Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY PROPHET HOSEA
The son of Beeri, of the tribe of Issachar. He lived and prophesied more than eight hundred years before the birth of Christ. His divinely inspired words are found in his book, which contains fourteen chapters. He reproached Israel and Judah much for their idolatry, prophesied the punishment of God for sins, and the destruction of Samaria and Israel for their apostasy from God, but also the mercy of God toward the tribe of Judah. He prophesied the abolition and cessation of the Old Testament sacrifice, and the coming of the Lord, and the abundance of gifts which He would bring with Him to earth. He lived to a deep old age and peacefully reposed in the Lord.
2. HOLY UNMERCENARY MARTYRS COSMAS AND DAMIAN
There are three pairs of holy unmercenary physicians by the name of Cosmas and Damian. One pair peacefully reposed on November 1, the second were stoned in Rome on July 1, and this third pair was from Arabia, and it is of them that we speak on today's date. They were physicians by profession; but when they received the Faith of Christ, they healed the sick in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they became famous everywhere for their wonderworking cures. The malicious pagans seized them and brought them before the governor Lycias in the city of Aegae. Since these holy brothers would not at any price renounce Christ, they were first cast into the sea, and then into fire. But God Almighty saved them both from drowning and from fire. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and saved them. The pagan governor ascribed this to some sorcery of theirs. But they answered him: "We have no sorcery, nor do we need it, but we have the power of Christ, which saves both us and everyone who invokes the most holy name of Christ." Then they were pelted with stones, but the stones bounced off them; they were shot with arrows, but the arrows bounced off them as well. Finally they were beheaded with the sword. Together with them, Saints Leontius, Anthimus and Eutropius also suffered and received the crown of glory. They suffered in the time of Diocletian and Maximian. Many miracles were manifested both from their holy relics and from them while they were alive.
3. VENERABLE MARTYR ANDREW
A Christian by birth and a Christian priest. In the time of the persecution of icons he showed himself a great champion of the veneration of icons. In order to expose the wicked Emperor Copronymus for his iconoclasm, Saint Andrew went to Constantinople. One day the emperor was in the church of the Holy Martyr Mamas. Andrew entered the church, stood before the emperor, and openly rebuked him before all: "It would be better for thee, O Emperor, to attend to military affairs and to govern the people, than to persecute Christ and His servants." For this Saint Andrew was severely beaten, tortured and dragged through the streets. A certain heretic struck him with an axe and killed him. Thus Andrew surrendered his holy soul to God in the year 767. His relics gave healing to the sick.
4. SAINT LAZARUS THE FOUR DAYS DEAD
His principal feast is on March 17 and on Lazarus Saturday before Holy Week. On today's date the translation of his relics from the island of Cyprus to Constantinople is celebrated. Emperor Leo the Wise built a church dedicated to Saint Lazarus in Constantinople, and his relics were translated to that church in the year 890. When, after nearly one thousand years, the grave of Lazarus was unearthed in the city of Kition on Cyprus, a marble slab was found, on which was written: "Lazarus the Four Days Dead, friend of Christ."
“We have no sorcery, nor do we need it, but we have the power of Christ, which saves both us and everyone who invokes the most holy name of Christ.”
Hymn of Praise
The far-seeing Prophet Hosea cried out
And to the sinful people foretold calamity:
"The Lord, the Lord speaks: mercy is dear to Me,
But odious is the sacrifice, defiled and rotten.
You have transgressed the law like Adam of old,
You bow down to lies, lies are your master.
Your sacrifices shall cease, I will not accept them,
I Myself am preparing the greatest sacrifice.
You have sown ungodliness, you have reaped lawlessness,
You sowed the wind -- you reaped the tempest.
But now sow righteousness -- you shall reap mercy,
And you shall be to Me a holy people once more.
You are ashamed of Me, you love idols,
You commit adultery with sin, again and again!
Therefore you shall be wanderers throughout the world,
And every nation shall be stronger than you.
But I shall raise up a New Israel,
A new kingdom -- a kingdom of saints:
It shall be as the dew, it shall blossom as the lily,
With the most beautiful fragrance it shall perfume the world.
I am the Lord, the Lord; what I will, I can do.
Blessed is he who bows down to Me, the living God."
“The far-seeing Prophet Hosea cried out And to the sinful people foretold calamity: "The Lord, the Lord speaks: mercy is dear to Me, But odious is the sacrifice, defiled and rotten.”
Reflection
The second appearance of the Holy Martyr Longinus. When Saint Longinus appeared to the blind widow whose little son had died, he promised both to restore her sight and to show her son in great glory. Having found the relics of the holy martyr and touching them with her hands, the widow immediately regained her sight. And so one promise was fulfilled. The following night Saint Longinus appeared to the widow in a great light, holding her son by the hand, and the boy was dressed in radiant garments. And as a father caressing a child, he said to the widow: "Behold, woman, thy son, for whom thou weepest so much! Behold in what honor and glory he is; behold and be comforted. God has numbered him among the heavenly ranks who live in His Kingdom. I have now received him from the Savior, and he will never be separated from me. Take my head and the body of thy son and bury them in one coffin, and grieve no more for thine only child, and let not thy heart be troubled, for great glory and joy and endless gladness have been given to him by God." Seeing and hearing all this, the woman was filled with great joy and returned to her home, saying to herself: "I sought bodily eyes, but I found spiritual eyes as well. I was sorrowful over the death of my son, but now I have him in heaven, where he stands in glory with the prophets and rejoices with them unceasingly."
“Behold, woman, thy son, for whom thou weepest so much! Behold in what honor and glory he is.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the wondrous vision of the Holy Archdeacon Stephen, the Protomartyr (Acts 7), namely:
1. How Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up and saw heaven opened;
2. How he said: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God";
3. How the Jews stoned him with stones.
“How Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up and saw heaven opened.”
Homily
on the festering wounds of sin
The prophet speaks of the wounds of sin, for he himself had first sinned and within himself had felt all the stench of sin. As much as one can see from this confession the impurity of his former sins, so equally can one see the subsequent purity of the penitent. For as long as a man walks upon the festering path of sin, he does not feel the suffocating stench of sin; but when he departs from that path and takes the clean trail of righteousness, only then does he see the unspeakable difference between purity and impurity, between the path of virtue and the path of vice. Imagine the feeling of a man who has spent the night in a foul and suffocating tavern and who in the morning finds himself in a rose garden. There -- stench and poison, and the degradation of soul and body, and rage and discord, the tormenting of oneself and of others; here -- the great sun of God above his head, beautiful flowers all around, fresh air and fragrance, stillness and health. Still greater is the difference between the path of sin and the path of God. My wounds stink and are corrupt; thus the great king describes his sinful past. Nothing so stinks as sin, nothing so festers and spreads as sin. The stench of bodily wounds only somewhat recalls the unbearable stench of a sinful soul. Therefore every holy thing withdraws from such a soul. The pure spirits of heaven withdraw from it, while the impure spirits of hell seek its company. Every new sin is a new wound on the soul, every sin is festering, and every sin is stench. But whence do sins come? Because of my foolishness, the prophet explains. The mind cast off its divine track leads a man to sin. Until the mind is cleansed, a man cannot be cleansed. But we have the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16), says the Apostle, that is, we have the mind returned again to that track in which the mind of Adam was before the stench of sin. Therefore, brethren, all Orthodox teaching on asceticism concentrates its attention on one chief point: the mind of man, on the cleansing and correcting of the mind. O Lord Jesus Christ, Purity and eternal Fountain of purity, help us to cast off our foolishness; help us to think according to Thy mind. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Nothing so stinks as sin, nothing so festers and spreads as sin.”