The Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY PROPHET ISAIAH
This great prophet was of royal descent. He was born in Jerusalem to his father Amos, the brother of Amaziah, King of Judah. By the great grace of God that was in him, Isaiah was deemed worthy to behold the Lord of Sabaoth upon His heavenly throne, surrounded by six-winged Seraphim who unceasingly sing: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth." Isaiah prophesied many things, both to individual persons and to nations. Once he walked completely naked through the streets of Jerusalem for three days, prophesying the imminent fall of Jerusalem to the Assyrian King Sennacherib, and admonishing the king and the leaders of the people not to trust in the help of the Egyptians and Ethiopians — since they too would soon be subjugated by the same Sennacherib — but to trust in the help of God Most High. And this prophecy, like all the rest, was fulfilled to the letter. But his most important prophecies concern the Incarnation of God, the conception by the Most Holy Virgin, John the Forerunner, and many events from the life of Christ. This clairvoyant man, on account of the purity of his heart and his zeal for God, received from on high the gift of wonderworking as well. Thus when besieged Jerusalem was suffering from thirst, he prayed to God, and water flowed from beneath Mount Zion. This water was called Siloam (meaning "sent"); and to this water the Lord later sent the man born blind to wash, that he might receive his sight. In the time of King Manasseh, when Isaiah thundered against the pagan customs of the king and the leaders, comparing that generation to Sodom and Gomorrah, the wrath of the leaders and the people was raised against this great prophet; he was seized, led outside Jerusalem, and sawn in half with a saw. He lived and prophesied seven hundred years before Christ.
2. SAINT NICHOLAS THE WONDERWORKER OF MYRA IN LYCIA
Translation of relics. In the time of Emperor Alexius Comnenus and Patriarch Nicholas Grammaticus, in the year 1087, the body of this saint was transferred from Myra in Lycia to the city of Bari in Italy. This occurred because of the Muslim invasion of Lycia. The saint appeared in a dream to a certain honorable priest in Bari and commanded that his relics be transferred to that city. At that time the city of Bari was Orthodox and under an Orthodox patriarch. During the translation of the saint's relics many miracles occurred, both from the touch of the relics and from the myrrh that flowed abundantly from them. On this day is also commemorated the miracle of Saint Nicholas over Stefan of Decani, the Serbian king — namely, how Saint Nicholas restored sight to the blind King Stefan.
3. THE HOLY MARTYR CHRISTOPHER
A great wonderworker. Especially venerated in Spain. The people pray to him most of all against infectious diseases and great pestilence. He was tortured for Christ and glorified by Christ in the year 249.
Hymn of Praise
Blind Stefan sleeps on the Sheep's Field
And in restless sleep endures his affliction.
His eyes are bloody, his body trembles,
Death compared to such a life is surely better.
Then a man appeared to him in his dream,
In heavenly radiance, in heavenly glory.
— I am Nicholas, he said, of Myra in Lycia,
And thou art one of those whom God has chosen.
Look upon my right hand, Stefan,
Behold, in it thine eyes are preserved!
Thou art without eyes, thine eyes are with me,
I shall give them to thee when the Lord so wills.
Five years passed, and Stefan in the darkness
Had firm hope, had strong faith:
— Nicholas will come to me once more,
With God's help he will help me.
Thus Stefan once was thinking in the church,
And with tender weeping prayed to the saint.
Then he fell asleep while standing in his stall,
And behold, Saint Nicholas again appeared!
Two royal eyes upon his right palm:
— Here, he said, O king, the day has dawned for thee too!
In the name of the Lord Who gives sight to the blind,
See and cry out: Glory be to God!
Then the saint touched the blind eyes,
And darkness was swept from his eyes like a curtain!
“Two royal eyes upon his right palm: Here, he said, O king, the day has dawned for thee too!”
Reflection
Martyrdom for the faith can be taken upon oneself by every Christian, both in times of persecution and in times of peace. Abba Athanasius said: "Be tormented by thy conscience, die to sin, mortify the earthly members, and thou shalt be a martyr according to thy desire. They struggled against kings and princes — thou too hast the king of sin, the devil, and demonic princes. Before there were idols, pagan temples, and altars to idols. And now they exist in the soul mentally. He who is a slave to fornication bows to the idol of Aphrodite. He who rages and fumes bows to the idol of Ares. He who is a lover of money and is closed to the suffering and misery of his neighbor bows to the idol of Hermes. If thou abstainest from all of this and preservest thyself from the passions, thou hast conquered the idols, thou hast renounced false belief, and thou hast become a martyr for the faith." And so, therefore, a man need not especially pine for persecution and martyrdom. Everyone can at any time suffer martyrdom for Christ and His Gospel.
“He who is a slave to fornication bows to the idol of Aphrodite. He who rages and fumes bows to the idol of Ares.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the descent of God the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, namely:
1. How all the people marveled and wondered, hearing the Apostles speak in various tongues,
2. How some mocked them, saying: They are full of new wine!
Homily
On the Curse Upon the Man Who Trusts in Man
Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord (Jer. 17:5)
When a man departs in his heart from the Lord, then he usually trusts in men and in himself — for in whom else could he trust, when he has already loosed his skiff from the ship of God? When he has loosed his skiff from the ship of God, nothing else remains to him but to trust in his own skiff and in the skiffs of his neighbors. A feeble trust — but he has no other! A pitiful trust over the abyss of perdition — but there is no other!
But, O heaven and earth, why did man loose his skiff from the ship of God? What possessed man that he should flee from his own safety? What calculation did he make when he determined that he would be better off alone on the stormy waves than in the house of God and by the hem of God's garment! With whom did he make an alliance when he broke his covenant with God? With someone stronger than God? Madness, madness, madness!
Cursed be the man that trusteth in man! God said this once, and men have said it a thousand times. Disappointed in their trust in men, people have a thousand times cursed anyone who trusts in man. God said only that which men have all too well experienced and confirmed by their experience, namely: how truly cursed is the man who trusts in man!
Therefore let us trust in God, my brethren, in God, Who is a sturdy ship in the storm and does not fail. Let us trust only in Him, for every other trust is the deception of the devil. In Thee do we trust, O Lord, our stronghold and our refuge. Bind us to Thyself and do not let us loose ourselves, should we, in madness and accursedness, attempt to loose ourselves from Thee. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“When a man departs in his heart from the Lord, then he usually trusts in men and in himself — for in whom else could he trust, when he has already loosed his skiff from the ship of God?”