Lives of the Saints
1. VENERABLE THEODORA OF ALEXANDRIA
From Alexandria, the wife of a young husband. Persuaded by a certain sorcerer, she committed adultery with another man. And immediately her conscience began to gnaw at her bitterly. She cut her hair and dressed in men's clothing, then entered the men's monastery of Octodecatus under the male name Theodore. Her labor, fasting, vigils, humility, and tearful repentance amazed all the brethren. Slandered by a certain unchaste maiden as having gotten her with child, Theodora would not defend herself, considering that slander as God's punishment for her earlier sin. Expelled from the monastery, she spent seven years struggling through forests and wilderness, and on top of that, nursing the child of that unchaste woman. She conquered all the devil's temptations: she would not bow down to Satan, she would not accept food from the hand of a soldier, she would not listen to the counsel of her husband to return to him — for all of this was merely a phantom of the devil, and as soon as Theodora made the sign of the Cross, everything vanished like smoke. After seven years the abbot received her back into the monastery, where she lived for two more years, and then reposed in the Lord. Only then did the monks learn that this was a woman; and an angel appeared to the abbot and explained everything to him. Her husband then came to her burial and remained until death in the cell of his former wife. Saint Theodora possessed an exceedingly great grace of God: she tamed wild beasts, healed diseases, and drew water from a dry well. Thus God glorified a true penitent who, with heroic endurance, repented for nine years of but a single sin. She reposed in the year 490.
2. SAINT PAPHNUTIUS THE CONFESSOR
Bishop of Tais in the Thebaid of Egypt. He suffered much for the Orthodox faith; the heretics had put out one of his eyes and broken his left leg. He participated in the First Ecumenical Council, refuting the Arian heresy with great power. Emperor Constantine greatly esteemed him and often kissed that gouged-out eye, gouged out for the sake of Orthodox truth. He rose up decisively at the Council against the Western delegates, who proposed that married parish clergy be entirely forbidden from marriage. He was a virgin his entire life.
3. VENERABLE EUPHROSYNUS THE COOK
A simple man but a man of God. He served as a cook in a certain monastery in Amorium in the ninth century. The spiritual father of that monastery one night saw himself in Paradise, and there he beheld Euphrosynus. Euphrosynus picked three apples of Paradise for him and gave them as a gift. When the spiritual father awoke, he saw three apples of extraordinary beauty and fragrance by his pillow. He quickly found Euphrosynus and asked him: "Where were you last night, brother?" "There where you were, father," replied the blessed servant of God. Then the spiritual father announced the entire event to the monks, and all came to know the holiness and God-pleasingness of Euphrosynus. But Euphrosynus, fearing praise from men, immediately fled from the monastery and hid himself in the wilderness, where he lived out the remainder of his life.
4. HOLY MARTYR IA
Accused by the pagan priests and suffered for the Lord in Persia in the time of Shapur II, in the year 363. According to tradition, the sun was darkened at her death, and the entire air was filled with a wondrous fragrance. She was glorified by the Lord forever.
5. HOLY MARTYRS DIODORUS, DIDYMUS, AND DIOMEDES
Beaten for the sake of Christ in Laodicea, they surrendered their souls to their Lord.
“She conquered all the devil's temptations: she would not bow down to Satan, she would not accept food from the hand of a soldier, she would not listen to the counsel of her husband to return to him.”
Hymn of Praise
Theodora, wretched, in sin entangled,
Theodora, glorious, from sin absolved,
One sin she redeemed with a hundred virtues
And with the eternal mercy of the Son of God.
She cast aside from herself the devil's whisperings,
And meekly endured the slanders of men.
With her mind immersed in the Lord her own,
She freed her thoughts from earthly dust.
To the will of God she submitted to the end,
And therefore was deemed worthy of God's Paradise.
Holy Theodora, dweller of Paradise,
Now help us, O pleasing servant of God!
That we sinners too may be freed from sin,
And settle in the dwellings of Paradise with thee.
Power was given thee, both before and after death,
To crush all the snares of the enemy;
God gave thee strength on account of thy love,
And from thy strength even demons tremble.
Together with all the saints, bow down before Christ
And from us ward off fierce temptations.
“One sin she redeemed with a hundred virtues, and with the eternal mercy of the Son of God.”
Reflection
No one should hinder another's path of perfect devotion and service to God. Many holy women who wished to flee from marriage and dedicate themselves to God were pursued and hindered in this by their husbands. Usually in the end these women prevailed, remaining steadfast in their intention, and often by their example they awakened the conscience of their husbands as well, directing them too on the path of salvation. Saint Theodora had to hide from her husband with the utmost care, which is why she disguised herself in men's clothing and took shelter in a men's monastery. But there were also reasonable husbands who approved their wives' intention to withdraw from the world and devote themselves entirely to God. Emperor Frederick had become betrothed to the maiden Agnes of Bohemia. But she would in no way consent to enter into marriage, and so she broke the engagement and fled to a monastery. Then the wise emperor said: "Had she left me for some other mortal man, I would have taken my revenge; but I dare not consider myself offended that she chose the King of Heaven instead of me."
“If you gain God alone, it is enough for you: you will rejoice in Him more than if you had acquired the whole world.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the dreadful apostasy of Solomon and the punishment of God (I Kings 11), namely:
1. How in his old age Solomon, led astray by his many wives, departed from God and began to serve idols;
2. How God became wrathful and delivered the kingdom to a servant of Solomon;
3. How Solomon departed from God even though God had appeared to him twice, and had endowed him with both great wisdom and great glory;
4. How even the best man can fall if he does not watch over himself with the fear of God.
“How even the best man can fall if he does not watch over himself with the fear of God.”
Homily
on Christ as the Bread of Life
Who can give life, brethren, except Him who also created? Who can in truth be the Bread of Life except our Creator? He created, He sustains, He nourishes, He gives life. If wheat nourishes the body, Christ nourishes the soul. If by earthly bread our body is sustained, by Christ our soul is nourished and lives. If the soul is nourished by some other food and not by Christ, it decays and dies and does not live. Strive not for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures unto everlasting life (John 6:27). Thus spoke the Lord beforehand. First He examines the hunger of men, and then He offers the bread; or rather, first He offers them hunger, and then the bread. For men are confused about their hunger. They are hungry for something, yet they do not know for what. Having been sated with earthly food, and having overeaten, they still feel some insatiable hunger. And even though they see that all the earth and all the bread on earth cannot quench that mysterious hunger, they rush after earthly food, they scramble for the earth and for the earth alone. Meanwhile, the true hunger of men is a hunger for heaven, for everlasting life, for God. This hunger the Lord Jesus first brings to light, and then He sets before it a table for its satisfaction. That table is He Himself. *I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger. * He shall be satisfied, he shall rejoice, he shall live, he shall come to know God and come to know himself. O my brethren — he shall rise from the dead! For constant nourishment with food that perishes, without the immortal, spiritual food, gradually deadens the soul and makes it at last utterly dead. From what? From hunger. The body is of the earth, and it is satisfied with earthly food. But the soul is from the very breath of the Source of Life, and it seeks food and drink from that, its only Source.
O Lord Jesus, Bread of everlasting life, of true and unfading life, sweetest Bread, nourish us with Thyself. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“If the soul is nourished by some other food and not by Christ, it decays and dies and does not live.”