Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY PROTOMARTYR THEKLA, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES
Born in Iconium to notable but pagan parents. As an eighteen-year-old maiden she was betrothed to a certain young man at the time when the Apostle Paul came with Barnabas to Iconium to preach the Gospel. Listening to Paul for three days and three nights, Thekla was wholly converted to the faith of Christ and vowed to live in virginity. Seeing that her daughter would neither look upon her betrothed nor think of marriage, her mother first tried counsel, then beating, then starving her. Finally she handed her over to the judge and demanded — wicked mother — that she be burned by fire. The judge cast her into the fire, but God preserved her unharmed. Then Thekla followed the Apostle Paul and came with him to Antioch. Attracted by the outward beauty of Thekla, a certain city official tried to take her by force, but Thekla tore herself from his hands. This official denounced her to the governor as a Christian who shuns marriage. The governor condemned her to death and cast her before wild beasts, but the beasts did not touch the body of the holy virgin. Astonished by this, the governor asked her: "Who are you, and what is this power in you, that nothing can harm you?" Thekla answered: "I am a handmaid of the living God." Then the governor set her free, and she went forth preaching the Gospel, and succeeded in converting many to the true faith, among them a certain notable and honorable widow, Tryphena. After this, Saint Thekla, by the blessing of the Apostle Paul, withdrew to a desolate place near Seleucia. There she practiced asceticism for a long time and, by healing the sick with her wonderworking power, converted many to Christianity. The physicians and sorcerers of Seleucia envied her, and they sent certain young men to defile her, hoping that when she lost her virginity she would also lose her wonderworking power. Thekla fled from those insolent young men, and when she saw that they would catch her, she prayed to God for help before a certain rock, and the rock opened and concealed this holy virgin and bride of Christ. And that rock was both her hiding place and her tomb. Of this wondrous Christian heroine and saint, Saint John Chrysostom says: "It seems to me that I see this blessed virgin offering to the Lord with one hand virginity and with the other hand martyrdom."
2. SAINT STEPHEN, FIRST-CROWNED KING OF SERBIA
Crowned as king in his endowment at Zhicha by his brother and spiritual father Saint Sava. A devout Christian, a wise and peace-loving ruler, Stephen together with Saint Sava raised Orthodoxy to a great triumph among his people. At his desire Saint Sava tonsured him as a monk before his death and gave him the name Simon. He reposed in the Lord on September 24, 1224. His wonderworking relics rest in Studenica. Saint David (formerly Prince Demetrius), son of Vukan, the brother of Stephen, built a monastery on the Lim, where he himself was tonsured as a monk. Saint King Vladislav, son of King Stephen, built the Monastery of Mileseva, where he transferred the relics of Saint Sava from Tarnovo. He distinguished himself by extraordinary mercy toward the destitute. On the coins of his time he signed himself: "servant of Christ, Vladislav."
“It seems to me that I see this blessed virgin offering to the Lord with one hand virginity and with the other hand martyrdom.”
Hymn of Praise
Holy Thekla, equal to the Apostles,
Protomartyr among the virgins,
Had subdued the body to the spirit,
And spirit and body to Christ Almighty.
Therefore all things were subject to her:
The terrible fire, and the fierce beasts,
And the demons, and human ailments —
All subject to faith and to purity,
All obedient to holy innocence,
The innocence of the bride of Christ.
Is not a mother a treasure most great?
What is a mother — compared with Christ?
And a bridegroom formed from the earth
Is but dust before the glory of Christ.
And riches and earthly beauty —
A passing dream and a winged wind.
Only one Rock stands forever,
Fearing neither time nor storms:
He is the Bridegroom of Thekla the Martyr,
He is Christ, the King of kings.
Holy Thekla, radiant with Paradise,
Pray to Christ the Savior
To save us sinners from sin.
“Only one Rock stands forever, fearing neither time nor storms: He is the Bridegroom of Thekla the Martyr, He is Christ, the King of kings.”
Reflection
Every saint is near the place where he is invoked for help or where his holiness is celebrated and glorified. Those who are clairvoyant see them; those who are not, let them believe, and they shall see them in their own time. Saint Cosmas of Zographou, even as a young monk, was clairvoyant. Once at the feast of the Annunciation he came with some other monks to the Monastery of Vatopedi for the celebration. Both during the service in the church and during the meal in the refectory, Cosmas saw a woman of royal beauty and majesty who commanded and directed everything with authority, and even served herself. And not only did he see her for a moment, but he gazed upon her for a long time, both in the church and in the refectory. By this sight Cosmas was troubled and dismayed, for it seemed altogether wrong to him to see a woman in a monastery on the Holy Mountain. When he told the monks from Zographou of his vision, protesting about the presence of women on the Holy Mountain, the astonished monks explained to him that it was the Queen of the Holy Mountain, the Most Holy Theotokos. And the troubled heart of Cosmas was filled with great joy. So clairvoyant was Saint Cosmas that later, as an old man and a hermit, he saw from his cave the soul of the Abbot of Hilandar struggling to pass through the toll-houses as it ascended toward heaven, tormented by demons. Cosmas immediately sent someone to tell the brethren at Hilandar to pray to God for the soul of their departed abbot. It was immediately after Matins, just as the monks and their abbot had come out of the church. Hearing the message from Cosmas, the monks laughed, saying that their abbot had just gone to his cell to prepare for the Liturgy. But when they entered the cell, they found their abbot dead.
Contemplation
Contemplate the sin of King Ahaziah and the punishment of God (II Chronicles 22), namely:
1. How Ahaziah did that which was evil before the Lord and allied himself with the sinful house of Ahab;
2. How Ahaziah was slain together with many of his kinsmen.
“How Ahaziah did that which was evil before the Lord and allied himself with the sinful house of Ahab.”
Homily
on God the Holy Spirit, the Glorifier
He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you (John 16:14)
The Holy Spirit is equal in power to the Father and the Son, and all that the Father can do, the Son can do also, and the Holy Spirit can do also. And all that the Father knows, the Son knows also, and the Holy Spirit knows also. But through the boundless love of one for another and through the boundless wisdom concerning the economy of human salvation, they manifest themselves to men in turn, from the standpoint of time. As the Father glorified the Son, so does the Son glorify the Father, and so does the Holy Spirit glorify the Son. He shall glorify Me. Did not the Son glorify Himself? He did, but not to the extent that He could, but only to the extent that men at that time could receive and bear. And in time the Holy Spirit will reveal yet greater glory of the Son of God, when He, the All-Good, shall fill the faithful with His gifts of grace. He shall glorify Me. These words the Lord speaks also for our instruction, brethren, so that we too, if we do some good deed, would leave it to another to glorify us rather than glorifying ourselves. For He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. By these words the Lord proclaims the unity of the Spirit of God with Him, not the subordination of the Spirit. Before this He had said: He will guide you into all truth. And lest the disciples think that the Spirit knows more truths than the Son, and that the Spirit is therefore greater than the Son, He proclaims that the Spirit shall receive of Mine and show it unto you. Christ too could have guided the disciples into all truth, but the disciples at that time were not yet capable of receiving all truth. Therefore the Holy Spirit will in His own time guide them into all truth. But in proclaiming to them all truth the Spirit will proclaim nothing that is unknown to the Son, or still less, that is contrary to the knowledge and will of the Son. Therefore the Lord says: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. O wondrous unity of the Holy Trinity, O thrice-flaming power, light, and love from one and the same fire! O Holy and Most Holy Trinity, kindle divine love in our hearts. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“He will glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.”