The Lives of the Saints
1. THE DEPOSITION OF THE ROBE OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS IN THE CHURCH OF BLACHERNAE IN CONSTANTINOPLE
In the time of Emperor Leo the Great (458–471), Empress Verina, and Patriarch Gennadius, two noblemen of Constantinople, Galbius and Candidus, journeyed through the Holy Land to venerate the holy sites there. In Nazareth they lodged in the home of a certain Jewish maiden, who kept in a secret chamber the robe of the Most Holy Theotokos. Many sick and afflicted persons had received healing from their sufferings through prayer and the touch of that robe. Galbius and Candidus took this holy relic and brought it to Constantinople, and reported it to the emperor and the patriarch. This occasioned great joy in the imperial city. The robe was solemnly transferred and deposited in the Church of Blachernae. (This church had been built by Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria on the shore of an inlet called the Blachernae, named after a certain Scythian commander, Blachernus, who had been slain there.) And in commemoration of the deposition of the robe of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Church of Blachernae, this feast was established.
2. THE HOLY JUVENAL, PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM
A contemporary of the great luminaries of the Orthodox Church: Euthymius, Theodosius, Gerasimus, Simeon the Stylite, and others. He participated in two Ecumenical Councils — the Third in Ephesus and the Fourth in Chalcedon — and with great power and zeal he battled against blasphemous heresies: in Ephesus against Nestorius, who called the Theotokos "Christotokos," and in Chalcedon against Eutyches and Dioscorus, who taught that in Christ there was only one nature, namely, the divine, without the human. After the triumph of Orthodoxy at both of these Councils, Juvenal returned to his throne in Jerusalem. But though the heresies had been condemned, the heretics had not been eradicated. Through the plotting and violence of a certain Theodosius, a friend of Dioscorus, Juvenal was driven from his throne, and Theodosius arbitrarily elevated himself to his place. This heretical Theodosius was at first supported by Empress Eudocia, the widow of Emperor Theodosius the Younger, who had settled in Jerusalem. The vacillating and impetuous Eudocia at last went to Saint Simeon the Stylite to ask him where the truth lay. The saint of God exposed all the heretical teachings and directed the empress to hold fast to the Orthodox teaching as confirmed at the Councils. The empress obeyed him, repented, and herself turned against the false patriarch Theodosius. At that time Marcian and Pulcheria reigned in Constantinople. A letter came from the emperor to Commander Athanasius, ordering him to expel Theodosius and restore Juvenal to his throne, which the commander promptly did. For thirty-eight years Juvenal governed the Church of Jerusalem as its hierarch, and in deep old age he presented himself before the Lord, in the year 458, to receive from Him the reward for his many sufferings and sorrows that he had endured for the truth. In the time of Saint Juvenal, the celebration of the Nativity of Christ on December 25 was established.
3. THE HOLY PHOTIUS, METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW
A Greek by origin. He governed the Russian Church wisely for twenty years. He reposed in the year 1430. A week before his death, an angel of God appeared to him and announced to him the exact time of his departure from this world.
Hymn of Praise
To the Most Pure Virgin we bow down in prayer
And through her we seek the grace of God.
In eternal glory she shines resplendent
And intercedes for us before Christ the Lord.
Her prayers are filled with power,
A Mother's prayers are dear unto the Son.
She loves all that her Son hath made,
With prayer for all she burns as doth a candle,
And everywhere she hastens to hear our pleas,
Everywhere to comfort where sorrow poisons.
Her name is sweetness to the sick,
Her name is a scourge unto the demons.
Where the Cross and Mary are invoked,
There courage is given and strength renewed.
To the Most Pure Virgin we bow down in prayer
And through her we seek the grace of God.
“Her name is sweetness to the sick, her name is a scourge unto the demons.”
Reflection
Every instrument of which men boast as an invention of their own reason is in truth revealed by the Providence of God; and every invented instrument has two purposes: one physical and the other spiritual. The clock, too, is a most wonderful instrument; yet it was not invented merely to show us the time of day and night, but also to remind us of death. This is its spiritual purpose. When the small hands have traversed the seconds and minutes, the great hand reaches the next hour, and the clock strikes. So too will the clock of our life strike when the days, months, and years of our life have been counted out. Therefore Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk counsels every Christian to reflect: 1) how the time of our life ceaselessly passes away; 2) how it is impossible to bring back time that has passed; 3) how neither past nor future time is in our power, but only the present moment that we are now living; 4) how the end of our life is unknown; how we must be ready for death every day and every hour and every minute; 5) how, for this reason, we must abide in ceaseless repentance; 6) how we must at every hour be as penitent and as spiritually disposed as we would wish to be at the hour of our death.
“How we must be ready for death every day and every hour and every minute.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the burning bush on Horeb (Exodus 3), namely:
1. How the bush was all ablaze with flame, yet was not consumed;
2. How the Most Pure Virgin, bearing within herself the God-Man and Lord, bore the divine fire, yet was not consumed by it;
3. How the fire of divine grace rejuvenates, heals, and illumines even my sinful soul.
Homily
On the Testing of Our Faith
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7).
Our faith, brethren, is tested more often than a reed is swayed by the winds. And temptations are like winds: a weak faith they will uproot, but a strong one they will make yet stronger. Temptations are also like fire, in which straw is consumed but gold is purified.
Our faith is tested by human reasonings and probabilities. These are very strong and bitter winds. But we can withstand them if we hold fast to the word of God and if, against those reasonings, we set forth the teaching of the faith of Christ.
Our faith is further tested by fear and shame: fear of men who persecute the faith, and shame before men who proudly despise the faith. These too are strong winds, which we must withstand if we wish to remain alive. How shall we withstand them? By the fear of God, which must ever be greater in our souls than the fear of men; and by shame before the apostles and saints and martyrs, who were not ashamed of their faith before emperors and princes and the wise men of this world.
Our faith is further tested by suffering and misery. This is a fire in which our faith must either burn up like straw or be tempered like refined gold. We shall endure this testing if we remember Christ crucified upon the Cross for us, and the many thousands of sufferers for the faith who by patience conquered all and emerged from the fire as gold that shines through the ages among angels and among men.
Our faith is further tested by death — the death of our kinsmen and friends, and human death in general. This is a fierce fire in which many a man has consumed his faith. Is death the end of all things? It is not — believe! It is the beginning of all things; the beginning of a new, true life.
Believe in the Resurrection of Christ, and believe in the life beyond the grave, and believe in the general resurrection and the Dread Judgment.
O gracious Lord, strengthen faith within us and have mercy upon us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Our faith is further tested by death. Is death the end of all things? It is not — believe! It is the beginning of all things.”