The Lives of the Saints
1. SAINT METROPHANES, FIRST PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
His father Dometius, the brother of the Roman Emperor Probus, fled from Rome as a Christian in the time of the persecution of Christians and came to Byzantium. The Bishop of Byzantium, Titus, ordained him as a presbyter. After the death of Titus, Dometius became Bishop of Byzantium. After the death of Dometius, the episcopal throne was taken by his elder son Probus, and after his death the episcopal throne was taken by Metrophanes. When Emperor Constantine first saw Metrophanes, he loved him as a father. At the time of the First Ecumenical Council, Metrophanes was already an elder of one hundred and seventeen years and, being unable himself to take part in the affairs of the Council, he appointed his chorepiscopus Alexander as his representative. The emperor obtained for him from the Council the title of patriarch. And so he became the first Patriarch of Constantinople. The emperor also invited the entire Council to visit the ailing and aged archpastor. When the emperor asked whom he wished as his successor on the patriarchal throne, Metrophanes named Alexander; then he said to Alexander of Alexandria: "O brother, what an excellent successor thou shalt leave behind!" And he took by the hand the archdeacon Athanasius, later Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria, and praised him before all. After this prophecy he took leave of all, and ten days later surrendered his soul to God in the year 325.
2. THE HOLY MARTYR CONCORDIUS
He was a great ascetic and a wonderworker during his life on earth. In the time of Emperor Antoninus he was arrested because of his faith in Christ. After tortures and imprisonment he was brought before a stone idol of Zeus to bow down to it. He spat upon the idol, and for this he was immediately beheaded.
3. THE HOLY MARTYRS FRONTASIUS, SEVERINUS, SEVERIAN, AND SILANUS
They were tortured in the time of Emperor Claudius, in France. When their heads were cut off, they rose, took their heads in their hands, crossed the River Ill, and came to the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, in which Bishop Fronto was praying to God. Entering the church, they laid their heads at the feet of the bishop, and they lay down and crossed their hands upon their chests. There they were honorably buried. At their burial the singing of invisible angelic hosts was heard.
4. THE VENERABLE ZOSIMAS, BISHOP OF NEW BABYLON
The Venerable Zosimas, Bishop of New Babylon, a city in Egypt. He struggled ascetically on Mount Sinai. Having come on business to Alexandria, he was consecrated by the blessed Patriarch Apollinarius as Bishop of Babylon. He was an excellent shepherd to the flock of Christ. But when old age and weariness overcame him, he withdrew again to Sinai, where he surrendered his soul to God and received the crown of glory among the great hierarchs. He lived and ended his life in the sixth century.
5. THE HIEROMARTYR ASTIUS, BISHOP OF DYRRACHIUM
He suffered in the time of Trajan. First he was beaten with leaden rods, then stripped and crucified naked upon a tree. His naked body was smeared with honey so that wasps and hornets would sting him. In the greatest torments Saint Astius, glorifying God, breathed his last and received two crowns, both as a martyr and as a hierarch.
6. SAINTS MARTHA AND MARY
The sisters of Lazarus. After the Ascension of the Lord, Lazarus went to preach the Gospel. His sisters helped him in this. It is not known where they ended their lives.
Hymn of Praise
Hospitality is a virtue ordained by God,
Through it many a soul has been led into Paradise.
Wondrous Abraham showed hospitality without measure,
Both immeasurably and warmly, and not hypocritically.
And King David honored hospitality greatly,
Therefore the life of King Saul he carefully guarded.
And when the Elder appeared, greater than old Abraham,
When darkness hid from the Descendant of David,
Then Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus,
Showed hospitality, those hospitable maidens:
They hosted the Greatest since the sun began its course,
Through hospitality each of them gained heavenly Paradise.
With perfect hospitality in heart and in meal,
With excellent hospitality in word and in deed.
And the most rich Lord richly repaid,
When death saddened this hospitable home,
Jesus raised the dead brother for his sisters,
And bore their eternal glory throughout all the world.
That is the reward for hospitality from God Himself,
The Lord loves the hospitality of a sincere heart.
The Holy Church takes pride in Martha and Mary,
Teaching that we too are guests at the table of God.
Reflection
It is terrible to kill a man. There is no word that could describe the horror that seizes a murderer. While a man prepares to kill a man, he thinks that it is all the same to kill a man as to kill an ox. But when he has committed his intended crime, then he suddenly feels that he has declared war on heaven and earth, and that he has become as one banished and cut off from both heaven and earth. The slain one gives him no peace by day or by night. A certain well-known robber came to Saint Zosimas on Sinai and asked to be tonsured a monk. Zosimas clothed him in the monastic habit and sent him to the Monastery of the Venerable Dorotheus near Gaza, to struggle there in the cenobium. After nine years the tonsured robber came back and asked for his secular clothing, giving back the monastic robe. When asked why he was doing this, the robber answered that for nine years he had earnestly prayed to God, fasted, kept vigil, and fulfilled every obedience; that he felt that many of his sins had been forgiven, but that one sin tormented him unceasingly. He had once killed an innocent child, and that child appeared to him by day and by night, asking: "Why did you kill me?" Therefore he resolved to go and surrender himself to the authorities, so that the authorities would execute him and thus he would pay blood for blood. Having put on his former clothing, he went to the city of Diospolis, where he confessed his crime and was beheaded. And so with his own blood he washed away his bloody sin.
“It is terrible to kill a man. There is no word that could describe the horror that seizes a murderer.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous healing of the Gadarene demoniacs (Matt. 8:28), namely:
1. How the Lord cast out the demons from the demoniacs, and the demoniacs became peaceful and meek,
2. How the Lord stands beside me and waits to be called to help me and to cleanse me from every evil spirit that holds me against God and separates me from God.
Homily
On Trusting in the Lord and Not in One's Own Understanding
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding (Prov. 3:5)
If all the mountains were to advance upon thee, couldst thou push them back with thy hands? Thou couldst not. And if darkness upon darkness of all the mysteries in heaven and on earth were to press upon the tiny candle of thy understanding, could thy understanding illuminate them? Even less. Lean not upon thine own understanding, for even of that insignificant thing which thou callest understanding, the greater part is nothing other than dead ashes. Lean not upon thine own understanding, for it too asks questions but gives no answers. O man, lean not upon thine own understanding, for it is a highway along which rushes the crowd — hungry, and thirsty, motley and curious — the crowd of sensory impressions.
Trust, O man, in the Lord with all thine heart. In Him is understanding infinite and all-seeing. Counsel is Mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding; I have strength (8:14), says the Lord. He sees the paths by which thy blood flows and all the crossroads where thy thoughts wander. He offers Himself to thee with compassion and love as a guide, yet thou dost trust in thy darkened and worthless understanding! And where was thy understanding before thy birth? And where was thy understanding when thy body was being formed, when thy heart began to seethe with blood, when thine eyes began to open, when thy voice began to flow from thy throat? By whose understanding was all this done while thine still slept like coal in the mine? And since thy understanding has awakened, canst thou count all the delusions to which it has led thee, all the lies in which it has entangled thee, all the dangers it has failed to foresee? O my brother, trust solely in the Lord with all thy heart! He has delivered thee countless times until now from thine own understanding, from its delusions and lies, from the dangers into which it has pushed thee. What a blind man is to one who sees, that is thy understanding compared to the understanding of God. Trust in thy guide, O blind one. Trust, brother, solely in the Lord with all thy heart.
O Lord the All-seeing, Eternal and Infallible Understanding, deeper than the universe and brighter than the sun, deliver us henceforth from the errors of our understanding. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Lean not upon thine own understanding, for it too asks questions but gives no answers.”