Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY MARTYRS AGAPIA, CHIONIA, AND IRENE
Sisters by birth, from the environs of Aquileia. When Emperor Diocletian was sojourning in Aquileia, he ordered the execution of the renowned spiritual father Chrysogonus. At that time a certain aged presbyter, Zoilus, had a vision by which it was revealed to him where the unburied body of Chrysogonus lay. The elder hastened, found the body of the martyr, placed it in a coffin, and kept it in his own house. On the thirtieth day after this, Saint Chrysogonus appeared to him and informed him that within nine days those three maidens would suffer martyrdom, and that he too would repose during that time. This same revelation was also received in a vision by Anastasia the Deliverer-from-Potions, who had gone in search of her teacher Chrysogonus. And indeed, after nine days both the Elder Zoilus reposed and the three sisters were brought before the emperor for judgment. The emperor counseled the holy maidens to bow down before idols, but they all refused and confessed their steadfast faith in Christ. Irene said to the emperor how foolish it was to worship things of stone and wood, which had been commissioned, for an agreed price, to be fashioned by the hands of some mortal man. Enraged, the emperor cast them into prison. And when the emperor set out for Macedonia, all the slaves and captives were led after him, among them these three holy women. The emperor handed them over to a certain commander, Dulcitius, for torture. This commander, inflamed by a dark passion, desired to defile the virgins, but when he attempted to enter the prison where they were held, at the time when they were praying to God, he lost his senses and fell upon the blackened cauldrons and pots before the door, embracing and kissing them, so that he came away all sooty and black. When the emperor heard of this incident, he ordered another commander, Sisinius, to undertake the trial of these sisters. After severe torture the judge condemned the first two sisters to burning, but retained Irene for a time longer, hoping that he might be able to defile her. But when he sent Irene with soldiers to a house of debauchery, angels of God rescued this pure virgin, turned back the soldiers, and led her to a certain hill. The next day the commander went out with soldiers toward that hill, but being unable to ascend it, he ordered that Irene be shot through with arrows. Saint Anastasia gathered all three bodies in one place and honorably buried them. They all suffered honorably for Christ the King and Lord around the year 304.
2. THE HOLY MARTYR LEONIDAS AND WITH HIM THE MARTYRS CHARIESSA, NICE, GALINA, CALIDA, NUNECHIA, BASILISSA, AND THEODORA
They were cast into the sea, but the sea would not receive them. They walked upon the sea as upon dry land and sang to God: "One course I ran, O Lord, and an army pursued after me, O Lord, and I did not deny Thee, O Lord, save my spirit!" Seeing them thus, the pagans at first marveled, but then they tied stones about their necks and cast them again into the depths of the sea, and drowned them. They all suffered honorably for Christ the King and Lord in the year 281.
Hymn of Praise
THE HOLY MARTYRS AGAPIA, CHIONIA, AND IRENE
Pure of soul, pure of body,
Like three lilies, pure and white,
Three little sisters, valiant heroines,
Golden arks of the Holy Spirit,
Their blood they shed, their lives they gave,
With crowns of glory they were crowned.
Agapia — love most pure,
Chionia — like snow she gleams,
And Irene — whose name means peace,
In torments as at a feast of joy
They magnified the living God
And the Lord Who is risen:
"Most High God, all that we have
To Thee, behold, we give it all:
Body, soul, and every torment —
Into Thy hands receive them all!
Save the body from the flowing fire,
Save the soul from wrath eternal!
O thanks to Thee Who didst create us,
And of torments still didst count us worthy!" —
Three little sisters, three pure virgins,
For the Trinity they were martyred.
“Three little sisters, three pure virgins, for the Trinity they were martyred.”
Reflection
A tale of the Elder Barlaam. A certain man had three friends; two of them he loved sincerely, but the third he avoided with annoyance. It came to pass that the king summoned this man to pay a debt. He turned for help to the first friend, but this one renounced him and departed. He turned to the second, but neither did this one help him. With shame he turned to the third, and this one joyfully went with him before the king. The interpretation: the first friend is wealth, the second is kindred, and the third is a man's good deeds in this world. The king is God, Who through death sends the summons and demands the debt. A man, dying, seeks help from his wealth, but this turns away and passes immediately into the hands of another master. Then he turns to his kindred, but his kindred escorts him only to the grave and remains behind. Then he thinks upon his good deeds, which he performed with annoyance, and these immediately set out with him on the journey before the King and Judge. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. The sole companions of the soul into the next world are a man's deeds, whether good or evil. All that was dear and precious to a man abandons him and turns away from him; only his deeds, every last one of them, go with him. He that hath understanding to understand, let him understand.
“The first friend is wealth, the second is kindred, and the third is a man's good deeds.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the risen Lord Jesus, namely:
1. How He appeared alive, after death, to five hundred people at once, according to the testimony of the Apostle Paul;
2. How He appeared to the Apostle James, again according to the testimony of the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15:6-7);
3. How in the time of the Apostle Paul many were still living, outside the circle of the Apostles, who had seen Him.
Homily
on sobering up from sin
Awake to righteousness once and for all, and sin not (1 Cor. 15:34)
This commandment the Apostle gives in connection with the Resurrection of Christ. Having enumerated many proofs of the Lord's Resurrection, he decisively commands the faithful to sober up as they ought and to sin no more. Why does the Apostle place our sobering in dependence upon the Lord's Resurrection? Because the Resurrection of Christ from the dead is the chief deterrent to sinning. And because nothing in the world can turn us from sinning like the knowledge that the Lord rose from the grave, that He sits alive now upon the throne of glory, and that He awaits us at His Judgment. To sin even after this knowledge is utter madness. But sobering from sin after this knowledge is perfectly natural and reasonable.
Awake to righteousness once and for all! Not halfway, but completely. Drive from your memory even the remembrance of sin. For sin is like a plant that can grow even in the most waterless regions. One drop of moisture — and the seemingly withered plant turns green. Even one recollection of a seemingly long-dead sin revives it and makes it powerful. The pagans, who did not have the example of the Resurrection from the dead and who sinned, will have some justification at the Judgment. They will say: there was nothing so powerful as to sober us from sinning. We held that the grave was the final estuary of the river of human life, for we had no proof of life after death. So will the pagans speak. But how will you, O Christians, justify yourselves — you who learned of the Resurrection of Christ and did not sober up; you who heard so many testimonies of the Resurrection and of the Judgment, and continued to sin — how will you justify yourselves?
My brethren, sober up once and for all as you ought, and sin not, for Christ is risen from the grave. O risen and living Lord, help us to sober up from sinning once and for all. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Awake to righteousness once and for all, and sin not, for Christ is risen from the grave.”