelite heretics (those who held that Christ had but one will). At that time Constans II, the grandson of Heraclius, was emperor, and the Patriarch of Constantinople was Paul. In order to establish peace in the Church, the emperor himself wrote a booklet called the Typos, which was greatly to the liking of the heretics. Pope Martin convened a council of 105 bishops, at which this imperial booklet was condemned. At the same time the Pope wrote a letter to Patriarch Paul, beseeching him to hold to the pure Orthodox faith and to counsel the emperor to desist from heretical speculations. This letter enraged both the Patriarch and the emperor. And the emperor sent a certain commander, Olympius, to Rome to bring the Pope bound to Constantinople. The commander did not dare to bind the Pope, but persuaded a soldier to slay him with a sword in the church. But when the soldier entered the church with his sword concealed, he was suddenly struck blind. Thus by the Providence of God Martin escaped death. At that time the Saracens were attacking Sicily, and the commander Olympius went to Sicily, where he also died. Then, by the intrigues of the heretical Patriarch Paul, the emperor sent another commander, Theodore, to bind and bring the Pope under the accusation that he, the Pope, stood in collusion with the Saracens and that he did not honor the Most Pure Mother of God. When the commander arrived in Rome and read the accusation against the Pope, the latter replied that it was slander, that he had no communion whatsoever with the Saracens, the enemies of Christianity, "and as for the Most Pure Mother of God, if anyone does not honor and confess Her and bow down before Her, let him be accursed both in this age and in the age to come." But this did not change the commander's decision. The Pope was bound and brought to Constantinople, where, gravely ill, he lay for a long time in prison, tormented by distress and hunger, until at last he was condemned to exile in Cherson, where he lived for two years and ended his life, surrendering his soul to the Lord, for Whose sake he had suffered greatly, in the year 655. Two years before him the wretched Paul died. And when the emperor visited him before his death, he turned his face to the wall and wept, confessing that he had sinned greatly against Pope Martin, and beseeching the emperor to set Martin free.
2. THE HOLY MARTYRS ANTHONY, JOHN, AND EUSTATHIUS
All three were at first pagans and worshippers of fire. They were servants at the court of the Lithuanian Prince Olgerd in Vilna. They were formerly named: Kruglec, Kumec, and Nezhilo. All three were baptized by the priest Nestor. All three were hanged, one after another, on one and the same oak tree, in the year 1347. That oak tree the Christians cut down and built a church in honor of the Holy Trinity, in which they placed the honorable relics of the martyrs, and upon the stump of the oak they fashioned the holy altar table. Their relics are in Vilna.
3. THE HOLY MARTYR ARDALION THE ACTOR
He was at first an actor, a comedian. For the amusement of the people he most gladly played the role of a martyr for the faith, mocking Christians in every possible way. But when the persecution of Christians began under Maximian, his spirit was completely changed. He cried out before the people in a loud voice that he was a Christian and was not jesting. For this Ardalion was tried, and he suffered for Christ, and died bound to a red-hot iron grating, having thus played a true and honorable role as a martyr.
Hymn of Praise
SAINT MARTIN THE POPE
Saint Martin the Pope before the Senate spoke:
"Let my body be broken and burned to ash,
The cruelest torments I will gladly bear;
But the true faith I will never forsake.
The gracious Savior was both God and Man,
Two natures distinct with two wills He bore,
Yet both natures in a single Person,
And both wills in a single light.
Such a faith all the Fathers have handed down,
For such a faith many have suffered.
Let me too suffer, the cheapest of all,
A servant of my Lord, the greatest sinner of all!"
Thus Martin confessed the faith before all
And spoke the truth before the heretics.
O what a man is worth, when he fears God:
Above petty men like a mountain he stands!
“O what a man is worth, when he fears God: above petty men like a mountain he stands!”
Reflection
"It befits a monk to love God as a son and to fear Him as a slave," says Saint Evagrius. Of course, this befits every Christian as well, even if he is not a monk. It is a great art to unite love toward God and fear of God. And many other Holy Fathers, whenever they speak of love, at the same time also remind us of fear, and vice versa. Saint John Chrysostom in his homily "On Perfect Love" speaks at the same time of punishment and the torments of hell. Why? Because even a man's great love toward God, without fear, imperceptibly passes into pride; and great fear, in turn, without love, leads to despair.
“A man's great love toward God, without fear, imperceptibly passes into pride; and great fear, without love, leads to despair.”
Contemplation
To contemplate the risen Lord Jesus, namely:
1. How He appeared to the disciples on the shore of the lake and addressed them: "Children!"
2. How He again filled their nets with fish, and they recognized Him, but dared not ask: "Who art Thou?"
Homily
on the personal experience of all the Apostles
**That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled... that declare we unto you (1 John 1:1-3). **
Behold what the apostolic preaching is! The Apostles do not speak as worldly wise men, nor as philosophers, and least of all as theoreticians who construct hypotheses about something in order to discover something. They speak of things which they did not seek, but which unexpectedly surrounded them — of a fact which they did not find, but which, so to speak, unexpectedly found and seized hold of them. They had not been engaged in spiritual researches, nor had they studied psychology, and still less had they occupied themselves with spiritism. Their occupation was fishing — an entirely sensory, bodily occupation. And while they were catching fish the God-Man appeared to them and carefully and gradually began to introduce them to a new occupation, to service of Himself. They did not immediately believe in Him, but still more carefully and gradually, with fear and perplexity and much hesitation, they approached Him and recognized Him. Not until they had seen many times with their own eyes, and not until they had examined many times and handled with their hands. The fact they experienced is supernatural, but their method of recognizing that fact is entirely sensory and positively scientific. No modern scientist could have employed a more positive method in coming to know Christ. The Apostles saw not one miracle but countless miracles; they heard not one teaching but so many teachings that they could not be written in many books; they beheld the risen Lord for a full forty days, walked with Him, conversed with Him, ate with Him, touched Him. In a word: they personally and at first hand possessed thousands of miraculous facts, by which they came to know and established one great fact, namely: that Christ is the God-Man, the Son of the Living God, the man-loving Savior of mankind, and the almighty Judge of the living and the dead.
O risen Lord, strengthen us in the faith and zeal of Thy holy Apostles. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Their healthy natural sense sought manifest facts and not stories.”