The Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY MARTYR PATRICK, BISHOP OF PRUSA, WITH THREE PRESBYTERS: ACACIUS, MENANDER, AND POLYENUS
They suffered for the faith of Christ in the time of Julian the Apostate in Prusa of Asia. The imperial governor Junius brought these saints to the hot springs and asked Patrick: "Who created these healing waters, was it not our gods Aesculapius and the others, to whom we bow?" Saint Patrick answered: "Your gods are demons, and these waters, like all else, were created by Christ the Lord and our God." Then the governor asked: "And will thy Christ save thee if I cast thee into this boiling water?" The saint answered: "If He wills, He can keep me whole and unharmed, although I would desire to be released in that water from this temporal life, that I might live eternally with Christ; but let His holy will be done upon me, without which not a hair falls from a man's head!" Hearing this, the governor ordered Patrick cast into the boiling water. Boiling drops splashed in all directions and cruelly burned many who were present, but the saint of God, on whose tongue was unceasing prayer, remained unharmed as though he stood in cold water. Seeing this, the governor raged with shame and ordered that the heads of both Patrick and his three presbyters be cut off with an axe. Then these guileless followers of Christ read a prayer and laid their heads beneath the executioner's axe. When their heads were cut off, their joyful souls ascended to the radiant kingdom of Christ, to reign eternally.
2. SAINT JOHN, BISHOP OF THE GOTHS
He was a bishop in Georgia, but when the local Tatar khan began to torture Christians, he withdrew for four years among the Goths in Bessarabia. (The Gothic diocese was established in the time of Constantine the Great.) Having heard of the khan's death, he returned to his service and governed his flock zealously and in a manner pleasing to God. Before his death he said: "In forty days I depart to be judged together with the khan" (that is, through death he goes before the throne of God). And so it was. On the fortieth day he departed this life and went to the Lord. He reposed peacefully in the eighth century.
3. THE HOLY PRINCE JOHN OF VOLOGDA
A wonderworker. God-fearing and pious from childhood, he was cast into prison by his uncle, Prince John Vasilievich, together with his brother Dimitri, where they spent a full thirty-two years. Before his death John was tonsured a monk and received the name Ignatius.
Hymn of Praise
In the dark dungeon Prince John languishes
With his brother Dimitri — and counsels his brother:
— Do not grieve, brother, do not torment thyself with sorrow,
A dungeon to the faithful is as a royal court,
Nor speak ill of our uncle,
Who cast us without guilt into prison.
Without God's will could it be
That two creatures of God be imprisoned in darkness?
If our uncle cares only for himself,
God cares for us, to save our souls.
The foolish man seeks only his own profit,
But God blesses even the despised with gifts.
The merciful Lord fears not the dungeon —
He stands more gladly with the prisoner than with the proud.
Be not angry, brother, do not reproach our uncle,
God alone knows justice between us.
Our uncle He saves by one path, us by another.
Bow down before God. To God be glory!
“The merciful Lord fears not the dungeon — He stands more gladly with the prisoner than with the proud.”
Reflection
The great hierarchs, the pillars of the Orthodox Church, knew how to unite in their character meekness and firmness — meekness toward the righteous and the penitent, and firmness toward the unrepentant oppressors. One Sunday, after the holy service, Tsar Ivan the Terrible approached Metropolitan Philip to receive his blessing. The metropolitan pretended not to see the tsar and looked at the icon of the Savior. Then the tsar's adjutant approached the metropolitan and said to him: "Master, the Sovereign is before thee; bless him!" The metropolitan looked at the tsar and said: "O Sovereign, fear the judgment of God: here we offer the bloodless sacrifice to God, while behind the altar Christian blood is shed. How many innocent sufferers! Thou art exalted on the throne, yet still thou art — a man." The enraged tsar warned the metropolitan to be silent, but the metropolitan said to him: "Where is my faith if I keep silent?" When the tsar began to threaten him, he calmly answered: "I am a stranger and a guest on earth, and I am ready to suffer for the truth!" After some time the wicked tsar had the metropolitan strangled, but he did not strangle the saint.
“I am a stranger and a guest on earth, and I am ready to suffer for the truth!”
Contemplation
Contemplate God the Holy Spirit as the inspirer of wisdom and truth, namely:
1. How He inspired with wisdom and truth the prophets, evangelists, and apostles, who wrote the Holy Scriptures by His inspiration and guidance,
2. How He inspired with wisdom and truth the Holy Fathers who interpreted the Holy Scriptures by His inspiration and guidance.
Homily
On the Holy Men of God
Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (II Peter 1:21)
This is the testimony of one who was himself a holy man of God, the Apostle Peter, the rock of faith and the knight of the Cross. As a holy man of God, he, from his own personal experience, explains how the holy men of God spoke and speak, and says: moved by the Holy Spirit they spoke. They did not speak, therefore, by their own reasoning, nor by their own memory, nor by their own intuition, nor by their own learning, nor by their own eloquence, but they spoke from the Spirit and according to the Holy Spirit. The wisdom of God poured through them, and the truth of God was revealed through them. Holy Scripture was not written by the lying pen of the scribes (Jer. 8:8) but was written by the servants and chosen ones of God the Holy Spirit. Nor was Holy Scripture written by men whose trade was writing, but it was written by the saints of God, directed and impelled by the Spirit of God to write. Often unwilling, and even resisting, they had to write, as the holy Prophet Jeremiah testifies, saying: Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. (20:9).
O my brethren, brethren, Holy Scripture is not from man but from God, not from the earth but from heaven, not from the flesh but from the spirit — yea, from the Holy Spirit of God. Inspired with wisdom and truth by the Holy Spirit, the holy men of God wrote: prophets, and evangelists, and apostles, and fathers, and teachers, and hierarchs, and shepherds.
O God the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Wisdom and Truth, inspire us with Thy life-giving breath, that we may know Wisdom and Truth and fulfill them with Thy help. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Often unwilling, and even resisting, they had to write.”