The Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY APOSTLES JASON AND SOSIPATER, AND THE VIRGIN CERCYRA
The first two were of the Seventy Apostles, and the last was the daughter of a certain king on the island of Corfu. Jason and Sosipater are mentioned by the Apostle Paul (Rom. 16:21), who calls them his kinsmen. Jason was from Tarsus, as was the Apostle Paul himself, and Sosipater from Achaia. The first was appointed by the apostles as Bishop of Tarsus and the second as Bishop of Iconium. Traveling and preaching the Gospel, these two apostles arrived on the island of Corfu, where they succeeded in building a church in the name of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr and in winning some pagans over to the Church. The king of that island cast them into prison, where seven brigands were confined: Saturninus, Jakischolus, Faustianus, Januarius, Marsalius, Euphrasius, and Mammius. These seven the apostles converted to the faith of Christ, and from wolves made them lambs. When the king heard of this, he ordered that the seven be put to death in boiling pitch. And so they received the crown of martyrdom. When after this the king was torturing the apostles, his daughter the virgin Cercyra watched from a window the sufferings of the men of God, and learning why they were being tortured, she herself declared that she was a Christian and distributed all her jewels to the poor. The king grew wrathful at his daughter and confined her in a special prison, and when he could not thereby turn her from Christ, he ordered the prison set afire. The prison burned down, but the virgin remained alive. Seeing this miracle, many people were baptized. The enraged king then ordered his daughter bound to a tree and slain with arrows. Those who had come to believe in Christ fled from the terrible king to a nearby island and hid themselves. The king set out by boat to seize them, but the boat sank in the sea, and so the impious one perished as did Pharaoh of old. The new king accepted the Christian faith, was baptized, and received the name Sebastian. Jason and Sosipater freely preached the Gospel and strengthened the Church of God on Corfu into deep old age, and there they ended their earthly lives and passed into the courts of the Lord.
2. THE HOLY MARTYRS MAXIMUS, DADAS, AND QUINTILIAN
They suffered in the time of Diocletian. They were tried and tortured by the governor Tarquinius. After imprisonment and tortures they were beheaded by the sword.
3. THE HOLY MARTYR TIBALUS
A Slav from Pannonia. In the time of Diocletian he was dreadfully tortured for the faith of Christ, and he suffered in the town of Cibalae.
Hymn of Praise
THE VIRGIN CERCYRA
The virgin Cercyra, both tender and pure,
From the royal court heard the name of Christ,
And that holy name held sway over her heart,
So that she was ready for His sake to suffer.
Her father would teach her, but how? And what for?
"God is One, O father, bow down before Him!
His love through Christ has been made manifest,
And by that love I now am wounded too.
I do not spare myself, nor do I fear torments,
Do what thou wilt, I stand before God."
In the flames there stands the virgin Cercyra,
Quiet, meek, and radiant, like a dove.
Red flames blaze, the whole prison bursts,
Cercyra's heart beats without fear,
In her heart nest prayer and hope,
And thereby she conquered the fire, not the fire her --
Shot through by love divine,
She parted easily from earthly vanity,
Deadly arrows pierced her body through...
The Lord received the soul of the virgin whole.
“Shot through by love divine, she parted easily from earthly vanity.”
Reflection
The mystery of our salvation is summed up in the appearing of God among men in a human body. Saint Meliton of Sardis writes: "The works of Christ after His baptism showed and proved to the world that His Divinity was concealed in His body. Being God He was also perfect man. He revealed to us His two natures: His Divinity by the miracles performed during the three years after His baptism, and His Humanity during the thirty years in which the weakness of the flesh concealed the signs of His Divinity, although He was the true pre-eternal God." The manner of the union of Divinity with Humanity is difficult to comprehend, yet the event of God's appearing as man among men is perfectly comprehensible from the concept of God's love for mankind. The world as an event is no more comprehensible — one could even say it is less comprehensible — than the event of all events: the Incarnation of God.
“Being God He was also perfect man. He revealed to us His two natures.”
Contemplation
To contemplate the Ascension of the Lord Jesus, namely:
1. How He leads His disciples out onto the hill toward Bethany;
2. How He with uplifted hands blesses the disciples.
Homily
on seeking the face of the Lord
**I seek Thy face, O Lord! Show Thy bright face unto Thy servant! (Ps. 27:8; 31:16). **
King David sought that which simple fishermen received unsought. The King writhed in darkness, longing to see the radiant face of the Lord, which revealed itself to simple fishermen in all its splendor. King David belonged to the time of waiting, and the disciples to the time of fulfillment. There, there was only a foretelling of the Lord's coming; here, the coming itself. There, intimations and imaginings of the face of the Lord; here, the splendor and beauty of that face itself. Radiant was the face of the Lord even before the Resurrection, and how much more so after the Resurrection! The unquenchable flame of the Divinity concealed itself behind the icon of His body, and shone through that bodily icon. And the disciples gazed upon Him without blinking, and rejoiced in their hearts. For forty days they beheld His glorified body; and they rejoiced in their hearts!
O my brethren, let us too seek the radiant face of the Lord, that we might feel the sweetness with which the angels of heaven are inebriated. If we seek it with longing in this life, we shall see it at least in the next; but if we do not seek it in this life, we shall not see it either in this one or in the next. Let us yearn, brethren, for the face of Christ! Every word of His reveals to us one feature of His face. Every apostle of His shows us some characteristic of His face. Every deed of His shows us some feature of His face. Every saint of His shows us some ray of His radiant face. With longing, brethren, let us study the face of the Lord. Let us join ray to ray, until the whole sun appears. Let us nestle that Sun in the depth of our hearts, that from within it may illumine the courts of our bodily dwelling. Let us plant that inexpressibly sweet vineyard in our hearts, that we might taste that immortal drink with which the angels are inebriated.
O Lord, Bearer of Light, show Thy radiant face to Thy servants. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Let us join ray to ray, until the whole sun appears. Let us nestle that Sun in the depth of our hearts.”