Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY MARTYRS PARAMON AND 370 OTHERS
In Asian Bithynia a certain prince named Aquilinus terribly persecuted Christians. Once he captured 370 Christians and led them bound to a certain place where there was a temple of the idol god Poseidon. There the wicked prince compelled them to bow down to the idol and offer sacrifice. Although the prince threatened with capital punishment anyone who would not obey his command, not a single Christian submitted to his command. At that hour a certain honorable man named Paramon was passing by the road near the temple. He stopped at the crowd of bound people and learned what was happening, and having learned he cried out: "How many innocent righteous ones does the vile prince wish to slaughter because they do not bow to his dead and dumb idols!" And Paramon continued on his way. Then the enraged prince sent his servants to kill Paramon. The servants overtook Paramon, seized him, and first pierced his tongue with a thorn, then stripped him naked, and thus pierced his whole body. Holy Paramon with prayer in his heart gave up his soul to God. Then also those 370 martyrs, great as sons of God and innocent as lambs, were beheaded by the sword, and passed into the immortal kingdom of Christ the Lord. They suffered in 250.
2. VENERABLE ACACIUS OF SINAI
In his glorious book "The Ladder," Saint John Climacus relates the life of this saint. Young Acacius was a novice under a certain evil elder in the Sinai monastery. The wrathful elder daily scolded and reviled Acacius, and often beat him, and in every way tormented and abused him. But Acacius did not complain but endured all this patiently with the conviction that it was beneficial for his salvation. Whenever anyone asked him how he lived, he answered: "Well, as before the Lord God!" After nine years of obedience and torment, Acacius died. The elder buried him, then went and complained to another certain holy elder, saying: "Acacius, my disciple, has died." "I do not believe it," answered the holy elder, "Acacius has not died." Then both of them went to the grave of the deceased, and that holy elder called out: "Brother Acacius, have you died?" And obedient Acacius, obedient even after death, answered: "I have not died, father; it is impossible for the obedient one to die." Then that evil elder repented and shut himself in a cell near Acacius's grave, where in repentance and prayer he spent the remainder of his life.
3. HOLY MARTYR DIONYSIUS, BISHOP OF CORINTH
Dionysius was a renowned pastor and teacher. He was beheaded for Christ in 182.
4. HOLY TIRIDATES, KING OF ARMENIA
Tiridates was a contemporary of Diocletian. At first he terribly persecuted Christians. But God's punishment overtook him, and he went mad and became like a beast, as once Nebuchadnezzar. Saint Gregory miraculously healed him from madness (see September 30). From then until his death Tiridates lived in repentance and piety. He reposed peacefully in the fourth century.
5. HOLY MARTYR APOLLONIUS
Apollonius was a Roman senator. Accused of faith in Christ, he confessed his faith before the whole Senate, for which he was beheaded by the sword in Rome in 186.
“How many innocent righteous ones does the vile prince wish to slaughter because they do not bow to his dead and dumb idols!”
Hymn of Praise
Acacius, wondrous monk,
By obedience saved his soul,
His soul now rejoices,
And his name is glorified.
The elder called out to the novice:
"Acacius, brother, where art thou?"
The elder called out once again:
"Acacius, art thou dead?"
"I am not, father, dead, I am not,"
The humble monk answers,
"There is no death for him
Who practices obedience faithfully."
The angry elder was amazed,
Was amazed and began to weep,
The elder wept bitterly,
For his evil he repented.
Why does the wicked elder repent?
Truly he has reason —
The sinner went to the desert
To suffer for his sins.
“There is no death for him who practices obedience faithfully.”
Reflection
God's punishment overtakes sinners immediately after sin, that sinners might be frightened and the righteous encouraged, but sometimes much later, suddenly and unexpectedly, that sinners might know that God forgets nothing. The earth swallowed Dathan and Abiron immediately after their sin, but Emperor Belshazzar saw the hand that wrote his death sentence when he felt happiest, at a feast, among friends and admirers. – A certain gravely ill soldier was brought to Saint Stephen the Newer, that he might heal him by prayer. Stephen told him to bow before the icon of Christ and the Holy Theotokos. The soldier did this and was immediately well. This miracle spread in all directions. Hearing of it, the iconoclast Emperor Copronymus summoned that soldier and questioned him. And when the soldier confessed and acknowledged that he had received healing from the holy icons, the emperor began furiously to rebuke him for icon veneration. The frightened soldier renounced icon veneration before the emperor and was ashamed of his faith in icons. When that soldier left the palace and mounted his horse, the horse under him became enraged, threw him off, and trampled him with its hooves until he gave up his soul. Behold punishment immediately after sin. – Emperor Tiridates, persecutor of Christians, had thrown Saint Gregory into a pit and executed thirty-seven holy nuns. And no punishment befell him. Later when the emperor with his companions went hunting for recreation and amusement, madness suddenly seized him, both him and his attendants. To his pious sister was revealed in a dream the cause of his madness as well as the way he might return to his senses. Saint Gregory was brought out of the pit, and through his prayer Emperor Tiridates recovered, repented, and was baptized. Punishment sometimes follows sin swiftly as night follows day, and sometimes slowly as year follows year. But it never fails to come, except in cases where repentance takes the place of punishment.
“It is impossible for the obedient one to die.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the wondrous Paradise of God, namely:
1. How God adorned Paradise with trees of every kind, beautiful to behold and good for food;
2. How God planted in the midst of Paradise the tree of life;
3. How God forbade Adam to eat only from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Homily
on the orderly structure of the Church like a body
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part (Eph. 4:16)
The subject here, brethren, is the spiritual body, God's holy Church. From Him, that is from Christ, this whole body is fitly joined together and compacted. The most wise Apostle finds no better comparison for the Church than with the human body. What the head is to the human body, that is Christ the Lord to the body of the Church. From the head the nerves spread throughout all parts of the body, and by means of the nerves all parts of the body perceive, feel, and move, and in that perception, feeling, and movement is their life. One could say that the head through the brain and nerves is present in every part of the body. If the head is cut off, every part of the body is instantly killed. And Christ is present in every part of the Church, that is, in every faithful member thereof. Through Him every believer perceives the spiritual kingdom, feels love, and moves rightly toward God. From Him every member receives power according to its working and measure, that is, according to its ministry and gift. This power the Lord gives directly, by touch, by contact, by His personal presence alone. Love is the miraculous bond that joins Christ with believers, believers with Christ, and believers with one another. What happens, brethren, to a part of the body when the nerves that bind it to the head are severed? It becomes useless, insensitive, immobile – dead. This happens also to every member of the Church who goes out from the structure of the Church and thereby severs his bond with the Head of the Church. May God preserve us, brethren, from that ruin.
O Lord Jesus, fountain of life and love, do not allow any dark power, in us or outside us, to separate us from Thee and from Thy body, Thy holy Church, which Thou hast purchased with Thy precious blood. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“May God preserve us from that ruin.”