Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY MARTYRS EULAMPIUS AND EULAMPIA
Brother and sister, from Nicomedia. During a terrible persecution of Christians by Emperor Maximian, some of the faithful from Nicomedia had fled the city and gone into hiding. The young Eulampius was sent into the city to fetch bread. Entering the city, the young man saw the imperial edict on the persecution and killing of Christians, posted on the wall; he laughed at the edict, tore it down and ripped it up. Because of this he was immediately brought before the judge. When the judge began to counsel him to renounce Christ, Eulampius began to counsel the judge to renounce his false idols and acknowledge Christ as the only living God. Then the judge ordered him to be beaten for a long time until he was drenched in blood, and tortured with other cruel torments. Hearing of the torture of her brother, the maiden Eulampia ran to him, that she too might receive torments for Christ together with her brother. She also was beaten until blood streamed from her nose and mouth. After that they were cast into boiling pitch, then into a blazing furnace, but by the power of the sign of the Cross and the name of Christ, they made the fire harmless. Finally, Saint Eulampius was beheaded, and Saint Eulampia expired before the sword reached her. In addition, two hundred Christians were put to death, who had come to believe in Christ upon seeing the power and miracles of Saint Eulampius and his sister. All were crowned with the crowns of martyrdom and passed over into their heavenly, immortal homeland.
2. HOLY ZOGRAPHOU MARTYRS
When Emperor Michael Palaeologus concluded the infamous Union of Lyons with the Pope, in order to obtain from the Pope assistance against the Bulgarians and the Serbs, the monks of the Holy Mountain sent the emperor a protest against that union and counsel to reject it and return to Orthodoxy. The Pope sent an army to aid Michael. And that Latin army entered the Holy Mountain and committed such barbarities as the Turks never committed in five hundred years. Having hanged the Protos and killed many monks in Vatopedi, Iveron and other monasteries, the Latins attacked Zographou. The blessed Abbot Thomas previously announced to the brethren that whoever wished to be saved from the Latins should flee the monastery, and whoever desired a martyr's death should remain. And so twenty-six men remained: twenty-two monks with their abbot, and four laymen who were monastery workers. All of them shut themselves in the pyrgos (tower) of the monastery. When the Latins came, they set fire to the tower, and in the flames these twenty-six heroes of Christ found a martyr's death. While the tower burned they sang Psalms and the Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, and they surrendered their holy souls to God on October 10, 1283. That same year, in December, the impious Emperor Michael came to a miserable end, against whom the Serbian King Milutin had risen in defense of Orthodoxy.
3. VENERABLE THEOPHILUS THE CONFESSOR
A Macedonian Slav by origin, from somewhere near Strumica. He became a monk while young and founded his own monastery. He suffered much for the icons in the time of Leo the Isaurian, and would have perished on that occasion, had he not succeeded in convincing Prince Hypaticus, his judge, of the soundness and necessity of the veneration of icons. The prince released him to freedom, and he returned to his monastery, where he peacefully reposed in the year 716 and passed over into the joy of his Lord.
4. HOLY MARTYR THEOTECNUS
A Roman officer in Antioch in the time of Maximian. When the emperor urged him to offer sacrifice to the idols, he answered: "I believe in Christ God, and to Him I shall offer myself as a sacrifice -- a living sacrifice." With a stone around his neck, he was drowned in the sea after great tortures, and thus he honorably suffered for Christ and was crowned with the crown of martyrdom.
5. VENERABLE BASSIAN
In the time of the pious Emperor Marcian, this saint came from Anatolia to Constantinople in the year 450. Great was his ascetic struggle, and great the wonder-working power that God bestowed upon him. He had about three hundred disciples, among them Saint Matrona. Emperor Marcian built a church in his name, which exists to this day.
“I believe in Christ God, and to Him I shall offer myself as a sacrifice -- a living sacrifice.”
Hymn of Praise
Heroes of Zographou, knights of truth,
To the Orthodox faith they offered sacrifice;
They shamed the proud, brazen Latins
And in soul were raised up to the Kingdom of God.
In flames the tower, the flame reaches heavenward,
In the fire the monks raise praise to God;
Heaven with its angels gazes on this sight,
Beneath the tower the executioners crawl like worms.
There Abbot Thomas, like a true father,
Encourages his brethren and begins the psalms.
He who glorifies the Lord does not fear death;
He who dies for God shall not perish.
The sacrifice was offered, but the altar remained;
The souls flew away, the bodies were consumed;
By that sacrifice Zographou became yet more glorious,
Its glory remained eternal and whole.
Saint George the knight nurtures the knights,
And the Mother of God -- the citizens of heaven --
The Church rejoices in the knights of righteousness:
These are her children, her fruitful branches.
“Abbot Thomas, like a true father, encourages his brethren and begins the psalms. He who glorifies the Lord does not fear death.”
Reflection
By the Providence of God, the greatest number of miracles and heavenly manifestations occurs in the time of the suffering of the servants of God. On that day when the Latins set out against the Monastery of Zographou, a certain elder monk had his obedience in a vineyard half an hour's distance from the monastery, and at his appointed time he was reading the Akathist before an icon of the Mother of God. But when he began to pronounce the word "Rejoice!" a voice suddenly came to him from the icon: "Rejoice also, O elder! Flee from here as quickly as possible, lest misfortune overtake you; or else inform the brethren of the monastery to lock themselves in, for the God-opposing Latins have attacked this Mountain, which I have chosen, and they are already nearby." The frightened elder fell prostrate on the ground, and in fear cried out: "How can I leave Thee here, O Queen, my protectress?" To this the voice came again: "Do not worry about me, but go quickly!" The elder immediately went to the monastery. But when he arrived at the gates of the monastery, he looked and saw before the gates that same icon of the Mother of God. The icon had miraculously arrived at the monastery before him. The astonished elder related to the abbot and the brethren everything that had been revealed to him, and all, upon hearing this, glorified God and the Mother of God. -- Once, during the celebration of the twenty-six martyrs at Zographou, on October 10, 1873, there was a great nighttime vigil. The night was without moonlight. In the middle of the night, while the monks sang and read the life of the holy martyrs in the church, suddenly a sound was heard in the church, and above the church appeared a fiery pillar from earth to heaven, so bright that outside everything could be seen for a great distance as at midday. This wondrous apparition lasted about a quarter of an hour and then vanished.
“The elder immediately went to the monastery. But when he arrived at the gates, he looked and saw before the gates that same icon of the Mother of God. The icon had miraculously arrived at the monastery before him.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous appearance of God to the Prophet Elijah (I Kings 19), namely:
1. How Elijah, wearied by the injustice of men, prayed to God to let him die;
2. How God comforted him by His appearance on Horeb;
3. How there was a mighty wind, then an earthquake, then a fire, and finally a still, small voice -- the voice of God.
Homily
on the sufferings of David and the prophecy of the sufferings of Christ
This is the mysterious experience of David the penitent, and at the same time a clear prophecy of the sufferings of Christ. And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (II Timothy 3:12), says the Apostle Paul. When King David sinned, the devils did not appear to him nor trouble him. But when he began to repent and direct his life onto the path of God, then the evil devils surrounded him and began to hold and torment him. Here the word is not about men but about demons, who either appear to the penitent themselves or torment him through men. David would not have called the people of God, the crown of God's creation, dogs; rather he called dogs the demons, who appear to righteous men now as dogs, now as serpents, now as dark men, now as lions, now in any other form. And that he here understands by "dogs" the evil spirits, we may be convinced from the lives of the great ascetics, to whom demons appeared in the form of dogs for the purpose of terrifying them. And we can be further convinced of this from the words of the Lord and Savior, spoken from the Cross: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)! That is, they do not fulfill their own will, but the will of another, namely, the demonic will. Many dogs and an assembly of the wicked gathered together to destroy Christ the Lord. When the devil, the tempter, could not overcome the Lord on the Mount of Temptation with his false promises, then he assaulted with all his might to destroy Him through men, by a shameful death on the Cross. Behold, brethren, how clear is the prophecy! They pierced my hands and my feet. To no one in the entire history of the world can these words be applied except to the crucified Savior. But the prophecy goes into every detail: They parted my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. All came to pass as it was prophesied -- all of it! But the devil miscalculated. He thought that by death he would destroy the One who is mightier than death. He thought that he would bring dishonor upon the One who alone gives honor to every creature. The Lord Christ by His glorious resurrection vanquished and put to shame the devil and all the pack of his dogs, and gave to us men power and authority over them. The whole pagan world could not drive away a single demon; but we are able, by the name of Christ and by His Cross, to scatter legions of demons like smoke, for after Christ the demons have become like beaten and cowardly dogs.
O Lord, Conqueror and Savior -- to Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Many dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet.”