Lives of the Saints
1. HIEROMARTYR ZENOBIUS AND HIS SISTER ZENOBIA
From the city of Aegeae in Cilicia. From their parents they inherited the true faith and great material wealth. Zealous for the faith, with great love they distributed their wealth to the poor. And because their hands were merciful, the hand of God covered them from every evil design of men or demons. The merciful hands of Zenobius, which bestowed gifts upon the poor, were endowed by God with the gift of wonderworking, so that Zenobius healed the sick of every disease by the mere touch of his hands. And Zenobius was appointed Bishop of Aegeae. During the time of persecution the judge Lysias seized him and said: "I set before you two things — life and death; life if you bow down to the gods, death if you do not." Holy Zenobius answered: "Life without Christ is not life but death, and death for Christ's sake is not death but life." When Zenobius was subjected to cruel torments, his sister the martyr appeared before the judge and said: "I too wish to drink that cup of suffering and be crowned with that crown." After torments in fire and in boiling pitch, both were beheaded by the sword, around the year 285. And so this brother and sister passed over into the immortal kingdom of Christ the King.
2. HOLY APOSTLES CLEOPAS, TERTIUS, MARK, JUSTUS, AND ARTEMAS
Of the Seventy. The risen Lord appeared to Cleopas on the road to Emmaus. Tertius wrote down the Epistle of Paul to the Romans (Romans 16:22) and ended his life as a martyr, serving as Bishop of Iconium after the Apostle Sosipater (see November 10). Saint Mark (or John, see Acts 12:12) was the son of the devout Mary, whose house was a refuge for the apostles and the first Christians in the earliest days, and a kinsman of Barnabas. He was bishop in the Samarian city of Apollonias. Justus was the son of Joseph the Betrothed. Together with Matthias he was nominated by lot for the place of Judas the traitor, but was not chosen. As a bishop he suffered for the Gospel in Eleutheropolis. Saint Artemas was bishop in Lystra of Lycaonia and reposed peacefully.
3. HOLY KING MILUTIN
Son of Uros I and Queen Helena, and brother of Dragutin. He waged many wars in defense of his faith and his people. He warred against Michael Palaeologus because the latter had accepted the union and was forcing all the peoples of the Balkans and the monks of Athos to recognize the Pope. He warred against Shishman, Tsar of Bulgaria, and Nogai, Khan of the Tatars, in order to defend his lands. All his wars were successful, for he ceaselessly prayed to God and placed his trust in God. He built more than forty churches. Besides those in his own land — such as Treskavac, Gracanica, Saint George in Nagoricino, the Holy Theotokos in Skopje, Banjska, and others — he was a builder of churches outside his own land as well, in Thessalonica, Sofia, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and on the Holy Mountain. He reposed in the Lord on October 29, 1320. His body soon proved to be incorrupt and wonderworking. As such, it rests to this day in Sofia in the church of "The Holy King."
“Life without Christ is not life but death, and death for Christ's sake is not death but life.”
Hymn of Praise
A saintly man of God, King Milutin, valiant,
Had a task both great and difficult:
To defend the faith from wicked schismatics,
And the people from many fierce oppressors.
A scourge to Palaeologus and a scourge to the Latins,
Milutin triumphed over all the faithless.
The greatest treasure for him — the Orthodox faith,
As for Justinian, a crown of pearls!
And like Justinian he raised many churches,
Exalting the glory of glorious Christ throughout the world.
He governed his royal affairs in a kingly manner,
Yet from God and Christ he never parted his mind;
Therefore his heart was pure and guileless,
In the whirlwind of the world — a mind of a venerable one.
God, who looks upon the heart and judges by the heart,
Granted King Milutin immortality,
Immortality of soul and incorruption of body,
And behold, we have a holy king complete and whole!
O wondrous king, without fear of men,
Be our intercessor before the living Lord,
That we may be freed from the monsters of sin,
And inherit the heavenly kingdom with thee.
“A saintly man of God, King Milutin, valiant, / Had a task both great and difficult.”
Reflection
The great son of the Orthodox Church, King Milutin, saved the Balkans from submission to the Unia. At the moment when the Byzantine emperor's conscience had weakened, this valiant and God-bearing Slavic king arose resolutely and with God's help saved Orthodoxy not only in his own land but in all the lands of the Balkans. Whoever closely examines the life of the holy King Milutin will understand why God gave him success after success throughout his entire life and in all his endeavors. When Milutin ascended the throne, he immediately vowed to God to build as many churches as years he would reign. He reigned for forty-two years and built forty-two churches. With some churches, as in Thessalonica and Constantinople, he also built hospitals for the poor, where the poor would receive everything free of charge. Besides this, he especially loved to lavish his enormous wealth upon the poor. Often this mighty and wealthy king would disguise himself at night in the clothes of a pauper, and with two or three of his servants would go out among the people, inquire about people's misfortunes, and generously help the destitute. Amid his great wealth he lived quite modestly and patriarchally, though he did not present himself as such before foreigners. He had grown accustomed to a modest life in the house of his father, King Uros. It is told how Emperor Michael Palaeologus sent his daughter Anna with an embassy to the court of King Uros, offering his daughter to Milutin, solely in order to win the Serbian king over to the union with Rome. And King Uros, seeing the senseless Byzantine luxury on the princess and her attendants, said: "What is this, and what is it for? We are not accustomed to such a life." And he pointed to a Serbian princess with a distaff in her hand: "See," he said, "in what garb we take our brides!"
“He reigned for forty-two years and built forty-two churches.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous healing of a man lame from birth (Acts 14), namely:
1. How in Lystra there was a man who from birth had never risen to his feet;
2. How he gazed intently at Paul and believed in the Gospel;
3. How Paul healed him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he leaped up and walked.
Homily
on the desire for God — the only desire of the righteous
Both in heaven and on earth there is one supreme good for the soul of the awakened man. That good is God. Countless goods are in heaven, but the King of heaven is the greatest good. Countless goods are on earth, but the Creator of all those goods is incomparable. Therefore the soul of the awakened man asks itself: what would I have, or what would I desire, in heaven or on earth, besides Thee? Does a river benefit one who has been led to the spring to drink? And does one who sits at the royal table look about for a shepherd's supper? God is sufficient in Himself to satisfy all the hunger and thirst of man. God's are the heavens and God's is the earth. The Lord of all goods is the greatest good; the Creator of all sweetness is the greatest sweetness; the Bearer of all wisdom is the greatest wisdom; the Source of all power and mercy is the greatest power and mercy; the Creator of all beauty in heaven and on earth is the greatest beauty. No good can come into a man's heart, neither in waking nor in sleep, that is not in God, and that in the highest degree. Therefore, my brethren, let us seek God, that we may obtain all things; let us search for God, that we may find all things; let us enrich ourselves with God, that we may be rich in all things. O Lord our God, draw near to us when our soul seeks Thee. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“God is sufficient in Himself to satisfy all the hunger and thirst of man.”