Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY MARTYR HIPPOLYTUS
Hippolytus was a military commander and overseer of the prisons in Rome, born and raised as a pagan. When Saint Laurence the Archdeacon was cast into prison, Hippolytus was commanded by the emperor to keep special watch over this prisoner. Hippolytus saw with his own eyes how Laurence restored sight to the blind Lucillus and healed many other sick people, and he believed in Christ. When Laurence baptized him, Hippolytus had a heavenly vision and said: "I saw innocent souls in great joy" (that is, in heaven). Then he took Laurence to his own house, and Laurence baptized his entire household, who together with the old nurse Concordia numbered nineteen. When Laurence was slain for Christ, Hippolytus by night took the body of the martyr, wrapped it in a burial cloth, and honorably buried it. But this somehow came to the ears of Emperor Decius, and on the third day after the death of Laurence, Hippolytus was seized and brought before the emperor. Since he would not renounce the true faith, he was struck upon the mouth with stones. Then the emperor ordered that he be stripped naked and scourged. Naked before the emperor, Hippolytus said to the emperor: "You have not stripped me but have begun to clothe me!" Then they stretched him out on the ground and scourged him mercilessly, and Hippolytus only cried out: "I am a Christian!" Hearing that Hippolytus's entire household were all Christians, the emperor commanded that they all be brought. The old Concordia said: "We more than desire to die honorably with our master in the Faith of Christ rather than to live dishonorably with you impious ones." She was the first to be slain, and after her the other eighteen, all before the eyes of Hippolytus. Finally Hippolytus was tied to a wild horse and dragged hither and thither until the martyr surrendered his soul to God.
2. SAINT TIKHON OF ZADONSK, OR OF VORONEZH
He was born in the village of Korotsk in the Novgorod province in the year 1724, in a simple peasant home. In his thirty-fourth year he received the monastic tonsure, and soon, because of his ascetic labors and great spiritual wisdom, he received ever higher and higher positions, until at last he was consecrated Bishop of Voronezh. He served as bishop for not quite five years, and then because of poor health withdrew and settled in the Zadonsk Monastery. He reposed peacefully in the year 1783 in Zadonsk, where his wonder-working relics rest to this day. A great ascetic of the Russian Church, a rare pastor, a man of prayer, and the author of most beautiful spiritual works. In his wisdom, holiness, and asceticism, he may be compared with the great Fathers of the ancient Orthodox Church. Because of the many attested miracles at his relics, he was proclaimed a saint first by the people and then by the official Church in the year 1861.
3. VENERABLE EMPRESS IRENE, IN MONASTICISM XENIA
She was the wife of Emperor Kalo-John (1118-1143). Apart from her monastic labors and many good works, she is also renowned for having founded the Monastery of the Almighty — the Pantocrator — in Constantinople, one of the most famous and beautiful monasteries in Constantinople. In this monastery the Venerable Stefan of Decani later practiced asceticism.
4. VENERABLE SERID
He is renowned as the founder of the famous monastery near Gaza in Palestine. In this monastery such illustrious men practiced asceticism as Saints Barsanuphius, John, Abba Dorotheus, Dositheus, and others. Saint Serid ended his earthly life in the sixth century and departed into the eternal joy of his Lord.
“We more than desire to die honorably with our master in the Faith of Christ rather than to live dishonorably with you impious ones.”
Hymn of Praise
A peasant hut raised the saint,
The Orthodox Church nourished his spirit.
Tikhon the hierarch shone like a star
And revealed the spiritual mysteries to the world:
"Read Holy Scripture — it conceals God,
It conceals God and it reveals God.
All the books of the world do not tell more
About God and about you than what Scripture tells.
Behold, God without God cannot be known;
In vain to ask about God apart from God.
As much as fits into the mind, God gives Himself to us;
One cannot pour the sea into an egg.
Holy Scripture teaches how to save the soul
From sin, and death, and eternal perdition.
He who is drowning does not ask about water —
Neither what it is, nor how, nor whence it flows.
But cares only for his own salvation,
And fearfully seeks a safe stone.
The sea of life surges with waves;
The wise man on that sea seeks his own rescue.
What is this life? Of what substance is it made?
Is it important to know when death overtakes us?
Knowledge and possessions remain on earth,
Body and garments are given to the grave.
The soul, the soul alone, can still be saved —
Strive and pray: help me, O God!"
“Read Holy Scripture — it conceals God, and it reveals God. All the books of the world do not tell more about God and about you than what Scripture tells.”
Reflection
"Give thanks to the Lord, but do not forget His nobles — the beggars and the poor; they have great power before the Lord God." These are the words of the renowned Russian ascetic of the nineteenth century, Father Nazarius, Abbot of Valaam. He spoke these words to the wife of a high official in Saint Petersburg, who had fallen into disfavor with the tsar because of some grave accusation. The accused official, from grief, fell ill and took to his bed. Having heard that Father Nazarius had arrived in Saint Petersburg, the wife of this official hurried and found him, told him of the misfortune that had befallen them, and asked him to pray to the Lord for her husband. "Do you have small copper and silver coins?" asked Father Nazarius. The woman brought them to him and gave them. And so Father Nazarius departed. That same evening he returned and gladdened the woman with this news: "Glory to God, all who are close to the Tsar have promised to pray for you!" The woman, naturally, thought of Tsar Alexander Pavlovich and his courtiers, while the spiritual father had in mind the beggars on the streets, to whom he had distributed that small change and sent them to pray to God for the husband of that woman. And indeed the news came that the tsar had ordered that the case of this official be taken up anew for review. And that was precisely what the official had desired. When the woman began to thank Father Nazarius, he said: "Give thanks to the Lord, but do not forget His nobles — the beggars and the poor; they have great power before the Lord God."
“When the woman began to thank Father Nazarius, he said: "Give thanks to the Lord, but do not forget His nobles — the beggars and the poor; they have great power before the Lord God."”
Contemplation
Contemplate the wondrous power of prophecy (1 Samuel 10), namely:
1. How Samuel foretold to Saul everything that would happen to him on a single day;
2. How the Spirit of God descended upon Saul, and he too prophesied.
“How the Spirit of God descended upon Saul, and he too prophesied.”
Homily
on the chief prophecy of the Prophet Isaiah
This glorious prophecy concerning the birth of the Lord from the Virgin was uttered by the God-seer Isaiah at the moment of the greatest despair in which Jerusalem found itself. An innumerable army of Syria and Ephraim had encircled the city right up to the city walls. King Ahaz, without army or weapons, and the Jerusalemites were in mortal fear. *The heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. * At that moment of the king's extreme despair, Isaiah came forth before the king and by the command of God said to him: Fear not, and let not thy heart be faint. Then Isaiah prophesied that the enemies would not take Jerusalem. And seeing that the king did not believe him, he told the king to ask for a sign, a miracle, whether from heaven or from earth. But the unbelieving king would not ask, but remained in his doubt. Then the prophet said that God would give them a sign, even if they did not ask for it. That sign refers to distant times and concerns the salvation of the entire human race. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, which means: God with us. Why did the prophet not immediately give some sign, so that the king would believe? Because that prophecy about the salvation of Jerusalem at the very moment when the king thought all was lost was itself sufficient to show both the power of God and the unbelief of the king. And why did the prophet utter the prophecy about the birth of the Savior at precisely this moment and on such an occasion? Because the human race at the time of the coming of the Savior would be in the very same despair, pressed and surrounded by demonic forces, just as Jerusalem was at that moment. Did the prophet mention specifically a virgin and not a woman? Indeed, he mentioned a virgin. For if it were a question of a woman, what kind of miracle would that be, and what kind of sign? Are not all people born of a woman? The whole weight of emphasis rests on the word *virgin. * Thus the all-seeing God knows how to bind the near with the far, and by the fulfillment of one prophecy in the present confirms another prophecy in the future. Emmanuel — God with us — saved Jerusalem at that time as the invisible God. Emmanuel — God with us — would save the human race from a similar peril in the future as the incarnate God, as the God-Man, born of the Most-Pure Virgin and the Holy Spirit.
O Lord, who gavest the prophets the power to see the truth as it comes from afar, grant us also the power to embrace this truth, which has already come. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.”