Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY GREAT MARTYR EUSTATHIUS PLACIDAS
A great Roman military commander in the time of Emperors Titus and Trajan. Though a pagan, Placidas (for that was his pagan name) was a righteous and merciful man, similar to the centurion Cornelius whom the Apostle Peter baptized (Acts 10). Once while hunting, he pursued a stag. By God's providence a radiant cross appeared between the antlers of the stag, and the voice of the Lord came to Placidas, directing him to go to a Christian priest and be baptized. Placidas was baptized together with his wife and two sons. At baptism he received the name Eustathius, his wife — Theopistia (meaning "faithful to God"), and their sons — Agapius and Theopistus. After his baptism Eustathius went to the very same place where the revelation had appeared through the stag, and kneeling, gave thanks to God for having led him to the truth. Then the voice of the Lord came to him again, foretelling his suffering for His name, and strengthening him. Then Eustathius secretly left Rome with his family, intending to withdraw among the common people and in an unknown and humble setting to serve God. Upon arriving in Egypt, trials immediately beset him. A certain evil barbarian seized his wife, and both his sons were snatched by wild beasts and carried off. But soon that barbarian perished, and his children were saved from the beasts by shepherds. Eustathius settled in a certain Egyptian village called Vadisis, and there as a hired laborer he lived for fifteen years. After that, barbarians attacked the Roman Empire, and Emperor Trajan lamented that he no longer had his brave commander Placidas, who had won victory wherever he fought. The emperor sent two of his officers to search throughout the entire empire for the great commander. By God's providence, those officers, former comrades of Eustathius, came to that very village of Vadisis, found Eustathius, and brought him to the emperor. Eustathius assembled an army and defeated the barbarians. On the way back to Rome, Eustathius found both his wife and both his sons. When he arrived in Rome, Emperor Trajan had died and Emperor Hadrian was on the throne. When Hadrian summoned the commander Eustathius to offer sacrifice to the gods, Eustathius told him that he was a Christian. The emperor cast him to torment together with his wife and sons. But when the wild beasts did them no harm, they were cast into a red-hot metal ox. On the third day their bodies were taken out — dead, but unharmed by the fire. Thus this glorious commander rendered both unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's, and passed into the eternal Kingdom of Christ our God.
2. SAINT MICHAEL, PRINCE OF CHERNIGOV, AND THEODORE THE BOYAR
Prince Michael of Chernigov went to the Tatar horde with his boyar Theodore, at the summons of Batu Khan. And because they refused, according to Tatar custom, to pass through fire and bow down before idols upon entering the presence of the khan, they were beheaded in the year 1244. Their relics, witnesses of their martyric death for Christ the Lord, rest in the Church of the Archangel in Moscow.
3. VENERABLE MARTYR HILARION
An Athonite monk who voluntarily suffered for the Christian faith at the hands of the Turks in Constantinople on September 20, 1804. His wonderworking relics rest in the Church of the Holy Transfiguration on the island of Prote.
“By God's providence a radiant cross appeared between the antlers of the stag, and the voice of the Lord came to Placidas, directing him to go to a Christian priest and be baptized.”
Hymn of Praise
Eustathius, a marvel among commanders,
Gave his life for the living Lord.
Authority and glory and imperial honors —
All he cast aside as empty chaff,
For the sake of Jesus, the immortal King,
For the sake of true life everlasting.
When the voice of Jesus came to him,
It filled him with the flame of love
For Christ God most glorious,
Most glorious and man-loving.
That voice remained deep in his soul,
The earth could not stifle it;
And the radiant Cross that the commander beheld
Never departed from his soul.
The Cross gave him wondrous fearlessness,
The Cross saved him from the power of the enemy,
With his wife, faithful as stone,
And with his children, valiant and chaste,
Eustathius gave his body to the fire,
And his blessed spirit he surrendered to the Lord.
Eustathius, glorious martyr,
Invincible warrior of Jesus,
Help the Church of God, fortify it,
That the demon not disfigure it with malice,
Let the Church shine as a star
And glorify its Sun — Christ.
“With his wife, faithful as stone, and with his children, valiant and chaste, Eustathius gave his body to the fire, and his blessed spirit he surrendered to the Lord.”
Reflection
Suicide is a mortal sin and defiance of the Holy Spirit, Who gives life. Suicide is a more terrible sin than murder, inasmuch as the sin of murder a man can still repent of, while for the sin of suicide there is no repentance. Here are two cases of extreme misfortune in which the fainthearted would have committed suicide, but in which the holy men of God showed themselves to be heroes. Saint Eustathius one day found himself in the following situation: on one bank of a river he had left one son while he carried the other to the other bank, and returned to carry the first across. Having reached the middle of the river, he looked toward one bank and saw a lion seize one of his sons and carry him off; he looked toward the other bank and saw a wolf snatch his other son and carry him away. A fainthearted man in such a case would have plunged into the water and put an end to his life. Eustathius, filled with grief, did not commit suicide but, with hope in God, lived as a hired laborer for fifteen years. And this patient man lived to see both his sons again. Thus God rewarded his faith and endurance. — Saint Hilarion as a young man was forced to convert to Islam. But his conscience began to torment him cruelly, and he had no peace anywhere. He returned to the Christian faith, became a monk, and gave his body over to great fasting and every difficult ascetic labor. But peace of soul did not return to him. A fainthearted and faithless man would have committed suicide. But Hilarion chose an incomparably better path. He went to Constantinople with his spiritual father Bessarion, and not only publicly confessed the Christian faith in the sultan's court but also counseled the Bash Agha to go to Russia and be baptized. After mockery and torment this courageous young man was beheaded. And God glorified him both in heaven and on earth. His holy relics work wonders to this very day. But where is the glory of suicides? Where are their relics?
“Suicide is a mortal sin and defiance of the Holy Spirit, Who gives life. Suicide is a more terrible sin than murder, inasmuch as the sin of murder a man can still repent of, while for the sin of suicide there is no repentance.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the righteousness of King Jehoshaphat and the reward of God (II Chronicles 17), namely:
1. How Jehoshaphat was zealous for the true God and destroyed the idols throughout his land;
2. How God gave him wealth and glory and peace and victory over his enemies.
Homily
on the one Way, Truth, and Life
These words, brethren, were not merely spoken, but watered with blood, confirmed by the resurrection, planted by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the faithful, and proved by the Church through ages upon ages — and proved. Of all goods in the world, people love life the most. And people love life more than truth, even though there is no life without truth. The supreme good, therefore, is life, and truth is the foundation of life. He who loves life must also love truth. But where is the way to truth? I am the Way, says the Lord. He does not say: "I too am the Way," lest anyone think that there is some other way to the truth apart from the Lord Jesus. But He is not only the Way, but also the Truth and the Life, lest anyone think that there is some other truth and some other life apart from the Lord Jesus. He was therefore born as man, to show men the way; therefore He was also crucified, to mark the way with His blood. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. This must be understood by those who deceive themselves with the thought that they can come to know God and obtain the Kingdom of God even apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. That false hope, that desperate self-deception, the Lord has utterly cut off with the words above. And the Apostle who heard those words and recorded them in the Gospel expresses them in his epistle thus as well: whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father (I John 2:23).
O Lord Jesus, blessed One and Source of blessing, truly Thou art our only Way, our only Light, our only Truth, our only Life and Giver of life. We acknowledge Thee before men and angels as our one God and Savior. Have mercy on us and save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”