The Lives of the Saints
1. VENERABLE JOHN, DISCIPLE OF SAINT GREGORY THE DECAPOLITE
In the time of the iconoclast heresy, Emperor Leo the Armenian subjected this John to torments together with his teacher Gregory and with Saint Joseph the Hymnographer. When Gregory ended his earthly life, John became Abbot of the Monastery of the Decapolite in Constantinople. Having become Abbot, he redoubled his ascetic labors for the sake of the Kingdom of God. He reposed peacefully around the year 820. After his death Saint Joseph honorably buried him near the tomb of Saint Gregory.
2. HOLY MARTYR JOHN THE NEW OF IOANNINA
A native of Ioannina, the former capital of King Pyrrhus. When his impoverished parents died, the young John moved to Constantinople and there continued his trade (for he was a craftsman). Not long before that the Turks had conquered Constantinople, and many Christians out of fear had denied Christ and accepted the Mohammedan faith. Saint John had his workshop right among such apostates. The more the young John burned with love for Christ the Lord, the more strongly he manifested himself as a Christian before these betrayers of Christ. And he began to dispute with them about the faith, and finally to reproach them for their betrayal of Christ. Then they dragged him before the court and falsely accused him, alleging that he had previously accepted Islam and had now returned again to Christianity. After being tortured and beaten with rods and iron bars, they cast him into prison. The next day — it was the day of the Resurrection of Christ — they again led him out for torment, and John came forth joyfully singing: "Christ is risen from the dead!" To his tormentors he boldly said: "Do what you will, that you may send me the sooner from this brief life into eternal life: I am a servant of Christ, I follow Christ, I die for Christ, that I may live with Him!" After that John was bound in chains and led to the place of burning. Seeing the great fire prepared for him, John himself ran and leaped into the flames. But his tormentors, seeing how he loved death in the fire, pulled him out of the fire and condemned him to beheading by the sword. When they cut off his head, they cast both head and body into the fire. Later Christians sifted through the ashes and gathered some remains of his honorable and wonderworking relics, and buried them in the Great Church in Constantinople. Thus he ended his life by a martyr's death and received the glorious martyr's crown — Holy John of Ioannina, on April 18, 1526.
3. HOLY MARTYRS VICTOR, ZOTICUS, ZENO, ACINDYNUS, AND SEVERIAN
All were tortured in the time of Emperor Diocletian. They were pagans until they beheld the torments of the Holy Great-Martyr George. But seeing those torments, and the courage of this glorious martyr, and the many miracles that appeared at that time, they accepted the Christian faith, for which they soon suffered, and were crowned with glory.
“I am a servant of Christ, I follow Christ, I die for Christ, that I may live with Him!”
Hymn of Praise
HOLY MARTYR JOHN THE NEW OF IOANNINA
John the craftsman, of an honorable trade,
His soul shone bright, like a nugget of gold displayed,
Wondrously illumined by the teaching of Christ,
And so he prayed to God, to crown him with sacrifice:
— O victorious Christ, Who wast crucified for me,
Cleanse me through suffering from the darkness of sin's decree!
O grant me not the shameful glory of a traitor's name,
But crown me with the suffering of Thy Martyrs' fame.
By Thy Holy Spirit prepare me for the pain,
Then loose the torments, let them upon me rain,
And thou, O Mother of God, of mercy without end,
Who beneath the Precious Cross didst by Thy Son attend,
Pray for me in the hour of my torment's strife,
That I may stand as steadfast as a rock through life.
Have mercy, too, O holy Apostles all,
That the foe of the human race not make me fall.
O holy Martyrs, ye who are my joy,
Receive me also into your ranks' employ!
And now, O tormentors, betrayers of God on high —
Yours is the sword and the fire — here is my body, nigh!
Reflection
In one account of the martyrdom of Christians under the Persian King Shapur, it is said: "The swords grew dull, the swordsmen fell, the executioners wearied — but the Cross rose ever higher and gleamed from the blood of the martyrs of Christ." How many, many times have the persecutors of Christians confidently believed that they had finished with Christianity forever! In reality, they were finishing their own lives while Christianity ever anew grew green and blossomed. And yet, despite that experience, some of our contemporaries think that the Christian faith can be uprooted by force. But they do not say by what means, and they forget that all means have been tried countless times already, and all without success. With good reason did Tertullian cry out to the pagans: "In vain do you shed our blood: the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians."
“The swords grew dull, the swordsmen fell, the executioners wearied — but the Cross rose ever higher.”
Contemplation
To contemplate the risen Lord Jesus, namely:
1. How His Resurrection brought inexpressible joy to those who loved Him;
2. How His Resurrection brought inexpressible bitterness to those who hated Him;
3. How His last coming into the world, in glory and in power, will also evoke in different people different feelings — either joy or bitterness.
Homily
on the testimony of reliable witnesses
**We were eyewitnesses of His majesty (2 Peter 1:16). **
When the Apostles speak of the glorious Resurrection of the Lord, they speak in the plural. For each one of them offers his own testimony and the testimony of his other companions. Thus the Apostle Peter writes: *For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. * Nathanael did not wish to believe by hearsay alone. Therefore the Apostle Philip called to him: *Come and see! * Nathanael came, and saw, and believed. So too all the other Apostles: until they drew near to Christ, until they heard and saw, they would not believe. Cunningly devised fables did not attract the Apostles. Their healthy natural sense sought manifest facts and not stories. O my brethren, our faith is well established and well proven. The trace of God in the world is well trodden. No one need doubt. The Resurrection of Christ is well attested. No one need despair. Doubt and despair are two worms that are born from the spittle of sin. He who does not sin, that one clearly sees the trodden trace of God in the world and clearly knows the Resurrection of Christ.
O risen Lord, strengthen us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not sin, and that we may not be blinded to Thy trace in the world and to Thy radiant Resurrection. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Doubt and despair are two worms that are born from the spittle of sin. He who does not sin clearly sees the trodden trace of God in the world.”