Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY MARTYR LUPUS
This holy man was a servant of Saint Demetrius, the commander of Thessalonica. When Saint Demetrius was beheaded by Emperor Maximian, Lupus dipped the hem of his garment and his ring in the blood of the martyr. With that garment and ring Lupus worked many miracles in Thessalonica, healing people of every affliction and infirmity. Emperor Maximian, who was still in Thessalonica at that time, learned of this and commanded that Lupus be tortured and killed. But the soldiers who drew their weapons against Lupus turned them against one another and severely wounded each other. Since Lupus had not yet been baptized, even though he was a Christian, he prayed to God that God would somehow arrange for his baptism before his death. Then water suddenly poured from a cloud upon the holy martyr, and thus he received baptism from on high. After great torments he was beheaded and departed to the heavenly Kingdom.
2. HIEROMARTYR POTHINUS, BISHOP OF LYONS
Sent from Asia Minor by Saint Polycarp to Gaul to preach. He became the first Bishop of Lyons and converted many pagans to Christianity. During the persecution of Christians in the year 177, Pothinus was also brought to trial — rather, carried in on the arms of others, for he was ninety years old. "Who is the God of the Christians?" the proconsul asked him. "You will learn, if you are deemed worthy of it," the elder Pothinus answered him. The pagans fell upon him with rods and stones and beat him without mercy. Cast into prison, Saint Pothinus died from his wounds after two days, and departed to the heavenly Kingdom.
3. HIEROMARTYR IRENAEUS, BISHOP OF LYONS
In his youth he was a disciple of Saint Polycarp, that disciple of the Apostles, who sent him to Gaul to preach. After the martyric death of Saint Pothinus, Irenaeus was appointed bishop. In his numerous writings, Irenaeus at one time set forth the Orthodox faith and at another defended it against heretics. He suffered for Christ in the time of Emperor Severus, in the year 202, together with many thousands of Christians (nineteen thousand).
4. HOLY MARTYR VICTOR
He suffered in Marseilles in the third century. After fierce torments he was cast into prison, where he converted the guards to the faith of Christ. He was crucified on a cross and so ended his life.
5. HOLY MARTYR ALBAN
An English nobleman. He hid a Christian priest in his home during the persecution, and was instructed by him in the faith of Christ. Then he gave his own clothing to the priest, and he himself dressed as a priest and surrendered himself to the persecutors. Condemned to death, he also won over his own executioner to the faith of Christ.
“You will learn, if you are deemed worthy of it.”
Hymn of Praise
Most fair is the vine with fruitful branches,
With fragrant fruit, with noble fruit;
Glorious is the parent in his offspring.
Sons are the glory of the bodily union.
But fairer than the vine and fruitful marriage
Are spiritual children, of the Holy Spirit.
The most glorious Polycarp had two sons:
Holy Irenaeus and holy Pothinus,
They were his children in spirit, not in flesh,
Crowned with eternal, unfading glory.
Polycarp by the Spirit of God regenerated them,
And they were dearer to him than if he had begotten them.
He raised them both, equipped them with wisdom,
And sent them both to Gaul to preach.
Two worthy offerings, two pure lambs,
He gave for the slaughter for the Crucified Christ.
Two wise heralds of the new Zion,
Two brave bishops of baptized Lyons.
Irenaeus and Pothinus glorified God
And their spiritual father, Polycarp.
Heroically they stood, as martyrs they fell,
And before the gracious Christ they stood crowned.
“Two wise heralds of the new Zion, two brave bishops of baptized Lyons.”
Reflection
The mysterious power of the Cross, however inexplicable, is true and indisputable. Already Saint John Chrysostom speaks of the custom in his time to place the sign of the Cross "on the imperial diadem, on the adornment of soldiers, on the members of the body: on the head, breast, and heart, and likewise on altars and on beds. If it is necessary," he says, "to cast out demons, we employ the Cross, and likewise it aids in the healing of diseases." Saint Benedict made the sign of the Cross over a glass that contained poison, and the glass shattered as if struck by a stone. Saint Julian crossed a cup of poison that was offered to him, and drank the poison without feeling any pain in his body. The holy martyr Basilissa of Nicomedia fenced herself with the sign of the Cross, stood in the midst of the flames, and remained unharmed. The holy martyrs Abdon and Sennes crossed themselves when fierce beasts were let loose upon them, and the beasts became tame and gentle as lambs. Against the great temptations of the demons, the sign of the Cross was the mightiest weapon of the ancient ascetics, as it is today. The most fearsome apparitions of the devil would scatter into nothing like smoke merely when a man crossed himself. So did the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will, that to the former sign of crime and shame — the Cross — He would give, after His Crucifixion upon the wood of the Cross, all-conquering power and might.
“If it is necessary to cast out demons, we employ the Cross, and likewise it aids in the healing of diseases.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the rapid advance of evil in Saul's soul after he departed from God (I Samuel 22), namely:
1. How he hurled a spear at David;
2. How he hurled a spear at Jonathan, his own son;
3. How he slew eighty-five priests in one day, suspecting them of being with David;
4. How at all times and in everyone, one unrepented sin toward God draws many other sins after it.
Homily
on John the Forerunner, as Isaiah prophesied him
The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40:3)
When a king wishes to visit a certain place, he sends his heralds ahead of him. An extraordinary King is befitting of an extraordinary herald. Before Christ the King, the herald in the wilderness was Moses, in Jerusalem the prophets, in Nazareth the Archangel, in Bethlehem the wise men from the East, and at the Jordan — John. Never has any king in the human race had such heralds. Saint John the Baptist was just as extraordinary and unique as the other heralds of Christ. He was a voice crying in a twofold wilderness: in the wilderness of the Jordan and in the wilderness of the human soul. Just as the wilderness of the Jordan was barren and dry, so too was the wilderness of the human spirit barren and dry. John could not make the human wilderness green and fruitful, but he was clearing and plowing it, and so preparing the ground and leveling the terrain for the great Sower, who in coming bore with Him both seed and rain — the seed of doctrine to sow, and the rain of grace from above to make it green and fruitful. By repentance John was preparing the way, and by baptism in water he was making the paths straight. Both the way and the paths — these are the souls of men. By repentance the souls of men were prepared to receive the seed of Christ, and by baptism in water — to bury that seed deep in the earth of their hearts. The proud and the lowly, when they plunge naked into the water, are all equalized, leveled in their nothingness before the majesty of the most glorious Christ the Savior. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. Here it is not a matter of earthly valleys and hills, but of lowly people and proud people. Just as the dead in a cemetery are all equal in the eyes of a living man, so are all sinners — the lowly and the proud, slaves and masters — equal before the living God. Such a wondrous vision was seen by Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prophet of the living God, the one and true God.
O Lord, Heavenly King, before whom the heavenly hosts bow down day and night, look once more upon our nothingness, and for the sake of Thy humiliation and Thy suffering for us, save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”