The Lives of the Saints
1. THE HIEROMARTYR HERMOLAUS
Hermolaus was a priest of Nicomedia. In the time of Emperor Maximian, he was among those two thousand martyrs whom the emperor condemned to be burned alive in the church together with the church itself (see December 28). Hermolaus somehow escaped death on that occasion, together with two other priests, Hermippus and Hermocrates. Hermolaus baptized St. Panteleimon, with whom together he was brought before the court, tortured, and finally beheaded with the sword. With him suffered also Hermippus and Hermocrates, and all were crowned with the wreath of victory and glory in the Kingdom of Christ. They suffered honorably around the year 304.
2. THE VENERABLE MARTYR PARASCEVA
Parasceva was born in Rome of Christian parents, and from childhood was taught the faith of Christ. With great zeal St. Parasceva endeavored to fulfill in deed all the commandments of God. Believing firmly and living according to her faith, she also guided others upon the path of the true faith and pious life. When her parents died, Parasceva distributed all her possessions to the poor, and she took monastic vows. As a nun she preached the faith of Christ with even greater fervor of zeal, concealing herself from no one, even though at that time the faith of Christ was being bloodily persecuted by the Roman authorities. Malicious Jews were the first to accuse St. Parasceva of preaching the forbidden faith. And she was brought to trial before Emperor Antoninus. All the emperor's flatteries availed not the least to shake this handmaiden of God in her faith. Then they subjected her to fiery torments and placed upon her head a red-hot helmet. But the Lord miraculously saved her, and she escaped and departed from Rome. And she went again from city to city, converting the dark pagan people to the true faith. In two more cities she was brought before princes and judges, and was tormented for her Lord, while performing great miracles and by the power of God quickly recovering from her tortures and wounds. The pagans, as always, ascribed her miracles to sorcery and her recovery to the power and mercy of their gods. St. Parasceva once said to the prince who tortured her: "It was not thy gods, O prince, who healed me, but my Christ, the true God." At last a certain prince Tarasius beheaded her with the sword. Thus gloriously ended her fruitful life, this holy woman. Her relics were later translated to Constantinople. She suffered honorably for Christ in the second century.
3. THE VENERABLE MOSES THE HUNGARIAN
Moses was at the court of the young Russian prince Boris. When the godless Svyatopolk slew Boris, Moses escaped and fled to Kiev. But a little later he was carried off by the Polish king Boleslav as a captive to the land of Poland, and sold for a thousand gold coins to a young and debauched widow, the wife of one of Boleslav's slain commanders. This wicked woman urged Moses to commit fornication, but Moses would not be swayed, for he had vowed to live in purity before the Lord. Then she proposed marriage to him, but he refused that also. Secretly Moses received the monastic tonsure from a certain monk of the Holy Mountain, and appeared before his mistress in a monastic habit. She had him bound and ordered that he be flogged and that his privy member be cut off. For five full years that unsuccessful seduction by this shameful woman lasted -- five years of torments and tortures! But unexpectedly King Boleslav perished in a rebellion, in which this woman also was killed. Then Moses freely departed to Kiev, where under St. Anthony he gave himself over to prayer and stillness. Having completely conquered the shameful passion of lust within himself, he helped many others to be saved from it. And his holy relics helped many as well (see the Life of John the Long-Suffering, July 8). After ten years of stillness in the cave, St. Moses reposed on July 26, 1043, and departed to the eternal virginal Kingdom of Christ.
Hymn of Praise
Purity before God Moses vowed,
And free in spirit, despite his chains,
He answered the woman, rich and vile,
Enslaved by passion, a dissolute thrall:
"What man until now, by heeding a woman,
Has saved his soul, by passion enslaved?
Adam was banished from Paradise for a woman,
Samson, for Delilah, perished without glory.
Solomon the wise, by women beguiled,
Was brought down to idolatrous folly.
Herod's head, by a woman enchanted,
Struck off the honorable head of the Forerunner John.
Leave me, woman, I am God's servant,
Go seek throughout the world a companion for thyself.
I shall not submit to thy will,
In life with thee I see no happiness.
That I be pure in body -- that, woman, is needful,
That is my sacred duty before the Lord.
Neither flattery, nor gold, nor all thy power
Shall beguile either my mind or my body.
The Lord is all-powerful, He shall help me
To keep my vow honorably;
Only pure water murmurs in Paradise,
God is the God of purity, He created us pure.
He desires us pure, and saves us pure,
Purity, woman, is a Christian's glory."
“God is the God of purity, He created us pure. He desires us pure, and saves us pure.”
Reflection
No passion is conquered without a great struggle. The Fathers have called the passion of lust "death." When a fornicator is saved from the passion of lust, it is as though he has risen from the dead. In those who live in the world, the passion of lust is kindled chiefly by sight, while in those who strive in the desert, that passion is kindled by thoughts and imaginings. The holy Sara, a great woman ascetic, was tormented by the demon of lust in the desert for thirty years. She always conquered and drove it away from herself by prayer. Once the foul demon of lust appeared to her in bodily form and said to her: "Thou hast conquered me, Sara!" Sara humbly replied: "It is not I who conquered thee, but the Lord Christ." And from that time the thought of lust left her forever. When they asked St. Pimen how a man can fight against the demon of lust, he replied: "If a man restrains his stomach and his tongue, then he shall be able to master himself." St. Anthony said that there are three kinds of movements in the body: "The first is natural, the second from intemperance in food, and the third from the demon." Others again have said that the passion of lust is intensified also by anger and pride. But all are agreed that, in addition to man's own sobriety and effort, the help of God is indispensable for this repulsive passion to be completely uprooted. And that it is possible for a man to preserve himself in purity is witnessed, among many others, by St. Moses the Hungarian, who lived fifty years in the world and ten in a monastery -- a total of sixty years -- in complete virginal purity.
“Thou hast conquered me, Sara! — It is not I who conquered thee, but the Lord Christ.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous victory over the Amorites (Joshua 24), namely:
1. How God sent hornets against the Amorites, so that they were thrown into confusion and were defeated by the Israelites;
2. How mighty is the Lord God, and how by means of small things He destroys the proudly unrighteous.
Homily
On the Wretchedness of Those Who Draw Near to Christ and Then Fall Away
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning (II Peter 2:20).
The sun is bright, brethren, but brighter still are the words of the Apostle. The sun illumines bodies, brethren, but cannot illumine souls, while the words of the Apostle illumine souls. All the heights of the soul and all its abysses the Apostle sees clearly, and he illumines them for us out of burning love, that he might lead us out upon the pure path of salvation. Two great lessons does he give us in a few words. The first lesson: from the pollutions of this world one cannot otherwise flee except through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, our Jesus Christ. First of all, without the knowledge of the Lord Jesus one cannot see or recognize the pollution of this world, and then without the knowledge of the Lord Jesus a man cannot cleanse himself of that pollution. The second lesson: when a man through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus has escaped from the pollution of this world, and then becomes entangled in it again, then his latter end is worse than his beginning. For having known the light, he returns again to darkness, and the darkness becomes darker still; and having known righteousness, he sinks again into unrighteousness, and the punishment becomes more fearful still; and having known holiness, he falls again into brutishness, and the brute becomes more ferocious still. The holy Apostle does not shrink from comparing this turning back to a dog that returns to his own vomit, and to a sow that, having been washed, goes back down into the mire.
He who has known the Lord Jesus has known all that he needs for salvation; he has received the foresight to see pollution, and falsehood, and unrighteousness, and has received the strength to flee from all of it. Let him not turn back, therefore, lest eternal death swallow him. Let him not tempt God countless times. For if God was swift to save him the first time, He shall be slower the second time, and slower still the third time. O how bright are the words of the Apostle, my brethren!
O Lord Jesus, Savior almighty and all-gracious, depart not from us in our hours of weakness, and deliver us when the pollutions of the world once more draw us to themselves. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Having known the light, he returns again to darkness, and the darkness becomes darker still.”