Lives of the Saints
1. HIEROMARTYR PHOCAS, BISHOP OF SINOPE
From his youth he labored in all Christian virtues. As bishop in his birthplace, the city of Sinope on the shore of the Black Sea, by his example and divine words he strengthened the faithful in the faith and converted to the true faith many idolaters. The hardened pagans were filled with anger against holy Phocas. And the Lord foreshadowed to Phocas his martyric end through a vision. Namely, Phocas saw a bright dove descend from heaven bearing in its beak a beautiful wreath of flowers, and set the wreath upon his head. And Phocas heard a voice from the dove: "Your cup is filled, and you must drink it!" From this vision the servant of God knew that he must soon suffer for Christ. And he was not afraid, but with thanksgiving to God prepared himself for his torments. Soon after this a certain governor named Africanus took Phocas for torture, imposed cruel torments upon him, beat and wounded his entire body, and after imprisonment cast him into boiling water, in which this valiant soldier of Christ ended his earthly life and departed to the joy of his Lord. He suffered in the time of Emperor Trajan.
2. HOLY PROPHET JONAH
He lived more than 800 years before Christ. In his biography it is said that he was the son of that widow in Zarephath of Sidon whom the Prophet Elijah raised from the dead. By his three-day sojourn in the belly of the whale, holy Jonah prefigured Christ's three-day sojourn in the grave, and his deliverance from the belly of the whale prefigured the Resurrection of the Lord from the dead. All the rest concerning this wondrous prophet should be read in the Book of the Prophet Jonah.
3. HOLY MARTYR PHOCAS THE GARDENER
A fellow townsman of the hieromartyr Phocas. In Sinope near the Black Sea, Phocas had a garden, which he cultivated himself. With the fruits of his garden he fed all passersby, never omitting also to nourish their souls with the word of God. But the governor who persecuted Christians heard about him and sent soldiers to slay him. Phocas received the soldiers so warmly that they were reluctant to kill him. But at his own request they carried out the order and cut off his head. On that place, over his wonderworking relics, a church was soon erected in his name. Saint Phocas is especially venerated by sailors, and all travelers at sea invoke his help. He suffered in the year 320.
4. VENERABLE COSMAS OF ZOGRAPHOU
Of a noble Bulgarian family by origin. When his parents wished to marry him off, he fled to the Holy Mountain. A hermit and wonderworker. He practiced asceticism in a cave near the Monastery of Zographou. The Most Holy Theotokos appeared to him on several occasions. The greatest ascetic and wonderworker of Zographou. The fearsome cell in which Cosmas silently practiced asceticism and battled with demons exists to this day northwest of the Monastery of Zographou. He saw with the eyes of the spirit and described events distant in time and space. He reposed in old age on September 22, 1323, and after a life of many labors departed to the joy of his Lord.
5. SAINT PETER THE MERCIFUL
A servant of God from the sixth century.
6. SAINT JONAH THE PRESBYTER
Father of Saint Theophanes the Hymnographer and Saint Theodore the Branded. A wonderworker. He reposed in the Monastery of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified in the ninth century.
“And Phocas heard a voice from the dove: "Your cup is filled, and you must drink it!" From this vision the servant of God knew that he must soon suffer for Christ.”
Hymn of Praise
Nineveh, Nineveh, all groaning with sin,
So God sends Jonah, to heal Nineveh.
Jonah would not, no, he flees from God!
O where will you go, Jonah, to escape the Most High?
Jonah sleeps, he sleeps, but the storm arises,
God walks slowly, but arrives in time.
Cast into the waves, swallowed by the whale
— From Whom did I flee? Jonah asks himself.
I fled from Him from Whom one cannot flee!
God compelled Jonah, yet delivered him again
And by His Providence glorified him forever.
Against Nineveh, Jonah, would you not cry out?
By punishment you shall foretell the immortal Christ.
If not by words? Then you must by deed
Foretell Christ — death and resurrection in the body!
Your deed, O Jonah, never withered,
And Christ the Lord recalled you to mankind;
Through you was revealed the mercy of the living God,
By it you were saved, and Nineveh was saved.
Through you was revealed the power of repentance,
The power of repentance and of God's forgiveness.
You pitied the gourd, God pitied the people,
O lead us to repentance, God, and save us from judgment!
“Through you was revealed the mercy of the living God, by it you were saved, and Nineveh was saved.”
Reflection
When a man clearly senses God's mercy toward himself, he startles as if from a dull and unfeeling sleep, and is ashamed of his long blindness toward God's unceasing compassion. In the time of Emperor Justinian, the chief imperial tax collector for Africa was a certain Peter, a man very rich but very hard and unmerciful. Once the beggars were lamenting among themselves that none of them had ever received an alms from Peter. Then one of the beggars wagered that he would succeed in begging some alms from Peter. And he went, and so persistently begged the miser for alms that Peter in rage struck him with a loaf of bread, since he had nothing else at hand. Overjoyed, the beggar took the bread and fled. Immediately after this Peter fell suddenly and gravely ill, and had this vision: he saw himself being tormented by demons in the other world. On one side of a scale the demons were heaping Peter's sins, so that that side far outweighed the other; while on the other side stood angels, sorrowing that they had not a single good deed from Peter's life to place on the other, empty side of the scale. One of the angels said: truly, we have nothing to place here except one loaf of bread, with which he struck some beggar the day before yesterday. Then the angels quickly placed one loaf on the empty side of the scale, and that one loaf outweighed the other side of the scale with all of Peter's sins. When the vision ended, Peter said to himself: truly, this is no apparition but the living truth, for I saw all my sins from my youth. And if one loaf of bread, thrown at a beggar, helped me so much, how much more can many deeds of mercy, done from the heart and with gentleness, help? And from then on Peter became the most merciful man in his city. He gave all his possessions to the poor; and when his possessions were spent, he sold himself into slavery for thirty gold coins, and gave even this price of himself to the destitute as alms in the name of Christ. For this he was called Peter the Merciful.
“Truly, this is no apparition but the living truth, for I saw all my sins from my youth.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the wrath of God upon King Jehoshaphat (II Chronicles 18-20), namely:
1. How Jehoshaphat allied himself with the apostate King Ahab, and nearly perished;
2. How he again allied himself with King Ahaziah who committed lawlessness, and suffered great loss;
3. How God does not desire that the faithful be bound to the unfaithful.
“How God does not desire that the faithful be bound to the unfaithful.”
Homily
on God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter
Where love exists, brethren, there is no command, but rather entreaty takes the place of command. Among those who love one another, entreaty has greater power than command among those who do not love. The Holy Trinity represents the supreme kingdom and majesty of love. Isaiah names the Holy Trinity the Great Counsel (Isaiah 9:6), and the incarnate Son of God the Angel of Great Counsel, that is, the Messenger. How is counsel compatible with the unity of God? You too are one, and yet you counsel with yourself. Your mind asks your will: can you? And it asks the heart: do you wish to? And the will and heart ask your mind: do you know how? And despite this inner counseling within yourself, you are one — one person, one being. Of course, this is but a pale image and shadow of the Holy Trinity and Her perfect counsel. For in the Holy Trinity there is perfect balance and harmony of the hypostases. What the Father wills, the Son and the Holy Spirit will at once. And He shall give you another Comforter. See how the Son of God is certain that what He entreats and counsels will be immediately accepted in the Great Divine Counsel. And the Father will agree to send, and the Spirit will agree to go. The Son of God does not say: I will pray the Father to give you, and I believe He will give; no, but: I will pray, and He shall give you. He knows beforehand that the Father will give what He asks; He knows this, if one may so speak, from His eternal experience. For through all eternity harmony reigns among the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. He shall give you another Comforter. By these words the perfect equality of the Son and the Holy Spirit is revealed. The Father will send you another Comforter, equal in power to Me, consubstantial with Me, equal in honor to Me. He will be able to replace Me fully in His own manner, in accordance with His wondrous hypostasis, which is only different from the hypostasis of the Son. O my brethren, do you see how the entire Holy Trinity takes part in our salvation? Do you see whose we are? Do you see what dignity is bestowed upon us mortals and sinners? O Most Holy and Most Glorious Trinity, our God, have mercy on us and save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“**And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever** (John 14:16) Where love exists, brethren, there is no command, but rather entreaty takes the place of command.”