The Lives of the Saints
1. PRIEST-MARTYR JANUARIUS AND OTHERS WITH HIM
This saint was a bishop in Campania in Italy. In the time of the persecution of Maximian he was brought before a court and tormented with various tortures, which he bore without malice and with patience. When they cast him into fire, the fire was cooled by invisible dew, and the martyr stood unharmed in the midst of the flames and sang praise to God. Then they scraped his body with iron combs until the bones showed white, but the martyr without malice and with patience endured. His deacon Faustus and his lector Desiderius watched the sufferings of the martyr and wept for their spiritual father. Then they too were bound, and together with the bishop brought to the city of Puteoli and cast into prison. In that same prison, for the sake of Christ, were also the deacons of Puteoli, Proculus and Sosius, and two simple Christian laymen, Eutychius and Acutio. All seven were cast before wild beasts the following day. But the beasts did not touch them. Then they were all beheaded with the sword, and the Christians of the city of Naples secretly transferred the body of Saint Januarius to their own city and honorably placed it in a church. To this very day, innumerable miracles have appeared at the tomb of this saint. Among the many miracles it is also remembered that a certain poor widow, whose only son had died, took from the church the icon of Saint Januarius and placed it upon her dead son, weeping and praying to the saint. And her son came back to life. Saint Januarius suffered honorably in the year 305.
2. HOLY MARTYR THEODORE AND OTHERS WITH HIM
He suffered for the faith of Christ in Perge of Pamphylia in the time of Emperor Antoninus. Theodore was young and beautiful of countenance. When the governor of that province selected him with other young men who were to be sent to serve at the imperial court, Theodore resisted and declared that he was a Christian. He was on account of this tortured with various tortures and then cast upon a fire. But from the earth water gushed forth and quenched the fire. The governor attributed this to certain sorceries of Theodore. But the martyr said to him: "This is not the work of my power but of Christ my God; and if thou dost wish to know the power of thy gods, kindle another fire and cast one of thy soldiers into it, and thou wilt, I trust, come to know their power and the almighty power of my God." The governor indeed wished to cast one of the soldiers, but they in fear implored him to cast the pagan priest Dioscorus in their stead. The priest, however, pleaded that the idol of Zeus itself and the other idols be cast in, for if they are gods, they will easily save themselves. And Dioscorus said this because he had already been converted in his heart to Christ after seeing the miracle with Theodore. Learning of this, the governor condemned Dioscorus to death and burned him. Likewise he put to death Theodore and two soldiers, Socrates and Dionysius, and also Philippa, the mother of Theodore. Theodore was crucified upon a cross, on which only on the third day did he breathe his last. Socrates and Dionysius were pierced through with spears, and Philippa was beheaded with the sword. All were crowned with crowns of glory in the kingdom of Christ.
Hymn of Praise
HOLY MARTYR THEODORE
— I serve one King, and another I cannot,
I serve the living Christ, my Lord and God!
So Theodore spoke to the Roman governor,
The governor gazed at him as at a beautiful image,
And first began to dissuade him softly,
But all persuasions remained in vain.
In the fiery furnace, with two companions,
Theodore's lips were full of psalms.
God poured cooling dew upon the dreadful fire,
In the midst of the flames Philip prayed to his Lord,
—
That before death he might once more see his mother
— By Thy mercy, grant me this also, O God!
And his mother appeared to her son in the furnace,
To one another they spoke what they had to say.
The governor summoned Philippa, the aged woman,
The old woman came to him obediently.
— I summoned thee, he said, to counsel thy son
To renounce publicly the Nazarene,
And acknowledge the gods of the Roman Empire,
If thou dost wish that thy son not perish.
—
And Philippa said: before I gave him birth
I prayed to God: have mercy, O Lord!
And I received word that I would live to see
My son crucified for the sake of Christ.
And therefore I am now indifferent to death,
For the death of us both, to God I give thanks.
“And therefore I am now indifferent to death, for the death of us both, to God I give thanks.”
Reflection
Guard the heart! — so spoke the experienced ascetics of old. And Father John of Kronstadt, in our own days, speaks just the same: "The heart is refined, lightly spiritual, heavenly by its own nature — guard it; do not burden it; do not make it earthly; be extremely temperate in food and drink and in bodily pleasures in general. The heart is the temple of God; If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy (1 Cor. 3:17)." Spiritual experience in the ancient age and spiritual experience in our time are identical, provided that the confession of faith is also identical. The heavenly knowledge to which the ancient ascetics attained does not differ from the heavenly knowledge to which the new ascetics attain. For just as Christ is the same today as yesterday, so too is human nature the same. And what is most essential: the human heart is the same, the same its thirst and its hunger, and nothing can satisfy it save the glory and the power and the riches of God.
“The human heart is the same, the same its thirst and its hunger, and nothing can satisfy it save the glory and the power and the riches of God.”
Contemplation
To contemplate the risen Lord Jesus, namely:
1. How, in appearing to the Apostles, He appears to all of us;
2. How His Resurrection is the proof of immortal life and the glad tidings of immortal life to the entire human race.
Homily
on Christ in the hearts of the faithful
**That Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts (Eph. 3:17). **
He who has Christ only on his tongue does not have Christ. Neither does he who has Christ only on paper have Christ. Neither does he who has Him only on a wall. Neither does he who has Him only in a museum of the past. He truly has Christ who has Him in his heart. For Christ is love, and the throne of love is the heart. If Christ is in thy heart, then He is God to thee. But if He is only on thy tongue, or on paper, or on a wall, or in a museum of the past, even though thou callest Him God, He is but a plaything to thee. Beware then, O man, for no one can play with God unpunished. The heart is a seemingly narrow organ, yet God can dwell in it. And when God dwells in it, it is filled and overfilled, and nothing more can fit into it. But if the whole world settles into it, without God, it remains empty.
Brethren, let Christ, the risen and living Lord, dwell through faith in your hearts, and your hearts shall be filled and overfilled. But He cannot dwell in your hearts otherwise than through your faith. If ye have no faith, Christ will remain only on your tongue, or on paper, or on a wall, or in a museum of the past. What profit is that to you? What profit is it to you to hold life on the tongue and death in the heart? For if ye hold the world in your hearts and Christ on your tongue, ye hold death in your hearts and life on your tongue. Water on the tongue does not help the thirsty man. Lower the living Christ into your heart, and ye shall be truly quenched, and ye shall taste a sweetness beyond words.
O risen Lord, cleanse our hearts of the death-dealing guests within them, and do Thou dwell therein. That we might live and glorify Thee. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“He who has Christ only on his tongue does not have Christ. He truly has Christ who has Him in his heart.”