The Lives of the Saints
1. THE VENERABLE PACHOMIUS THE GREAT
An Egyptian by birth, and a pagan in his youth. As a soldier he took part in the battle of Emperor Constantine against Maxentius. Then, having learned from Christians of the one God and seeing their pious life, Pachomius was baptized and went into the Thebaid desert to the renowned ascetic Palamon, under whom he trained in the ascetical life for ten years. Then an angel appeared to him in the garb of a schemamonk at a place called Tabennisi and gave him a tablet upon which was written the rule of a cenobitic monastery, commanding him to establish such a monastery at that place and prophesying that many monks would gather in that monastery for the salvation of their souls. Obeying the angel of God, Pachomius began to build many cells, even though there was no one in that place except himself and his brother John. When his brother reproached him for building unnecessary buildings, Pachomius simply told him that he was following the commandment of God without regard to when or who would come there to dwell. But soon many people, moved by the Spirit of God, gathered at that place and began to struggle ascetically according to the rule of Pachomius, received from the angel. And when the number of monks increased, Pachomius gradually founded six more monasteries. The number of his disciples reached seven thousand. Saint Anthony is considered the founder of the eremitic life, and Saint Pachomius of the cenobitic monastic life. The humility, industriousness, and temperance of this holy father were and remain a rare example for the emulation of a vast number of monks. Innumerable miracles Saint Pachomius wrought, but he also endured innumerable temptations from demons and men. And he served people as a father or a brother by birth. And he moved many to set out on the path of salvation. And he guided many onto the path of truth. He was and remained a great luminary of the Church and a great witness of the truth and righteousness of Christ. He reposed peacefully in the year 348, in the seventy-fourth year of his earthly life. Many of his disciples the Church has numbered among the saints, such as: Theodore, Job, Paphnutius, Pecusius, Athenodorus, Eponychius, Surus, Psois, Dionysius, Psentaisius, and others.
2. SAINT ACHILLEUS, BISHOP OF LARISSA
This great hierarch and wonderworker was born in Cappadocia. He participated in the First Ecumenical Council, at which he put the heretics to shame and, both by his learning and by his holiness, evoked great admiration. Taking up a stone, Saint Achilleus cried out to the Arians: "If Christ is a creature of God, as you say, then speak: let oil flow from this stone!" The heretics were silent and marveled at such a challenge from Saint Achilleus. Then the saint said again: "But if the Son of God is equal to the Father, as we believe, let oil flow from this stone." And oil indeed flowed forth, to the amazement of all. Saint Achilleus reposed peacefully in Larissa in the year 330. Samuel, the Macedonian king, when he conquered Thessaly, translated the relics of Achilleus to Prespa, to an island in the lake, which was called and to this day is called Achilleus, or Ail.
3. THE VENERABLE SILVANUS
At first he was a comedian, mocking everyone and everything. Then, warmed by the love of Christ, he became a disciple of Saint Pachomius. "I am ready to give my life," said Saint Silvanus, "if only I might receive the forgiveness of sins."
“I am ready to give my life, if only I might receive the forgiveness of sins.”
Hymn of Praise
Pachomius burns with the Spirit of God.
Pachomius converses with the angels.
Around him monks gather in swarms,
All standing before God like candles.
One day there came a knock at the gate.
The Abba's sister inquires after the Abba,
For years she has not seen him,
Let him show himself — why does he hide from her?
The porter brings the message to the Abba.
The Abba tells him: bring her my greetings:
I wish thee, sister, every happiness,
But to come and see thee I shall not,
I once bade farewell to the world
And renounced all that is in the world.
My sister, do thou also renounce,
Hasten, sister, to consecrate thyself to God.
What can the world give thee but the grave?
Christ will crown thee with life.
Worldly pleasures are deceptive dreams —
The sleeper fattens himself on such dreams,
But when awakened he feels himself hungry
And robbed by long sleep as by a foe.
Like a hungry lion he then roars for food,
For true bread he cries out and shouts.
Christ hears whoever calls upon Him
And gives the hungry one the bread of life.
This is reality — all else is fantasy.
Outside of Christ there is no hope.
The sister heard and burst into tears,
And swiftly heeded her brother's counsel.
“What can the world give thee but the grave? Christ will crown thee with life.”
Reflection
When a tyrant commits violence against a righteous man out of greed, then violence brings one benefit and one loss, namely: loss to the tyrant and benefit to the one who suffers violence. Boris Godunov killed the eight-year-old Tsarevich Dimitri so that he might rule the throne without a rival. The imperial days of Boris quickly ended, and the tyrant was given over to corruption and cursing, while Dimitri was glorified among the saints. After fifteen years in the grave, Dimitri's body was dug up and found to be incorrupt and wonderworking. And over his body forty-five miraculous healings took place. Whose then is the loss and whose the benefit from violence? If the tyrant had considered that by his violence he would help his adversary to be numbered among the saints and would prepare perdition and cursing for himself, he would have abandoned his intended violence. But a crooked thought is the forerunner and companion of violence.
“A crooked thought is the forerunner and companion of violence.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the action of God the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, namely:
1. How by the Holy Spirit the Apostles receive visions of the mysteries of the other world,
2. How by the Holy Spirit the Apostles see into the secrets of the human heart.
Homily
On the Prophesied and Fulfilled Destruction of the Egyptian Idols
The houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire (Jer. 43:13)
Who will burn them? Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, My servant, saith the Lord. This prophecy was fulfilled: Nebuchadnezzar conquered Egypt and burned the houses of the false gods, the idols of Egypt, with fire. He burned them, but he did not destroy them forever. For destruction came then to Babylon as well, again according to the prophecy of the holy Prophet Jeremiah, and Babylon has become and remains to this day a heap, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, that no one dwelleth therein (51:37). But in the tradition recorded by Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus, there remains yet another prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the final destruction of the Egyptian idols. "All the idols shall fall," this prophecy declares, "and all things made by hands shall be destroyed at that time when a Virgin Mother shall come hither with a Child, born in a cave and laid in a manger." And this prophecy was preserved by the Egyptian priests themselves, who from the time of Jeremiah had introduced the custom of depicting a Virgin reclining upon a bed and her Child wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. Nebuchadnezzar, the servant, by God's permission could only mow down evil, but not uproot it. But evil that is mowed down, like grass that is mowed, grows again. But when the Master came to earth, He uprooted evil from the root. Nebuchadnezzar, the servant, burned down the temples and smashed the idols, but the temples were rebuilt and new idols made, for they had not been torn out of the souls of men. But when the Master came and began to reign in the souls of the Egyptians, the temples and idols fell forever. It was the same with the disobedient and God-opposing Jews: Nebuchadnezzar, the servant, led them into captivity for seventy years, but the offended Master scattered them throughout the whole world, where they remain scattered to this day, after nearly two thousand years. And this scattering of the Jewish people throughout the whole world was clearly foretold by Jeremiah. And so time has vindicated the prophet of God in all his words.
O all-seeing Lord, grant us to hold fast to the words of Thy true prophet. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Nebuchadnezzar, the servant, by God's permission could only mow down evil, but not uproot it. But when the Master came to earth, He uprooted evil from the root.”