Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY MARTYRS TYRSUS, LEUCIUS AND CALLINICUS
Saints Tyrsus and Leucius were honorable citizens of Caesarea in Bithynia, the first baptized and the second a catechumen. Callinicus was an idolatrous priest. When the emperor—Decius's successor Cumbricius—began mercilessly to torture and kill Christians, the fearless Leucius stepped before him and, denouncing him, said to him: *Why hast thou made war upon thine own soul, O Cumbricius? * The enraged judge immediately ordered that he be beaten and tortured, and finally beheaded with a sword. The tortured Leucius went to his beheading joyfully as to a wedding. Seeing the death of brave Leucius, blessed Tyrsus was inflamed with divine zeal, and like Leucius he too stepped before the judge and denounced him for his crimes and for his disbelief in the one true God. Tyrsus too was beaten and cast into prison. The invisible hand of God healed him of his wounds, opened the prison doors for him and led him out. Tyrsus immediately went to Bishop Phileas of Caesarea, that he might baptize him. After baptism Tyrsus was again captured and tortured, but he endured the torments as if in a dream and not in reality. By the power of his prayer many idols fell. Seeing this, the idolatrous priest Callinicus was converted to the Faith of Christ. Both Callinicus and Tyrsus were condemned to death. Callinicus was beheaded with a sword, and Tyrsus was placed in a wooden box to be sawn through with a saw. But God's power did not permit this, so the saw could not even cut the wood. Then Saint Tyrsus rose up out of the box, prayed to God thanking Him for the torments, and peacefully gave up his spirit to his Lord. At the end of the fourth century, Caesar Flavius built a church to Saint Tyrsus near Constantinople, and laid in it his holy relics. The saint appeared in a vision to Empress Pulcheria and recommended to her that she bury the relics of the forty martyrs near his relics.
2. HOLY MARTYRS PHILEMON, APOLLONIUS, ARIAN AND OTHERS
In the time of Diocletian a certain judge Arian cruelly tortured Christians in Egypt. Arian captured Apollonius also and threatened him with tortures. Apollonius became afraid of the tortures, so he bribed a certain well-known musician Philemon, a pagan, to go in his place, disguised in his clothing, to offer sacrifice to the idols. But when Philemon stepped before the idols, suddenly the light of the Christian Faith shone in his heart and he crossed himself. Then he came out and began to cry: *I am a Christian! A servant of Christ the Living God! * Hearing this, the judge laughed, thinking that Philemon was mocking the Christians. Then Philemon was tortured with terrible torments. Rain from heaven fell upon him and baptized him. Finally both Philemon and Apollonius were beheaded by the judge Arian. But then Arian also became a Christian, after he healed his blind eye in a miraculous way at Philemon's tomb. Condemned to death by Emperor Diocletian, Arian was executed along with four soldiers who likewise declared themselves Christians.
Hymn of Praise
You came to know the Faith, you confessed Christ,
You gave up the body, that you might save the soul,
Therefore your name shines in heaven
And in the church glows, fire unquenched.
Pray for us, immortal heroes,
That sinful clouds may be repelled from us,
Blessed Leucius and valiant Tyrsus
Glorious Callinicus, noble Philemon,
And the rest in turn, you endured bitter pain,
But now you are citizens of the better universe,
Pray for us, beautiful luminaries,
Pray for the Church, God's martyrs.
You came to know love, the heavenly possession,
The earth knew not even its true name,
You saw it whole in God's Son,
In the sign of crucifixion and bloody brow.
Now you are near to God, and behold His face,
By your prayers cover our sins.
“You came to know love, the heavenly possession, the earth knew not even its true name.”
Reflection
There are three kinds of praiseworthy zeal: zeal for the purification of oneself from sinful desires and thoughts, zeal for the truth of the Faith, and zeal for God's righteousness among people. All three of these forms of zeal filled the soul of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker to perfection. Zeal for the purification of himself he showed throughout his life, vigilantly guarding over his heart. Zeal for the truth of the Faith he showed especially at the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, when he came into terrible conflict with Arius. Zeal for God's righteousness among people he showed particularly in two notable incidents, when he saved three innocent men each time from the death penalty. Once in his absence from the city of Myra, the gold-loving general Eustathius condemned three men to beheading by sword, having received a bribe for this from some of their enemies. Informed of this, Saint Nicholas in the greatest haste rushed to Myra. The condemned men had been led out to the place of execution. The executioner had already raised the sword over the innocent men. At that moment Nicholas seized the sword, tore it from the executioner's hands, and freed the condemned men. Then he rebuked General Eustathius and brought him to shame and repentance. Likewise three imperial generals were slandered before the eparch of Constantinople, Evlavius, and before the emperor: Nepotian, Ursus and Herpylion. The emperor signed the death sentence. On the eve of the day of execution the three generals prayed to God, saying: *God of Nicholas, deliver us innocent ones from death! * That night Saint Nicholas appeared in a dream to the emperor and to the eparch, denounced them for that injustice, and commanded that they immediately release the three generals from prison. The next day the emperor and the eparch related to each other the identical nocturnal vision, and immediately freed the generals both from death and from prison.
“At that moment Nicholas seized the sword, tore it from the executioner's hands, and freed the condemned men.”
Contemplation
Contemplate Abraham's obedience to God, namely:
1. How Abraham obeyed God when He commanded him to go out from his land, and from his kindred, and from his father's house (Gen. 12);
2. How he obeyed God when He commanded him to offer his only son as a sacrifice.
Homily
on Jacob
I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved (Gen. 32:30)
The God of Abraham and Isaac was also the God of Jacob, the God of the faithful, obedient, merciful and meek. Jacob can be called a meek God-seer. For truly he was meek, and saw God, and spoke with God, and saw God's angels, and a ladder from earth to heaven. By his meekness he conquered Laban his father-in-law, and Esau his brother; by meekness he brought peace among his wives, Leah and Rachel; because of meekness he was dear even to Pharaoh. Jacob's meekness is a prototype of Christ's meekness. Blessed are the meek, said the Lord, for they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5). These words came true also in Jacob. He inherited the land of his fathers; his posterity was freed from Egypt and inherited the Promised Land; and through Christ the Lord, his descendant according to the flesh, he inherited the whole earth. This is the Church of God, which has spread over the whole earth. I have seen God face to face. Jacob saw God in the form of a man, but not as a real man. And that vision itself is only a prediction of the truly incarnate God as man. And my life is preserved. His soul was preserved from fear and from every injustice. So if Jacob was saved by seeing only the apparition of God, how much easier is it for us to be saved, who know God as a true man, as the God-man.
O meek Lord, strength and glory of the meek, as Thou didst save Jacob by Thy apparition, save us also by Thy true Body and Blood. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Jacob's meekness is a prototype of Christ's meekness. He inherited the land of his fathers, and through Christ the Lord he inherited the whole earth.”