The Lives of the Saints
1. THE VENERABLE BESSARION
Born and raised in Egypt. He gave himself early to the spiritual life and "did not defile the spiritual garment in which he was clothed by holy baptism." He visited Saint Gerasimus on the Jordan and listened to Saint Isidore of Pelusium. He conquered his body by great fasting and vigil, but concealed his ascetical struggle as much as possible from men. Once he stood at prayer for forty days without eating or sleeping. He wore one garment in both summer and winter. He had a great gift of wonderworking. He had no fixed place of dwelling, but until deep old age he lived in mountains and groves. He healed the sick and performed many other miracles for the benefit of men and to the glory of God. He reposed peacefully in the year 466.
2. THE VENERABLE HILARION THE NEW
Abbot of the Dalmatian Monastery in Constantinople. He was a disciple of Gregory of Decapolis and an imitator of the life of Hilarion the Great, whose name he also took. Powerful in prayer, steadfast and courageous in suffering. And he suffered much for icons in the time of the wicked iconoclast emperors, Leo the Armenian and others. Then Emperor Leo was cut down with swords by his own soldiers in that very church and at that very place where he had first mocked the holy icons and from which he had removed the first icon. Then the holy Hilarion was released from prison. But not for long. He was again tortured and held in prison until the time of the Orthodox Empress Theodora. He was clairvoyant and far-seeing: he saw the angels of God bearing to heaven the soul of Saint Theodore the Studite. Having pleased God, he reposed in the heavenly kingdom in the year 845 in his seventieth year.
3. THE VENERABLE MARTYRS ARCHELAIS, THECLA, AND SUSANNA
As nuns, pure and virginal, they struggled ascetically in an insignificant monastery near Rome. But when the persecution of Christians began under the wicked Emperor Diocletian, they fled to Campania and settled there near the city of Nola. Their holy life could not be hidden from men, and people from the surrounding places began to come to them seeking counsel, instruction, and help in various afflictions and illnesses. But at last they were seized by the pagans and brought to trial. They openly and freely confessed their faith in Christ. When the judge Leontius asked the holy Archelais about the faith of Christ, she answered: "By the power of Christ I trample the power of the devil; I teach men to know the one true God, and in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, health is given through me, His handmaiden, to all who are sick." All three virgins were beaten, doused with boiling pitch, starved in prison, and finally beheaded with a sword. When they were led to the place of execution, angels appeared to them, which some of the executioners also saw and were so frightened that they dared not raise the sword against the holy virgins. But the virgins encouraged them to carry out their duty. And so they were beheaded like lambs in the year 293 and went to the Kingdom of Christ, to rest in eternity and delight in beholding the face of God.
Hymn of Praise
Holy Bessarion, without roof or bread,
From childhood to the grave preserved his virginity:
Bodily purity and purity of mind,
Therefore he was full of power and understanding,
Divine understanding and divine power,
Joyful in spirit, without despondent sorrow,
Without despondent sorrow and without dark thoughts,
A mind clean and far-seeing, like transparent crystal.
When divine love he kindled in his heart,
He wrought many glorious miracles:
He walked upon water as upon dry land,
And was a fearful scourge to every dark spirit.
He halted the sun and postponed the evening,
And all became deed that his lips had spoken.
It was the Power of God that acted in him,
For he was obedient to God in all things.
O wonderworking saint, help us also
Before the throne of God with thy prayers!
Reflection
Malicious joy is a filthy garment that our spirit sometimes puts on with pleasure. The moment thou rejoicest at the sinful fall of thy brother, thou too hast fallen, to the joy of the devil, who has caught two fish on one hook. Brotherhood by blood is a great bond, but brotherhood by spirit is even greater. If the sin of a brother by blood grieves thee, how should the sin of a brother by spirit not grieve thee? And if thou concealest the sin of a brother by blood, why dost thou maliciously proclaim the sin of a brother by spirit? Who are thy brethren by spirit? All Christians — all those who with thee partake from one and the same Chalice of one and the same life. O how great were the saints in brotherly love! O how far was malicious joy from them! Of Saint Bessarion the following is told: once all the monks were gathered in the church for prayer. The abbot approached a monk who had committed some sin and ordered him to leave the church. The monk went out, and after him went Bessarion, saying: "I too am the same kind of sinner!"
“The moment thou rejoicest at the sinful fall of thy brother, thou too hast fallen, to the joy of the devil, who has caught two fish on one hook.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous raising of Jairus's daughter (Matt. 9:18), namely:
1. How the Lord assured the people that the girl was not dead but sleeping,
2. How He took her by the hand and the girl arose alive,
3. How the Lord can also raise my soul, dead from sin, by one touch of His Life-giving Spirit.
Homily
On Guarding the Heart
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life (Prov. 4:23)
In the heart is the will, in the heart is love, in the heart is the mind — in the heart is the image of the Most Holy Divine Trinity. The heart is the home of the Father, the altar of the Son, and the workshop of the Holy Spirit. God desires the heart: My son, give Me thine heart! O my brother: above all that is guarded, guard thy heart! Let the mountains be overturned, let the seas dry up, let friends forsake thee, let riches betray thee, let worms devour thy body, let the world pour upon thee all the mockery it has — fear not, only guard thy heart, guard it and bind it to the Lord, give it to the Lord. Out of the heart come the issues of life — whence is life in the heart, if the breath of the Master and Source of life — God — does not dwell in it?
A good man out of the good treasure bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things (Matt. 12:35). These are the words of the Lord, Who fills the treasure-house of thy heart with His riches. What is a good man? It is a good treasure-house of the heart. What is an evil man? It is an evil treasure-house of the heart. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies (15:19); but from a good heart come: peace, longsuffering, goodness, mercy, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal. 5:22-23). Dost thou see what an enormous storehouse the human heart is? Dost thou see what can all fit into the human heart? O brother, God the Holy Spirit Himself, when He deigns, can dwell in the human heart. And He not only can, but He wills to do so. He only waits for thee to prepare thy heart for Him. To turn it into a temple, for God the Holy Spirit dwells only in a temple. As the serpent guards its head, so also thou, my son, guard thy heart. Above all that is guarded, guard, my son, thy heart! For into it enters and from it flows the life that is from the Living God.
O Lord, Giver of Life, help us to guard our hearts for Thee, for Thee, O Lord! To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“In the heart is the will, in the heart is love, in the heart is the mind — in the heart is the image of the Most Holy Divine Trinity.”