Lives of the Saints
1. HIEROMARTYR EUTYCHIUS
One of the lesser Apostles, a native of Sebastopol. A disciple and imitator of the Apostle John the Theologian and of Paul. Although he was not numbered among the Seventy Apostles, he is nevertheless called an Apostle because he was a disciple of the great Apostles and because in the service of the Gospel he showed true apostolic zeal. Consecrated as a missionary bishop, Saint Eutychius traveled extensively, having an angel as his companion. In prison he received heavenly bread from an angel. When his body was scraped with an iron comb, blood flowed from him with an extraordinarily fragrant myrrh. He was cast into fire and before wild beasts, and finally beheaded by the sword in Sebastopol.
2. HOLY MARTYR TATION
A native of Mantinea, near Claudiopolis in Bithynia. He suffered in the time of Diocletian. After great tortures he was buried alive in the earth, and thus surrendered his holy soul to God.
3. HOLY MARTYR SIRA
A kinswoman of Saint Mary Golinduch (see July 12). A Persian woman from the city of Kirkha-Seleucia, the daughter of a great fire-worshipping priest. Raised in paganism, the maiden Sira learned of Christ from certain poor Christian women, and her young heart was kindled with love for the Lord. During a certain illness, while she had not yet been baptized, she sought dust from the church from a Christian priest, but the priest turned her away as one unbaptized. Then with great faith she touched the garment of the priest and was healed. This miracle of healing confirmed her even more in the faith of Christ. But her heartless father handed her over to fierce tortures, during which she received encouragement and comfort from heavenly visions. She was forcibly strangled with a rope and drowned in water in the year 558, in the time of the Persian king Khosrow I, and in the eighteenth year of her life. And thus this holy maiden gloriously completed her earthly journey and departed to the heavenly abodes of the angels.
4. VENERABLE ARSENIUS OF KOMEL
A native of Moscow, of a noble family. As a young man he received the monastic tonsure in the monastery of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. As an exemplary monk he was chosen as abbot, but he yearned for the solitude of prayer and withdrew to the Komel forest, where he practiced asceticism until his death, fighting bravely against the great temptations of the demons. He reposed in the Lord in the year 1550.
5. SAINT GEORGE LIMNIOTES THE CONFESSOR
A great ascetic of Olympus. He suffered in old age at ninety-five years during the time of iconoclasm, in the year 716.
“She forcibly strangled with a rope and drowned in water in the year 558, in the time of the Persian king Khosrow I, and in the eighteenth year of her life.”
Hymn of Praise
Young as the dew yet old in wisdom,
And rich in faith, in hope, and meekness,
Sira the Persian, an exemplary Christian,
Prayed to God by night before the dawn.
With prayers Sira enriched her soul,
With prayers she gladdened her heart,
In the gloom and sorrow of her father's hearth,
In the anguish and blood of the field of battle.
With prayers Sira gladdened her heart,
Joyful and full of the peace of Christ.
Against Sira stood kingdom and priesthood,
But for Sira — Christ and the honorable clergy.
In the dark prison, on watchful prayer,
Sira shone with a wondrous light.
This is the light of Paradise, darkened by sin,
But by the Cross of Christ restored to the faithful.
He who takes up the Cross receives that light.
From the light of the soul the face also shines:
Sira shone like a very star,
And through death hastened into the arms of Christ.
“In the dark prison, on watchful prayer, Sira shone with a wondrous light.”
Reflection
If you ask many people why they do not go to church to pray, they will usually answer you: I have no time, I must work! Look at those people who only work and do not go to church, relying only on their work, and compare them with those who divide their time between work and prayer, and you will quickly convince yourself that the latter are both wealthier and, what is most important, more content. There is a story of two neighboring tailors, how they were unequal in their work, in their prayer, in their possessions, and in their contentment. One of them had a large family, and the other was a bachelor. The first had the custom of going to church for prayer every morning, while the bachelor never went to church. The first not only worked less but was also a less skilled craftsman than the other. Yet he had everything in abundance, while the other was in want. The bachelor asked the churchgoer how it was that he had everything, even though he worked less than him. And that man of prayer answered that he went to church every day, and on the way found lost gold, and he invited his bachelor neighbor to come with him to prayer, and they would share the gold they found. And both neighbors began going to church regularly, and soon both were equal in abundance and contentment. Of course, they found no gold on the road, but the blessing of God multiplied the abundance for true worshippers. To those who seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, God adds and multiplies all the rest that is needful for their bodily life.
“That one who found gold on the way answered that he went to church every day, and on the way found lost gold.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the Providence of God, which kept David from falling into the hands of Saul (I Samuel 23), namely:
1. How Saul came to surround the city of Keilah, where David was, but God revealed it to David, so that David fled beforehand;
2. How Saul in Maon nearly caught David, but word came to him that the Philistines had attacked the land;
3. How the Lord always watches over the righteous and thwarts the plans of the unrighteous.
Homily
on the character of Christ, as Isaiah prophesied it
Who had more right than the Lord, the Son of God, to cry out upon the earth, in His own vineyard, against the lawless? Who had more right to revile sinners, who had reviled God and the law of God? O meekness most tender, unseen among men! O pure mountain water, that from on high pours down and silently washes away the impurity of human habitations! Many godless people think that they would believe in Christ if they heard from Him words not gentle but thunderous. But which is better, let the godless say: thunderous words, with shouting and uproar, that pass without effect like smoke driven by the wind, or gentle words that have the effect of thunder? Can a legion of thunders cast out a legion of devils from one possessed man? Why, a legion of thunders crashed over Gadara, but the legion of devils in the madman did not even feel it. Not even upon the demons did the Lord Jesus shout, but He quietly told them to come out, and they obediently came forth. The matter, brethren, is not in shouting and criticism, but in power. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench. This refers to the Old Testament, whose spirit the Pharisees had utterly crushed and buried under their sabbatarian formalities, so that it only smoldered but gave no light to people, because of the dulled understanding and the hardened hearts of men. The Lord will not break the bruised reed nor quench the nearly extinguished fire of that law which He Himself had given. And this also refers to sinful men. People crushed by sin He will not finish off, nor will He extinguish those sinners in whom the divine light has turned to smoke; rather, He will straighten the reed and fan the divine fire in men into flame. For it was for the sake of sinners that He came into the world. He shall bring forth judgment gently and meekly, but with the power that truth carries in itself. He shall conduct Himself gently and meekly, with compassion and mercy, like a physician — but far more exaltedly and tenderly — like a physician when he enters the house of the deranged.
O Lord, meek and gentle, fill us with Thy most beautiful meekness and gentleness. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.”