The Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY MARTYR JULIAN OF TARSUS
Of noble, senatorial origin; he lived in Tarsus of Cilicia and suffered in the time of Diocletian. Although he was only eighteen years old when he was subjected to torture for the faith, Saint Julian was already sufficiently educated and established in Christian piety. For a whole year the imperial governor led him from city to city, constantly torturing him and urging him to deny Christ. Julian's mother followed her son from afar. When the governor seized her and sent her to persuade her son to deny Christ, she for three days spoke contrary counsel to her son in prison, teaching him and encouraging him not to falter in spirit but to go to death with gratitude to God and with boldness. The torturers then sewed Julian into a sack with sand, scorpions, and serpents and cast him into the sea, and Julian's mother also died under torture. The waves cast his relics upon the shore, and the faithful transferred them to Alexandria and honorably buried them in the year 290. Later those relics were transferred to Antioch. Saint John Chrysostom himself later delivered a panegyric to the holy martyr Julian. "From the mouth of the martyr," said Chrysostom, "there issued a holy voice, and together with the voice there poured forth a light clearer than the rays of the sun." And also: "Take anyone you wish, demented and raging, and bring him to this holy tomb where the relics of the martyr lie, and thou shalt see how he [the demon] will without fail leap out and flee as from a burning fire." From these words it is clear how numerous miracles must have occurred at the tomb of Saint Julian.
2. THE VENERABLE JULIUS AND JULIAN
Brothers by birth from the Greek region of Myrmidonia. From childhood they were raised in Christianity, with a vow that they would always live in virginity and serve the Church. Julius was a presbyter and Julian a deacon. From Emperor Theodosius the Younger they obtained a decree allowing them throughout the entire empire to destroy idols and build Christian churches. Like two apostles, these two brothers converted non-Christians to Christianity in the East and West and built churches. They built one hundred churches during their lifetime. They reposed peacefully in the Lord near Milan. The inhabitants of Milan invoke Saint Julius for help against wolves.
3. THE HOLY MARTYR ARCHIL II, KING OF GEORGIA
He was the son of King Stephen and the grandson of the great Georgian King Vakhtang. A great Christian and defender of Christianity, King Archil was tortured by the Muslims and beheaded for Christ on March 20, 744. He was eighty years old when he suffered for the Lord and departed to blessed eternity.
4. THE HOLY MARTYR LUARSAB II, PRINCE OF KARTLI IN GEORGIA
His father, George X, also suffered for the faith and was poisoned by the Persian shah. Luarsab was cast into a prison near Shiraz, in which he languished for seven years. Then, by order of Shah Abbas I, he was hanged in the prison together with two servants, on June 21, 1622. Over his grave a heavenly light was seen.
Hymn of Praise
When Julius and his brother Julian
Had built for God the Most High
Their ninety-ninth church,
Then Julian built a tomb
For his priestly brother Julius.
And when he showed his brother the tomb,
Julius spoke to him gently:
— Prepare thyself, my born brother,
This tomb is built for thee.
Prepare thyself to go before God,
Before thy brother, the sinful Julius.
For God has ordained for Julius
To build yet the hundredth church
On some solitary island.
As the glorious Julius spoke,
As he spoke, so it came to pass:
Before the elder, the younger brother found his rest,
And the elder completed one hundred churches.
And when the hundredth on an island he had built,
Then he too departed to eternity.
Reflection
When a man begins to practice silence, silence seems lower than speech; but when he has become practiced in silence, then he knows that speech is lower than silence. A monk said to Saint Sisoes: "I would like to guard my heart, but I cannot," to which the elder answered: "How can we guard our hearts when the gate of our heart — the tongue — stands open?" Someone once asked Charillus, the nephew of Lycurgus, why his uncle had issued so few laws. He answered: "Because not many laws are needed for those who do not speak much."
“When a man begins to practice silence, silence seems lower than speech; but when he has become practiced in silence, then he knows that speech is lower than silence.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous healing of blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46), namely:
1. How Bartimaeus cried out with faith to the Lord for healing, and how the Lord healed him,
2. How I too sit blind in soul beside the road along which the Lord passes, and if I cry out to Him, He will heal me.
Homily
On Sowing and Reaping
He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity (Prov. 22:8)
If thou doest iniquity, affliction may pass thee by on the day when thou doest iniquity, but it has heard the voice of the iniquity and will come without fail in its own day.
Some sowing is sweet, and some reaping is bitter. Some sowing resembles life, but its fruit and harvest are death.
Take heed and learn from the Holy Scriptures:
Eve sowed iniquity through disobedience, and the affliction of childbirth befell her. Cain sowed iniquity through fratricide, and the affliction of sleepless wandering over the earth befell him. Sodom and Gomorrah sowed iniquity and reaped the affliction of a terrible death. The sons of Eli the high priest sowed iniquity, for they committed abomination beside the Ark of the Covenant, and they reaped affliction, for they bitterly lost their lives in battle.
Remember Saul, his iniquity and his affliction. Then remember Ahab and Jezebel. Then remember Herod and Judas. Then remember today, and yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and every past day, and heed the words of every day: he that soweth iniquity shall reap affliction! Is there a village in the world before whose eyes this lesson has not been set? Is there a roof that does not conceal such a lesson beneath it? Is there a single living person who has not been convinced of this lesson by living examples around him?
O Most Wise Lord, if we did not know Thy will, we would be less accountable. But since Thou hast given us to know it, O Most Merciful One, grant us also the strength to fulfill it through all the days of our life. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Is there a village in the world before whose eyes this lesson has not been set? Is there a roof that does not conceal such a lesson beneath it?”