Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY SEVEN YOUTHS OF EPHESUS
A great persecution of Christians occurred during the time of Emperor Decius. The emperor himself came to Ephesus, and there arranged a pompous and noisy celebration in honor of dead idols — and also a terrible slaughter of Christians. Seven young men, soldiers, abstained from the vile sacrifices and fervently prayed to the one God to save the Christian race. They were sons of the most prominent leaders of Ephesus, and their names were: Maximilian, Iamblicus, Martinianus, John, Dionysius, Exacustodianus, and Antoninus. When they too were denounced before the emperor, they withdrew to a mountain behind Ephesus called Ochlon, and there hid in a certain cave. When the emperor learned of this, he ordered that the cave be walled shut. But God, by His far-reaching providence, let a wondrous and long-lasting sleep fall upon the youths. The imperial courtiers Theodore and Rufinus, secret Christians, arranged for a small copper coffer with lead tablets to be walled in as well, on which were inscribed the names of these youths and their martyric death during the reign of Emperor Decius. More than two hundred years passed from that time. During the time of Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450), a great controversy arose concerning the resurrection of the dead, for there were some who doubted the resurrection. And Emperor Theodosius was in great sorrow over this dispute among the faithful, and he prayed to God that God might in some way reveal the truth to men. At that same time of turmoil in the Church, shepherds of a certain Adolius, who owned the mountain of Ochlon, began building sheepfolds and took stone after stone from that cave. Then the youths awoke from their sleep, young and healthy, just as they had been when they fell asleep. And this miracle was proclaimed on all sides, and even Emperor Theodosius himself came with a great retinue and with tender emotion spoke with the youths. After a week they fell asleep again in the sleep of the dead, to await the general resurrection. The emperor wished to place their bodies in golden coffins, but they appeared to him in a dream and told him to leave them on the earth as they had been and as they had lain down.
2. HIEROMARTYR COSMAS, EQUAL-TO-THE-APOSTLES
A native of Aetolia, from the village of Megadendron (Great Tree). As a young man he went to the Holy Mountain, where in the Philotheou Monastery he was tonsured as a monk. But driven by a constant desire to preach the Gospel to the people, he went to Constantinople, where he obtained a blessing for this from Patriarch Seraphim II. He traveled through all the lands along the Danube preaching the Gospel, but he spent the most time in Albania, where he also suffered at the hands of a certain Kurt Pasha, whom the Jews had incited against Cosmas. Cosmas was strangled by the Turks and then thrown into a river in the year 1779. His wonder-working relics rest in the village of Kolkondas in the Church of the Holy Theotokos, not far from the city of Fier. He suffered for his Lord at the age of sixty-five.
Hymn of Praise
When the last rays reddened the west,
The Seven Youths prayed to God,
That on the morrow they might again find themselves alive and well,
To go before Emperor Decius and endure their torments.
Then they lay down to sleep in a long, deep slumber;
Time marched on with a sweeping stride.
One morning the sun reddened from the east
And the Seven awoke from their deep sleep.
Then Iamblicus, the youngest, hastened to Ephesus
To see, to hear, to inquire about everything —
Whether Decius still demanded them at the slaughter,
And to buy bread for the Seven of them.
But look, what a wonder: this is not that gate!
And the whole city is entirely different!
Everywhere beautiful churches, domes, and crosses —
Iamblicus asks himself: could these be dreams?
Nowhere a familiar face, nowhere a relative,
No persecution, no martyrs anywhere.
"Tell me, brethren, the name of this city,
And tell me the name of the emperor who now reigns!"
So Iamblicus asks. People stare at him,
And each one judges him differently.
"This is the city of Ephesus, now and before;
In Christ there reigns Emperor Theodosius."
The governor heard this, and the aged bishop;
The whole city was astir, everyone hastened to the cave.
And they saw the miracle, and glorified God,
And the risen servants of the Risen Christ.
“The city was all in commotion, everyone hastened to the cave, and they saw the miracle and glorified God.”
Reflection
"Ask, and it shall be given you," said the Lord (Matthew 7:7). Just as a parent gives children all that they ask for that is beneficial to them, so does God the Lover-of-mankind give men all that they ask of God that serves their salvation. Saint Cosmas, as a monk on the Holy Mountain, asked God for two things: namely, to preach the Gospel to the people and to suffer as a martyr for the faith. For a monk of the Holy Mountain, bound by his vow to his monastery, both of these desires seemed unattainable and impossible. But to God all things are possible. Both of Cosmas's desires God perfectly fulfilled. Indescribable was the joy of Cosmas when he received the blessing from the patriarch to leave the Holy Mountain and go among the people to preach the Gospel. And he had one more similar joyous moment, and that was when the servants of the Turkish pasha informed him that by the pasha's order he must die. Full of joy, the saint knelt, gave thanks to God for fulfilling that desire as well, and surrendered his body to death and his soul to the living God.
“Full of joy, the saint knelt, gave thanks to God for fulfilling that desire as well, and surrendered his body to death and his soul to the living God.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the wondrous announcement of the birth of Samson (Judges 13), namely:
1. How an angel of God appeared to Manoah and his barren wife, and announced that the wife would bear a son who would deliver the people from bondage;
2. How Manoah offered a sacrifice to God, and the angel rose heavenward in the flame of the sacrifice;
3. How even barren women can give birth when God so wills it.
“How even barren women can give birth when God so wills it.”
Homily
on the sickness of apostasy from God
The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint (Isaiah 1:5)
God is the source of health, brethren, God of Sabaoth. Ascend to the heights of God, you whose heads are dizzy from excessive labors and still more excessive worries, and breathe in the health that comes from God, from God alone. The sick head — these are the leaders and rulers of the people; the faint heart — that is the people. The prophet depicts an entire nation as one body and shows how the same thing happens with the body of a nation as with the body of a man: when one organ of the body is sick, that alone is the sick organ, but the entire body feels faint because of the sickness of that one organ. So it was also in the nation of Israel: the head had fallen ill, and from the headache the heart had grown faint. The leaders and rulers of Israel had abandoned the Law of God and followed their senses as guides. Their sensory reason, dyed in many colors by all manner of worldly impressions, they took as their guide to the right life in place of the Law of God. And they fell into the hopeless darkness of idolatrous delusions. And from the folly of the head, the heart grew faint. The heart separates itself from God more slowly than the head; the people separate from God more slowly than their leaders. But when the head is long ailing, then the heart also grows faint and gives way. From false leaders even the people at last stray from the path. This is the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, the true prophet. Truly, a true vision both for then and for now, both for the people of Israel and for the peoples of today. Look, brethren, at the nation you know best, and judge for yourselves whether the head is sick and the heart faint. O Lord, true and righteous, illumine with Thy light the head of every nation and strengthen with Thy might the heart of every nation. Let not our enemies rejoice and say that Thou hast forsaken us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. God is the source of health, brethren, God of Sabaoth.”