Lives of the Saints
1. THE FEAST OF THE CINCTURE OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS
At her Dormition, the Most Holy Theotokos gave her cincture to the Apostle Thomas. This cincture was later transferred to Constantinople and kept in a sealed casket in the Church of the Theotokos at Blachernae, an endowment of Empress Pulcheria. And this casket was never opened until the time of Emperor Leo the Wise (886-912). Leo's wife, Empress Zoe, fell ill in soul, and following a certain mysterious vision, she desired that the cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos be placed upon her. The emperor entreated the patriarch, and the casket was opened, the cincture brought out and placed upon the ailing empress. The empress was immediately healed. In memory of this miracle this feast was established. A portion of that cincture is found in Georgia, in Zugdidi. Namely, the daughter of Emperor Romanus was healed by means of this cincture, and later, when her father gave her in marriage to the king of Abkhazia in Georgia, she took a portion of the cincture with her. By the command of the Russian Emperor Alexander I, a special church was built in Mingrelia, in Zugdidi, where this portion of the wonder-working garment of the Holy Mother of God is preserved.
2. SAINT GENNADIUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
He became patriarch after Saint Anatolius. He was a contemporary of Saint Marcian (January 10) and Saint Daniel the Stylite (December 11). In his time the famous Studite Monastery was founded, so called after the Roman senator Studius, who came to Constantinople and with the blessing of Gennadius built a church dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner and a monastery beside it. He was very meek and temperate. He would not ordain anyone to the priesthood who did not know the entire Psalter by heart. He presided over a local council in Constantinople at which simony in the Church was anathematized. He worked miracles and in a vision learned of his own end. He governed the Church for thirteen years and peacefully reposed in the Lord in the year 471.
3. HIEROMARTYR CYPRIAN
He was born of pagan parents and was himself raised in polytheism. He became renowned in Carthage as a teacher of philosophy and rhetoric. He was married. But when he became a Christian, he ceased living with his wife and gave himself to ceaseless labor, day and night, in the study of Holy Scripture and the perfecting of his character. Because of his extraordinary virtues he was chosen first as a presbyter and soon as a bishop. He was as merciful toward Christians as he was firm against heretics. He wrote many instructive works, guided by the Holy Spirit. He wrote with particular power against idolatry, Judaism, and the heresy of Novatian. Beautiful and sweet are his writings on virginity, as well as on martyrdom, almsgiving, patience, the Lord's Prayer, and so forth. He suffered in the time of Valerian and Gallienus, in 258. Before his death he prayed to God, blessed the people, and left twenty-four gold coins to be given to the executioner who would behead him. The unattainable greatness and magnanimity of a true Christian!
4. SAINT JOHN, METROPOLITAN OF KIEV
A Bulgarian by birth. He came to Kiev in 1080 and immediately earned such esteem that he was soon elevated to the metropolitan throne. He governed the Church for eight years. He wrote an epistle to Pope Clement, in which he rebuked him for the innovations that the Roman Church had introduced. He reposed peacefully in 1089.
“Before his death he prayed to God, blessed the people, and left twenty-four gold coins to be given to the executioner who would behead him. The unattainable greatness and magnanimity of a true Christian!”
Hymn of Praise
An ornament to the whole Church, the glory of Carthage,
Before and after death, Cyprian the holy one,
By word and by deed he taught the faithful,
Especially praising the chaste and the virginal:
"Virginity," he said, "is the holiness of the sexes,
It is freedom from the bonds of passions,
A fount of purity, an adornment of morality,
The dignity of the body and the bond of modesty.
Virginity is peace of the home, virginity the crown of harmony,
Virginity is stillness, the absence of anxiety.
When the human spirit withdraws from the body
And retreats into its own kingdom within,
And beholds the splendor of the inner world,
Then it no longer lets the body hinder it
With foolish passions, with sundry desires,
With needless cares, with empty luxury.
Luxury shows us not a bejeweled woman
But an unclean soul and its depravity."
O golden freedom from vain desires,
Uncounted treasure of saints alone!
Freedom is virginity, virginity is stillness —
Both are gifts of the Son of God.
O Son of God, O gracious Lord,
Grant us the glory of virginity and freedom.
“Virginity is freedom, virginity is silence — both are gifts of the Son of God.”
Reflection
A Christian does not believe in kismet, in fate, in doom. Though God determines the main lines of our life, He can also change them according to our prayer and merit. Thus He extended the life of King Hezekiah by fifteen years (Isaiah 38); and to the Venerable Dius (July 19) He likewise extended life by fifteen years. To Basil the Great God extended life, at the prayer of the saint, for one day, until he baptized the Jew Joseph, his physician. But just as God can, upon prayer, extend life, so can He, upon sin, shorten it. Emperor Anastasius adhered to the heresy of Severus, the so-called Acephalite (headless) heresy, which spread the folly that the Church has no need of bishops and priests, but that every man is his own bishop and priest, and that every man has the right to interpret Holy Scripture in his own way and teach others as he knows and believes. In vain did Saint John the Patriarch advise the emperor to return to the Orthodox truth; the emperor not only did not adopt his counsel but tormented the patriarch in various ways and plotted to exile him. One night the emperor saw in a dream a terrifying man upon an exalted throne, holding a book in his hand. This man opened the book, found the name of Emperor Anastasius, and said: "I had wished to let you live much longer, but because of your false belief, behold, I am erasing fourteen years from your life." And he erased something from the book. The terrified emperor leapt from his sleep and related his dream to his followers. After a few days lightning struck the imperial palace and killed Emperor Anastasius.
“One night the emperor saw in a dream a terrifying man upon an exalted throne, holding a book in his hand. This man opened the book, found the name of Emperor Anastasius, and said: 'I had wished to let you live much longer, but because of your false belief, behold, I am erasing fourteen years from your life.'”
Contemplation
Contemplate the joy of David in the Lord (II Samuel 6), namely:
1. How David transferred the Ark of the Covenant from Baale-Judah to Jerusalem, and how out of joy he danced before the Ark;
2. How Michal, his wife, mocked David for dancing before the Ark without shame before the women;
3. How God punished Michal for that unseemly mockery, so that Michal had no child unto the day of her death.
Homily
on the power and mission of Christ as Isaiah prophesied
This great programmatic prophecy the Lord Jesus read at the very beginning of His saving work, in Nazareth, before the Jews, and having read it He sat down and said: This day is this scripture fulfilled (Luke 4:16-21). One of the darkest prophecies for the Jewish scribes and priests He read, closed the book and said: This day is this scripture fulfilled. No Jew had dared touch that prophecy, for no one knew to whom it referred. Seven centuries had passed since this prophecy was uttered and written, and no one knew to whom it referred. But when He came, the One to whom this prophecy referred, He read it and applied it to Himself. Thus did our great Lord vindicate His prophet and present Himself to the world. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. Why does He say this when He is equal to the Spirit as to the Father? For the witness of men, as Saint Chrysostom explains. He does not say: the grace of the Spirit, but the Spirit, for the grace of the Spirit is upon faithful men, but upon Him is the Spirit Himself, as was also shown at the Jordan. The Spirit is the witness of the Son, and not for a single moment was the Son without the Spirit. The Lord Jesus often mentions the Father and the Holy Spirit — first, out of boundless love for the Father and the Spirit, and love always ascribes its own merits to others; and second, for the instruction of proud men, that they should not exalt themselves, but give honor to others who are their equals. Everything else that is said in this wonderful prophecy the Lord fulfilled by His wondrous activity to the letter. He came chiefly to proclaim the mercy of God to men, but at the same time the Dread Judgment to those who should despise and reject that mercy. This is the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet of God, the true prophet. Let us bow down, brethren, to Isaiah, whose God-inspired lips prophesied the Savior and our salvation, and let us not cease to bow down to our wondrous Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We bow down before Thee, O Lord and Savior, and we give Thee thanks for the most wise ordering of our salvation. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor.”