Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY APOSTLE THADDAEUS
One of the Seventy, and not that Thaddaeus who was one of the Twelve Apostles. Saint Thaddaeus first saw and heard John the Baptist, and received baptism from him, and after that he saw the Lord Jesus and followed Him. The Lord numbered him among the Seventy lesser Apostles, whom He sent two by two before His face (Luke 10:1). After His glorious Resurrection and Ascension, the Lord sent Thaddaeus to Edessa, the birthplace of Thaddaeus, in accordance with His promise to Prince Abgar, which the Lord gave him when He sent him the towel with His likeness upon it. By kissing that towel, Abgar was healed of leprosy, though not completely. A little leprosy still remained on his face. When Saint Thaddaeus appeared before Abgar, the prince received him with great joy. The Apostle of Christ taught him the true faith and then baptized him. When the baptized Abgar came up out of the water, the remainder of the leprosy fell from him, and he was made perfectly whole. Glorifying God, Prince Abgar desired that his people also come to know the true God and glorify Him. And the prince summoned all the citizens of Edessa before the holy Apostle Thaddaeus, that they might hear the preaching about Christ. Hearing the apostolic words and seeing their prince miraculously healed, the people cast aside their idols and their impure way of life, accepted the faith of Christ, and were baptized. And thus the city of Edessa was enlightened by the faith of Christ. Prince Abgar brought out much gold and offered it to the Apostle, but Thaddaeus said to him: "When we have left our own, how shall we accept what belongs to others?" And Saint Thaddaeus preached the Gospel throughout Syria and Phoenicia. He reposed in the Lord in the city of Berytus in Phoenicia.
2. HOLY MARTYR BASSA AND HER CHILDREN: THEOGNIUS, AGAPIUS, AND PISTUS
Bassa was the wife of a certain pagan priest, yet at the same time a secret Christian. She raised her sons in the Christian spirit. Her own husband despised her on account of her faith and handed her over, together with her sons, to the judge for torture. After fierce torments her sons were beheaded with the sword (it is thought in Edessa, in Macedonia). Bassa was filled with joy that she saw her sons honorably complete their martyric feat for Christ, and she herself went from torment to torment with even greater willingness. When they cast her into the sea, angels appeared and led her to an island in the Sea of Marmara, where she was beheaded by the sword, in the time of Maximian. Thus holy Bassa was doubly deemed worthy of the Kingdom of Christ, both as a martyr and as the mother of martyrs.
3. VENERABLE ABRAAMIUS OF SMOLENSK
Born in the city of Smolensk, in answer to the prayers of his parents. He entered the monastic life early and gave himself over to great ascetic labors, imitating the ancient desert fathers. Later he founded the Monastery of the Holy Cross near Smolensk. He endured many temptations from demons and men with great patience and thanksgiving to God. During a great drought he brought down rain by his prayer. Having lived fifty years in the monastic order, he reposed peacefully in the Lord around the year 1220.
4. HOLY FOREFATHERS ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB
They are also commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers before Christmas, as righteous ones and pleasers of God.
“When we have left our own, how shall we accept what belongs to others?”
Hymn of Praise
A candle burns and incense smells sweet,
Abraamius prays both day and night,
He loves his neighbors as himself.
The dry body of holy Abraamius
From fasting and from prostrations,
His heart trembles at the name of God,
Eternity writes upon the page of time.
Sinners do not fear the sinner,
But they fiercely fear the righteous man,
Sinful people revile Abraamius,
The envious accuse Abraamius.
Reviled and accused, Abraamius endures,
He begs God's mercy for his enemies.
Abraamius hides his heart,
Secretly he kneels, secretly sheds tears;
God does not judge as men judge,
The judgment of men desires to harm,
But God desires salvation for all,
For the nobleman and the feeble slave.
The saint placed all his hope in God,
And God glorified Abraamius forever.
“Sinners do not fear the sinner, but they fiercely fear the righteous man.”
Reflection
Magnanimous forgiveness of slanderers and prayer for them is a hallmark of Christian saints, who ascribe all slanders against themselves not to men but to demons, the chief instigators of every slander as of every sin in general. Saint Abraamius of Smolensk was slandered before the prince and the bishop by certain envious priests as a deceiver, sorcerer, and hypocrite. The slanderers sought nothing less than that he be burned. Both the prince and the bishop believed the slanderers, and Abraamius was banished from Smolensk and his priestly ministry was forbidden. Throughout the entire investigation and trial, Abraamius repeated the prayer of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr: "Lord, do not hold this against them as sin!" (Acts 7:60). Later it was established that all of Abraamius's accusers had lied and slandered him. The enraged prince wished to punish the slanderers severely and the bishop to excommunicate them from the Church, but holy Abraamius fell on his knees before the bishop and with tears begged him to forgive them. And he would not return to his monastery nor begin his priestly ministry anew until his slanderers were pardoned and released.
“Lord, do not hold this against them as sin!”
Contemplation
Contemplate David and Saul, a man with the Spirit of God and a man without the Spirit of God (I Samuel 18), namely:
1. How Saul feared David because of his virtue, and how David in all things was obedient to Saul;
2. How Saul deceitfully rewarded David but sent him among the Philistines that he might perish;
3. How he who departs from God always fears the man of God most of all.
Homily
on the wondrous stone in Zion
This wondrous stone, brethren, is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For had the prophet been thinking of an ordinary stone, he would not have mentioned faith in it, for otherwise he would have been prophesying idolatry. In the Prophet Daniel also, mention is made of a stone that was cut out of a mountain and shattered a great idol, and grew into a great mountain and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:34). The prophecy of the stone in Daniel is for the Gentiles, and in Isaiah for the Jews. The Lord Jesus Christ is that stone, which was laid first as the foundation of all God's creation, for He is the Word of God and the Reason of God; second, as the foundation of the Old Testament as the preparatory covenant; and third, as the foundation of the New Testament as the final covenant. A cornerstone, that is, the strongest and hardest stone, which binds and joins the other stones together and holds walls running in different directions in unity and wholeness. If one regards the Lord Christ within us, He is the cornerstone that binds and joins our various spiritual faculties into unity and wholeness, so that all work in one direction, in the direction of God and the Kingdom of God. And if one regards Christ the Lord in human history, He is the cornerstone that binds and joins Judaism and paganism into one house of God, into the Church of God. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11), says the Apostle of the New Testament in agreement with the Prophet of the Old Testament. Whoever has believed in that Stone of Salvation until now has not been put to shame. Nor shall anyone ever be put to shame who believes in Him. For that stone is a sure foundation, truly a tried stone, precious and honorable.
O Lord Jesus, Stone of our salvation, strengthen the faith in us, the holy and saving faith in Thee, the only Savior. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“This wondrous stone, brethren, is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.”