Lives of the Saints
1. VENERABLE PELAGIA
A repentant sinner. Born a pagan in Antioch and endowed by God with great physical beauty, Pelagia used her beauty for the spiritual ruin of both herself and others. She had greatly enriched herself through fornication. Once, passing by the church of the Holy Martyr Julian, in which Bishop Nonnus was preaching, she turned into the church and heard the sermon on the Dreadful Judgment and the punishment of sinners. And that word so shook and changed her that she at once became disgusted with herself, feared God, repented of all her impure sins, and fell before Saint Nonnus with the plea that he baptize her. "Have mercy on me, a sinner, holy father, baptize me and teach me repentance: I am a sea of iniquity, an abyss of perdition, a snare and instrument of the devil." So this penitent woman with tears entreated the hierarch of Christ. And he baptized her. At her baptism, blessed Romana, a deaconess of that church, was her sponsor, and afterwards, as her spiritual mother, she firmly established her in the Christian faith. But Pelagia was not content with baptism alone. Feeling the burden of her many sins and the gnawing of conscience, she resolved upon a great ascetic struggle. Her enormous wealth, gathered through sin, she distributed to the poor, and she secretly departed for Jerusalem, where under a male name, as the monk Pelagius, she enclosed herself in a cell on the Mount of Olives, and there began a rigorous ascetic struggle of fasting, prayer and vigil. After three years, the deacon of Saint Nonnus, James, visited her and found her still alive, but when he visited again after several days, he found her body dead and honorably buried it. Saint Pelagia reposed in the Lord around the year 461. Thus this former great sinner, through repentance and toil, propitiated God, was forgiven her sins, and was sanctified. And her cleansed and sanctified soul was deemed worthy of the Kingdom of God.
2. VENERABLE TAISIA
A repentant sinner. An Egyptian by birth. Like Saint Pelagia, so also Taisia spent her youth in unbridled fornication. Taisia had been directed onto the evil path of life even by her own shameless mother. But the merciful God, who does not desire the sinner's destruction but his salvation, found a way through His wondrous Providence to save the sinful Taisia. One of the disciples of Saint Anthony the Great, Paphnutius of Sidon, heard of Taisia, of her sinful life, and of the spiritual poison with which she was poisoning the souls of many people, and resolved, with God's help, to save her. And so holy Paphnutius dressed himself in worldly clothing, took a gold coin, went to the city, found Taisia and gave her the gold coin. Taisia, thinking that this man had given her the gold coin for an impure deed, led Paphnutius to her room. Then Paphnutius opened his grace-filled lips and exposed the sins of Taisia and called her to repentance. The soul and conscience within Taisia awakened, and Taisia was bathed in tears of deep, heartfelt repentance. Having distributed all her possessions to the poor, she set out for a women's monastery, according to the instruction of Saint Paphnutius, and there remained for about three years, enclosed in a cell, living on bread and water alone. Before her death, Saint Paphnutius visited her and led her, against her will, out of her cell. She soon fell ill, and after a brief illness surrendered her cleansed and sanctified soul to God. Saint Paul the Simple, another disciple of Saint Anthony, in a vision saw in Paradise a most beautiful dwelling, prepared by God for Saint Taisia the penitent. This holy soul reposed in the year 340.
3. HOLY VIRGIN MARTYR PELAGIA
A maiden of a distinguished family from Antioch. In the time of Emperor Numerian, the commander of Antioch had sent soldiers to bring Pelagia before the court, as she was then a well-known Christian. The soldiers surrounded the house and called the holy maiden to the door. She appeared before them, and when she heard they had come to lead her before the judge, she feigned cheerfulness and told the soldiers to wait just a moment or two while she went up to change her clothes. Then she climbed to the roof of the house, raised her hands to heaven, and prayed at length to God, that God would receive her soul and not permit her virginal purity to be defiled. And God received her soul, and her body fell dead before the soldiers. "Her death," writes Saint John Chrysostom, "was the means not of a natural fall but of a command of God," and he continues: "And so, this virginal body, purer than any gold, lay upon the ground: angels surrounded it, archangels honored it, Christ Himself was beside it."
“And her death, writes Saint John Chrysostom, was the means not of a natural fall but of a command of God.”
Hymn of Praise
Pelagia was sinful,
Then she repented,
And by knowledge of the true faith
Her soul was illumined.
The world calls her, the world entices her,
She does not listen;
Conscience awakened within her,
Her soul shone brightly.
How much labor she had spent,
How much toil,
Around her sinful body --
A rotten apple --
Just as much labor, just as much toil,
She then invested,
Until her wretched soul
She adorned with faith.
The sun of God shone forth
Upon the heavens,
But brighter still the soul shone
Of Pelagia.
Repentance, repentance --
God left us repentance;
By repentance Pelagia
Glorified herself.
“Repentance, repentance -- God left us repentance; by repentance Pelagia glorified herself.”
Reflection
O if only we would labor as much over the soul as we labor over the body! O if only we would gain the desire to adorn ourselves with virtues before God and the most radiant angels of God as much as we adorn ourselves with vain and passing outward finery! Pelagia and Taisia in the beginning knew only the body, while their souls were as bound slaves in the prison of the body. Both of them were adorned only with vanity, clothed in vanity, bedecked with vanity, surrounded by vanity, flattered by vanity. But what a sudden change! What a divine transformation in their lives! More wondrous than when a wild apple tree is grafted and begins to bear sweet fruit; or when a muddy and foul-smelling pool is somehow purified and becomes clear, drinkable water. When Bishop Nonnus, together with the other bishops, first saw the sinner Pelagia in all her outward splendor, clothed in the most expensive garments, adorned, embellished, bedecked with rings, necklaces and pendants, perfumed, surrounded by servants -- when Bishop Nonnus saw her, he wept and said to his companions: "Truly I have learned much from this woman. The Lord will set her before His Dreadful Judgment Seat and by her will put us to shame. For what do you think: how many hours does this woman spend in her room, washing herself, dressing herself, adorning herself, gazing at herself in the mirror, and all this -- why? Only in order to appear as beautiful as possible before people. And we, who have an immortal Bridegroom in heaven -- we do not strive to adorn our wretched souls, we do not hasten to wash them with tears of repentance, and to clothe them in the beauty of virtues, so that they might appear as beautiful as possible before the eyes of God!"
“How suddenly these two sinners were transformed is more wondrous than when a wild apple tree is grafted and begins to bear sweet fruit.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the injustice of King Ahab and the punishment of God through the Prophet Elijah (I Kings 16-17), namely:
1. How Ahab gave himself wholly to idolatry and did all that was evil before the Lord;
2. How the Prophet Elijah by prayer sealed the heavens, and there was no rain for three years.
Homily
on how the enemy's weapons shall come to an end
The enemy of the human race, the murderer of men and man-slayer from the very beginning, has used every weapon and every intrigue against man. His task is day and night to devise new weapons and new intrigues, only to destroy someone. As a roaring lion he walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8); as a venomous serpent he lurks and awaits his prey; as a spider he spreads his webs everywhere -- only, only to catch some human soul and cast it into his fetid kingdom. The pagan nations were as his cities. Until the coming of Christ, he ruled in them peacefully and completely. Idolatry was service to him; sorcery and divination were service to him; licentiousness and debauchery of life among men he protected and promoted; the offering of men as sacrifice, the fire of passions, quarrels, wars, crimes -- all this was his delight. But at the end, his weapons were exhausted, his cities were destroyed, his memory perished with a roar. That end which the prophet mentions is the coming of Christ the Lord into the world. The Lord showed His power over the devil by overcoming the devil's temptations on the mountain; He showed His authority by casting demons out of men and commanding them to go here or there; He showed His invincible sovereignty over sin and death by His suffering and resurrection. And, what is perhaps most important, He destroyed Hades and scattered the power of the demons. He did not wish to annihilate the demons, but scattered them and broke their weapons; He shattered and scattered them like the Jews, and even more terribly than the Jews. He liberated the nations from their dominion; and above all, He gave men authority over the demons, that by His name they might drive them away from themselves. See how the Lord united His mercy toward men with His victory over the demons! He so weakened and broke the demons, and confounded them and scattered them, that He placed them under the authority of men. And so the former slaves became masters, and the former masters became slaves. But the Lord did not give authority over the demons to all men, but only to those who believe in Him and follow His commandments. He gave them authority, and He gave them a weapon. The weapon is the Cross.
O Lord our God, our Savior from the dominion of the devil, help us to do even that least part which Thou hast left for us to do. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“The enemy's weapons have come to an end, the cities thou hast destroyed, the memory of them has perished with a roar.”