The Lives of the Saints
1. THE VENERABLE THEODORE THE SANCTIFIED
A disciple of Saint Pachomius. Born and raised a pagan, but as a young man he came to the knowledge of the true faith, was baptized, and hearing of Saint Pachomius, fled secretly from his parents to his monastery. Saint Pachomius tonsured him as a monk and came to love him for his extraordinary zeal and obedience. When his mother came to call him back home, he would not even show himself to his mother, but prayed to God for her, that God might enlighten her also with the truth. And indeed, the mother not only did not bring her son home, but she herself did not return home. Seeing nearby a women's monastery governed by the sister of Pachomius, she entered it and was tonsured. After a certain time Theodore's brother Paphnutius also came to the monastery and was tonsured as well. It happened once that the bishop of the city of Panopolis invited Saint Pachomius to establish a monastery for the many who desired the monastic life. Pachomius took Theodore with him and entrusted to him in the main the task of establishing the monastery. After the death of Saint Pachomius, Theodore became abbot of all of Pachomius's monasteries, and to a ripe old age he lived in a manner pleasing to God, guiding a multitude of monks on the path of salvation. He reposed peacefully and passed over to the kingdom of eternal light in the year 368.
2. THE BLESSED VIRGIN MUSA
Saint Gregory the Dialogist relates that she was only nine years old when the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to her twice, surrounded by radiant virgins. When Musa expressed the desire that she too might be in such a radiant retinue of the Heavenly Queen, the Theotokos told her that in one month She would come for her and take her. She further instructed her how she should live during those thirty days. On the twenty-fifth day Musa took to her bed, and on the thirtieth day the Most Holy and Pure One appeared to her again, calling her with a quiet voice, to which Musa answered: "Here I come, my Lady, here I come!" And she gave up her spirit. She passed from her life into the eternal in the first century.
3. SAINT NICHOLAS MYSTICUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
He became renowned for his extraordinary strictness of life. Emperor Leo married for the fourth time, for which the patriarch forbade him entry into the church and defrocked the priest who had performed the wedding. For this the emperor deposed the patriarch and drove him into a monastery. The delegates of Pope Sergius III approved the emperor's fourth marriage. But when the emperor died, Nicholas returned to the patriarchal throne and convened a council in the year 925, at which a fourth marriage was generally forbidden to Christians. He reposed in the year 930. "Mysticus" denotes the senior member of the imperial council. This saint, therefore, was first a courtier of high rank, and afterward he left the vanity of the world and was tonsured as a monk. He ended his life peacefully in 930.
4. THE HOLY NEW MARTYR NICHOLAS
From Epirus by birth. He was tortured by the Turks for the faith of Christ and beheaded in Trikala in the year 1617. The head of this martyr is preserved to this day in one of the Meteora monasteries in Thessaly. It works many miracles, heals the gravest diseases, and is especially known for driving away locusts from the fields.
5. THE VENERABLE MARTYRS OF SAINT SABBAS'S MONASTERY
In the time of Emperor Heraclius, around the year 610, forty-four monks from the monastery of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified near Jerusalem suffered for the faith of Christ. Their heroism and suffering were described by the eyewitness Saint Antiochus.
6. THE HOLY HIEROMARTYR THEODORE, BISHOP OF VRSAC
Bishop Theodore in the year 1594 found himself at the head of the insurgents in Banat. The insurgents bore on their banners the image of Saint Sava. The Pasha of Timisoara captured Bishop Theodore in Vrsac and flayed him alive. In the same year the relics of Saint Sava were brought from the Monastery of Mileseva and burned at Vracar.
“Do not weep for me, brethren, but glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has helped me to complete my struggle and to vanquish the enemy.”
Hymn of Praise
Nicholas the martyr suffered for Christ
And by bitter endurance overcame the devil;
The hero would not renounce his Savior,
But glorified God while he had a voice;
And when his voice failed him, he glorified with his heart
And for his torments prayed the more for his enemies.
The Turks beat him, fierce as wolves,
And subjected him to every inhuman torture,
And at last they cut off his holy head.
The head rolled into the green grass,
The saint's head shone with light;
A Christian wrapped that head in silk
And carried it to the church, to be a healing for many,
To heal the deformed, the blind, and the mad.
God punishes the faithless from every quarter,
And glorifies forever the faithful Nicholas.
Reflection
When Theodore the Sanctified was in Panopolis with his spiritual father Saint Pachomius, a certain philosopher came to him and offered to dispute with him about the faith. The philosopher posed these three questions to Theodore: "Who was not born but died? Who was born but did not die? And who died but did not decay?" To these questions Saint Theodore answered: "Adam was not born but died. Enoch was born and did not die. Lot's wife died and did not decay." And the saint added this counsel for the philosopher: "Hearken to our sound counsel: abandon thy useless questions and scholastic syllogisms, draw near to Christ, Whom we serve, and thou shalt receive the forgiveness of sins!" — The philosopher was struck dumb by such a keen answer and departed in shame. From this one clearly sees the enormous difference between a pagan philosopher and a Christian saint. The former loses himself in abstractions, in clever turns of phrase, in logical provocations, in intellectual sport, while the latter directs his whole mind toward the living God and toward the salvation of his soul. The former is abstract and dead; the latter is practical and alive.
“The former loses himself in abstractions, in clever turns of phrase; the latter directs his whole mind toward the living God and toward the salvation of his soul.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the action of God the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, namely:
1. How the Holy Spirit wondrously directs the feet of the Apostles throughout distant lands,
2. How He wondrously gathers them from distant lands to Jerusalem for the funeral of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Homily
On the Appearance of the Prophet Jeremiah From the Other World
**Then there appeared another man, distinguished by his gray hair and dignity, and of marvelous majesty and authority about him. And Onias answered and said: This is the lover of the brethren, who prayeth much for the people and for the holy city: Jeremiah, the prophet of God** (II Macc. 15:13-14)
This is the vision that the valiant Judas Maccabee saw. First the High Priest Onias appeared to him from the other world, and then the holy Prophet Jeremiah. Just as Moses and Elijah were seen in glory by the Apostles on Mount Tabor, so once Judas Maccabee saw in glory the Prophet Jeremiah. Not even before the Risen Christ, therefore, did the merciful God leave men without testimony of life after death. In the Christian era, those testimonies are without number and without end. Whoever after all this doubts life after death stands under the curse of his own sin as under a tombstone. And just as dead things cannot see the light of day, neither can he see the life that is and that has no end.
But behold with what glory the Prophet Jeremiah is crowned in that other life! Distinguished by his gray hair and dignity! Around him some indescribable nobility, some radiant halo, some inexpressible pleasantness and beauty. He who was dragged about and beaten by the men to whom he communicated the will of God, who was a prisoner in a dungeon, a sufferer in a foul pit, who was mocked as a liar, tried as a traitor, and finally stoned to death as a criminal! But one is the judgment of sinners, and another is the judgment of God. The most humiliated among men was crowned before God with the glory of the angels.
And behold further how heaven calls the one whom earth called a liar, a traitor, and a criminal! The lover of the brethren — so heaven calls him. The lover of the brethren, who prays much for the people. See, finally, how the saints in heaven pray fervently to God for us! Not sleeping, they pray for us when we sleep; not eating, they pray for us when we eat and overeat; not sinning, they pray for us when we sin. O brethren, let us be ashamed before so many sincere friends of ours. Let us be ashamed, let us be ashamed in the face of so many saintly prayers for us, and let us join ourselves to their prayers. O most wondrous Lord, forgive us our sinful laziness and dullness. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“The lover of the brethren, who prayeth much for the people. See how the saints in heaven pray fervently to God for us!”