Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY MARTYRS SERGIUS AND BACCHUS
These holy and wondrous martyrs and heroes of the Christian faith were at first the foremost noblemen at the court of Emperor Maximian. The emperor himself esteemed them greatly for their bravery, wisdom and loyalty. But when the emperor learned that these two noblemen of his were Christians, he turned his love for them into wrath. And once, when there was a great sacrifice to the idols, the emperor summoned Sergius and Bacchus to offer sacrifices together with them, but they openly refused the emperor obedience in this. Beside himself with fury, the emperor ordered that their military attire be stripped from them, along with their rings and decorations, and that they be dressed in women's garments; iron collars were also placed around their necks, and thus they were led through the streets of the city of Rome to the mockery of all and sundry. After this, the emperor sent them to Asia, to his governor Antiochus, for torture. And this Antiochus had been raised to his position with the help of Sergius and Bacchus, who in their time had recommended him to the emperor. When Antiochus began to counsel them to renounce Christ and thus save themselves from the disgrace of torture and death, these saints replied: "Both honor and dishonor, both life and death -- all is one to him who seeks the Kingdom of Heaven." Antiochus cast Sergius into prison and ordered Bacchus to be tortured first. The servants took turns beating holy Bacchus until they crushed his entire body. From the crushed and bloody body of Saint Bacchus his holy soul departed and was borne on the hands of angels to the Lord. Saint Bacchus suffered in the city of Barbarissus. Then holy Sergius was brought out and shod in iron sandals studded with nails, and thus driven to the city of Resapha in Syria, and there beheaded by the sword; and his soul went to Paradise, there together with Bacchus, his companion, to receive the crowns of immortal glory from Christ the King and Lord. These splendid knights of the Christian faith suffered around the year 303.
2. HOLY MARTYR POLYCHRONIUS
A native of the Eparchy of Agathonike, of peasant parents. As a young man he labored as a hired worker in the vineyard of a certain Constantinopolitan. But even as a hired laborer Polychronius gave himself over to the ascetic struggle of fasting and prayer day and night. Seeing his life, angelic in purity and temperance, his master marveled and gave him much more money than he had earned. And Saint Polychronius took the money and built a church. At the time of the Council of Nicaea, Polychronius was a reader; and on that occasion he showed such zeal in defending Orthodoxy before the Arians that they ordained him a priest. Later these malicious heretics, out of revenge, attacked Saint Polychronius in the church itself and hacked him to pieces. Thus suffered this great defender of the truth and purity of Orthodoxy, and he received a crown of glory from his most glorious Lord.
“Both honor and dishonor, both life and death -- all is one to him who seeks the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Hymn of Praise
Imperial men, Sergius and Bacchus,
Servants of an emperor, but not an earthly one,
Rather of Jesus, the immortal Emperor.
The earthly emperor mocked the saints,
And stripped the belt from their loins,
But the Lord girded them with virtue;
The emperor stripped from them the nobleman's toga,
The Savior clothed them in a fairer garment --
The incorruptible vesture of immortality;
The emperor took the ring from their right hand,
But the Lord betrothed them more beautifully,
Their souls He espoused unto Himself.
The emperor expelled them from his court,
God received them into the heavenly courts;
The earth tortures the knights of Christ,
The earth tortures, but heaven blesses them.
Corruption drives purity from itself,
Malice drives goodness from itself.
Holy Bacchus and holy Sergius
Returned all that was earthly to the earth,
Their holy souls they surrendered to God;
Exiles from the earthly kingdom,
Even now they are luminaries to the earth.
By their suffering they conquered malice,
By death for the Cross they glorified themselves,
Victors over the powers of darkness,
The path to victory they show to us.
“Corruption drives purity from itself, malice drives goodness from itself.”
Reflection
A vision of Saint Andrew. Once holy Andrew was sitting with his disciple Epiphanius and conversing about the salvation of the soul. At that moment a demon drew near to Epiphanius and began to set traps for him, to lead his thoughts in another direction, but he dared not approach Andrew. Then Andrew shouted at him angrily: "Depart from here, unclean adversary!" And the devil recoiled and answered maliciously: "You are an enemy to me such as there is no other in all of Constantinople!" Andrew did not wish to drive him away at once, but let him speak. And the devil began to recount: "I feel that a time is coming when my craft will perish. In that time people will be worse than me, just as children will be more cunning than grown men. And then I shall rest and will no longer teach people anything, since they will of themselves fulfill my will in everything." Andrew asked him: "Which sins does your kind most rejoice in?" The devil answered: "Idolatry, slander, malice against neighbors, the sin of Sodom, drunkenness, and love of silver -- in these we most rejoice." Andrew further asked: "And how do you bear it when someone who formerly served you renounces you and your works?" The devil answered: "You know that better than I; we bear it with difficulty, but we console ourselves that we will bring him back to us again, for many who have renounced us and turned to God have returned to us again." When the evil spirit uttered this and much else besides, holy Andrew blew upon him and he vanished.
“I feel that a time is coming when my craft will perish. In that time people will be worse than me, just as children will be more cunning than grown men.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the righteousness of King Josiah and the reward of God (II Chronicles 34), namely:
1. How King Josiah destroyed the idols and did all that was right before the Lord;
2. How the blessing of God was poured out upon him and his people during his long reign.
Homily
on children and their praise of the Lord
At the solemn entry of the Lord Jesus into Jerusalem, and after that in the Temple itself, children cried out: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord (Matthew 21). It seems that nothing so irritated the Jewish elders as this praise of Jesus from the mouths of little children. "Hearest Thou what these say?" they asked Him maliciously. And the Lord meekly answered them: "Yea; have ye never read: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise?" It is clear, then, as the light of day, that these prophetic words of David refer to that wonder which occurred at the entry of the Lord Christ into Jerusalem, that is, to this wondrous praise of the Lord from the mouths of little children. It is clear from the event itself, for as it was prophesied, so it literally came to pass. And it is also clear from the fact that the Lord Himself at that event invoked that prophecy of King David. That this was a great miracle, inspired by the Spirit of God and brought about by the power and will of God, there can be no doubt. While princes and scribes and elders and priests could not recognize Christ the Lord, little children recognized and proclaimed Him. Truly, this is a miracle -- first, unique in the entire Old and New Testaments, and second -- a miracle no less, if not greater, than the miracle of the resurrection of the dead. Moreover, in both the one miracle and the other, the same power of God, the same Spirit, and the same Providence of God were at work. And the prophet wished especially to emphasize that power and the majesty of God's glory by the event with the little children, which event he places alongside the wonder of the starry universe, which that same power of God created. Furthermore, among those little children one must also count the Apostles themselves, and many saints, ascetics, martyrs for Christ, and virgins -- thousands upon thousands upon thousands of those who innocently and wholeheartedly acknowledged Christ as the Son of God and their Savior, and embraced Him with heartfelt love, and endured grievous sufferings for Him. Why did the Lord ordain praise unto Himself from their mouths, and not from the mouths of the great men, philosophers and orators? Because of meekness He chose the former, and because of pride He rejected the latter. The proud are the greatest enemies of God. Therefore Christ miraculously opened the tongues of children and simple fishermen and peasants, to proclaim the truth against His enemies, that is, the proud yet empty princes and scribes of the Jews.
O Lord Almighty, God All-powerful, open our tongues as well, that we too with strong faith and childlike joy may proclaim Thy boundless glory. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained praise because of Thine enemies.”