Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY MARTYR SAVA STRATELATES
In the time of Emperor Aurelian this glorious Sava lived in Rome and held the rank of commander. He was of Gothic origin. He frequently visited Christians in the prisons and helped them with his possessions. Because of his great purity and fasting, God granted him authority over unclean spirits. When he was accused as a Christian, he boldly stood before the emperor, cast down his military belt before him, and publicly confessed Christ the Lord. He was tortured with various torments: flogged, scraped with iron, and burned with candles. But he did not succumb to these deadly torments, and appeared alive and well. His companions, the soldiers, seeing plainly that God was helping Sava, received the Christian faith. Seventy of them in number were immediately beheaded by order of the emperor. To the holy Sava, Christ the Lord Himself appeared in prison in a great light and strengthened His Martyr. After this Sava was condemned to death by drowning. He was cast into a deep river, where he surrendered his soul to God, in the year 272. And his soul departed to the Lord, to Whom he had remained faithful through many torments.
2. VENERABLE ELIZABETH
In her early youth she entered monastic life at the Monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Constantinople, and took upon herself a difficult ascetic labor for the sake of Christ God and for the sake of her soul. She considered herself the bride of Christ, and regarded this world as though it did not exist. From her great love for God there also flowed her great mercy toward people, especially toward the sick and the suffering. By the gift that God gave her, she healed various diseases and various afflictions in people. During her nocturnal prayers she was seen all illumined by heavenly light. After her death her relics too were healing, so that at her grave through the ages a multitude of the sick and suffering gathered. She reposed peacefully and passed into the eternal joy of her Lord in the year 540.
3. THE HOLY MARTYRS EUSEBIUS, NEON, LEONTIUS, AND LONGINUS
These four were military companions of Saint George. Seeing the courageous endurance and miracles of Saint George, these wondrous soldiers became Christians, for which reason they were beheaded.
4. THE HOLY MARTYRS PASICRATES AND VALENTINE
When the judge was urging Pasicrates to offer sacrifice to idols, and likewise the martyr's brother Papianus who had fallen away from Christ out of fear of torture, Pasicrates then placed his hand into the fire and cried out: "The body is mortal and is consumed by fire, but the soul is immortal and does not feel visible torments!" His mother greatly supported and encouraged him to endure to the end. He was beheaded together with Valentine; and both departed to the Kingdom of Christ, around the year 228.
5. VENERABLE THOMAS THE FOOL FOR CHRIST
Whenever he was in the city of Antioch on monastic business, this Thomas feigned madness for the sake of Christ. A certain Anastasius refused to give him the alms he had sought for the monastery, and instead struck him across the face. Then Thomas prophesied: "From now on neither shall I receive anything from Anastasius, nor shall Anastasius be able to give me anything!" After one day Anastasius died, and Thomas also expired on the way back to the monastery. And so the prophecy of this holy man was fulfilled. Saint Thomas reposed at Daphne near Antioch, in the time of Patriarch Domnus (546-560).
6. THE HOLY NEW MARTYRS LUKE AND NICHOLAS
The wondrous young man Luke, a tailor by trade, suffered for Christ in the year 1564, and Nicholas in the year 1776.
Hymn of Praise
SAINT THOMAS THE FOOL FOR CHRIST
Holy Thomas feigns the madman
For the sake of Christ his Savior,
But within his heart he praises God,
The One Creator of the world.
In his heart the Name of God:
"Have mercy on me, gracious God!"
With this he feeds his very soul:
"Have mercy on me, gracious God!"
Holy Thomas does not worry
What the world will say of him;
Let the world cry out and threaten,
God shall speak the Righteous Judgment.
He who tried to please the world
Before God was found a liar,
But Thomas laughed aloud
At the world that poses grandly.
O thou shadow upon the waters,
Why dost thou pretend such greatness?
All reality is in the Lord.
When thou dost count thyself as nothing,
Thereby thou shalt glorify Him.
“All reality is in the Lord. When thou dost count thyself as nothing, thereby thou shalt glorify Him.”
Reflection
Recommending to Christians that they come to church for prayer, Chrysostom says: "If someone brings to the subordinate citizens a royal or princely charter, the citizens do not examine the life of the bearer — whether he is rich or poor, or righteous or sinful — but all listen attentively to what he reads. And if someone has not heard, he asks the one who has heard. If you have such reverent awe before an earthly king, how much more ought you to listen to us (the priests) here, where the Creator of the heavenly powers speaks through us sinners?" And indeed, what is Holy Scripture other than the Charter of the Heavenly King! How can that unique and salvific Charter not interest us every day and every hour, when even the smallest decrees of the smallest authorities in the state interest us? Saint Anthony said: "Whatever you do, have justification for it in Holy Scripture." But how will you have justification in Holy Scripture if you do not know Holy Scripture?
“Whatever you do, have justification for it in Holy Scripture.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the risen Lord Jesus, namely:
1. How His Resurrection drives away from us every confusion, despondency, and sorrow.
2. How His Resurrection brings into human souls serenity, courage, and goodwill.
Homily
on the nothingness of all things in comparison with Christ
I count all things as refuse, only that I may gain Christ (Phil. 3:8)
The Apostle who writes this possessed worldly learning, possessed wealth and friends, possessed youth and health, possessed every prospect for worldly success among his people. But he says: I left everything! For the sake of Christ Jesus his Lord he left everything. Before worldly sages he became as a fool, before the wealthy as a beggar, before friends as an enemy; his youth and health he exhausted through voluntary torments and sufferings; every prospect for worldly success he shut off from himself with a single stroke. And why did you do all this, O holy Apostle Paul? Because I count all things as refuse, only that I may gain Christ.
Well then, brethren, was the Apostle Paul deceived in leaving everything as refuse, and did he gain something greater by gaining Christ? Twenty centuries bear witness that the Apostle was not deceived, and that by gaining Christ he gained incomparably more and better than what he had left and sacrificed. He gained wisdom above all worldly learning, and imperishable and incorruptible wealth; and friends in the person of the truthful angels of God; and immortal youth without sickness or aging; and divine success that endures without change in eternal life. All this he gained by gaining Christ. And all this he gained by leaving everything that the world gives to its favorites.
Truly, brethren, Christ is better than the world; and there are no words that could describe His supremacy over the world. The world deceives its favorites, but Christ truly rewards His own. For the world gives little and takes everything; it gives corruption and takes life. But Christ asks for little and gives everything; He asks that we cast off corruption and He gives eternal life. Christ, brethren, is our only true Friend.
O risen Lord Christ, help us to renounce refuse, to renounce corruption, and grant us eternal life. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Christ is better than the world. The world gives little and takes everything. But Christ asks for little and gives everything.”