The Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY APOSTLE CARPUS
One of the Seventy. A follower and companion of the Apostle Paul, by whom he was appointed Bishop of Beroea in Thrace. But he also preached the Gospel in Crete, where he received Saint Dionysius the Areopagite into his home. Saint Dionysius testifies of him that he was a man of extraordinarily pure mind, meekness, and guilelessness; that the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to him in a vision with His angels, and that he never began the holy Liturgy without first having a heavenly vision. Having endured many afflictions for the name of Christ, he at last suffered at the hands of the faithless Jews and was killed, departing in soul to the Kingdom of God, to delight eternally in the vision of the Lord in glory.
2. THE HOLY APOSTLE ALPHAEUS
The father of two of the Twelve Apostles, namely: James the son of Alphaeus and Matthew the Evangelist. He ended his earthly life peacefully.
3. THE VENERABLE JOHN OF PSYCHA
In his early youth he withdrew from the world and retired to the Lavra of Psycha in Constantinople. There he struggled ascetically for many years for the love of Christ. In the eighth century he endured exile for the veneration of icons.
4. THE HOLY NEW MARTYR ALEXANDER OF THESSALONICA
This martyr of Christ was born in Thessalonica in the time of the great Turkish tyranny over that city. As a young man he was deceived by the Turks and converted to Islam. At first his conscience did not trouble him for such an act, and he went on the Hajj to Mecca with other Muslim pilgrims and became a dervish. But as a dervish in Thessalonica he began to repent bitterly. In his repentance he came to the thought that he could wash from himself the terrible sin of apostasy from Christ only by his own blood. When therefore he repented and resolved upon martyrdom, he proclaimed himself before the Turks as a Christian. The Turks cast him into prison and then subjected him to other tortures. But Alexander only cried out: "As a Christian I was born, as a Christian I wish to die." At last the Turks condemned him to death, at which the repentant Alexander greatly rejoiced, knowing thereby that his sins were forgiven and that God accepted his sacrifice. He was beheaded in Smyrna in the year 1794 and was glorified in the Church both heavenly and earthly.
“As a Christian I was born, as a Christian I wish to die.”
Hymn of Praise
The holy Apostles, one small company,
Illumined the world with heavenly light.
On the wings of the Spirit they traversed the world,
That they might gift the world with those same wings.
They went to palaces, to hovels, and to mountains,
They sweated on the road, they crossed the seas:
Every day was for them a new battle and torment,
A wrestling with the world, a battle without complaint.
Every day was different, but the thought was the same,
The thought of Christ, the vision of Christ.
It mattered not to them what kind of day would come,
Or whether they would sleep in a palace or a prison,
If only they could keep Christ within themselves
And with Him fly more swiftly across the earth.
It mattered not what lunch or supper might be,
If only the faith would shine throughout the world.
Honors and blows were all the same to them,
If only Christ would reign over the world.
Winged angels hovered above them
And rejoiced in them as in their own brethren.
The holy Apostles, sons of God,
On the foundation of Christ — the pillars of the Church,
They work even now and continue to build the Church,
Though they shine like the sun in heaven.
Reflection
For the sinner one should not wish death but repentance. Nothing so grieves the Lord, Who suffered on the Cross for sinners, as when we pray to Him to slay some sinner with death and so remove him from our path. It happened once that the Apostle Carpus lost patience and began to pray to God to send death upon two sinful men, a pagan and an apostate from the faith. Then the Lord Christ Himself appeared to him and said: "Strike Me! Behold, I am ready to be crucified again for the salvation of men!" This event Saint Carpus communicated to Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, and the latter recorded it and left it to the Church as a lesson for all: that one should pray for sinners that they be saved and not perish, for the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9).
“One should pray for sinners that they be saved and not perish.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the grace of God the Holy Spirit in the Mystery of Communion, namely:
1. How that grace gives life to the bread and wine,
2. How it transforms them into the Body and Blood of Christ.
Homily
On the Grace of God
**My grace is sufficient for thee! ** (II Cor. 12:9)
The Lord did not spare even His holy Apostles from temptation. But in return He gave them grace! When Satan himself began to torment the Apostle Paul, Paul prayed to God that Satan would depart from him. To this the Lord answered: My grace is sufficient for thee! That is: if thou must suffer from Satan, My grace is sufficient for thy endurance! If thou must fight against Satan, again My grace is sufficient for thee! Grace is the full armor. Grace is stronger than all adversities, all temptations, all dark powers. Grace is invincible and victorious.
Therefore, brethren, we must pray to the Lord to give us His all-powerful grace. Grace is God within us. Grace is the Kingdom of God within us. When the grace of God is within us, it is day in our souls. And day means light, knowledge, and fearlessness.
We cannot, brethren, here on earth ask of God any greater good than the grace of God. If we were to receive the entire universe as a gift, that gift would be less than the grace of God.
O most rich Lord, inexhaustible source of all-powerful grace, bedew our hardened hearts with Thy grace, that we might weep before Thy exceeding goodness and our terrible ingratitude. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Grace is God within us. Grace is the Kingdom of God within us. When the grace of God is within us, it is day in our souls. And day means light, knowledge, and fearlessness.”