Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY MARTYR HIERON AND HIS COMPANIONS
Hieron was born in the city of Tyana in Cappadocia of a good and pious mother Stratonice, who was blind. Hieron was a most zealous Christian and with great filial love he served his blind mother Stratonice. For these two reasons he refused to go into the army, and instead beat and drove away those who had been sent to take him. For Hieron was loath to leave his helpless blind mother, and it was hard for him even to think that as a soldier he would be forced to bow down and offer sacrifice to idols. At last Hieron was captured and with certain other Christians was led before the prince to the city of Melitene. When they were on the road, one night someone appeared to Hieron in white garments and said to him: "Behold, Hieron, I announce salvation to you: you will not fight for the earthly king, but you will complete your struggle for the heavenly King and soon pass to Him to receive honor and glory from Him." And from this news Hieron's heart was filled with unspeakable joy. When they arrived in Melitene, all were cast into prison. There Hieron with great fervor strengthened in the faith all who were imprisoned, entreating them that none should fall away but that all should willingly surrender their bodies to tortures and death for Christ. Before the prince all with one voice confessed faith in Christ the Lord, except one kinsman of Hieron, by the name of Victor, who fell away from the faith. Hieron's hand was cut off, then he was flogged and tormented in various ways, until at last he was, together with the others, put to the sword. Going to the place of execution, the thirty-three martyrs sang the psalm: Blessed are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Let us also mention by name these honorable martyrs, whose names are written in the Book of Life: Hesychius, Nicander, Athanasius, Mamas, Barachius, Callinicus, Theogenes, Nicon, Longinus, Theodore, Valerius, Xanthius, Theodulus, Callimachus, Eugenius, Theodotus, Ostryches, Epiphanius, Maximian, Ducitius, Claudian, Theophilus, Gigantius, Dorotheus, Theodore, Castryches, Anicetus, Themelius, Eutychius, Hilarion, Liodotus and Amonitus. A certain Chrysanthus ransomed the severed head of Hieron and buried it honorably, and later built a church over it in the name of Saint Hieron. And the severed hand of the martyr was taken to his blind mother. Saint Hieron suffered with his companions in the year 298, and passed into the glory of Christ.
2. HOLY MARTYRS THESSALONICA WITH AUCTUS AND TAURION
This virgin was the daughter of a certain pagan priest Cleon, a rich and proud man. Because of her faith in Christ her father drove her from the house and from the city. Two honorable citizens, Auctus and Taurion, reproached Cleon for his inhuman treatment of his daughter, for which Cleon accused them as Christians. And they were cruelly tormented and put to the sword for Christ. Afterward Thessalonica was tormented and killed. They suffered in the Macedonian city of Amphipolis, opposite present-day Kavala. And thus these martyrs were made worthy of the immortal kingdom by their honorable suffering.
3. VENERABLE LAZARUS OF GALESIUM
A pillar of light appeared above the house where he was born. From his village of Magnesia he went to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places, and there he became a monk in the monastery of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified. After ten years he settled on Mount Galesium, and labored ascetically on a pillar as a stylite. A wonderworker during his life and after his death. Emperor Constantine Monomachus held him in great esteem. In old age Saint Lazarus departed to eternity, at the end of the eleventh century.
Hymn of Praise
Prisons are extraordinary courts,
In prison Saint Hieron speaks:
– My brethren, thirty comrades,
Hold fast to the word of God,
To the word of God and His law;
Behold, the serpent has raised himself from of old,
To charm you with his gaze!
That you might follow him into hell.
Do not yield, O brethren true in faith,
O hear the humble Hieron!
All that the serpent promises you
Is transitory as green grass.
Endure tortures courageously,
Do not trade the eternal for the temporal,
Today, tomorrow, and death will come,
To the Judgment of God each must go.
Blessed is he who is not ashamed
When he sees his Judge before him,
And still more he who shows Him
His blood shed for Him,
His wounds for His name –
He shall reign eternally with Him.
“Do not trade the eternal for the temporal; today, tomorrow, and death will come.”
Reflection
There are decisive moments in life, upon which depends eternal life or eternal death. We do not know when that decisive moment has come for us – perhaps it has already arrived today – which is why we must watch unceasingly. With Saint Hieron was arrested a certain kinsman of his, Victor. On the eve of the day of torture Victor became afraid of the impending torments, so he went to the prison warden and begged him to strike his name from the list of the accused and to release him, promising to give him his land for this. The warden struck him off and released him. But returning home Victor suddenly died – he died a natural death at the same time as Saint Hieron with his companions under tortures for Christ. And thus Victor wasted the decisive moment, lost his land, lost his friends, and lost both lives, earthly and heavenly. But Hieron in that decisive moment gained all. – No one cared for Victor's body, while many fought over the body of Hieron. When Christians asked the prince for Hieron's head, the prince demanded for it as much gold as it weighed. A certain Chrysanthus, rich and pious, paid that much gold for the honorable head of the martyr. Anthony and Matronianus hid from the prince the severed hand of Saint Hieron and brought it to Hieron's blind mother Stratonice. The mother took her son's hand and wept bitterly: "O my beloved son, I bore you whole, and now I have only one part of you!"
“There are decisive moments in life, upon which depends eternal life or eternal death.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the evil power of the evil spirit over those who serve him (Acts 19), namely:
1. How seven Jews attempted to cast out spirits from people for profit, as Paul did;
2. How the evil spirit answered them: Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?
3. How the man with the evil spirit leaped upon them and tried to overpower them.
Homily
on the dark paths of humanity before and apart from Christ
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience (Eph. 2:2)
This is all one and the same path – the path to destruction. According to the course of this world means according to sinful striving; and according to the prince of the power of the air means according to the will of the chief of those demons who dwell in the air; the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience means that just as those who oppose God and fight against God now live, so lived all men before Christ's coming, including those to whom the apostle writes his epistle. What is this power of the air, brethren? It is the rank of evil spirits who are found in constant fluctuation in the air. They make the air pestilential, and they block the souls of the dead who ascend to heaven. They tempt the human spirit to every evil; they provoke it to every sin; they do not compel, for they have no power for that – but only tempt and provoke. Upon the pagans they acted more strongly and directly than upon the people of Israel. Upon the pagans they fell like a swarm of flies upon a corpse, while upon Israel they acted from afar, tempting and provoking. For they stood farther from Israel because of the name of God, which was kept there and spoken. Christ the Lord smashed them all and pulled out their poisonous sting, so that they remained only as empty scarecrows, as wretched inconstant shadows that vanish instantly at the mention of Christ's name or at the sign of Christ's Cross.
O Lord Jesus, our commander and our liberator, help us to live in Thy freedom. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Christ the Lord smashed them all and pulled out their poisonous sting, so that they remained only as empty scarecrows.”