Lives of the Saints
1. HIEROMARTYR HIEROTHEUS
He was a companion of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, and received the faith of Christ from the Apostle Paul shortly after Dionysius. This apostle later appointed him Bishop of Athens. At the time of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, Hierotheus also appeared in Jerusalem and took part in the funeral. By his divine chanting he brought many to heartfelt contrition and showed himself to be a man inspired from above. He labored greatly in the work of the Gospel, converted many pagans to the truth, governed his rational flock well, and finally suffered a martyr's death for Christ, who gave him a twofold crown in His heavenly Kingdom: the crown of a hierarch and the crown of a martyr.
2. SAINT STEFAN STILJANOVIC
A Serbian despot. By origin from Pastrovici. He governed the Serbian people in the most difficult circumstances, fighting bravely against the Turks and the Latins. A righteous man of God and a patriot, this wondrous prince can be compared to Saint Alexander Nevsky or to the holy King Jovan Vladimir. He reposed at the beginning of the sixteenth century (according to some, in 1515). A light appeared at night over his grave, by which his holy relics were discovered. They rested for a long time in the Fruska Gora Monastery of Sisatovac, and during the Second World War were transferred to Belgrade and placed in the Cathedral Church beside the body of Prince Lazar. His wife Jelena, seeing the incorrupt relics of Stefan and the miracles wrought by them, took monastic vows and gave herself to ascetic labor until her death.
3. VENERABLE AMMON
An Egyptian by birth and a vine-dresser by trade. His relatives married him off against his will, but he did not wish to live with his wife; rather, from the very first day he called her sister and counseled her to preserve her virginity together with him for the sake of a higher good in heaven. And so he lived with his wife for a full eighteen years. Afterward, by mutual agreement, his wife established a women's monastery in their home, while Ammon departed for the Nitrian desert, where he gave himself over to the hermit's ascetic struggle. He received great gifts of clairvoyance and wonder-working from God because of the purity of his heart. A certain man and woman brought their maddened son to him to be healed by prayer. But Ammon was very reluctant. After much insistence by the parents, Ammon said: "In your hands lie both the illness and the health of your child. Return the stolen ox to that widow" — and he named her by name — "and your son will be healed." The parents, horrified by such clairvoyance on the part of the saint, confessed their sin and promised that as soon as they returned home they would give back the stolen ox. Then holy Ammon prayed to God, and the child was healed. Ammon was an intimate friend of Saint Anthony the Great. When Ammon reposed in Nitria around the year 350, Saint Anthony saw from his cell the soul of Ammon on high, and said to the brethren: "Today Abba Ammon has departed this life; behold, I see his holy soul, how the angels carry it to heaven."
4. VENERABLE PAUL THE SIMPLE
Until his sixtieth year he lived in the world as a married man. Having caught his wife in sin, he left everything, went into the desert to Saint Anthony, and received the monastic tonsure from him. And though he was simple and unlettered, he attained such spiritual perfection that he could see the soul of every man as ordinary people see each other's bodies. And he was a great wonder-worker, surpassing even Saint Anthony in some instances. He reposed in deep old age in the year 340 and was translated into the angelic joy.
“Return the stolen ox to that widow, and your son will be healed.”
Hymn of Praise
Someone once asked Ammon:
— Show me the path of salvation, wretch that I am.
The saint replied: throughout all your life
Be as a prisoner awaiting trial.
As a prisoner fears the judge
And in his dungeon counts the hours,
Watchfully listening for sounds from without,
Waiting to hear: the judge summons you!
He does not notice his food or his lodging,
He knows not whether he stands or sits.
He only listens and listens
For when he will hear the summons of the judge.
And so it is with us, my dear brother,
This holds for me, this holds for thee. —
Another asks him: what is the narrow way?
And the sorrowful way — and how long does it last?
Ammon replied: the narrow way — that is
The constraining of thoughts, lest they scatter.
And the sorrowful way — the constraining of desires:
Seek salvation in Christ alone. —
Most wise Ammon, knight of asceticism,
Patient bearer of the yoke of Christ.
He pleased God, he edified men —
The Lord rewarded his labors with Paradise.
“And the narrow way — the constraining of desires: seek salvation in Christ alone.”
Reflection
A vision of Saint Andrew. Not only the Apostle Paul was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words (II Corinthians 12:4). After the Apostle Paul, and after not more than 850 years, the same thing happened to Saint Andrew. One winter night holy Andrew lay among the dogs on a dunghill to warm his frozen body. Then an angel of God appeared to him and lifted him up into Paradise (whether in the body or out of the body, Andrew himself could not explain) and kept him in the heavenly world for two weeks, leading him up to the third heaven. "I saw myself clad in a garment most radiant, as if woven from lightning, and a crown of flowers upon my head, and girded with a royal belt, and I greatly rejoiced at that beauty, and I marveled in mind and heart at the indescribable loveliness of the Paradise of God, and I walked through it and was glad..." Then Andrew describes how he saw Christ the Lord: "And when a fiery hand drew back the veil, I saw my Lord, as once the Prophet Isaiah saw Him, sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the Seraphim stood round about Him. He was clad in a crimson robe. His face was most radiant, and His eyes gazed upon me with the greatest love. Seeing Him I fell prostrate before Him, worshipping the luminous and awesome throne of His glory. What joy overwhelmed me at the sight of His face it is impossible to express; and even now, remembering that vision, I am filled with inexpressible joy. And I heard my most merciful Creator when He spoke to me with His most sweet and most pure lips three words, which so sweetened my heart and so inflamed my love for Him that I melted like wax from the warmth of the spirit..." When Saint Andrew afterward desired to see the Most Holy Theotokos also, he was told that she was not in heaven at that moment but had descended into the world to help the wretched and to comfort the afflicted.
“I saw myself clad in a garment most radiant, as if woven from lightning, and a crown of flowers upon my head, and girded with a royal belt, and I greatly rejoiced.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the iniquity of King Manasseh and the punishment of God (II Chronicles 33), namely:
1. How Manasseh restored idolatry, and practiced divination and sorcery, and did all that was evil before the Lord;
2. How God permitted the Chaldeans to seize Manasseh in the thorns, and bind him, and lead him to Babylon.
Homily
on profitable anger
Be angry, brethren, at yourselves, and sin no more. Be angry at your sins, in thought and deed, and sin no more. Be angry at Satan, the father of lies, and do his will no more. Be angry at sin in the world and at the trampling of God's holy Church by godless men, but take heed that you do not heal sin with sin. Be angry also at your friends when they sin, but be angry with the intention of correcting them and not of embittering them further. The anger of a friend toward a friend, and of a parent toward his children — what am I saying? — and of God toward men, is not a storm that tears a tree from its roots, but a wind that strengthens the tree and knocks from it the rotten fruit, that the healthy fruit might be all the better and fairer. But let your anger have measure, that it may be healing and not poisonous. And that it may have measure, keep God before you even in your anger. Anger can have no stronger dam and barrier than God. Moreover, every anger that is not in the name of God and of God's righteousness is sin. Do not be angry over trifles, but be angry over that which angers God. If your will is established in the Law of God, you will always know how to be angry where you should and as much as you should. For this cannot all be expressed in words, nor explained to the ignorant. Anger in its proper place works just as mercy does in its proper place. O my brethren, do you see how various powers are placed within our soul, which a man by his free will can employ unto life or unto death? Anger at oneself can never be sufficiently commended. Behold the wondrous sight: the more a man learns to be angry at himself, the less he is angry at others. For occupied with his own weaknesses, he either does not notice those of others, or if he sees them, judges them gently. O Lord God, the only Righteous One, implant within us the remembrance of the Day of Thy righteous wrath, that we may be preserved from the sin of the soul. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Be angry at your sins, in thought and deed, and sin no more. Be angry at Satan, the father of lies, and do his will no more.”