Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY APOSTLE MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST
Matthew, son of Alphaeus, was at first a tax collector (that is, a tax farmer and collector, or publican), and as such the Lord saw him in Capernaum and called him: *Follow me. And he arose and followed Him* (Matt. 9:9). After this Matthew prepared a reception for the Lord in his house, and there gave occasion for the Lord to declare several great truths about His coming to earth. After receiving the Holy Spirit, holy Matthew preached the Gospel in Parthia, Media, and Ethiopia, the land of black people. In Ethiopia he appointed as bishop a certain Plato, his follower, while he himself withdrew into prayerful solitude in the mountains, where the Lord appeared to him. He baptized the wife and son of the prince of that land, for which reason the prince became very angry and sent a guard to bring Matthew to him for judgment. The soldiers went and returned to the prince saying that they heard Matthew's voice but could in no way see him with their eyes. Then the prince sent another guard. When this guard also approached the apostle, he was enveloped by heavenly light, so powerful that the soldiers could not look at him, but filled with fear they threw down their weapons and returned. Then the prince himself went. As he approached Saint Matthew, such a radiance shone from him that the prince suddenly went blind. But the holy apostle was merciful of heart: he prayed to God, and the prince received his sight – alas, he received sight only with his bodily eyes but not with his spiritual ones. He seized Saint Matthew and subjected him to cruel tortures. Namely, twice they kindled a great fire on his chest. But the Lord's power preserved him alive and unharmed. Then the apostle prayed to God and gave up his spirit to God. The prince commanded that the martyr's body be placed in a lead coffin and thrown into the sea. The saint appeared to Bishop Plato and told him about his body and the coffin, where it was located. The bishop went and brought up the coffin with Matthew's body. Seeing this new miracle, the prince was baptized and received the name Matthew. Then the prince abandoned all worldly vanity and received priestly rank, and served the Church in a God-pleasing manner. When Plato died, the Apostle Matthew appeared to this Matthew and counseled him to accept the episcopacy. And so he accepted the episcopacy and was a good shepherd for many years, until the Lord called him into His immortal Kingdom. The holy Apostle Matthew wrote his Gospel in the Hebrew language, which was soon translated into Greek, and reached us in Greek, while the Hebrew version was lost. Of this Evangelist it is said that he never ate meat but nourished himself with vegetables and fruit.
2. VENERABLE SERGIUS OF MALOPINEGA
Malopinega was a Russian parish priest. As a priest he lived and served in a God-pleasing manner for a full twenty-two years in the Vologda province. He reposed peacefully in the Lord on November 16, 1585, at the age of ninety-two.
Hymn of Praise
To His apostle, to holy Matthew,
The Lord Himself appeared in the land of black people,
This was comfort to the tortured warrior,
And great strength to his heroic soul.
The Lord also gave him a staff from His hand,
To plant it before the small church
Until it turned green with flowers of various colors
And bore sweet fruit, that everyone might delight.
From the root below a spring will flow,
A spring of cold water, pleasing to the thirsty,
And whoever washes will utter praise,
His face will shine with wondrous radiance.
The apostle did as the Lord said,
And the tree sprouted, adorned itself with flowers,
And living water flowed from its veins,
The church filled with numerous people:
Whoever was sick received healing,
And whoever was healthy became healthier,
The black man made his black face most beautiful,
The wild people became – God's vineyard.
O wondrous tree, have we it!
We have it, brethren, we all have it,
This is Christ the Lord, Lord of hosts,
He – the Tree of Life – by Him we are saved.
“The black man made his black face most beautiful; the wild people became God's vineyard.”
Reflection
Does the Lord's commandment about unceasing prayer (Luke 18:1) apply only to monks or to all Christians in general? If it applied only to monks, the Apostle Paul would not have written to the Thessalonian Christians: Pray without ceasing (I Thess. 5:18). The apostle repeats, therefore, the Lord's commandment word for word, and issues it to all Christians without distinction, whether one is a monk or a layman. Saint Gregory Palamas struggled ascetically for some time, as a young hieromonk, in a monastery in Veroia. There was also there a certain notable ascetic, the elder Job, whom all respected. It happened once that Saint Gregory in the presence of the elder Job, citing the apostolic words, asserted that unceasing prayer is the duty of every Christian and not only of monks. The elder Job, however, answering this, said that unceasing prayer is the duty only of monks and not of every Christian. Gregory, as the younger, yielded and did not wish to argue, but silently withdrew. When Job returned to his cell and stood in prayer, the angel of God appeared to him in great heavenly glory and said to him: "Doubt not, elder, the truth of Gregory's words; he spoke rightly; and thus think thou and teach others." Thus, therefore, both apostle and angel confirmed the commandment that all Christians must pray unceasingly to God. If not unceasingly in church, then unceasingly in every place and at all times, and that within their hearts. For when God does not weary for a moment in giving us good things, how should we weary in thanking Him for those good things? When He thinks unceasingly of us, why should we not think unceasingly of Him?
“When He thinks unceasingly of us, why should we not think unceasingly of Him?”
Contemplation
Contemplate the creation of the world, namely:
1. How on the third day God separated dry land from water;
2. How He commanded the earth to bring forth from itself grass and fruit-bearing trees;
3. How this came to be according to God's word, and how it was good.
Homily
on the indwelling of Christ in the hearts of the faithful
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love (Eph. 3:17)
With faith comes Christ into the heart, and with Christ, love. And thus man is rooted and grounded in love. First, therefore, faith, and then with faith the presence of Christ in the heart; and with the presence of Christ the presence of love, and with love all blessings ineffable. In a few words the apostle shows us the entire ladder toward perfection. The beginning is faith and the end is love. And faith and love are bound in a living and indivisible unity by the presence in the heart of the living Lord Jesus Christ. With the strengthening of faith we increasingly diminish the distance between us and Christ the Lord. The stronger the faith, the nearer Christ. Finally the heart is filled with Christ and cannot be separated from Christ as the lungs cannot be separated from air. Then man with tears of joy communes with Christ in his heart through prayer: Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner! And imperceptibly the heart is filled with light and warm love. Thus love is united with faith and hope, and when they are united, the boundary between them disappears, so that man cannot even in thought determine where faith ends and where hope and love begin. When the living Christ dwells in him, then he no longer looks in himself at faith, nor hope, nor love, nor does he name them, but sees Christ only and names Christ only. Like a fruit grower in autumn who looks at the ripe fruit on the tree and no longer speaks of the flower and the leaf but of the fruit, of the ripe fruit.
O Lord Jesus Christ, supreme height of all our endeavors, final station of all our journeys, draw near to us and save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“With faith comes Christ into the heart, and with Christ, love. And thus man is rooted and grounded in love.”