Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY APOSTLE MATTHIAS
By birth from Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah. He studied under Saint Simeon the God-Receiver in Jerusalem. When the Lord went forth to preach the Kingdom of God, Matthias also joined those who loved the Lord, for he himself loved Him with all his heart, listened to His words with delight, and beheld His works. In the beginning Matthias was numbered among the Seventy lesser disciples of Christ, but after the Resurrection of the Lord, when the place of the traitor Judas was vacated, the apostles chose this Matthias by lot to fill the place of Judas as one of the Twelve great apostles (Acts 1:23). Having received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Matthias set out to preach the Gospel and preached first in Judea, then in Ethiopia, where he endured great sufferings for the sake of Christ. It is held that he also preached throughout Macedonia, where they wished to blind him, but he became invisible to his torturers and thus escaped the danger. While in prison, the Lord appeared to him, strengthened him, and freed him. Finally he returned again to his work in Judea. There he was accused and brought to trial before the high priest Ananus, before whom he fearlessly witnessed to Christ. Ananus, that same Ananus who had previously slain the Apostle James, condemned Matthias also to death. Then they led out Saint Matthias and killed him by stoning, and afterward cut off his head with an axe — this was the Roman manner of executing the condemned, and the hypocritical Jews applied this method to the dead man to show the Romans that the slain one had also been an enemy of Rome. Thus this great apostle of Christ ended his life and entered into the eternal joy of his Lord.
2. HOLY MARTYR ANTHONY
A citizen of Alexandria. Brought before a pagan prince, he freely confessed his faith and was tortured, beaten, and scraped, but he would not deny Christ. Finally he was cast into the fire, from the midst of which he spoke to the people: "My beloved brethren, do not be slaves to the body, but rather care for the soul, which is given you by God and is akin to God and the divine powers." And thus, instructing the people while burning in the fire, he surrendered his holy soul to God.
3. HOLY MARTYRS JULIAN, MARCIAN, AND OTHERS WITH THEM
They suffered in defense of the holy icons from the wicked Emperor Leo the Isaurian, in the year 716, and were crowned with unfading glory.
“My beloved brethren, do not be slaves to the body, but rather care for the soul, which is given you by God and is akin to God and the divine powers.”
Hymn of Praise
The Apostle Matthias spoke of Christ
And publicly witnessed before the Jews:
"He is that Messiah of whom the Scriptures write,
He is the Son of God who descended from on high.
He is the Word of God, of divine Hypostasis,
The prophets spoke of Him clearly:
Moses prophesied: a prophet like me
Shall shine forth among you by God's radiance.
And King David said: all the tribes of earth
Shall be by Him made glorious and blessed.
Bold Isaiah soared in spirit to heaven
And saw, and said: a virgin shall conceive
And shall bear a son, and shall give him a name,
Emmanuel shall he be called — God with us.
And Jonah was to Him a figure of the burial,
Of the burial as of the resurrection,
When three days he lay in the belly of the whale
And by God was again granted life.
The prophecies were fulfilled, the shadows have passed,
The promised words have come in the flesh.
But in vain does a wakeful man speak to a sleeper,
He who sleeps through the whole day does not believe in the day.
“The prophecies were fulfilled, the shadows have passed, the promised words have come in the flesh.”
Reflection
To take another's sin upon oneself — that is a kind of martyrdom and a sign of exceedingly great love for one's neighbor. Since the consequence of sin is death (James 1:15), to take another's sin upon oneself means to load upon one's own death yet another death. But God rewards with resurrection those who out of love take another's death upon themselves. There are many examples of how saints took upon themselves the sins of their neighbors. Thus of Saint Ammon the following is recounted: a certain brother fell into sin and came to Ammon and told him that because of the sin he had committed, he must leave the monastery and go out into the world. Ammon told him that he would take the brother's sin upon himself, and counseled the brother to remain in the monastery. The brother remained in the monastery, and the elder Ammon began to offer repentance and prayers to God. After a short time, the elder received a revelation from God that the sin had been forgiven because of his love for his brother. When Saint Macarius, Saint Simeon the Fool-for-Christ, Saint Theodora, and certain others were accused of fornication, they did not defend themselves, but having taken upon themselves another's sin, they also accepted the heavy punishment for the sin and patiently endured it all until God revealed their innocence to the people.
Contemplation
Contemplate the punishment of God upon the people of Israel because of the sins of the sons of Eli, the judge and high priest (I Samuel 4), namely:
1. How the sons of the high priest sinned openly and secretly in Shiloh beside the Ark of the Covenant;
2. How God gave victory to the Philistines over Israel in battle, in which many thousands of Israelites perished together with the sons of the high priest, and the Ark of the Covenant was taken;
3. How because of the sins of the leaders of the people God permits suffering upon the whole nation.
“How because of the sins of the leaders of the people God permits suffering upon the whole nation.”
Homily
on the nothingness of the sinner before the majesty of God
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty (Isaiah 2:10)
This is the bitter mockery of the prophet against his own people, the idolatrous people. The people had rejected faith in the one true God and had begun to bow down before idols of stone and of earth. What wilt thou do, O wicked people, when the fear of the Lord is revealed? Whither wilt thou flee when the glory of His majesty appears? Flee into the stone from which thou hast made thyself a god! Flee into the dust from which thou hast made thyself a god! O how dreadful is the mockery of the far-seeing prophet! Who can enter into the rock and hide? Who can flee into the dust and shelter himself from the Most High? But let us leave, brethren, the Jewish idolatry, for which the Jews have been sufficiently punished, and let us for a moment turn our attention to the idolatry among us Christians. What is hoarded gold but an idol? What are seized fields but an idol of dust? What is luxurious clothing but an idol fashioned from animal skins and hair? Where will the idolaters of our generation hide when the fear of the Lord is revealed and when the glory of His majesty appears? Flee into your gold, O worshiper of gold! Flee into the earth, O worshiper of earth! Hide thyself in animal skins and cover thyself with the hair of foxes and the fiber of dead silkworms, O idolater! O bitter irony! All this the fire shall burn in the Day of the Lord, in that Dreadful Day. And man shall stand face to face with the One who alone is Majestic and Imperishable. All human idols shall perish from the fire before the people themselves, and the immortal Judge shall ask the idolaters: where are your gods? Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet of God, lived on earth long ago, but his vision is to this day terrifying, and beneficial, and again terrifying. To Thee alone do we bow down, O only living Lord. All else is passing dust. Help us, O Lord, help us, that the minds of our hearts not cling to passing dust, but to Thee, only to Thee, O only Living One. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty.”