The Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY MARTYR AQUILINA
Born in the Palestinian city of Byblos, of honorable Christian parents. In her seventh year little Aquilina was already fully instructed in the true Christian life, and in her tenth year she was so filled with divine understanding and the grace of the Holy Spirit that with great power and zeal she preached Christ to her companions. When Diocletian's persecution began, someone reported Aquilina to the imperial governor Volusianus, a beast-like man. Volusianus first ordered her flogged, then ordered a red-hot rod thrust through her ears and brain. Until the very last moment the maiden Aquilina freely and openly confessed Christ the Lord; and when brain and blood began to flow from her head, she fell as if dead. The governor, thinking that Aquilina was indeed dead, ordered her taken outside the city and cast on a dung-heap, that dogs might devour her body. But during the night an angel of God appeared to her and said: "Arise, be well!" And the maiden arose and was well, and for a long time she raised up a prayer of thanksgiving to God, beseeching Him not to deny her the completion of her martyr's struggle. "Go, it shall be to thee as thou dost pray!" was heard a voice from heaven. And Aquilina went into the city. The city gate opened of itself before her, and she came and entered, like a spirit, into the governor's palace and appeared before the governor at his bedside. The governor was seized with inexpressible horror, seeing alive the maiden whom he had considered dead. The next day, by his order, the executioners led Aquilina out to behead her with a sword. Before the beheading the maiden knelt and prayed to God and gave up her spirit. The executioner cut off her head after she was dead. Her relics gave healing to many who were sick. Saint Aquilina was twelve years old when she suffered for the Lord. She suffered and was crowned with the martyr's crown in the year 293.
2. SAINT TRIPHYLLIUS, BISHOP OF LEUCOUSIA IN CYPRUS
A disciple of Saint Spyridon, and later his co-servant on the island of Cyprus. He was a merciful man, pure in thought, virginal his entire life, "a living fountain of tears," and a great ascetic. He governed well the flock of Christ, and having reposed, he received his crown among the great hierarchs in heaven. He reposed peacefully in the year 370.
3. SAINT ANNA AND HER SON JOHN
Taken as an orphan into the house of a certain nobleman, she was raised and educated in that house as an adopted daughter. Finding her a worthy girl, the nobleman married her to his son. When the old nobleman died, the relatives pressed his son to dismiss his wife because of her lowly birth and to marry another who would be more fitting for him in birth and wealth. The nobleman's son feared God and would not do this. Seeing her husband in conflict with his relatives, Anna secretly left him and fled to a distant island where there was not a living soul. But she came to that island pregnant and soon bore a son. On this island she struggled ascetically for thirty years with fasting and prayer. Then, by the Providence of God, a certain hieromonk landed on that island, who baptized her son and gave him the name John. This holy soul struggled in the fifth century and peacefully departed this life.
Hymn of Praise
While holy Triphyllius was still a deacon,
He read the Psalter and the Gospel:
Humbly, sweetly he read to the people,
And holy Spyridon listened attentively.
Once in the church, packed with people,
He beautifully read the chapter on the paralytic,
How the gracious Lord saw the sick man —
"Take up thy bed!" He said, and the sick man departed.
Triphyllius replaced "bed" with "couch."
Then Spyridon said: Come to me, my son!
— How canst thou change a word, my dear deacon,
A word that our gracious Savior uttered?
The word "bed" came from His lips,
And thou saidst "couch," letting go His word!
That book, my son, was inspired from above,
Therefore let us read all as it is written.
The words of the Gospel are full of power,
While human words are feeble and corrupt.
A human bed is not the same as a beast's lair,
Therefore say, my son: forgive me, O God!
Triphyllius the deacon saw his mistake,
He repented bitterly and was greatly ashamed.
Blessed was Triphyllius for his spiritual father,
Holy Spyridon, the glorious wonderworker.
“That book, my son, was inspired from above, therefore let us read all as it is written.”
Reflection
Meekness and guilelessness adorned our saints, and gave them strength and wisdom not to return evil for evil. When Emperor Constantius, the son of Constantine, fell ill in Antioch, he summoned Saint Spyridon to read a prayer over him. Saint Spyridon, accompanied by his deacon Triphyllius, set out from Cyprus and came to Antioch before the imperial court. Spyridon was dressed in poor clothing. On his head he had a simple woven cap, in his hand a staff of palm, and on his chest he wore hanging a small earthen vessel in which there was oil from beneath the Precious Cross (as it was then the custom for Christians in Jerusalem to carry upon themselves). So dressed, and moreover exhausted from fasting and the long journey, the saint in no way betrayed his rank and dignity. When he wished to step into the emperor's court, one of the imperial servants, thinking him a common beggar, struck him on one cheek with a slap. The meek and guileless saint turned the other cheek to him. When with difficulty he succeeded in reaching the emperor, he touched the emperor's head with his hand, and the emperor was healed.
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous walking of the Lord upon the water as upon dry land (Matt. 14:25), namely:
1. How the boat with the disciples was in distress at night upon the waves of the sea, and how the Lord, foreseeing this, hastened to their aid,
2. How I too am often in distress from the darkness and waves of the passions, and how the merciful Lord hastens to me in aid, walking above the passions as upon a firm path.
Homily
On the Way of Life and the Way of Death
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Prov. 14:12)
Sometimes it seems to a man that the path of the ungodly is right, for it leads the ungodly to wealth and success. O if only he could be given to see the end of that path! He would be horrified and would never set foot upon it.
If the end of a path finishes in ruin, is that path right? Therefore, O man, do not say of any path that it is right if thou dost not see its end! Thou askest: how can I, a weak and short-sighted man, perceive the end of a long path? In two ways: by reading Holy Scripture through the experience of the Orthodox Church, and by observing the end of the life's path of those who around thee, and before thee, die. But the first way is more reliable, and if thou holdest to it, know that thou shalt not stumble into the night of eternal death.
Only that path is right which is pointed out by God as right. And all other paths which seem right to thy mind but do not coincide with the path of God are crooked and deadly. Behold, even the beasts have their paths — wilt thou walk those paths if they seem right to thee? Do not go, for in the end thou wilt fall into the hungry jaws of the beast. But the path pointed out by God, even if it seems crooked to thee, is right — walk in it. Because of our sins, the path of God sometimes seems wrong to us. If we had no sin, and if our mind were not bent by sin, it could never seem to us, even for a moment, that any other path is right apart from the path of God. To the crooked mind many crooked paths seem straight, and the only straight path seems crooked.
O All-seeing Lord, our Guide, straighten our minds, that they may not linger on crooked paths. Thou, O Jesus, art the only Way, Truth, and Life, and what we devise apart from Thee is a crossroads, a lie, and death. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“To the crooked mind many crooked paths seem straight, and the only straight path seems crooked.”