The Lives of the Saints
1. The Venerable Sisoes the Great
An Egyptian by birth and a disciple of Saint Anthony. After the death of his great teacher, Saint Sisoes settled on a desert mountain called Anthony's Mountain, on which Anthony himself had previously labored in asceticism. Through difficult labors over himself he so tamed himself that he was meek and guileless as a lamb. For this reason God gave him great grace, so that he was able to heal the sick, cast out unclean spirits, and raise the dead. For sixty years Sisoes labored in asceticism in the wilderness, and was as a spring of living wisdom for all the monks and laypeople who came to him for counsel. Before his death his face shone like the sun. The monks stood around him and marveled at this phenomenon. And when the saint gave up his soul, the entire room was filled with a wondrous fragrance. He reposed in deep old age in the year 429. Saint Sisoes taught the monks: "Whatever temptation may befall a man, he must give himself over to the will of God and confess that the temptation happened because of his sins. And if something good should happen, one should say that it happened by the Providence of God." A monk asked Sisoes: "How shall I please God and be saved?" The saint replied: "If thou desirest to please God, depart from the world, separate thyself from the earth, leave the creature, draw near to the Creator, unite thyself with God through prayer and weeping, and thou shalt find rest in this age and in the age to come." A monk asked Sisoes: "How does one attain humility?" The saint replied: "When a man has trained himself to regard every man as better than himself, thereby he acquires humility." Ammon complained to Sisoes that he could not memorize the wise sayings he read, in order to repeat them in conversation with others. The saint replied: "That is not necessary. What is necessary is to acquire purity of mind and to speak from that purity, placing one's hope in God."
2. The Holy Martyrs Marinus and Martha, with Their Sons Audifax and Abachum, the Priest Valentine, Cyrinus, Asterius, and Many Others
All suffered in the time of Emperor Claudius Flavius in Rome, in the year 269. Marinus and Martha were wealthy people from Persia; they sold all their possessions in Persia and with their sons came to Rome to venerate the relics of the holy Apostles and the other martyrs. When the emperor asked them why they had come from such a great distance, leaving their native gods, to seek dead men in Rome, they answered: "We are servants of Christ, and we came to venerate the holy Apostles, whose immortal souls live with God, that they might be our intercessors before Christ our God." Cyrinus was thrown into the Tiber, from which his body was pulled out by Marinus and Martha and honorably buried. The priest Valentine was handed over to a certain commander Asterius, so that he might persuade him to renounce Christ. But Valentine by prayer healed Asterius's daughter, who had been blind for two years, and then baptized Asterius and his entire household. All of them, in various ways, received torments and death for Christ the Lord, who received them into His immortal kingdom, to rejoice eternally.
3. The Finding of the Relics of the Holy Virgin Juliana
The daughter of Prince Olshansky, Juliana died around the year 1540 as a maiden of sixteen years. Two hundred years after her death, diggers of a new grave beside the great church in the Kiev Lavra came upon the relics of this holy maiden, completely whole and incorrupt, as though she had just fallen asleep. Many miracles occurred through her relics, and Juliana herself appeared several times to various persons. One such vision was beheld by the renowned Peter Mogila.
4. The Holy Martyr Lucia
In Campania she was captured by the barbarian king Aucius. He wished to live with her, but she resisted. The king left her in peace to labor in asceticism. She converted the king to the faith, after through her prayer the king gained victory in war. In the end, she suffered for Christ together with the king in Rome, around the year 300.
“If thou desirest to please God, depart from the world, separate thyself from the earth, leave the creature, draw near to the Creator, unite thyself with God through prayer and weeping.”
Hymn of Praise
Asterius was a slave to the idol of Zeus,
And Valentine, a priest, was a slave in Asterius's house.
— Who is Christ? the nobleman asks Valentine.
— Thou askest me of Christ, the Son of God Divine?
He is the light of the world, He is the light of men,
The light of every creature, of all good beings then.
He is the purest light, with darkness has no part;
He descended into darkness, and brought light to every heart.
He illumined the living by His deeds and by His teaching,
And illumined the dead by His radiant resurrection.
From His splendor all of Hades was destroyed,
And the human race with love was overjoyed.
With love set ablaze, enlightened with wisdom,
Reconciled with God, and graced with His kindness.
That is Christ the Lord, for whom I die,
And in whose name I trample idols by.
That Valentine spoke, and Asterius thereto:
— All those words I accept as purest gold and true;
If thou healest my blind daughter for me,
Then thy faith, O Valentine, shall also be mine to see.
The priest, upon hearing this, knelt upon the ground
And a fervent prayer to the Most High he found,
And he placed his hands upon the maiden's eyes.
The maiden saw! Asterius leapt up in great surprise
At the fearful wonder. Then he acknowledged Christ,
And for Christ the Lord he gave his life as martyr's price.
Reflection
Whence do we know that there is life after death? We know from Christ the Lord, on the basis of His words, His Resurrection, and His many appearances after death. Philosophers who acknowledge life after death acknowledge it on the basis of their own reasoning, but we acknowledge it on the basis of experience, especially the experience of holy men, who neither knew how nor were able to proclaim an untruth. When Saint Sisoes lay on his deathbed, his face was very bright. Around him stood the monks, his disciples. Then Saint Sisoes gazed intently and said: "Behold, Abba Anthony has come!" After a short silence he said again: "Behold, the prophets have come!" At that his face shone even more brightly, and he said: "Behold, the Apostles have come!" Then he said: "Behold, the angels have come to take my soul!" Finally his face shone like the sun, and all were in great fear, and the elder said: "Behold, the Lord is coming; look, all of you! Behold, He speaks: bring Me the chosen vessel from the wilderness!" After this the saint gave up his spirit. And how many similar visions there have been! And these from the most trustworthy of witnesses.
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous falling of manna from heaven for the feeding of the people in the wilderness (Exodus 16), namely:
1. How the Lord for forty years gave the Israelites in the wilderness manna from heaven, a kind of heavenly food, sweet as honey,
2. How that manna from heaven prefigured the Lord Jesus Christ: the Bread of Life, descending from heaven to nourish with Himself the spiritually hungry people in the wilderness of paganism,
3. How my hungry soul can be satisfied by nothing except the living Christ the Lord, sweeter than honey.
Homily
On the Dreadful Price of Redemption
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (I Peter 1:18-19)
Could anyone, brethren, ever buy with silver and gold a remedy against sin? Never could anyone.
Could anyone, brethren, ever forge from silver and gold a weapon against the devil? Never could anyone.
Could anyone, brethren, ever redeem himself from death by means of silver and gold? Never could anyone.
Something far more precious than silver and gold was needed to be the remedy, and the weapon, and the ransom. The precious blood of the Son of God was needed to be applied to the wounds of sin, that they might be healed. The precious blood of the Son of God was needed to be hurled against the evil spirits, to scorch them with its power and drive them away from men. The precious blood of the Son of God was needed to pour over the earthly graveyard, that death might be put to death, and the dead might live.
The blameless and most pure Lamb of God was slain for us, to pull us from the triple bestial jaw. A sorrowful yet life-giving feast. That most precious feast God prepared, to proclaim freedom to men. Both sin and the devil and death rushed with all their strength upon the blameless and most pure Lamb of God. And they put Him to death, but they were poisoned by His blood. That blood was poured out to be poison to them and life and salvation to men.
O my brethren, if you do not know how poisonous sin is, and how wicked the devil is, and how fierce death is, judge it by the magnitude of the ransom by which we were ransomed from their bondage. The precious blood of Christ — that is our ransom from bondage! Remember, brethren, that if we again of our own free will, through frivolity and malice, surrender ourselves to that terrible triple bondage, there is no one else in heaven or on earth who could give a ransom for us. For the precious ransom is one, and it has been given, once and for all.
O Merciful Lord, strengthen us to abide in the freedom which Thou hast granted us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Could anyone ever buy with silver and gold a remedy against sin? Never could anyone.”