The Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY APOSTLE JUDE
One of the Twelve. The son of Joseph and Salome, and the brother of James, the Brother of the Lord. With Salome, the daughter of Angeas the son of Barachiah son of Zechariah, Joseph the carpenter had four sons: James, Joses, Simon, and Jude. This Jude is sometimes called Jude of James, after his more renowned brother James. Saint Jude begins his epistle thus: "Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James" (Jude 1:1). Although he too could have called himself the Brother of the Lord as much as James, he did not do so out of humility and shame, for at first he did not believe in Christ the Lord; and when the elder Joseph before his death wished to give a share of his property to Jesus as to his other children, they all opposed this, including Jude — only James voluntarily set aside a portion of his own share and designated it for Jesus. Jude is also called Levi and Thaddaeus. There is another Thaddaeus, one of the Seventy Apostles (see August 21), but this Thaddaeus, or Jude, was one of the great Apostles. He preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Idumea, Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Armenia. In Edessa, the city of Abgar, he completed the preaching of that other Thaddaeus. When he was preaching in the regions around Ararat, he was seized by the pagans, crucified on a cross, and killed with arrows, that he might reign eternally in the kingdom of Christ.
2. THE VENERABLE PAISIUS THE GREAT
An Egyptian by birth and language. According to a vision in a dream, his mother dedicated him to the service of God. As a young man he came to the Venerable Pambo, who received him as a disciple and as a fellow student of the Venerable John Colobos, who also described the life of Paisius. To the joy of his spiritual father, Paisius added labor to labor and ascetical struggle to struggle. The Prophet Jeremiah appeared to him several times, whom he especially loved and more frequently read; the angels of God also appeared to him often, and even the Lord Christ Himself. "Peace to thee, My beloved pleaser!" the Lord Christ said to him. By great grace from God, Paisius had a special gift of abstinence from food. He often did not taste bread for fifteen days, still more often for a week, and once, according to the testimony of John Colobos, he lived seventy days without tasting anything. He had a great battle with the spirits of wickedness, who appeared to him sometimes as they truly are and sometimes in the form of bright angels. But the grace-filled servant of God never allowed himself to be deceived or deluded. He was a clairvoyant and wonderworker renowned throughout all Egypt. He departed to eternity in the year 400. The Venerable Isidore of Pelusium transferred his relics to his own monastery and honorably buried them.
3. THE HOLY MARTYR ZOSIMAS
A Roman soldier in the time of Emperor Trajan. He courageously confessed his faith in Christ the Lord, for which he endured fierce torments. In the midst of his torments he heard a voice from heaven: "Be of good courage, Zosimas, and be strong. I am with thee!" The angels of God appeared to him in prison. After many tortures he was beheaded with an axe in the year 116.
4. THE VENERABLE JOHN THE HERMIT
He struggled ascetically in the sixth century near Jerusalem. By his ascetical struggle he attained a high degree of purity and power, so that even wild beasts obeyed him. In deep old age he reposed in the Lord in the year 586.
Hymn of Praise
Paisius the Great, from his youngest years,
Closed behind him the door to all desires.
His spirit he raised to God, that sole desire,
Like all the great ancient saints.
The monks asked the wondrous Paisius:
Which virtue is more pleasing to God?
The one that is hidden! — Paisius told them,
And the one that is displayed is not dear to God.
When Paisius glorified God by his life,
The glorified Lord Christ appeared to him:
— Peace to thee, My pleaser; tell Me what thou desirest,
It shall be according to thy wish; ask and receive!
When he heard these words from the Lord,
Paisius like a child gave himself to weeping:
— O gracious Lord, I am a sinful man,
And because of many sins, much inconsolable.
By Thy mercy forgive me my sins,
All that I have sinned, O God, from early youth,
And grant me strength for the time to come,
That I not load the burden of new sins,
That to the end I may do Thy will,
And burn with ever greater love toward Thee.
The Lord fulfilled his wise desire
And gave His blessing to His saint.
“Which virtue is more pleasing to God? The one that is hidden!”
Reflection
The monks once asked Paisius the Great: "Tell us, Father, a word about salvation, and how we ought to live according to God?" And the elder answered them: "Go, and keep the commandments of God and preserve the traditions of the Fathers." The tradition of the Fathers is the experience of the saints in the spiritual realm, an enormous experience of nearly two thousand years, the experience of many hundreds and thousands of holy men and women. What a most rich storehouse of wisdom! What an immeasurable heap of proofs for every truth of Holy Scripture! And all that treasure, all that wisdom, all those proofs, all that experience — the Protestants have cast away! O unspeakable folly! O beggar's poverty!
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous healing of two blind men (Matt. 20:30), namely:
1. How two blind men cried out to the Lord: Have mercy on us, O Lord, Thou Son of David,
2. How the merciful Lord touched their eyes, and they received their sight,
3. How I too am blinded by sin; and how I too can receive my sight if I cry out to the Lord to touch me.
Homily
On Vengeance and the Avenger
Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and He shall save thee (Prov. 20:22)
Do not avenge thyself; do not return evil for evil. There is enough evil from thy neighbor; if thou returnest evil for evil to him, thou wilt double the evil in the world; but if thou dost not return it, he may yet burn up his evil by repentance, and so by thy patience and forgiveness thou wilt diminish the evil in the world.
Do not avenge thyself; do not return evil for evil; wait on the Lord, He sees and remembers, and in His own time both thou and thy evildoer will learn that the Lord sees and remembers. Thou askest: what have I accomplished by not returning evil for evil? Thou hast done the wisest thing thou couldst have done in the given case, namely: thou hast yielded thy battle to One stronger than thyself, and the Stronger One will fight victoriously for thee. If thou enterest into battle with the evildoer, thou canst be defeated. But God cannot be defeated. Yield, therefore, thy battle to the Victorious and Invincible One, and patiently wait.
Learn from a small child: when a little child is attacked by someone in the presence of his parent, he does not return attack for attack but looks at his parent and cries. He knows that his parent will protect him. How is it that thou dost not know what a small child knows? Thy heavenly Parent is constantly beside thee. Therefore: do not avenge thyself; do not return evil for evil; but look to thy Parent and weep. Only so wilt thou secure victory for thyself in conflict with evil men.
O Almighty Lord, Who hast said: Vengeance is Mine, protect us with Thy almighty hand from the unrighteous, and restrain us from vengeance. Counsel us by Thy Holy Spirit that it is greater heroism to endure than to take revenge. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Do not avenge thyself. Yield thy battle to the Victorious and Invincible One, and patiently wait.”