The Lives of the Saints
1. THE VENERABLE MARTYR FEBRONIA
The daughter of Senator Prosphorus of Rome. In order to escape marriage with a mortal man, she betrothed herself to Christ and was tonsured in the East, in the land of Assyria, in a monastery where her aunt Bryena was abbess. Lysimachus, the son of a certain nobleman, wished to marry Febronia, but since Emperor Diocletian suspected him of being a secret Christian, he sent him to the East with Selinus, his uncle, to capture and slay Christians. Selinus was cruel as a beast, and everywhere mercilessly destroyed Christians. Lysimachus, on the contrary, wherever he could, spared Christians and hid them from his beast-like uncle. Having wrought devastation upon the Christians in Palmyra, Selinus came to the city of Sivapolis, near which was a convent with fifty women ascetics, among whom was Febronia. Although she was only twenty years old, Febronia was respected both in the monastery and in the city for her great meekness, wisdom, and temperance. In that monastery the rule of the Blessed Platonida, a former abbess, was observed: that every Friday be spent solely in prayers and the reading of sacred books, without any other work. Bryena had appointed Febronia to read the sacred books to the sisters, and this she did standing hidden behind a curtain, so that no one would be distracted or captivated by the beauty of her face. When Selinus heard of Febronia, he ordered that she be brought before him. When the holy maiden would not deny Christ or consent to marriage with a mortal man, he ordered her flogged, then her teeth knocked out, then her hands cut off, then her breasts, then her feet, and finally that she be beheaded with a sword. But on that very day a terrible punishment of God befell the torturer: madness entered into him, and a certain mortal terror seized him; in that terror he struck his head against a marble pillar and fell dead. Lysimachus ordered that the body of Febronia be gathered and carried to the monastery, where it was honorably buried, and he with many other soldiers was baptized. From the relics of Saint Febronia many healings occurred, and she also appeared on the day of her feast and stood in her customary place among the sisters, and all the sisters beheld her with fear and joy. Saint Febronia honorably suffered and departed to eternal blessedness in the year 310, and in 363 her relics were transferred to Constantinople.
2. THE VENERABLE DIONYSIUS
The founder of the Monastery of Saint John (Dionysiou) on Athos. A native of Korytsa in Albania. His older brother Theodosius withdrew to the Holy Mountain, where in time he became abbot of the Monastery of Philotheou. When he grew up, Saint Dionysius came to his brother at Philotheou, who tonsured him as a monk. By the Providence of God, Theodosius, while engaged in monastic business in Constantinople, was elected and consecrated as Metropolitan of Trebizond. To Dionysius, however, a wondrous light began to appear every night at the place where he later built the monastery of Saint John the Forerunner. Interpreting the appearance of that light as a sign from heaven that a monastery should be built there, Dionysius went to Trebizond to his brother and to Emperor Alexius Comnenus to seek help. The emperor gave him both money and a charter, which is preserved in the monastery to this day. In the year 1380 Dionysius founded the monastery of Saint John the Forerunner. But when sea pirates once plundered the monastery, Dionysius went again to Trebizond, and there he ended his life in the seventy-second year of his age. And the Monastery of Dionysiou continues to prosper and flourish to this day. In that monastery there is an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called "The Akathist," which Emperor Alexius Comnenus gave to Dionysius. According to tradition, before that icon the Akathist to the Theotokos, composed by Patriarch Sergius, was read for the first time.
Hymn of Praise
Febronia the maiden confessed Christ,
Standing before the court, bloody and pale.
Young Febronia, like a palm branch
Heavy with beautiful fruit,
Spoke to Selinus: "I have a Bridegroom,
And I accept no honor from thee.
Christ is my glory, Christ is my pride,
O how beautiful is the face of my Bridegroom!
Cut, cut my feet — they have walked their path!
Cut, cut my hands — they have done their work!
Cut, cut my tongue — with my heart I shall pray!
Crush, crush my mouth — with my heart I shall speak!
Flog and break my body — what need have I of the body?
My Bridegroom has prepared for me a fairer garment,
In heaven above among many saints,
In sweet Paradise among the angels.
When I depart, think not, O Selinus,
That the bitterness of thy life will end.
But hear me and remember: behold, on this very day
Together we shall go before the Living God:
Thou as tormentor — I tormented by thee;
Each shall carry his own deeds with him."
“Cut, cut my feet — they have walked their path! Cut, cut my hands — they have done their work!”
Reflection
"He who wishes to avert future misfortunes must joyfully endure the present ones," said Mark the Ascetic. People consider slander a great misfortune; and few are those who bear this misfortune without murmuring. O beautiful fruit of affliction borne with good will! Affliction is given to us for good spiritual commerce, but we miss the opportunity and leave the marketplace empty-handed. Behold, Athanasius, and Basil, and Chrysostom, and Macarius, and Sisoes, and thousands of other followers of the Most Slandered One were themselves slandered. But God, Who arranges all things for our salvation, so arranged it that on the thorns of slander the fragrant roses of glory blossomed for all who were slandered for His name's sake. Had he not been slandered, would Stephen have seen heaven opened and the glory of God in heaven? And did not the slander against the chaste Joseph serve for his even greater glory?
“He who wishes to avert future misfortunes must joyfully endure the present ones.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous catch of fish in the deep (Luke 5:4), namely:
1. How the apostles went out into the deep and with the Lord's blessing caught an abundance of fish,
2. How I am empty and hungry as long as I stand in the shallows of the senses and fish there for power and wisdom,
3. How I must go out into the spiritual deep, with the Lord's blessing, and there make a good catch.
Homily
On Today and Tomorrow
Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth (Prov. 27:1)
Let us not boast, brethren, of what is not in our power. Times and seasons the Lord has placed under His own authority, and He disposes of them. Only God alone knows whether tomorrow will count us among the living or the dead. Some have died on the eve of their wedding day; others have gone to the grave on the eve of their coronation with the imperial crown. Let no one, therefore, say: tomorrow will be the happiest day of my life — tomorrow I enter into marriage! Or: tomorrow I am crowned with the imperial crown! Or: tomorrow I go to a great feast! Or: tomorrow a great profit comes to me! O let no one speak of the happiness of tomorrow. Behold, this very night the soul may leave the body, and tomorrow it may find itself surrounded by black demons at the toll-houses! This very night a man may be separated from relatives and friends, from wealth and honor, from the sun and the stars, and find himself in an entirely unknown company, in an unseen place, at an unexpected judgment.
Instead of boasting about tomorrow, it is better to pray to God to give us our daily bread today. Perhaps today is our last day on earth. Therefore it is better to spend this day in repentance for all our past days on earth than to vainly fantasize about tomorrow, a day that may never dawn for us. Vain fantasizing about tomorrow can bring us no good, while repentance with tears for one day can save us from the eternal fire.
O righteous Lord, burn up the foolish vanity within us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“This very night the soul may leave the body, and tomorrow it may find itself surrounded by black demons at the toll-houses!”