The Lives of the Saints
1. THE COMMEMORATION OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE HONORABLE CROSS IN JERUSALEM
In the time of Emperor Constantius, the son of Saint Constantine, and Patriarch Cyril of Jerusalem, the Honorable Cross appeared in the morning at the ninth hour over Golgotha, extending to above the Mount of Olives. This Cross was brighter than the sun and more beautiful than the most beautiful rainbow. All the people, both believers and unbelievers, left their work and in fear and wonder gazed upon this heavenly sign. Many unbelievers were converted to the faith of Christ, and likewise many Arian heretics abandoned their malicious heresy and returned to Orthodoxy. Concerning this sign, Patriarch Cyril wrote a letter to Emperor Constantius, who himself inclined toward Arianism. This occurred on May 7, 357. Thus it was shown on this occasion as well that the Christian faith lies not in the worldly wisdom of human sensory reason but in the power of God, manifested through innumerable miracles and signs.
2. THE HOLY MARTYR ACACIUS
This saint was a Roman officer in the time of Emperor Maximian. Answering at trial for his faith in Christ, he said that he had inherited the pious faith from his parents and had been confirmed in it by seeing many miraculous healings from the relics of Christian saints. After great torments bravely endured in the Thracian city of Perinthus, Acacius was brought to Byzantium, where he endured new torments, until at last he was beheaded by the sword. He suffered honorably and departed to the kingdom of eternal joy in the year 303.
3. THE VENERABLE FATHERS OF GEORGIA
In the sixth century, two hundred years after Saint Nina had preached the Gospel in Georgia, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to John, an ascetic of Antioch, and commanded him to choose twelve of his disciples and go to Georgia to strengthen the Orthodox faith. John did so. Upon arriving in Georgia, these twelve missionaries were solemnly received by the prince of the land and Catholicos Eulalius, and immediately began their work with zeal. The people gathered around them in crowds, and they strengthened them in the faith with great wisdom and many miracles. The leader of all these Christ-loving missionaries was Saint John of Zedazeni. And their names were: Abibus, Anthony, David, Zenon, Thaddeus, Ishe, Isidore, Joseph, Michael, Pyrrhus, Stephen, and Shio. With apostolic zeal they all strengthened the faith of Christ in Georgia, founded many monasteries, and left behind many disciples. Thus they were deemed worthy of glory in heaven and of power on earth.
“The Christian faith lies not in the worldly wisdom of human sensory reason but in the power of God.”
Hymn of Praise
Acacius, a soldier of the Most High King,
Acacius prepares himself for death,
He censes his soul with the incense of prayer;
The godless judge asks him:
Why does Christ not deliver the faithful?
Why does He not punish your tormentors,
When you call Him God Almighty?
The martyr gently answers: —
The Lord Christ is great in mercy,
In mercy and in long-suffering,
From sinners He awaits repentance,
And from the faithful, patient suffering.
If He punished sinners immediately,
How would He manifest His mercy?
And if the righteous did not suffer,
With what would they display the power of God?
And with what would they shine before the world?
The word was spoken — the head was severed,
Into God's Paradise the soul ascended.
“If He punished sinners immediately, how would He manifest His mercy? And if the righteous did not suffer, with what would they display the power of God?”
Reflection
"I acknowledge that I was more indebted, and that more has been forgiven me: from judicial and public affairs I was called to the priesthood, and therefore I fear that I may prove ungrateful if I love less than has been forgiven me." These are the words of Saint Ambrose, who was suddenly called by God to change his vocation and from a civil judge become a hierarch of the Church of Christ. By these words the saint shows how the priestly calling is higher than the secular, how one comes to it by the calling of God, and how he who is called owes gratitude to God. The debt of gratitude to God was considered by all the saints to be their chief debt. Without gratitude to God there can be no progress in the spiritual life. Continual gratitude to God is a noble seed from which, if watered by the tears of continual repentance, there grows the most beautiful fruit — love for God.
“Without gratitude to God there can be no progress in the spiritual life.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the descent of God the Holy Spirit upon the holy Apostles, namely:
1. How the holy Apostles all stood in prayer with one accord,
2. How suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.
Homily
On the Power of the Word of the Lord
**Is not My word like fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? ** (Jer. 23:29)
Indeed, O Lord, Thy word is truly like fire that warms the righteous and burns the unrighteous. And Thy word is truly like a hammer that softens the stony hardness of the penitent's heart, and crushes to dust the hearts of unrepentant sinners.
Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us? (Luke 24:32) the Apostles asked one another after their conversation with the risen Lord. When the heart in a man is upright, it burns from the word of the Lord, and melts with sweetness, and expands with love. But when the heart in a man is crooked and petrified by sin, then it is scorched by the word of the Lord and grows even harder. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened.
In vain do sinners fortify themselves in their fortresses of stone, in their fortresses of iron, in their fortresses of silver and gold, casting off the armor of God's righteousness. Like a mighty and irresistible hammer is the word of the Lord, when He pronounces judgment upon those stone fortifications in which sinners entrench themselves.
In vain does the unbeliever fortify his house with hard stone, and the statesman his state with the petrified wisdom of this world, not trusting in the living God. The word of the Lord falls like a hammer upon all that is built apart from God, or against God — like a mighty and irresistible hammer.
O brethren, let us not trust in our own constructions of stone — neither of marble nor of gold nor of silver, nor of the godless stone of our own thoughts. All of this is weaker before the power of God than dust before the power of the wind.
O Almighty Lord, help us to receive Thy word and to build upon it our entire life, both in this world and in the world to come. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.