Lives of the Saints
1. VENERABLE JOHN OF THE OLD CAVE
He labored ascetically in what is known as the Old Cave, or the Lavra of Chariton the Great, in Palestine. Having come to love Christ the Lord with his whole heart, his whole soul, and his whole mind, he began from his youth to travel to holy places and to hear the teachings and counsels of holy men. He settled at last in the cave of Chariton, where he gave himself to firm ascetic labor, spending his days and years in fasting, prayer, and vigil, unceasingly meditating upon death and learning humility. Like a well-ripened fruit he was plucked by death and translated into Paradise. He lived and fell asleep in the Lord in the eighth century.
2. HOLY MARTYRS CHRISTOPHER, THEONAS, AND ANTONINUS
These three were young officers in the army of Emperor Diocletian. When the holy Great-Martyr George was being tortured, they looked on at his sufferings and at the miracles that took place on that occasion. Having seen all this, they came forward before the emperor, cast down their weapons, removed their military belts, and boldly confessed the name of the Lord Jesus. For this they were subjected to great torments and finally cast into fire, where their bodies were consumed, while their souls departed to the Lord in everlasting joy. They suffered honorably at Nicomedia in the year 303.
3. SAINT TRYPHON, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
In the reign of Emperor Romanos, who ruled Byzantium at the beginning of the tenth century, the emperor's son Theophylact was sixteen years old when Patriarch Stephen died. The emperor wished to elevate his son to the patriarchate, for he had dedicated him to the spiritual vocation from his earliest years, but on account of his minority was ashamed to do so. The patriarchal throne was occupied by Tryphon, a simple but pure and pious elder. And Tryphon remained on the throne for three years. When the emperor's son reached his twentieth year, the emperor resolved by all means to remove Tryphon and install his own son as patriarch. The man of God Tryphon was unwilling to withdraw from the throne voluntarily for no other reason than that he considered it a great scandal for so young a man to be elevated to so responsible and weighty a position as the patriarchate. Then through the intrigue of a certain wicked bishop, the signature of the guileless Tryphon was obtained on a blank sheet of paper, and afterward above that signature a supposed letter of resignation from the patriarch was written at the imperial court, which the emperor made public. A great disturbance arose in the Church on account of this, for the people and the clergy stood by Tryphon, the man of God. Then the emperor forcibly removed the old patriarch and sent him to a monastery; and elevated his son Theophylact to the patriarchate. Saint Tryphon lived in the monastery as an ascetic for two years and five months, and departed to the Lord in the year 933.
4. VENERABLE MARTYR AGATHANGELOS
Agathangelos was from Thrace. His secular name was Athanasios. While serving among the Turks, he was forcibly made a Muslim by the Turks at Smyrna. As a penitent he was tonsured a monk on the Holy Mountain, in the Monastery of Esphigmenou. Tormented in his conscience, he desired to wash away his sin with his own blood. He went to Smyrna, where he showed the Turks a cross and an icon of the Resurrection of Christ. He was beheaded on the nineteenth of April 1819 in his nineteenth year. After his death he appeared alive to his spiritual father, German.
5. VENERABLE SYMEON THE BAREFOOT
He labored ascetically on the Holy Mountain and for a brief time served as abbot of the Philotheou Monastery. He strengthened Christians in the Faith in many parts of the Balkans and became renowned for his wonderworking. He went barefoot, on account of which he was called the Barefoot. He reposed in Constantinople.
Hymn of Praise
GUILELESS TRYPHON, THE GREY-HAIRED SHEPHERD
Guileless Tryphon, the grey-haired shepherd,
By his guilelessness acquired an unfading crown.
The emperor desired to act crookedly for the sake of empty vanity,
Fearing neither God nor God's punishment.
To be patriarch is an honor before men,
But a burden before God and before the angels;
A boy may tend a flock of irrational beasts,
But where is his wisdom for the rational flock?
Guileless Tryphon upholds the righteousness of God:
"This can never be, O emperor, he said.
Give a man of maturity, wiser than I,
Who will steer God's Vessel through the rocks,
And not a mere child, though he be your own son,
Who would dash God's Vessel upon the rocks!"
Emperor Romanos did as he himself desired
And thereby grieved the saint Tryphon and the people.
But the eye of God wanders through the world
Watching where a crown is due and where retribution.
“A boy may tend a flock of irrational beasts, but where is his wisdom for the rational flock?”
Reflection
An elder spiritual father said: "Rising in the morning, say to yourself: body, labor, that you may be fed; soul, be sober, that you may be saved and inherit the Kingdom!" This is not mere empty words — this was the rule of many thousands of monks through ages upon ages, the daily rule of life. By labor they fed themselves, and by prayer they remained sober. Why only of monks? Can this not be the rule of every follower of Christ? Did not Christ Himself give us a clear example in this — namely, an example of bodily labor and of unceasing sobriety through prayer?
“Did Christ Himself not give us a clear example — an example of bodily labor and of unceasing sobriety through prayer?”
Contemplation
Contemplate the risen Lord Jesus, namely:
1. How He in His glorified body is near to His disciples: near to those who seek Him (Mary Magdalene in the garden); near to those who are in fear (the disciples in the locked room); near to those who are hungry (on the shore of the lake).
2. How He is also now near to each one of us who seeks Him, who is in fear, and who is hungry.
Homily
on wariness toward all that is not according to Christ
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Col. 2:8)
Brethren, let us not be taken captive by philosophy, which by mere conjecture declares that there is no eternal life nor resurrection from the dead. For we do not arrive at Truth by human conjecture but by divine revelation. And that which we know concerning Truth we know from Truth itself, which revealed itself in the Lord Jesus Christ and communicated itself to us through the faithful and wise witnesses of Truth, the apostles and saints. But if, on account of our sins, we reject these testimonies and receive human conjectures, we shall fall into a dark and grievous bondage to nature, the body, sin, and death. Brethren, let us not be deceived by empty human claims — by man and according to man — as though there were no other world, or even if there is one, as though we know nothing about it. Behold, we know with certainty that there is another world. And this we know not from conjecturers and deceivers but from the Lord Jesus Himself, Who appeared on Tabor to His disciples with Moses and Elijah, who had long since departed this world, and Who Himself appeared to many of His followers after His own death. And further we know this from the apostles, saints, and countless seers, to whom God revealed, on account of their purity and holiness, the true truth concerning that world. But if, on account of our sins, we do not believe these holy and truthful witnesses, we shall then believe unholy and deceitful men and become slaves of darkness, sin, and death. Brethren, let us not be led astray by worldly learning, which examines animals, plants, and stones, and declares that it has nowhere found God among these creatures, and from this boldly asserts as though God does not exist. For behold, we know that the Creator cannot be as a creature among creatures, but is above all creatures and distinct from all creatures. And we know this both by spiritual reason and conscience and by the clear revelation of the Lord Jesus Himself, Who showed Himself also in human form as the Lord of all created things, and likewise by the testimony of the apostles and many other holy and clairvoyant men.
But rather let us glorify the Lord Jesus, risen from the dead. O risen Lord, to Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“We do not arrive at Truth by human conjecture but by divine revelation. And that which we know concerning Truth we know from Truth itself, which revealed itself in the Lord Jesus Christ.”