Days of the Church Calendar

On this day, the First Sunday of the Holy Fast, the Church is accustomed to celebrate the restoration of the veneration of the holy and venerable icons, accomplished by Emperor Mikhail and his mother, the blessed Empress Feodora, together with the holy Patriarch Methodiy of Constantinople. The history is as follows.

When Lev the Isaurian—formerly a swineherd and donkey driver—by God’s permission seized the imperial power, the holy hierarch German, who at that time held the governance of the Church, was summoned to him and heard these words: “It seems to me, master, that icons differ in no way from idols; therefore order them removed as quickly as possible. If they are truly images of the saints, they should be hung higher up, so that we, wallowing in sins, do not constantly defile them by kissing them.” But the patriarch rejected all these impieties of the emperor, saying: “Are you not the one, O emperor, who, according to prophecy, will raise persecution against the holy icons, and whose name is Konon?” He replied: “Yes, that was my name in infancy.” Since the patriarch would not obey his will, the emperor banished him and installed in his place his like-minded associate Anastasiy. Then he openly began the struggle against the holy icons. It is said that even earlier Jews instilled this hatred of icons in him, having foretold by sorcery his elevation to the throne at a time when he was poor and practiced the trade of donkey driver together with them.

After the evil life of Lev was cruelly cut short, his most wicked cub, Konstantin Kopronim, succeeded to his power and launched an even more furious persecution against the holy icons. And though one must say that no matter how many and what lawless deeds he committed, he too came to a shameful end. His son by a Khazar woman ascended the throne, but he too met a painful death. The heirs to the throne became Irina and Konstantin. At the insistence of the most holy Patriarch Tarasiy, they convened the Seventh Ecumenical Council, at which Christ’s Church once again accepted the veneration of the holy icons. After their deposition, Nikifor Genik ascended the throne; then Stavrakiy, and after him Mikhail Rangave, who all venerated the holy icons.

The successor to Mikhail was the beast-like Lev the Armenian. Deceived by a certain impious monk-hermit, he began the second iconoclastic persecution, and once again the Church of God was deprived of her beauty. Lev the Armenian was succeeded by Mikhail the Amorian, and then by his son Feofil, who again raised persecution against the icons, surpassing all the others. Thus this Feofil subjected many of the holy fathers to various punishments and tortures for the sake of the holy icons. However, it is said that during his reign he especially championed justice (he could not tolerate injustice), so that they searched throughout the entire city for a person who was to be judged with another in the emperor’s presence, and for many (seventeen) days they found absolutely no one.

Feofil ruled autocratically for twelve years, after which he fell ill with dysentery, which tormented him so that his mouth opened wide up to his throat. Empress Feodora, in great sorrow over what had happened, briefly fell asleep and saw in a dream the Most Holy God-bearer holding the Eternal Infant in Her arms, surrounded by radiant Angels who were scourging and rebuking her husband Feofil. When she awoke, Feofil, having somewhat come to himself, cried out: “Woe to me, wretched one! For the holy icons I am being scourged.” The empress immediately placed an image of the God-bearer on his head, praying to Her with tears. Feofil, seeing a small icon on the breast of one of those standing nearby, took it and

he kissed it. And immediately the lips that had blasphemed the icons, and the grotesquely opened throat, closed up. Delivered from the calamity and torments that had befallen him, he fell asleep, convinced that it is very good to venerate the holy icons. The empress brought holy and venerable images from her chest and urged her husband to kiss them and venerate them with all his soul. Soon Feofil departed this life.

Feodora summoned all who were in exile and in prisons and set them free. The one called Ioann—also known as Yanniy—was cast down from the patriarchal throne; he was more a chief of soothsayers and demons than a patriarch. In his place was raised the confessor of Christ, Mefodiy, who had previously suffered much for the icons and had been buried alive in a tomb.

At that time, by divine illumination, the holy hermit Arsakiy appeared to the venerable Ioannikiy the Great, who was laboring in the mountains of Olympus, and said to him: “God has sent me to you so that we, going to Nikomidia to the venerable man Isaiya the Recluse, may learn from him and accomplish what is pleasing to God and fitting for His Church.” When they came to the venerable Isaiya, they heard from him: “Thus says the Lord: behold, the end has drawn near for the enemies of My Image. Therefore go to Empress Feodora. And tell Patriarch Mefodiy: excommunicate all the impious, and then with the Angels offer Me a sacrifice of praise, venerating the image of My countenance and of the Cross.” Having heard this, the ascetics hastened to Constantinople and conveyed everything that the venerable Isaiya had said to Patriarch Mefodiy and to all the chosen of God. They gathered together and went to the empress, finding her obedient in everything, for she was pious and God-loving, holding the veneration of the holy icons handed down from her ancestors. The empress immediately drew forth the image of the God-bearer that hung around her neck for all to see, kissed it, and said: “Whoever does not venerate and kiss them with love—not as gods, but as images, for the love of the Prototype—let him be excommunicated from the Church.” The fathers rejoiced with great joy. Feodora asked them to offer prayer for her husband Feofil. Seeing her faith, though they said it was beyond their strength, they nevertheless obeyed. Holy Patriarch Mefodiy came to the Great Church of God and gathered all the Orthodox people, the clergy, the hierarchs, monks, and desert-dwellers—including the aforementioned Ioannikiy the Great from Olympus, Arsakiy, Navkratiy the disciple of Theodor Studit, Feofan the hegumen of the “Great Field,” Theodor and Feofan the Inscribed, Mikhail the Holy-City-dweller, syncellus and confessor, and many others. They all offered supplication for Feofil, praying with tears and ceaselessly entreating God. And so they did throughout the entire first week of the Great Fast. Empress Feodora herself prayed in the same manner together with the senate and all who were in the palace.

Meanwhile, on Friday at dawn, Empress Feodora fell asleep and saw herself standing near the column of Constantine the Great. She beheld certain people coming noisily along the road, carrying instruments of torture, and in their midst they were dragging Emperor Feofil with his hands bound behind his back. Recognizing her husband, she followed those leading him. When they reached the Copper Gates, she saw a certain wondrous Man seated before the icon of the Savior, before Whom they placed Feofil. Falling at the feet of this Man, the empress began to entreat Him for the emperor. At last He opened His mouth and said: “Woman, great is your faith. Know therefore that for the sake of your tears and your faith, and also for the prayers and supplications of My servants and My priests, I grant forgiveness to your husband Feofil.” And He commanded those leading the emperor: “Untie him and give him to his wife.” She took him and departed, rejoicing and exulting, and at once awoke.

While the prayers and supplications were being offered, Patriarch Mefodiy took a clean scroll and wrote on it the names of all the heretical emperors, including Emperor Feofil, and placed it on the holy altar (under the indition) in the sanctuary. On Friday he too saw a certain fearsome and great Angel entering the church. Approaching him, the Angel said: “Your prayer has been heard, O bishop: Emperor Feofil has received forgiveness; from now on do not trouble God with this anymore.” The patriarch, to test whether the vision was true, left his place, took the scroll, unrolled it, and found—O the judgments of God!—that the name of Feofil had been completely erased by God.

Learning of this, the empress rejoiced greatly. She sent to the patriarch and ordered that all the people be gathered with honorable crosses and holy icons in the Great Church, so as to restore the holy images to it and proclaim to all this new wonder of God. Soon, when everyone had assembled in the church with candles, the empress came with her son. During the litany they went out and reached the aforementioned road with the holy icons, the divine and honorable wood of the Cross, the sacred and divine Gospel, crying out: “Lord, have mercy.” And so, returning again to the church, they celebrated the Divine Liturgy. Then the holy icons were restored by the chosen holy men, many years were proclaimed to the pious and Orthodox, and those who opposed and were impious, not accepting the veneration of the holy icons, were excommunicated and anathematized. And from that time the holy confessors decreed that this sacred solemnity should be celebrated in this manner every year, so that we might never again fall into the same impiety.

O unchangeable Image of the Father, by the prayers of Thy holy confessors have mercy on us. Amen.

Verses: Tyron feeds the city with food of koliva, Declaring the polluted food unfit.

On this day, the first Saturday of Great Lent, we celebrate the wondrous miracle of the koliva (kutia) of the holy glorious great martyr Feodor the Tyron, which had the following background.

When Julian the Apostate succeeded to the throne after Konstantiy, the son of Konstantin the Great, and turned from Christ back to idolatry, a great persecution of Christians began—open and at the same time hidden. For the impious emperor forbade cruel tortures and overt inhuman attacks on Christians, being ashamed and at the same time afraid that many might join them. Instead, the vile deceiver devised a secret way to defile Christians. Recalling that Christians especially purify themselves and attend to God during the first week of the holy fast, he summoned the city prefect and ordered him to remove the usual goods for sale from the market and to set out other food instead—that is, bread and drink—having first sprinkled them with the blood of idolatrous sacrifices and defiled them by this sprinkling, so that Christians buying them after the fast would be defiled at the moment of their greatest purification. The prefect immediately carried out what was commanded, and throughout the marketplace were laid out foods and drinks polluted with the blood of idolatrous sacrifices.

But the All-seeing God, who thwarts the schemes of the crafty and ever cares for us, His servants, destroyed the loathsome plots of the apostate. To the bishop of the city, Evksiy—though he was a heretic and not Orthodox—God sent His great sufferer Feodor, from the military rank, called Tyron. Appearing before him not in a dream but in reality, the saint said: “As quickly as possible, arise, gather the flock of Christ, and strictly command that no one buy anything from what is offered in the marketplace, for all of it has been defiled with the blood of idolatrous sacrifices by order of the impious emperor.” The hierarch was perplexed and asked: “But how can those who do not have enough food at home manage not to buy what is offered in the marketplace?” “By giving them koliva,” the saint replied, “you will make up for the lack.” When the bishop, marveling and not understanding, asked what this “koliva” might mean, the great martyr Feodor said: “Boiled wheat—for that is what we are accustomed to call it in Euchaita.” The patriarch inquired who this was who cared for the Christians, and the saint answered again: “Feodor, martyr of Christ, now sent to you from Him as a helper.” The patriarch immediately arose and announced the vision to many Christians, and acting as the holy Feodor had commanded, he preserved Christ’s flock unharmed from the enemy’s and apostate’s craftiness. The emperor, seeing that his plots were exposed and had come to nothing, was deeply ashamed and once more ordered the usual goods to be sold in the market.

The Christians, giving thanks to their benefactor-martyr, after the first week of Great Lent had passed, on this Saturday joyfully celebrated his feast, preparing koliva. And from that time even to the present, we the faithful, renewing the miracle so that so glorious a deed of the martyr might not be forgotten with the passage of time, honor the memory of the great martyr Feodor by the blessing of koliva.

This saint, under Emperor Maximian, was tortured by the impious praepositus Vrinka. First he was exhausted in prison, then he set fire to their pagan temple and distributed its furnishings to the poor. When some demanded an answer from him and wanted him to turn from Christ to the idols, giving him such counsel, he would not tolerate it. Having suffered much, at last he was thrown into a huge blazing pyre; unharmed by it, in the midst of the flames he gave up his soul to God. By his prayers, O Christ God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Verses: Let the world weep bitterly with our first parents, As fallen with them, fallen because of sweet food.

On this day we commemorate the expulsion of the first-formed Adam from the paradise of delight, which our divine fathers established before the start of the holy Forty Days (Great Lent), thereby demonstrating how beneficial the medicine of fasting is to human nature, and, on the contrary, how loathsome are the consequences of self-indulgence and disobedience.

Thus, the fathers, leaving aside the countless narratives of what happened in the world because of these passions, present to us the first-formed Adam, clearly showing how terribly he suffered for not fasting, thereby bringing death into our nature; and how he failed to keep the first holy commandment of God to mankind—regarding fasting—and, obeying his belly (or rather, the cunning serpent through Eve), not only did not become a god, but brought death upon himself and destruction upon the entire human race.

It was because of the first Adam’s eating of food that the Lord fasted for forty days and was obedient (see Phil. 2:8); and because of Adam that the holy apostles devised this Great Forty Days, so that we, by keeping what he failed to keep (and thereby suffered the loss of immortality), might regain it again through fasting.

Moreover, as we have said before, the intention of the holy (fathers) is to briefly recount the works accomplished by God from the beginning even to the end. And since the cause of all our misfortunes was the transgression (of the commandment) and Adam’s fall through eating, for this reason they propose today to commemorate this event, so that we might avoid it, and especially so that we do not imitate intemperance in all things.

In the sixth day Adam was created by the hand of God, honored with His image through the inbreathing (of the Spirit); and having received the commandment, he lived in paradise from that time until the sixth hour, and then, having transgressed it, was expelled from there. However, the Jew Philo (Philo of Alexandria, a Jew born around 20 BC, who attempted to reconcile the Bible with the teachings of Greek and Eastern sages and interpreted the Mosaic law allegorically) considered that Adam lived in paradise for a hundred years; others say seven years or days, because of the significance of the number seven. And that in the sixth hour (Adam), stretching out his hands, touched the (forbidden) fruit—this was shown by the New Adam, Christ, who in the sixth hour and on the sixth day stretched out His hands on the Cross, healing him from destruction.

(Adam) was created between death and immortality, so that he might receive whichever he himself chose. Although it was possible for God to create him sinless, yet, so that his own free will might be tested, the commandment was given to eat from all the trees except one—this means it was permitted to contemplate the knowledge of Divine power through all God’s creatures, but not the Divine nature itself. Thus Gregory the Theologian philosophizes that the (other) trees of paradise are divine thoughts, while the forbidden tree is contemplation. That is, he says, God commanded Adam to be interested in all the other elements and qualities and to reflect on them with the mind, as well as on his own nature, glorifying God for this, for this is true food; but as for God—Who He is by nature, and where He is, and how He brought all things from non-existence—he was by no means to inquire. Yet Adam, leaving aside everything else, began more and more to investigate God and to carefully examine His essence. Since he was still imperfect and irrational, like an infant, he fell into this when Satan through Eve instilled in him the dream of deification.

And the great and divine Chrysostom, although following Scripture, yet not according to the letter, attributes to this tree (of knowledge) a certain double power and says that paradise was on earth, considering it both spiritual and material at the same time—as Adam himself was between death and immortality.

Some also think that the tree of disobedience was a fig tree, since (Adam and Eve), suddenly realizing their nakedness, covered themselves by using its leaves. Therefore Christ also cursed the fig tree, because it was the cause of disobedience; it even bears a certain resemblance to sin. First of all, there is its sweetness (of the fruit), then the roughness of its leaves and the stickiness of its sap. But there are also those who wrongly think that (the forbidden) tree was Eve’s seduction of Adam and carnal knowledge (of her).

Thus, having transgressed God’s commandment, Adam was clothed in mortal flesh, was cursed, and expelled from paradise; and a flaming sword was commanded to guard its entrance. Adam, sitting opposite (paradise), wept (for) how many blessings he had lost because he did not fast in his time. And in his person the entire human race came under the curse, until our Creator, taking pity on our nature destroyed by Satan, raised us up again to our original dignity: born of the Holy Virgin, living without sin, showing us the way through the opposite of what Adam did—that is, through fasting and humility—and overcoming the one who deceived us by cunning.

Therefore, the God-bearing fathers, desiring to present all this in the entire Triodion, begin with Old Testament (events); the first of them is the creation of Adam and his expulsion from paradise, the memory of which we celebrate today, along with readings from other (books of Scripture): those of Moses, the prophets, and especially David, adding something also by grace. Then, in order, follow the (events) of the New Testament, the first of which is the Annunciation, which by God’s ineffable providence always falls during the Forty Days; the raising of Lazarus and the Flowery (Palm) Sunday, the holy Great Week, when the sacred Gospels are read and the holy and saving Passion of Christ is sung with compunction. Afterward, from the Resurrection until the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Acts (of the Apostles) are read: how their preaching took place and called all the believers—for the Acts bear witness to the Resurrection through miracles.

Since we have suffered so greatly because Adam once failed to keep the fast, this commemoration is now proposed on the threshold of the holy Forty Days, so that, remembering what evil intemperance brought, we may strive with joy to begin the fast and keep it. For through fasting we shall receive what Adam did not attain [that is, deification], weeping, fasting, and humbling ourselves until God visits us—for without this it is difficult to regain what was lost.

Let it be known that this holy and Great Forty Days is a tithe of the whole year. Since by our laziness we do not wish to fast continually and avoid evil, the apostles and divine fathers gave it to us as a certain fruitful time for the soul, so that whatever foolish things we have done throughout the whole year we may now cleanse with contrition and humility in fasting. And we must carefully observe this (Forty Days), as well as the other three (fasts): those of the holy apostles, of the Theotokos (Dormition), and of Christ’s Nativity—corresponding to the four seasons. The Forty Days was handed down to us by the holy apostles, who honored it especially because of the holy Passion and because Christ fasted (forty days) and was glorified; Moses also fasted forty days to receive the law; likewise Elijah, Daniel, and all those glorified by God. And Adam proves the contrary—that fasting is a good thing. For this reason the fathers placed Adam’s expulsion here.

O Christ our God, by Thine ineffable mercy make us worthy of the sweetness of paradise and have mercy on us, for Thou alone art the Lover of Mankind. Amen.

Synaxarion for the Saturday of Cheesefare Week: All the Venerable Fathers Who Shone Forth in Ascetic Struggles

The God-bearing fathers, through the preceding feasts, gradually instruct us and prepare us for the path ahead. They turn us away from pleasure and overeating, instill in us the fear of the coming Judgment, and at the same time purify us fittingly through Cheesefare Week. They timely appoint two one-day fasts, so as to encourage us little by little toward the Great Fast itself. And here they present all those who lived piously, who endured many illnesses and labors—both men and women—hoping that by the remembrance of them and their struggles we may be strengthened. May we, having their life as an example and guide, be fortified for the course that lies before us, and with their assistance and help take up the spiritual contests, remembering that they too were of the same nature as we.

Just as generals, when the army is already arrayed and drawn up in battle order, kindle their soldiers’ courage with speeches, examples, and recollections of ancient heroes who fought valiantly and displayed bravery—and those soldiers, strengthened by hope of victory, prepare themselves with all their soul for battle—so now do our God-bearing fathers act most wisely. For through the example of those who lived ascetically, who strengthened both the male and female nature for spiritual struggles, they lead both to the arena of fasting. Thus, by contemplating their life free from negligence as a prototype, we may exercise ourselves as much as possible in the manifold and varied virtues—most especially in love and prudent abstinence from unseemly deeds and actions, and indeed in fasting itself, which is not merely abstaining from food but also bridling the tongue, anger, and the eyes; in short, a renunciation and alienation from every evil.

For this reason the holy fathers established this present commemoration of all the saints here, setting before our attention those who pleased God through fasting and also through other good and virtuous deeds, urging us to enter the arena of virtues after their pattern and to arm ourselves boldly against the passions and demons. They thereby suggest to our minds that if we too show equal zeal, there will be no obstacle to our accomplishing the same as they did and being accounted worthy of the same reward, for they too were partakers of our nature.

Concerning Cheesefare Week itself, some say that it was introduced by Heraclius; before that it was a meat-eating week. After warring for six years against King Chosroes and the Persians, he made a vow to God that if he gained the upper hand over them, he would change that week and appoint it as an intermediate one between abundance of food and the fast—and so he did.

Yet even if this is how it happened, I believe that the fathers also devised it as a kind of preliminary purification, so that we, being suddenly withdrawn from meat and overeating to the utmost restraint, would not be vexed, nor harm our bodily condition, but gradually and little by little, withdrawing from what fattens and delights, might accept the bridle of fasting—like unruly horses when their feed is slowly reduced.

For just as the fathers influenced the soul through parables, so too for the body they devised what was necessary, gradually cutting away every hindrance to fasting.

By the prayers of all the venerable fathers, Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters!

Often, in times of sorrow and affliction, we turn to God with a plea for help. When we are prosperous and in good bodily health, we are little inclined to think about our soul, about salvation, or about giving thanks to God. That is why the Lord, in His most wise providence, sometimes sends us severe trials in life, so that we may remember and understand that God governs all things, calling us to come to true understanding and to find the faith that leads to salvation. Each time God answers our cry for help, our heart is filled with gratitude and joy that, out of His love and mercy, He has heard us. Yet after some time passes, we often forget this, and our faith grows weak.

Today’s Sunday Gospel reading gives us two striking examples of faith in the Savior’s help, through which miracles were wrought: the raising by the Lord of Jairus’s daughter and the healing of the woman with the issue of blood.

Let me recall the content of this Gospel.

When Jesus Christ left the region of the Gadarenes (whose inhabitants had driven Him away), He crossed to the other side of the Sea of Tiberias (Galilee). A great crowd gathered around Him, eager to hear His teaching. At that moment, Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came up, fell at the Savior’s feet, and begged Him to come and heal his only daughter, a girl of twelve, who lay dying. Jesus immediately set out for Jairus’s house. A large crowd followed and pressed around Him.

Among them was a woman who had suffered from constant bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all she had on physicians, but no one could help her. Hearing about Jesus, she was filled with faith and said to herself, “If I can but touch the hem of His garment, I will be made well.” According to the Law of that time, a woman with this condition was considered unclean and was forbidden to touch anyone. Yet her faith in Jesus Christ was so great that she resolved to break the prohibition. And her faith was not in vain: the moment she touched the edge of His cloak, she was instantly healed.

Christ stopped and asked, “Who touched Me?” Everyone was silent. Of course, the Lord knew who had touched Him, but He asked so that the woman’s faith might be revealed for the instruction of all present. The Apostle Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround You and press in on You, and You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’” But the Lord replied, “Someone touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not remain hidden, came trembling and fell down before Him. In front of everyone she explained why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed. By Jewish law she had committed an offense, being unclean, and she awaited condemnation and punishment. But the merciful Lord calmed her, saying: “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34).

While He was still speaking these words, messengers came from Jairus’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any longer.” But Jesus, hearing this, said to Jairus, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be saved.” He continued to the house.

There, everyone was weeping and wailing over the dead girl. The Lord said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” The death seemed so obvious to those present that they laughed at Him in derision. Jesus allowed no one to remain in the room except Peter, James, and John, and the girl’s father and mother. He took the child by the hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” Her spirit returned, and she immediately stood up. He told them to give her something to eat, so that all might be convinced the resurrection was real. The parents were astonished, but Christ strictly charged them to tell no one what had happened—perhaps because He knew the crowd would not believe anyway and would only mock and demand further signs.

What lessons can we draw from today’s Gospel?

In the stories of the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus’s daughter, we see how God, having become man, walked the earth. Divine love and mercy responded to every human need: hunger, sickness, sorrow, and even death. When Jairus, a prominent and wealthy synagogue ruler, in anguish over his dying daughter, humbly fell at the Lord’s feet, Christ—knowing his faith—immediately responded to his heartfelt pain. The Lord set aside everything else He was doing to go to the dying child. In the Gospel He says, “I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:15). Here is an example for us: when you encounter need, when you hear a cry for help or soul-pain—go. Leave your own affairs, because someone needs you.

Another truth this Gospel teaches is that only the one who believes can receive help from the Lord. “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). There is no sorrow, no calamity, that Almighty God cannot heal. No matter how dire our situation, we must not fall into despondency or despair, but place our hope in the power and mercy of the Lord who said, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 49:15). Faith is a gift of God. Even the apostles prayed, “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). Believing, we must turn to the Lord with all our heart, entrust ourselves to Him, humble ourselves under His mighty hand, and hold unshakable hope in His saving providence.

How often we resemble the people surrounding the dead girl! The Lord Himself comes and says, “She is not dead, but sleeps.” Yet the Gospel tells us they “knew” she was dead and laughed at the Savior’s words. While she was merely sick, they could still hope for a miracle; but now that she was dead, they thought it absurd to speak of hope for life. This is exactly how we often behave. The Lord lived, died, and rose again. He tells us that death is temporary, like sleep; that beyond this brief earthly life lies eternal life in which souls continue to live, and then the resurrection of the body at the glorious Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Yet we keep saying, “He died, she died.” The Apostle tells us, “I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thess 4:13). We hear these words, yet we still weep inconsolably and “know” that the person lying before us is dead. Though the Lord raised four-day-dead Lazarus, assuring us there is resurrection, we still “know” there is only death and refuse to believe in eternal life. The stark obviousness of death blinds us to faith in life everlasting.

But for Christ there is no death—there is only life and falling asleep in the Lord. The Gospel account of Jairus’s daughter coming back to life is an affirmation of life over death, of bright hope over grim obviousness, of life-giving faith over soul-destroying unbelief. Let us entrust ourselves to the Lord with all our heart, and in our soul we will hear His confident voice: “Do not fear; only believe, and you will see the glory of God” (John 11:40).

Brothers and sisters! How often in temptations our faith wavers. How often, when we encounter obstacles, failures, or opposition to our good intentions, we are ready to despair and abandon what we have begun. May today’s Gospel word strengthen us: “Do not fear; only believe!” We must always place our hope in the mercy of our Savior, remembering His words: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt 7:7–8).

Jairus’s prayer for his dying daughter is an example of intercession for others. We must pray for our relatives, friends, for all who are near and far, for the living and the departed. Christians in the Church are bound together by the grace of the Holy Spirit with strong bonds of love, as the Apostle says: “You are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:27), “for in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12:13). Even when we pray alone, we must realize that we pray together with the whole Church. Our prayer merges with the stream of prayers of our brothers and sisters in the faith. That is why the Lord taught us to pray “Our Father,” not “My Father”—that is, to pray as the Church, not merely as isolated individuals.

Sometimes, lacking true love for our neighbor, people turn away from one another, saying, “That person is dead to me; friendship or love has died.” The Lord tells us: it has only fallen asleep, it is only hidden, but it lives. Yet we refuse to believe and insist, “I know—everything is dead, dried up to the root.” By the parable of the fig tree that was tended for three years until it bore fruit, Christ reminds us that love and life do not die, that everything can be raised again by His word. Do not believe those who say, “All is lost.” Sometimes those around us gloomily declare, “We know nothing can be done; why bother trying to help—this person is spiritually dead, beyond repair.” Let us then remember the Savior’s words: “This person is not dead—he is only sleeping.” His soul has dozed off, grown cold. But if God speaks a living word and we come with love to help, it will awaken! And we are the ones called to speak that word of compassion.

From today’s Gospel we also learn how healing of our infirmities may be obtained. The reading speaks of bodily ailments—the girl’s mortal illness and the woman’s hemorrhage. Notice that in both cases the duration is twelve years. Perhaps this identical length of time points to a common root: the spiritual illnesses so characteristic of mankind.

Our soul is sick with sin. Sometimes it suffers in these sins like the woman with the issue of blood; sometimes it draws near to death without receiving healing—which the Gospel assures us is possible. Jairus and the suffering woman came and fell at Jesus’ feet. They humbled themselves before Him and begged, possessing deep faith. The woman did not even dare to ask aloud; she simply believed in her heart that if she touched Him she would be healed. In her silent prayer she uttered not a single word about healing, yet the Lord heard and answered. Knowing her faith, He said, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace.” If we likewise fall down before God, humble ourselves, and ask with firm faith, “Lord, cleanse me from my sins,” the Lord will surely heal our soul as well.

Sometimes we do not even feel the sickness of sin within us. Our soul has grown so accustomed to sin that we no longer distinguish where our immortal soul ends and sin begins. But the word of the Lord touches our heart, and it comes alive—conscience awakens, shame arises, a person realizes he has been going against God in sin. The voice of conscience grows louder, and he begins to see more and more of his sins; like the blind man, he receives sight. It sometimes happens that a person thinks, “When I was farther from the Church I seemed better, but now that I am closer I seem worse.” The truth is that earlier he simply did not see many of his sins, whereas now he sees more and more, just as in bright light we notice even small stains on our clothing.

Often at confession we repent year after year of the same sins and then repeat them. Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood were perhaps no less sinful before God than we are, yet they desired healing, asked the Lord for help—and received it. We, on the other hand, sometimes do not truly want to be delivered from our sins—that is, from eternal death. Though conscience points out the habits and circumstances that hinder our salvation, sin has become so familiar, attractive, close, and sweet that we forget the Kingdom of Heaven. With our mind we understand and acknowledge our sinfulness, sometimes confessing at the sacrament, yet in reality we lack firm resolve to be rid of sin; we lack determination and strength of will. We pamper ourselves and indulgently forgive ourselves. Yet we can turn to the Lord in prayer: “Lord, I hate this sin; I want to be free of it—help me!” And if, after such fervent prayer from the depths of the soul, we touch the Lord in Holy Communion, He will heal us by His grace.

Sometimes we merely list our sins at confession without true repentance—simply naming them. The sin remains in the soul, and then we partake of the Holy Mysteries unto judgment and condemnation. That is why the Apostle Paul says, “That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor 11:30). True repentance is a complete change of life, thought, habits, and attachments. If we acted in this way with strong desire, healing would come instantly, as it did for the woman with the issue of blood. That is what we must strive for. Yet often we strive more for outward well-being: to be healthy, secure, comfortable, to live an exciting and cheerful life. Years pass, and we spend our time without turning to God, enduring deprivation and spiritual suffering, wasting our substance on “physicians” for “twelve years” and more, unwilling to fall at the Lord’s feet in hope of healing.

Christianity, unlike other religions, is a painful and severe struggle against sin, tearing it out of one’s soul by the roots. It is voluntary suffering, the narrow path of moral transformation, the aspiration to pass from being a sinner to becoming a saint. Christianity demands sacrifice and ascetic labor. Not for nothing do we venerate the Cross—it is the image of crucifixion, the shedding of blood, suffering. Yet in our weakness we often long for a calm, peaceful life and try to avoid suffering. If there is no desire to fight sin, there is no genuine repentance, whose essence is a burning longing to be corrected, to cleanse and heal one’s soul from sins.

Brothers and sisters! If we continually beseech the Lord for the healing of our soul with the same intensity and fervor as Jairus for his dying daughter and the woman with the issue of blood for release from her long affliction, the Lord will grant healing. For He is unchanging in His desire to heal according to our faith, as it is written: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8). Therefore, following the teaching of today’s Gospel, let us implore His mercy for the healing of our souls. Amen.

(Luke 8:26–39 – The Healing of the Gadarene Demoniac)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

The Gospel account we heard today at the Divine Liturgy about the man possessed by demons may seem far removed from our everyday lives. Yet it is no accident that, in the yearly cycle of Sunday Gospels, this story of healing is read twice – so that we may once again be reminded of the destructive work of the enemy and of the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to withstand the wiles of the evil one. The Apostle Peter warns us that the adversary of the human race never sleeps: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Brothers and sisters! Christ’s Church is like a ship tossed about on the sea of life by many storms and tempests – both external and internal. In His all-wise providence, Christ sometimes permits us to endure storms in order to strengthen us in faith.

Today’s Gospel reading is preceded by the account of the stilling of the storm. One day our Lord Jesus Christ set out in a boat with His disciples across the sea toward the country of the Gadarenes. At night a great storm arose, while Christ was asleep. The disciples, still weak in faith, cried out to the Lord: “Teacher, we are perishing! Save us!” He arose, rebuked the wind and the waves, and there was a great calm. Then He said to them: “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Afterward the disciples said to one another in amazement: “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and the sea, and they obey Him!” Only when Christ later healed the demoniac in the land of the Gadarenes did they truly understand that He is the Son of God – exactly as we hear in today’s Gospel from Luke.

When the Lord, having stilled the storm, came ashore with His disciples in the country of the Gadarenes, they were met by a certain man possessed by demons. Seeing Jesus, the demon cried out with the man’s voice: “What have we to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” The Lord asked him: “What is your name?” He answered: “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. The demons begged the Lord not to send them into the abyss, but to permit them to enter a herd of swine. The Lord allowed it. The entire herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned. The local people, having been told what happened by the swineherds, came to Jesus and asked Him to depart from their region. Jesus granted their request and sailed away. The man who had been healed begged to go with Him, but Jesus said: “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went throughout the whole city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.

The man described as “possessed” was completely overcome by an evil power that had taken control of his mind, will, and body. No human effort could restrain him; he broke every chain they tried to bind him with, fled into the wilderness, and lived among the tombs – a place where nothing human remained.

Sometimes, brothers and sisters, we too are possessed by dark powers – when anger overtakes us. Though loved ones try to reason with us and stop our hostility and malice, we often resist, tear apart friendships, and turn away even from those closest to us. In today’s Gospel we see how Christ came to this wretched possessed man, and the demon cried through him: “Why have You come to me? What have we in common? Why do You want to torment me?” Jesus Christ commanded that evil, destructive power to depart from the man.

When we live without repentance, when our sins pile up over our heads, unclean spirits – by God’s permission – can take possession of us and strip away the bright garment of Baptism, in which we renounced the shameful works of Satan. Sometimes we resemble that demoniac who no longer lived in a house: through laziness and negligence we fail to visit God’s holy temple and instead dwell among the tombs – that is, in our passions and lusts – where demons seize our will and compel us to do lawless deeds. The holy Apostle John the Theologian teaches: “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning” (1 John 3:8).

Yet we can become free from these evil powers. Let us look honestly into ourselves: what is it within us that darkens our hearts, clouds our mind, turns our will toward evil, and makes our words and actions destructive and dead? Let us approach Christ with humility – in confession, prayer, and Holy Communion – trusting in God’s help.

The Fathers and teachers of the Church bear witness that there exists a kingdom of Satan and the fallen angels, filled not only with hatred toward God but toward all people, and especially toward Christians, whom they strive in every way to harm. Yet a true Christian must resist them. The devil always tailors his temptations to the disposition of a person’s soul, for man has been granted freedom to choose between good and evil, between light and darkness, between God and Belial. In spite of all the enemy’s cunning, the great ascetics of the faith knew when and with what weapons to defend themselves against the fiery darts of the devil. The Savior Himself says: “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21). Bodily labors, silence, patience, humility, and trust in God’s help and mercy were also weapons against the wiles of the devil.

Here is one example the Fathers give: the venerable Daniel related that a certain desert hermit was asked to cast a demon out of a possessed woman. As soon as he entered her house, the woman struck him on the cheek. Following the Lord’s commandment, the hermit turned the other cheek. The demon, tormented by this act of the saint, cried out: “What power! The commandment of Jesus Christ drives me out!” – and the woman was instantly healed.

The devil himself confessed to the venerable Macarius of Egypt that nothing overcomes him as much as humility. There is no stronger shield and no mightier weapon against demons in spiritual warfare than the name of Jesus, teaches Saint John of the Ladder. And Saint Simeon the New Theologian writes: “Just as no one dares approach or interrupt a person who is speaking with an earthly king, so demons dare not draw near to one who is conversing with God.” As long as a person remains in prayer and spiritual contemplation, the enemy cannot overcome him. Therefore, brethren, let us also take up the very weapons with which the saints fought against evil spirits. Following their example, we too shall emerge victorious from the struggle against the enemies of our salvation – that legion of the spirits of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Let us look at our contemporary life, let us examine its phenomena closely, and we shall see that the terrifying image of the Gadarene demoniac is repeated in it in thousands of forms. The evil and cunning enemy of the human race has achieved many successes in destroying the image of God in man – the crown of earthly creation, who in his perfection is “little lower than the angels” (Ps. 8:6). What has become of the God-like soul of man, created for eternal blessedness? Today man is possessed by many demons and reduced to the utmost degree of degradation. Like the demoniac who “wore no clothes,” modern sodomites are not ashamed to parade half-naked. The Lord says of the demoniac: “He lived not in a house but among the tombs.” Are not our apartments and homes today such tombs, where, instead of thoughts of God and prayer, demonic images from television and computers take up residence?

One would think that modern man, corrupted in flesh and spirit, would immediately fall at the feet of Jesus Christ, begging to be healed of demonic possession. After all, a single word from the Savior is enough, and the spirit of evil will depart from him forever. Yet what do we hear? “Depart from us! What have You to do with me? I beg You, do not torment me!” That is, like the Gadarene demoniac, man does not recognize his deadly condition and does not wish to part with his demonic slavery.

Today the devil does not work on us with crude force, but gradually, step by step, poisoning our soul with the venom of sinful passions, thereby undermining and weakening our will. Consider, for example, the wretched person possessed by the demonic affliction of drunkenness. A drunkard, by his very appearance, already resembles a demoniac, for he no longer gives account of his actions. He, too, needs restraining chains, since in his drunken state he is capable of any terrible crime. The drunkard loses every human likeness, does not realize his disastrous state, and does not wish to fight against the passion that is ruinous to his soul – for it is written: Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Yet the drunkenness continues.

Let us look closely at the life around us. Do we not hear today the very plea of the Gadarene inhabitants who lost their herd of swine: “Depart from us – with Your law, with Your teaching, with Your reminder of sin and hell; depart from our accustomed sinful way of life”? In discussions about modernity and freedom, we often hear the voice of a corrupt and impure heart that cannot bear to behold divine purity and truth.

Sin always wages war against holiness; the flesh seeks to enslave the soul – in other words, sin and the flesh strive to drive Christ out of their territory. When the Apostle Peter, in repentant prayer, said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8), he did so out of a sense of his own unworthiness, not daring to draw near to the holiness of Jesus Christ, desiring only from afar to gaze upon Him with reverence, beating his breast like the publican who stood at a distance, trembling and weeping over his sins. The Gadarenes, however, had no desire to change their sinful life, in which open lawlessness had become habitual – even the raising of swine in defiance of the Law of Moses – and they wished only to remove Christ from their midst, to forget Him forever, so that they might continue serving earthly passions and sinful attachments – those Gadarene swine. The presence of Christ’s holiness beside them disturbed their spiritual slumber. They had no need of the Word of God that reminds them of conscience, of retribution for sin, of God’s law and spiritual purity. No – it was better for them to live with the swine than with Christ. Hence their request, so insulting to the Lord: “Depart from us!” In essence, this very request is visible in the attitudes and actions of many people today.

Our saving refuge lies open before everyone’s eyes: it is the Church of God, and everyone who wishes may receive in her healing of soul, peace, and salvation. In the Book of Proverbs it is written: The Wisdom of God has built herself a house and cries aloud – “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” (Prov. 9:1, 4).

Faith is the expression of a healthy state of the soul. Burning and steadfast faith in God is the natural, saving condition of our soul. Yes, it is not easy; it is at once a gift of God (Gal. 5:22) and a human labor. On the other hand, unbelief or weak faith is an unnatural phenomenon; it is a sickness of the soul, a moral sickness, a crime against the will of God. Unbelief is deadly to the soul.

We see today that after the era of unbelief and atheism in the twentieth century, after spiritual wanderings, after bold challenges hurled at God, after proud declarations of faith in man and human reason – many modern Gadarenes who once rejected God are now returning to Him in anguish and despair, with a spiritual thirst. Today’s man, like the prodigal son of the Gospel, after the atheistic spiritual famine in a far country where he tended swine and shared their trough, after the tormenting emptiness and longing for the Father, desires to return to his Father’s house, so that, like the healed demoniac, he may sit at the feet of Jesus. And to those who have been healed of the demonic affliction of unbelief, our High Priest Jesus Christ commands that they remain among the Gadarenes who are still unhealed, in order to proclaim by word and deed the power and glory of the Savior.

May God help us to be healed of sin and to abide in eternal communion with Christ, glorifying and thanking Him for His boundless mercy toward us. Amen.

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On Palm Sunday, the Triumphal Entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem to suffer willingly. A homily by St. John Chrysostom.

Just as we have now crossed the deep sea of the fast, let us, O faithful, undertake with even greater zeal the struggle of this week, and pass on from the miracles of the Lord to still greater wonders, now that we have been illumined by the raising of Lazarus. With Mary and Martha, let us offer Christ, our Master, honor and praise as He cometh, and, like the children with branches, let us cry out together with one voice: “Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord: God is the Lord, and hath shewed Himself unto us” (Psalm 117:26–27).

Tell us plainly, O prophet, who is this that cometh in the name of the Lord? Hearken, brethren, to the words of the prophet Isaiah, who speaketh of Him: “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). He it is who came down from heaven, and for our sake became poor of His own will, that we through His poverty might be made rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He it is who was begotten of the Father before all ages, and in the last times was born of the Virgin God-bearer. He it is who raised up Lazarus from the dead, though four days buried. He it is who came willingly to His Passion in the name of the Lord.

But the wicked Jews, moved by envy, conspired against Him in the very place of His glory, plotting not only to kill Him, but also Lazarus, because many, for his sake, believed on the Lord.

Today the whole earth is filled with joy at His coming: it streweth His path with fragrant flowers and gathereth people in gladness. And we, having prepared the branches of the garden of virtue, let us cry aloud in song: “Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord!”—the God of our fathers, who cometh to trample the devil, to destroy death, to break the kingdom of hades, and to free those held in its bonds!

For this cause He came willingly to His Passion, desiring by the Cross to destroy the tormentor, and to bring life to those who had died. That same Cross hath He given us as a weapon against the devil and against our enemies. For by making the sign of it, we utterly destroy all the devil’s deceit. And therefore we say: “Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord!”

He came to save the fasters and to reward each according to their labor. “For in My Father’s house,” saith He, “are many mansions” (John 14:2), assigned to each according to their works. Let us not lose them for the sake of the short-lived pleasures of this life, which pass away like a shadow, and vanish as smoke.

The coming of Christ draweth near. Let us hasten, brethren, while yet we have time, lest the doors of repentance be shut—that is, lest death overtake us. Let us now flee to repentance, lest we hear that fearful answer: “Now, wretched man, dost thou repent, when there is no longer time for repentance?”

Therefore, beloved, let us in this life cast from us the habit of wrath, let us quench the devil’s hatred, let us forsake fraternal enmity. Let us be merciful and generous to those in need. For no one departeth from this world with wealth or glory, but only with their deeds. Riches and glory remain behind, while our body entereth the tomb, to be consumed by worms, and the bones are laid bare.

Let us then rouse ourselves, brethren, unto good works, and complete this season of fasting without negligence—for the crowns are always given at the end to those who labor. If one beginneth a work and doth not complete it, he shall be put to shame. Let us then finish well, that we may receive the full reward.

But if one abstaineth from bread, yet beareth anger, such a one is like a beast—for the beast also eateth not bread. If one refraineth from drink and meat, and sleepeth on the bare earth, yet harboreth malice and worketh injustice, let him not boast—for he is worse than the beasts, which have neither wrath nor envy nor do unrighteousness.

Rather, let us, O faithful, restrain our bodily desires, that we may be made like unto the angels. Behold, the Passion of Christ approacheth—His willing suffering on our behalf. Let us cleanse soul and body and mind, that we may be made worthy partakers of His divine Supper, crying out unto Him and saying: “Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord,” who came willingly unto His Passion for our sake, and shall again come from heaven to judge the living and the dead—that is, the righteous and the sinners—and to render unto every man according to his works.

To our God be glory.

Before the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven, He gave the apostles the commandment to go forth to preach, in order to convert the entire human race to the Christian faith: “Going, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28, 19). An unspeakably difficult task the Lord entrusted to His twelve disciples, whom He chose not from among the most wise and noble, but from fishermen—simple and little-educated people. But by the grace of the Holy Spirit, it was given to them to comprehend the Divine teaching and themselves to become teachers of others, to go to all ends of the earth and to conquer the unyielding hard-heartedness of the Jews, the reasoning of the Greeks, the crude power of the Romans.

What weapon, then, did Christ give to His disciples, sending them into the world for such a great battle? He wanted the apostles to take with them neither sword nor spear, and even neither bag nor staff; He commanded them to take with them the Holy Gospel and with it to pass everywhere: “Going into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16, 15). And their preaching was heard by the whole world, the Church of Christ was raised up, and faith in Christ shone forth. The heirs of the apostles—the teachers of the Church and the pastors—spread the Word of God to all ends of the earth: “Their sound went out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the universe” (Ps. 18, 5).

Thus, the only weapon by which impiety was conquered in the world and the knowledge of God was spread was the Word of God. The almighty Word, which was born from the Father of Wisdom, created everything: heaven and earth, the visible and the invisible. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1, 1). “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established and by the spirit of His mouth all their power” (Ps. 32, 6),—thus sings the prophet David. The Word of God is life, salvation, and resurrection for those who accept it with faith, as Christ says: “Amen, amen I say to you, that the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and having heard will live” (Jn. 5, 25). And so, we see that the Word of God is life and power, “The word of God is living and active” (Heb. 4, 12).

“I will open My mouth in parables,”—says the Lord through the prophet (Ps. 77). Simple examples of parables Jesus Christ brings in order to set forth hidden wisdom in simplicity. Parables are a treasury of reason, a source of the knowledge of truth. “The wise will listen and will increase knowledge, and the understanding will find wise counsels,”—it is said in the Bible about the parable (Prov. 1, 5). The parable makes the inaccessible accessible, the complex—simple, the secret—manifest. “Meditating in the law of the Most High, he will seek the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be instructed in prophecies. He will seek the hidden things of parables and will live in the enigmas of parables,”—says the wise Sirach (Sir. 39). The entire history of humanity is like a parable that shows the providence of God for our salvation. The Gospel parables give us instruction about eternal life, spiritual health, strengthening, and correction of the mind. Parables teach us high morality, humility, mercy, and other virtues.

But inattention to the Gospel word can be condemnation for us if, having heard the parable, we reject with a cold mind its wisdom and instruction and do not bring forth good fruit, as the Lord says: “He who has ears to hear let him hear” and “Take heed how you hear” (Mt. 23, 3). We hear the words of the Gospel with our ears, but does this word reach our heart? And if it reaches, then, touching it, does it revive us, bring some fruit, and will we live according to this Divine Word? After all, knowledge is not good in itself, but when it is applied in deed, it brings its useful fruit. “For not the hearers,”—it is said,—“but the doers of the law will be justified” (Rom. 2, 13). Today’s Gospel parable speaks to us about the various actions of the Divine Word on the hearts of people.

A sower went out to sow his seed. When he sowed, some seed fell by the way and was trampled, and birds flew in and pecked it; some fell on rocky places, where there was little earth, it sprang up at once and having sprung up withered, because it had no moisture and did not send roots deep; some fell among thorns, and weeds grew and choked the good shoots; some fell on good earth and brought abundant fruits. (Lk. 8, 5-8).

The Lord explained the meaning of this parable “About the sower”: the seed is the Word of God; the sower is Jesus Christ Himself and those who preach the Word of God; the earth is the human heart, a good heart is good earth, and an evil, impure one is barren earth.

Let us pay attention, brethren: the Lord did not say that He went out to plow the verbal fields, to harrow the earth or to pull out wild and weed grass, that is, to prepare our hearts and souls. The Lord expects from us that we ourselves will prepare our soul for the acceptance of the Word. Therefore the prophet John the Forerunner calls us: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight” (Mt. 3, 3). Our preparation begins with repentance, confession, with abstinence from evil deeds. But to those who do not wish to prepare themselves in this way for sowing and bringing forth fruits, the Lord threatens judgment: “Every therefore tree that does not make good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Mt. 3, 10). These words are a sentence for those who live in sin, do not repent, and do not bring forth good fruits. Such will be uprooted from this life and the future one and sent to the unquenchable fiery hell.

Those listeners of the Word of God who listen to it only with bodily ears, without heartfelt attention, are likened by the Lord to the earth by the road. Usually the earth by the path is trampled and hard, and the scattered seeds do not sprout. These are those listening, to whom afterward comes the devil and takes away the word from their heart, so that they do not believe and are not saved. Why does he steal and carry away, since these seeds anyway lie on dead earth? The devil knows that the soul can come to life, come to itself, and the seed then can sprout. But the devil distorts true faith, clutters the seeds, mixing into them falsehood, which he introduces through heretics and various sectarians. So also the devil himself tried to tempt Jesus Christ with a word torn from the context of the Bible. When from the desert he lifted Jesus onto the roof of the temple and said: “Throw Yourself down from here,” for it is written: “He will command His angels concerning You to guard You, on hands they will bear You, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.” And if instead of the Lord there had been a person having in the soul thorns of pride, thirsting for flattery and praises, then he could be tempted and throw himself down. But the Lord answered the tempter: “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” (Mt. 4, 7). Therefore we also will be “quick to hear,”—says the apostle—but mainly “to fulfillment” (Jas. 1, 19).

Further the Lord speaks about the seed sown on stone. To stony soil are likened the souls of people who are carried away by the preaching of the Gospel, sometimes even sincerely and pure-heartedly, find pleasure in listening to it, but they are not able to change their way of life, to depart from their favorite sins that have become habitual, to wage battle with temptations, to endure any sorrows and deprivations—in the battle with temptations they are tempted, fall in spirit and betray their faith and the Gospel commandments.

The heart hardened and stiffened in sinful habit is incapable of nourishing the root of the seed, which withers; and it is said: These have no root. The hearts of such people are not warmed by love for God; as with ice, they are bound by self-love and pride. And although such people can speak about virtue, but the Word of God cannot deepen into their hearts and bring good fruit, and the Word in the soul of the self-loving withers as soon as a sacrifice of truth, righteousness, and virtue is required. And in the first centuries of Christianity, and after the schism of the 17th century—the unsteady in faith and in love for Christ and truth, subjected to heavy persecutions and sufferings for the name of Christ, sometimes fell away from the faith. But our pious ancestors-Old Believers in firm faith brought and multiplied the fruits of the piety of Holy Rus. In the present time, when there are no open persecutions for faith, torments for the name of Christ, the spread false values, sinful customs, prejudices, frivolity, seductive entertainments and pleasures remove and tempt many Christians from the “narrow path” of following Jesus Christ and fulfilling His commandments. Brethren and sisters! Let us remember that, having decided to seek the Kingdom of God, we must not “turn back,” but to the end be faithful to the Lord Jesus.

And, finally, the obstacle to the fruit-bearing of the Word of God—thorns of vanity and worldly pleasures. “And other seed fell in the midst of thorns, and the thorns grew and choked it.” This happens from cares and wealth. But not the necessary worldly needs are called cares and condemned by the Savior, and not wealth is the cause of the fruitlessness of the Word of God. Both do not hinder either listening or preserving and fulfilling the word of the Lord. But only vain attachment to the earthly and temporal hinders, which fills and entangles, like thorns, our heart, suppressing in it the actions of the Word of God, chokes in it every good feeling, leaving no time and opportunity for satisfying spiritual needs. Even more dangerous thorns—these are our passionate attractions, which the Savior calls “pleasures of life.” Their root is found in the depth of our “fallen” nature, in the depth of the sinful human heart: “The law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and captivating me by the law of sin,”—says the apostle Paul (Rom. 7, 23).

The fruits of these thorns are the works of the flesh, about which the apostle says that those doing them “will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal. 5, 20). Those relaxing themselves with gluttony and excess in wine-drinking and entertainments vainly accept the Heavenly seed—the Word of teaching, because they will not be able to appear as a fruitful field for God. Saint Gregory Palamas writes: “We know that when there is much moisture in the fields, they are not able to bring fruit. So also the heart immersed in pleasure and intoxication, in fornication and impurity, is impossible to bring fruit worthy of God. Let everyone who because of a passionate and pleasure-loving life has nurtured thorns and weeds of sin, through repentance pull them out by the root and thereby prepare himself for the perception of the saving seed, and, having accepted it, grow and bring fruit—eternal life.”

Thus, it is obvious that for abundant fruit-bearing of the Word of God it is required not only to listen reverently and accept it, but also necessarily to prepare and cleanse one’s own heart, so that it is capable of cultivating fruits of holiness and righteousness. In the parable the Lord says: But other seed fell on good earth, and sprouted and brought fruit a hundredfold. And those on good earth, these are they who with good heart and good, having heard the word hold it and bring fruit in patience.

There are people whose heart is deep, which was plowed deeply—by suffering and compassion, mercy and love, grief and deprivations. In such a heart the seed of the Word of God takes root, as on good earth, it sends deep roots, which, like with moisture, are revived by the experience of the virtuous life of this person, sprouts and brings fruit.

One must not think that for good people the devil does not try to steal the treasure of the Word of God sown in their hearts, and would not want to cool their hearts with self-love, to choke with the thorn of vanity and fleshly lusts. Those about whom the Lord speaks as about good earth try to deepen in their heart the Gospel word, applying efforts for crushing the heart’s hardness with fear of death and God’s judgment, moisten the sown word with tears of contrition about their sins. They with attention and prayer reverently meditate on the Word of God, with repentance, the fire of love for God and fiery desire for eternal life in the Heavenly Kingdom burn in themselves unclean thorns of passionate desires and attractions to worldly vanity.

The Lord requires from the listeners of the Word attention: “He who has ears to hear let him hear.” But how many Christians today hear the Word of God, but do not attend to it, do not fulfill it and do not correct themselves. We must beware lest for contempt of the word of God that terrible spiritual hunger overtake us, which kills not bodies but souls, about which the prophet Amos says: “And I will send hunger on the earth, not hunger for bread, not thirst for water, but hunger for hearing the word of the Lord” (Amos. 8, 11).

Let us think about the words of Christ: “Take heed how you hear!”—let us reflect how we hear: is the seed sown in vain, not for judgment and condemnation for us—or for eternal life? Let us think what our soul represents? Where does the grain of the word of Christ fall? Into the thorn of worldly vanity, which chokes it and kills? On stone, where it grows and dies from sinful heat and heart dryness? Or by the road, whence the wind of little-faith and carelessness carries it away and where it will be plundered by the predator, the enemy of our salvation. Or will the seed fall into a good heart? And if our heart is not fruitful, then let us set before ourselves the question: how then to crush the stone of little-faith, how to revive the dried-up soul scorched by sin, how to warm the heart cooled by self-love?

Our life on earth is short, the time of sowing and bringing fruits is little. Our life will pass, and we will stand at the threshold of the judgment gates, and then it will be terrible to appear with nothing. The farmer who did not labor in time to cultivate the earth awaits hunger, for without labor there is no harvest. Every careless Christian who has done little good and has not labored for the salvation of his soul awaits a bitter fate. Let us fear the terrible consequences of laziness and carelessness. Let us in patience labor and learn, repent and pray, so that for the short days of our life to bring fruit a hundredfold, to reap for us eternal life and inherit paradise bliss according to the promise of the Lord, Who says: “Blessed are those hearing the word of God and keeping it” (Lk. 11, 28).

On Holy and Great Wednesday of Passion Week, concerning the most beautiful Joseph: how he revealed himself to his brothers, and how his father Jacob came to Egypt with all his household. When Potiphar, who had cast Joseph into prison, beheld that most glorious sight—how Joseph sat in Pharaoh’s chariot in great honor—he was greatly afraid. He withdrew in shame from the nobles and hurried home, trembling with fear. Entering his house, he said to his wife: “Knowest thou, O woman, what a wondrous sign hath occurred today, one that filleth us with great dread? Joseph, our servant, hath been made ruler over us and over all the land of Egypt! Behold, he sitteth with glory in Pharaoh’s chariot and is honored by all. I, for fear and trembling, could not appear before him, but quietly slipped away from the nobles.” Hearing this, Potiphar’s wife said to her husband: “Fear not, but I shall this day confess openly unto thee my sin, which until now I have hidden. I loved Joseph passionately. Therefore I adorned myself daily and hourly, seeking to entice him and draw him to myself. Yet I could not attain that wicked desire—for he rejected all my words and would not hearken unto me. I seized him, trying to force him to lie with me, but he fled outside. The garment I showed thee then was the one he left behind when he escaped from my hand and ran out into the street. And now I see that I have become the occasion of his power and great glory. For had I not loved Joseph, and had he not been thrown into prison, he would not have attained such honor. Therefore, I am now worthy to be praised by him, for I was the cause of his exaltation. Joseph is righteous and holy; he will not remember the evil that brought him good. Rise, then—go and bow before him together with the nobles.” Then Potiphar arose and went in shame and bowed before Joseph along with all the nobles. After this, the seven years of abundance came to an end, and famine began to spread across all the land. Jacob and his sons grew faint with hunger in the land of Canaan. When he heard that grain was being sold in Egypt, he said to his sons: “Why do ye look one upon another? Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down thither and buy for us a little food, that we may live and not die.” So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. And when they came, they bowed down before Joseph with their faces to the earth. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them—but they did not recognize him. He spoke harshly to them and said: “From whence come ye?” They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” But he said to them, “Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land are ye come.” They replied, “Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all brothers, the children of one man. We were twelve in number; one of us was torn by wild beasts, being our father’s beloved, and our father still mourneth him to this day. The youngest remaineth now with our father.” Joseph said to them, “This is what I said unto you, that ye are spies. Ye shall not depart hence unless your youngest brother, of whom ye spake, be brought unto me. Then I will believe that ye are honest men and not spies.” So he cast them into prison for three days. Then, taking Simeon, he bound him before their eyes, and released the others. He commanded their sacks to be filled with grain, their money to be returned into their sacks, and provisions to be given them for the road. Thus he sent them away. When they had departed with their grain and found the money in their sacks, they were greatly afraid. Returning to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they reported to him all that had happened. Then Israel said, “Why have ye dealt so ill with me, as to tell the man that ye had yet another brother?” And they said, “The man questioned us straitly about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father yet alive? Have ye another brother?’ And we answered him according to the truth. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you. His brother is dead, and he alone is left. If mischief befall him on the way, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.” As the famine worsened, Jacob said to his sons: “Go again and buy us a little food.” But Judah answered him, saying: “If thou wilt not send our brother with us, we will not go. For the man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.’” Then Jacob said: “If it must be so, take gifts and double money with you, and take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man. And take back with you the money that was found in your sacks—it may have been an oversight. And may my God grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin.” So they arose and went down into Egypt and stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw them, and Benjamin with them—his brother born of the same mother—he said to the steward of his house: “Bring these men into the house, and kill an animal, and prepare it, for these men shall dine with me at noon.” The steward did as Joseph had commanded and brought the men into Joseph’s house. When they saw that they were brought into the house, they were afraid and said: “Because of the money that was returned in our sacks before, they have brought us in, to lay an accusation upon us and to fall upon us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.” So they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the door, saying: “O sir, we indeed came down before to buy food. But when we came to the lodging place and opened our sacks, behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack—our money in full weight. And we have brought it back with us. And we have brought other money to buy food. We know not who put the money in our sacks.” But the steward said: “Peace be unto you, fear not. Your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money.” And he brought out Simeon unto them. Then he brought them water to wash their feet and gave fodder to their donkeys. They prepared their gifts until Joseph came at noon, for they had heard that they would eat there. When Joseph came into the house, they brought him the gifts which they had in their hands and bowed themselves to the ground. And he asked them: “Is it well with you? Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?” They answered, “Thy servant our father is in good health; he is yet alive.” And Joseph said, “Blessed be that man of God.” And bowing themselves again, they worshipped. Then Joseph lifted up his eyes and saw Benjamin, his brother of the same mother, and said: “Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me?” And he said, “God be gracious unto thee, my son.” And Joseph’s heart was moved for his brother; his inward affections were stirred, and he sought a place to weep. He entered his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out, restraining himself, and said: “Set on bread.” And they set food before him by himself, and for them separately, and for the Egyptians who ate with him separately; for the Egyptians may not eat with the Hebrews, for that is abomination unto them. They sat before him—the eldest according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth—and the men marvelled at one another. Then he took portions from his own table and gave unto them. But Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and made merry with him. Then Joseph commanded his steward, saying: “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in the mouth of his sack. And put my silver cup in the sack of the youngest, along with his grain money.” And he did as Joseph had spoken. When morning dawned, the men were sent away with their donkeys. They had not gone far out of the city when Joseph said to his steward: “Arise, follow after the men, and when thou hast overtaken them, say unto them: ‘Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Why have ye stolen my silver cup? Is not this it from which my lord drinketh, and whereby he divineth? Ye have done evil in so doing.’” So the steward overtook them and spoke those words. And they said: “Why speaketh my lord such words as these? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing! Behold, the money which we found in our sacks’ mouths we brought again unto thee from the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of thy lord’s house? With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” He replied, “Let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found shall be my slave; the rest of you shall be blameless.” Then they quickly laid down every man his sack and opened it. And he searched, beginning at the eldest and ending at the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then they tore their garments, and Benjamin lifted up his voice with weeping, saying: “God of my father knoweth, beholding all things invisibly and searching the hearts, that I have not stolen the cup now found in my sack. Woe is me, woe is me, O Rachel my mother! What hath come upon thy child? Joseph, as they say, was devoured by beasts—and now I have been made a thief in a foreign land and shall remain in bondage.” Then each of them loaded his sack onto his donkey and they returned to the city. Judah and his brothers went in to Joseph and fell before him to the ground. Joseph said to them: “What deed is this that ye have done? Know ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?” And Judah said: “What shall we say unto my lord? or what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also with whom the cup is found.” But Joseph said: “God forbid that I should do so: the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.” Then Judah came near and said: “Let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant. Thou didst ask thy servants, saying, ‘Have ye a father or a brother?’ And we said: ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one, and his brother is dead. He alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.’ And thou saidst unto thy servants: ‘Bring him down unto me, that I may see him.’ And we said to my lord: ‘The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ But thou saidst unto thy servants: ‘Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.’ When our father sent us again to buy food, we said to him: ‘We will not go down, unless our youngest brother go with us.’ And he said: ‘Ye know that my wife bare me two sons. One went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since. And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.’ Now I became surety for the lad to my father, saying: ‘If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.’ Now therefore, let me abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.” Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all that stood by him, and he cried: “Cause every man to go out from me.” And there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud and said: “I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live?” And his brothers could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. Then Joseph said unto his brothers: “Come near to me, I pray you.” And they came near. And he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” Then he said: “Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, ‘Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not. And I will nourish thee—for yet there are five years of famine—lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast come to poverty.’ Tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen. And bring him down quickly unto me.” And he fell upon the neck of Benjamin his brother and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Then Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. To all of them he gave changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. And to his father he sent likewise ten donkeys laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-donkeys laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way. Then he sent his brothers away, and they departed. And he said unto them: “See that ye fall not out by the way.” They departed from Egypt and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father. And they told him, saying: “Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. Being pierced again with sorrow, he said: “Why do ye trouble my soul? That sorrow for Joseph, little quenched in me, ye would now stir up again?” But they told him all the words that Joseph had spoken to them. And when Benjamin came near and said to him: “Truly, these words are so,” Jacob saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, and the spirit of Jacob their father revived. And Israel said: “It is enough. Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.” And Israel rose up with all that he had and came into Egypt. When Joseph heard that his father was coming, he harnessed his chariot and went out to meet Israel his father. And when Jacob saw Joseph approaching, he cast aside the burden of old age and dismounted from his chariot. But Joseph came on foot, and all the nobles with him. And as he drew near to his father Jacob, he fell upon his neck and wept greatly. Then Israel said to Joseph: “Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.” And after seventy years, Jacob died in Egypt and was gathered to his fathers. Joseph fell upon his father’s face and wept bitterly over him, and kissed him. He commanded his servants, the embalmers, to prepare his father’s body for burial. The embalmers embalmed Israel, and forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are the days of embalming counted. And Egypt wept for him seventy days. When the days of mourning were past, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s household, saying: “If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying: ‘My father made me swear, saying, “In the grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me.” Now therefore let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’” Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.” So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went all Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as Joseph’s household, his brothers, and all his father’s house. Only their flocks and herds they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great company. And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation. And he made a mourning for his father seven days. And when the Canaanites saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said: “This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians.” Wherefore the name of that place was called Abel-Mizraim, which is beyond Jordan. His sons did for him as he had commanded them: they carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham bought as a possession for a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. Then Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. After the burial of their father, Joseph’s brothers, seeing that Jacob was dead, said among themselves: “Peradventure Joseph will remember the wrong we did him and will repay us for all the evil we did unto him.” So they came before Joseph and said to him: “Thy father did command before he died, saying: ‘So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil.’ Now therefore, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father.” And when Joseph heard these words, he wept. Then they came near again and said: “Behold, we are thy servants.” And Joseph said unto them: “Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you and your little ones.” And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. Thus Joseph and his brothers, and all his father’s house, dwelt in Egypt. Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. He saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation, and also the children of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees. And Joseph said unto his brothers: “I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying: “God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.” So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him and laid him in a coffin in Egypt. To Christ, through all these things, be glory, with the Father and the All-Holy Spirit—to Him be honor and dominion, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

On Holy and Great Tuesday of Passion Week, concerning that most beautiful Joseph: how the Ishmaelites sold him to Potiphar, and how he came to reign over Egypt. When Joseph’s brothers sold him, they brought a goat, slaughtered it, and dipped Joseph’s robe in the blood. They then sent it to their father Jacob, saying: “We have found this robe cast upon the mountains, and we have recognized it: this is the robe of Joseph, our brother, and we are all in sorrow because of him. Therefore, father, we have sent to thee this many-colored robe of Joseph, for we have not found our brother. Recognize it for thyself, whether it is thy son’s robe; for we have all recognized that it is Joseph’s.” When Jacob saw the robe of his son, he cried out with weeping and bitter lamentation, saying: “This robe is my son’s. A wicked beast hath devoured my son!” And with sobs he lamented: “Why was I not consumed in thy place, my son? Why did not that beast meet me instead, to be filled with my flesh, and leave thee alive, my son? Why did that beast not tear me apart? Why was I not its food? Woe is me! Woe is me! My womb is torn apart for Joseph’s sake! Woe is me! Woe is me! Where was my son slain, that I might go and tear my gray hairs for his beauty? I no longer wish to live, not seeing Joseph. I am the cause of thy death, my child. I, my child, have slain thee, having sent thee into the wilderness to visit thy brothers with the flocks. I shall now weep, my child, and mourn without ceasing, until I descend to the grave, my son. I shall place thy robe in the tomb with me, Joseph, ever before my tearful eyes. Behold, once again thy robe compels me to a new lamentation, my son: for it is whole and unharmed, and like a garment never worn. A beast hath not devoured thee, but thou wast stripped by the hands of men and beaten. For if, as thy brothers said, a beast had devoured thee, thy robe would have been torn to pieces, for a beast does not first undress its prey and then feed on its flesh. If, perchance, it had first stripped thee and only afterward devoured thee, then thy robe would have been left unbloodied. But on thy robe there is no sign of claw marks, nor of teeth—then whence is this blood upon thy robe? If there had been but one beast in the wilderness, I would have but one lamentation and one weeping: that I mourn for Joseph and weep over his robe. But now there are two griefs and two sorrows. I shall bitterly weep over the robe—how it was taken off, and how my child was devoured. Let me die, Joseph, my light and my support! Let thy robe descend with me into the grave, for I wish no longer to behold the light of this world, my son Joseph!” Meanwhile, the Ishmaelites, having taken Joseph, brought him diligently into Egypt, thinking that by his beauty they might gain much gold from some nobleman. And as they passed through the city, they were met by Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh and captain of the Egyptian guard. When he saw Joseph, he asked them, saying: “Tell me, merchants, whence is this young man? For he beareth not the same appearance as ye do—ye are all Ishmaelites, but this one is most comely.” They answered him, saying: “He is indeed of noble birth and exceedingly wise, this youth.” Then Potiphar, giving them the price they asked, bought Joseph from them with affection. He brought him into his house and tested him, desiring to know his way of life. Now Joseph was a true branch of the noble seed of the righteous Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He grew in virtue and was well-ordered in all things in Potiphar’s house. He lived with modesty—in sight, in speech, and in chastity—always keeping before his eyes the Holy God, the All-Seeing, the God of his fathers, who had delivered him from the pit of death and from the hatred of his brothers. Yet his heart remained sorrowful for his father Jacob. When Potiphar observed the conduct of the young man—his wisdom and faithful service—he entrusted everything he had into Joseph’s hands. He concerned himself with nothing in his household, save only the bread that he ate at his table. For his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that whatever he did, the Lord made it to prosper in his hands. And the Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian for Joseph’s sake, and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had, both in the house and in the fields. But the wife of his master, seeing that Joseph was handsome and wise, was wounded in her heart by a devilish lust and longed greatly to be with him. She sought to drag that pure and living fountain of chastity into the pit of adultery. Every day she devised many schemes to seduce the young man—changing her garments at all hours, washing and anointing her face, adorning herself with jewelry, casting glances inspired by Satan, and laughing with shameless boldness, flatteringly speaking to the righteous man like a serpent. But she destroyed herself more than him with these wicked displays, attempting to entrap the soul of the innocent one. But Joseph, shielded by the fear of God, would not even entertain a thought of her. And when she saw that, despite all her beautifications, her efforts were in vain, she became all the more inflamed with desire and utterly consumed, not knowing what more to do. At last she resolved to approach him with shameless words, enticing him as the serpent did Eve, to pour out upon him the venom of impurity. She said without shame: “Lie with me; fear not anything, but be bold toward me, that I may delight in thy beauty, and thou in my charms. Many servants are at our disposal, and thou rulest over the whole household; none shall dare enter or overhear our deeds. But if it be for fear of my husband that thou dost refrain, then I shall kill him, giving him poison.” But he, unconquered in both soul and body, did not sink in the midst of this storm, but rejected her words outright, preserved blameless by the fear of God. To every such devilish snare, Joseph replied with noble and chaste words, and said with meekness: “I shall not commit this sin with thee, my lady: for I fear God. My master hath entrusted to me all his possessions—both in the house and in the fields—and there is nothing that is not under my authority, save thee, my lady. It would not be right to betray such great love from my master. And how can I do this evil thing and sin against God, who seeth the secrets of the heart?” These were the holy words Joseph spoke to his mistress, both teaching and forbidding her. But she did not heed the counsel of the righteous one. Instead, she burned all the more with the boiling passion within her, watching for the right hour and awaiting an opportune time to compel Joseph. Seeing the shamelessness of the woman, how she was determined to seduce him, Joseph lifted his eyes to the God of his fathers and often prayed, saying: “O God of my fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, deliver me from this beast! Thou seest, Lord, the madness of this woman—how she seeketh to destroy me through this secret and wicked act. O Master, Thou who didst deliver me from death at the hands of my brothers, deliver me now also from this wicked beast, that I may not be separated from my fathers, who greatly loved Thee, O Lord.” And opposing her impure desire, he cried out to Jacob: “O Jacob, my father, pray earnestly for me to God. Pray for me, father, for a great battle hath arisen against me—one that seeketh to separate me from God. This death from a woman is worse than that which was dealt to me by my brothers. That death destroyed the body, but this one would sever the soul from God. Yet I know that thy prayers, O father, have ascended to the Holy God on my behalf, and because of them I was delivered from the death of the pit. Now again pray to the Most High, that I may be delivered from this deadly pit now dug for thy son—by one who hath neither shame nor fear of God. To my brothers I went, and they were like wild beasts—like savage wolves they tore me away from thee and delivered me into Egypt by the hands of strangers. And now again a beast hath met me. Pray, O righteous one, for thy son Joseph, that I die not in soul before our God.” When Joseph would not obey his mistress’s desire to be with her, she shamelessly seized the chaste young man and tried to force him into sin. But seeing her brazen shamelessness, Joseph fled immediately out the door, leaving his garment in her hand. Thus he broke through all the snares of the devil, like some noble eagle who, seeing the hunter, flies up to the heights. So too did Joseph escape the trap, lest he perish through word and deed alike. But the woman, seeing that he had escaped, was seized with terror and became exceedingly wrathful. She began plotting how to slander the righteous man with wicked words to her husband, thinking that, if her husband heard these things, he would grow angry and put Joseph to death. She said within herself: “Far better that Joseph die and I be freed from this turmoil. I cannot bear to see such beauty in my house, especially when he has spurned me.” And so, calling the male and female servants, she said to them: “Did you see what this Hebrew slave of ours has done? My husband put him in charge of the entire house, and now he wishes to lie with me shamelessly. It was not enough for him to rule over the household—he even sought to take me away from my husband!” Then, when her husband came home from the palace, she took Joseph’s garment and showed it to him, pretending to be chaste and falsely accusing Joseph: “Was it thou who commanded thy Hebrew slave to mock and insult me, thy wife, and do such a thing unto me?” And her husband, hearing her words, believed the unjust slander of his wife and was enraged with fury. Taking Joseph, he cast him into prison—into the place where the king’s prisoners were kept—without remembering the blessings of God which had come upon his house and lands for Joseph’s sake, nor making any inquiry into the truth of the matter. Instead, he pronounced an unrighteous judgment against him at once. Yet the Lord was with Joseph, and He poured out mercy upon him, granting him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. And the jailer entrusted the prison into Joseph’s hands, along with all the prisoners held there: for all things were under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him. At that time, while Joseph was in prison, two men of Pharaoh’s household offended the king of Egypt: the chief baker and the chief cupbearer. Pharaoh grew angry with his servants and threw them into the same prison where Joseph was held. And after a few days passed, both men had a dream on the same night, each with its own meaning. In the morning, Joseph came to them and saw that they were troubled. He asked them: “Why are your faces so downcast today?” They answered him: “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one to interpret it.” And Joseph said unto them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.” Then the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream, there was a vine before me; and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, it blossomed and brought forth clusters of ripe grapes. And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into the cup, and gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.” And Joseph said to him: “This is the interpretation: the three branches are three days. Within three days shall Pharaoh remember thy office and restore thee to thy former rank, and thou shalt once again place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, as thou didst when thou wast his cupbearer.” When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph: “In my dream, I beheld three baskets of bread upon my head. In the upper basket were all manner of baked goods that Pharaoh eats, and the birds of the air were eating them out of the basket on my head.” Joseph answered and said: “This is the interpretation: the three baskets are three days. Within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and hang thee on a tree, and the birds shall eat thy flesh from thee.” Then Joseph said to the chief cupbearer: “Remember me when it is well with thee, and show kindness unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this prison. For I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into this dungeon.” O holy seed! O chosen seed! O blessed one! Why seekest thou help from a man who shall die? Hast thou forsaken God and turned to man? Hast thou grown weary of God’s help? Why art thou faint of heart? It is God who giveth kingdoms and glory when He willeth. The more thou endurest tribulation, the greater shall be thy crown of victory. And it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants. And he remembered the chief cupbearer and the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his office again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. But the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph—he forgot him. After two full years, Pharaoh dreamed a dream: he stood by the river, and behold, there came up out of the river seven cows, beautiful in appearance and fat in flesh, and they fed in the meadow. Then seven other cows came up after them, ugly and thin, and they fed beside the others, and devoured them. Then he saw a second dream: and behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, full and good. And then seven thin ears, blasted by the east wind, sprung up after them, and the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. Pharaoh awoke in the morning, and his spirit was troubled. So he called for all the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men, and he told them his dreams, but none could interpret them for him. Then the chief cupbearer remembered Joseph, and said to Pharaoh: “As he interpreted to us—me and the chief baker—so it came to pass. Me he restored to mine office, and him he hanged.” Pharaoh sent for Joseph and brought him out of the dungeon, and said to him: “I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it. But I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.” And Joseph answered Pharaoh and said, “It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” Pharaoh then told Joseph his dreams. And Joseph, having heard them, said to him: “Pharaoh’s dream is one and the same: what God is about to do He hath showed unto Pharaoh. The seven good cows and the seven good ears are seven years of plenty. And the seven lean cows and the seven thin ears are seven years of famine. The dream was repeated unto Pharaoh twice, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the produce during the seven plenteous years. Let them gather food under Pharaoh’s authority, and store it in the cities, to preserve it for the seven years of famine that shall come, that the land perish not through famine.” This saying pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said unto them: “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” And Pharaoh said unto Joseph: “Forasmuch as God hath shown thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph: “See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.” And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen dyed in scarlet, and put a gold chain about his neck. He made him ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, “Bow the knee!” and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. To our God be glory, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Life of the Holy Martyrs Pamfil, Valens, Paul, and Those with Them

During the reign of the persecutor of Christians Diokletian, in Palestinian Caesarea there lived the renowned presbyter Pamfil—famous both by birth and by education—who devoted himself to correcting the text of Holy Scripture. With him were the deacon Valens and the citizen Paul. They turned many pagans to Christ. The governor of Caesarea, Urban, ordered them seized, tortured, and then thrown into prison. There also were imprisoned five Christian brothers who called themselves by the names of the prophets: Iliya, Ieremiya, Isaiya, Samuil, and Daniil.

All of them were brought before the new governor Firmilian and condemned to be beheaded by the sword. Upon hearing this sentence, the servant of presbyter Pamfil, Porfiriy, approached Firmilian with a request for permission to bury the martyrs; but Firmilian handed him over to be burned. A certain renowned soldier Seleuk showed compassion for the martyric death of Porfiriy; Firmilian ordered him executed as well. His own servant Feodul, for showing compassion to the martyrs, he crucified on a cross. Finally, he burned the twelfth martyr Iulian for the reason that, upon seeing the bodies of the executed martyrs thrown out to be devoured by wild beasts, he kissed them and praised the martyrs themselves.

For four days the bodies of the martyrs lay exposed, and neither birds nor beasts dared to touch them. Then the faithful buried them. Where the relics of these holy martyrs now rest is unknown.

The Venerable Marufa

The venerable Marufa was bishop of the city of Martyropolis in Mesopotamia, on the border between the Greek and Persian empires, and he was distinguished for his learning and piety. He was present at the Second Ecumenical Council against Macedonius, who demeaned the Holy Spirit by calling Him not God but a creature of God.

He wrote about the martyrs who suffered for the Christian faith under the Persian king Sapor, and he transferred the remains of many of them to Martyropolis. Emperor Feodosiy the Younger sent him several times to the Persian king Izdegerd to conclude peace between the empires. Marufa healed Izdegerd himself and his son from a grave illness which the Persian magi had been unable to cure. After this, Izdegerd began to hold Marufa in especial honor; and Marufa, making use of this favor, obtained permission for Izdegerd to allow the free preaching of the Christian faith in Persia.

Saint Marufa reposed around the year 422. His relics were later transferred to Egypt and placed in the Skete monastery of the Mother of God.

The Apostle Onisim was one of the Seventy Apostles. At first he served as a slave to a wealthy and noble citizen in Phrygia, in Asia Minor—Filimon, who had been converted to Christ by the Apostle Paul. To escape punishment for a wrongdoing he had committed against his master, Onisim fled to Rome, where the Apostle Paul was then preaching the Gospel. The preaching of Paul brought about in him sincere repentance and ardent faith, and he was baptized. Then Onisim resolved to return to his master and asked the Apostle Paul to take part in reconciling him with his lord. The Apostle wrote a short epistle to Filimon, asking him to receive the runaway slave no longer as a slave, but as a brother, and as he would receive Paul himself. Filimon not only forgave Onisim but also granted him freedom. Then Onisim returned to Paul, and after his death he set out to preach the teaching of Christ. He preached in Spain, Greece, and Asia Minor; toward the end of his life he was bishop in Ephesus. There he converted many pagans to Christ. The holy Apostle reposed around the year 109.

The Venerable Evseviy, who struggled in the 4th–5th centuries, received the beginnings of monastic life in a cenobitic monastery. Then he labored in solitude on the ridge of a mountain that stood above the Syrian city of Asikhoi. Content with a simple enclosure of dry stones, Evseviy lived under the open sky, clothing himself in leather garments and feeding on chickpeas and soaked beans. His body became so emaciated from fasting that a belt no longer stayed on his hips, and it had to be sewn to his tunic. During the seven weeks of Great Lent he ate only fifteen figs in total, though he was exhausted, weak, and had lost almost all his teeth. St. Evseviy carried on this struggle for many years, enduring every kind of bad weather, for his longing for God made all trials light for him. Numerous visitors distracted him from unceasing prayer, so he walled up the entrance to his enclosure with a huge stone and communicated with those close to him through a small window. But the pilgrims did not cease to disturb him. Then, despite his frailty, he leapt over the wall of the enclosure and went to a nearby monastery. There Evseviy continued his ascetic labors, building himself a little shed in the corner of the fortress wall. Thus, “drenched in sweat,” as his biographer Feodorit says, yet with desire fixed on the crown that the Most High Judge was extending to him from Heaven, he reached the end of his course at the age of 100 years.

The Venerable Avksentiy was at first a famous nobleman at the court of the Greek emperor Feodosiy the Younger, and he was distinguished by honest and diligent service. The splendor of court life aroused in him a disgust for worldly glory and wealth, and he took monastic vows in one of the monasteries in the capital, Constantinople. But soon he withdrew from the noisy capital to Bithynia, to Mount Oxia, and living as a recluse, he was granted the gift of working miracles and of foresight. Once two men came to him: an Orthodox Christian and a heretic. The first he received with love, but he would not even speak with the latter. The heretic was offended and began to revile the righteous man, but he was punished with a severe illness. When he repented and came to the venerable one to ask forgiveness, he was forgiven and healed. St. Avksentiy also learned and told the brethren about the death of St. Simeon the Stylite (memory September 1). He attended the Fourth Ecumenical Council. He reposed in great old age, around the year 470.

St. Kirill (in the world called Konstantin) was a philosopher and teacher of the Slavs in the Christian faith, together with his brother Mefodiy. He came from a noble family. He was raised together with Emperor Mikhail III. A brilliant career at court awaited him, but his heart loved God above all else. Rejecting an advantageous marriage, Kirill withdrew to the desert, to Mount Olimp. His brother Mefodiy later arrived there as well. From there the Lord called both of them to preach to the Slavs. The Moravian prince Rostislav sent envoys to Constantinople with a request: “Our people confess the Christian faith, but we have no teachers who could explain the faith to us in our native language. Send us such teachers.” The emperor and the patriarch rejoiced and proposed that ss. Mefodiy and Kiril go there. “Do they have a written language?” Kirill asked the emperor, “because to preach only orally is like writing on sand.” Then the emperor wished, and the patriarch blessed, that Kirill should compose the Slavic alphabet and translate the sacred and liturgical books into Slavic. Saint Kirill prepared for this great work with fasting and prayer. The alphabet was soon ready. It was composed mostly of Greek letters, along with some newly invented by St. Kirill. The first thing he translated into Slavic was selected passages from the Gospel and the Apostle that are read in church during services. Then the Psalter, the Horologion, and other liturgical books were translated. When the holy brothers arrived in Moravia, the Moravians were very pleased to have the services conducted in their native language. This greatly aided the success of the preaching of Christ among the Moravians and Slavs in general. At the same time as ss. Kiril and Mefodiy, missionaries from the Western Roman Church were also preaching to the Moravians. Having no such success as the holy brothers, they grew envious and began to oppose them. They spread the opinion that the word of God could be read only in the three languages on which the inscription on Christ’s cross was made—that is, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin—and they called them heretics and brought a complaint to Rome. The pope wished to see the Slavic preachers, and they arrived in Rome. Pope Adrian received them with honor, approved and consecrated on the throne of the ancient church their Slavic books. In Rome, St. Konstantin fell ill, took the schema with the name Kirill, and reposed in 869. From his deathbed he said to his brother Mefodiy: “I was with you like a pair of oxen plowing one field. And now I fall in the furrow, having finished my day, and you, I know, love Mount Olimp, but do not abandon the enlightenment of the Slavs because of it.” St. Kirill was buried in the church of St. Kliment, Pope of Rome, in Rome. By order of Pope Adrian, the burial was performed very solemnly. Soon miracles began to occur at the tomb of St. Kirill. The church where St. Kirill was buried was later destroyed, and his tomb was covered by its ruins.

The Translation of the Relics of Mikhail of Chernigov (memory September 20). He, together with his boyar Feodor, was martyred in the Golden Horde by order of the Tatar khan Baty, because they refused to pass through the purifying fire kindled before the khan’s tent and to bow to idols, in 1246 [note: corrected year from common sources]. Their bodies were thrown to be eaten by dogs, but pious Russian Christians secretly took them and carried them to Chernigov. From there, in 1578 [corrected from text’s 1572], under Tsar Ioann the Terrible, they were transferred to Moscow. They rest in the Archangel Cathedral, under the floor.

The Venerable Maroy the hermit labored in the Syrian desert, near the city of Kirr. His holy life was attested by many miracles, especially the healing of the sick. He reposed around 370. Among his disciples were: Iakov the hermit (memory November 26), Limney (February 22), and Domnina (March 1). According to Church tradition, St. Maroy heals from fever.

The Venerable Avraamiy was bishop of Kharran in Mesopotamia. At first he labored on Mount Lebanon. Having become a bishop, he did not change his strict way of life. Emperor Feodosiy, wishing to see the ascetic bishop, summoned him to Constantinople. There he reposed.

The Venerable Martinian lived in the 5th century. At the age of eighteen he left the world and withdrew to the desert near Palestinian Caesarea. There, in his young body, carnal passions began to rage fiercely, and demons troubled him with various temptations; but he overcame both enemies through fasting and prayer.

Hearing of the pious life of St. Martinian, a certain dissolute woman declared that there was nothing surprising in his remaining passionless, since he never saw a woman; but she claimed she would seduce him with her beauty. She set out for the hermit and appeared before him in luxurious attire. Then the saint kindled hot coals in the middle of his cell and stood upon them with bare feet. “What is this fire like?” he said to himself; “now consider what the fire of Gehenna will be like for sins!” The woman was struck by such endurance and suffering on the part of the saint; she fell at his feet and with tears begged him to forgive her and pray for her. Martinian sent her to Bethlehem, to the monastery of St. Paula, where she led the strictest life: she ate only bread and water, and that every other day, slept on the ground, and after twelve years of such asceticism she reposed. This was St. Zoya.

Meanwhile, after the conversion of the sinner, Martinian resolved to depart to a more solitary place and sailed to a small uninhabited island in the Mediterranean Sea. There he wove baskets for a certain shipmaster, and the shipmaster brought him bread and water. Then a new temptation came upon the saint. During a storm a ship was wrecked; of those on board, only one young maiden survived on a piece of wreckage and was carried by the waves to the island where Martinian was living. “It is impossible for us to live here together; you stay here—the bread and water will last until the shipmaster comes,” he told the maiden, and he himself threw himself into the sea, preferring to perish in the waters rather than yield to passion for a woman; but God helped him reach the shore. Coming onto dry land, he wandered from city to city, from village to village, giving thanks to God for his deliverance and living on alms. He reposed in Athens. His relics rest in Antioch.

The maiden left on the island devoted herself to fasting and prayer; she did not wish to return to the city when the shipmaster, who had come with bread and water for Martinian, offered to take her with him. She only asked him to bring her men’s clothing and to supply her with food in the same way as he had for Martinian, along with wool for work in payment for the food. In this way she lived there for six years and then reposed. The shipmaster carried her body to Caesarea and told the bishop of her righteous life. The bishop buried the body of the ascetic with honor. This was St. Fotiniya (also called Fotinia or Svetlana in some traditions).

The Venerable Simeon the Myrrh-Streaming was at first the great prince of Serbia. In the world he was called Stefan Neyemanya. He greatly contributed to strengthening the Orthodox faith in his principality, firmly opposing Latinism, the heresy of Arius, and other heresies. Reaching the age of eighty, on the advice of his son, St. Sava (commemorated January 12), he laid aside the rank of prince and received monastic tonsure on Mount Athos. There, together with his son Sava, he founded the Hilandar Monastery. He reposed in the year 1200. His relics stream myrrh, and for this reason he is called the Myrrh-Streamer.

St. Evlogiy was Archbishop of Alexandria and one of the enlightened and active pastors of the 6th century. He fought against the heresy of Eutyches, who incorrectly taught about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, saying that in Him the human nature was absorbed by the divine, and against other false teachings. He governed his flock for twenty-seven years. He reposed in 607, at a great old age.

Saint Meletius was bishop of Antioch. He lived in the 4th century and, having labored zealously in the struggle against the Arian heretics, so provoked them against himself by his exposures that more than once they deposed him from the episcopal cathedra. He presided over the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 against Macedonius, who taught that the Holy Spirit is inferior to God the Father and the Son, but he reposed in peace before the Council concluded.

Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Kiev. He came from a boyar family; in the world he was called Eleutherius and was the godson of Prince Ioann Kalita. When he was a thirteen-year-old boy, he was catching birds, and suddenly heard a voice: “Why are you catching birds, Alexis? You must become a fisher of men.” From that time the youth Eleutherius was completely changed: he became silent, abandoned childish games, hid in solitary places for prayer, and fasted much. At the age of fifteen he entered a monastery. Since he was known to both the prince and the metropolitan for his wisdom and spiritual labors, he was soon elevated to the rank of bishop and then became metropolitan. During his time Russia was under the Tatar yoke. The wife of the Tatar khan Chani-bek, Taidula, suffered from eye disease. The khan wrote to the Grand Prince of Moscow Ioann Ioannovich: “We have heard that God refuses nothing to the prayers of Metropolitan Alexis; let him then beseech God for the health of my wife.” In case of refusal the khan threatened a campaign against Russia and its devastation. What was to be done? The saint, hoping in God’s help, resolved to go to the Horde to the khan. Upon arriving there, he served a moleben, praying for the sick woman, sprinkled her with holy water, and she regained her sight. Taidula gifted the saint land in the Moscow Kremlin, where, in memory of the miracle of her healing, the saint founded the Chudov Monastery. Besides the Chudov Monastery, he also established in Moscow the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery. This monastery was founded by the saint in fulfillment of a vow for deliverance from a terrible storm on the Black Sea when he traveled to Constantinople for his consecration as metropolitan. Saint Alexis left behind a very important written monument – the Gospel, written by his own hand and corrected according to the Greek Gospel. Saint Alexis reposed in 1378, in the 86th year of his life.

Saint Anthony was archbishop in Constantinople. He lived in the 9th century, during the persecution of icons. At the age of twelve he entered a monastery and was a strict ascetic, rendering much help to those in distress, so that he himself very often suffered want. In 833 he was consecrated patriarch; he reposed in 895, and many miracles came from his relics.

Venerable Maria, renamed Marin, was the daughter of the pious Christian Eugenius, who lived in Bithynia, in Asia Minor. Eugenius, having become a widower, withdrew to a monastery near Alexandria and left his young daughter and his property in the care of his friend, but he greatly missed his daughter, so that he even went to visit her. Then Maria resolved to go to the monastery together with her father: she cut her hair, dressed in male monastic clothing, and under the name Marina entered the monastery. At that time Maria was fourteen years old. In the monastery the young ascetic Marin amazed everyone with his pious life. But Saint Maria had to suffer from evil slander. The daughter of the innkeeper, where she once had to stop, having lost her honor, accused Marin before her parents. The parents came to the abbot of the monastery and demanded punishment for Marin.

The abbot expelled Maria from the monastery, but she, not wishing to reveal her sex, though with sorrow yet in complete obedience, left the monastery and spent three years under the open sky near the monastery. A newborn child was brought to her, and she took him as if he were her own and fed him with alms. Finally Maria was again received back into the monastery together with the child. Here, as if to atone for the supposed sin, by the command of the abbot she performed the lowest kind of obedience: she cleaned unclean places, washed laundry, and served everyone. Soon Saint Maria reposed, and only then did they learn that it was not Marin but Maria, and they marveled at such great patience of hers. The one guilty of Saint Maria’s trial did not remain without punishment from God. She was tormented by a demon. But coming to the monastery, she repented of her sin against Maria, and by the prayers of the brethren Saint Maria healed her. Saint Maria lived in the beginning of the 6th century. Her relics were later transferred to Constantinople, but in 1113 they were brought to Venice.

The Holy Martyr Charalampius was bishop in the city of Magnesia in Thessaly and lived in the second half of the 2nd century. He converted many pagans to Christ, for which he was summoned to trial before the city governor Lucian. The latter subjected him to various torments for his unyielding faith. They hung him on a tree and scraped his body with sharp iron. “I thank you, brethren,” the martyr said at this time, “by scraping my body, you have renewed my spirit.” Seeing all this, two of Lucian’s servants—Porphyrius and Vantus—turned to Christ; their heads were cut off. At the same time, three women were beheaded who, like Porphyrius and Vantus, had believed in Christ. Finally, the emperor Septimius Severus himself, a persecutor of Christians, subjected Charalampius to terrible torments, but the martyr endured everything. Seeing his patience, the daughter of Septimius believed in Christ and urged her father to do the same. But the emperor condemned Charalampius to death. “I thank Thee, O Lord, for Thy mercy. Remember me in Thy kingdom,” said the saint, raising his eyes to heaven, and he reposed before the beheading by the sword. Septimia buried his holy body with honor.

The Martyrs Ennatha, Valentina, and Paula suffered in the reign of Maximinus in the year 308 under Firmilian. They all came from Palestine: Ennatha from Gaza, and Valentina and Paula from Caesarea.

Venerable Parthenius was bishop of the city of Lampsacus. He lived in the 4th century. The son of a deacon, in his boyhood he occupied himself with fishing, and by selling the fish he caught, he distributed the money to the poor. Though he was not taught letters, he loved to listen to the reading of the divine Scriptures and knew much of them by heart. The bishop of Melitopolis, learning of the boy’s piety, ordered him to be taught to read and write; and when he reached mature age, he ordained him presbyter, and later he became bishop. For his godly life he was granted the gifts of clairvoyance and wonderworking. While bishop, with the permission of Emperor Constantine, he destroyed idolatrous temples, built churches of God, and converted many pagans to Christ. Saint Parthenius reposed in great old age.

Venerable Luke was born in Hellas (Greece), to poor farmers. He tended sheep and worked the land. Even in his youth he was distinguished by extraordinary piety: he was modest, quiet, ate little food, was exceedingly obedient to his parents, and loved to help the poor—often giving them the food taken from home for himself, and remaining hungry himself. After his father’s death, he secretly left his mother and entered a monastery. His mother grieved deeply for her son and prayed to God for his return. And what happened? To the abbot of the monastery where Luke was laboring, a woman appeared more than once in a dream-vision and reproachfully said: “Why do you wrong me, a poor widow? Return to me my only son, the comfort of my old age, whom you have taken; otherwise I will not cease crying out to God.” Then the abbot, realizing that this concerned Luke, commanded him to return to his mother. Luke returned sorrowfully, comforted his mother, lived with her for a time, and after receiving her blessing, again withdrew to the desert. He was granted the gifts of clairvoyance and wonderworking. Once a certain man came to Luke. Upon seeing the visitor, he exclaimed: “When will you confess your sin before a priest? Fear God for your sin!” It turned out that this was a murderer. Then the sinner, weeping, told of his crime and asked the venerable one to pray for him. Foreseeing his approaching end, Luke shut himself in and prepared for death for three months. He reposed around the year 950. His relics rest concealed in Hellas; the marble slab over them from time to time exudes myrrh.

The 1003 Martyrs were all servants of four royal Christian nobles in Nicomedia: Saints Vassa, Eusebius, Eutychius, and Basilides (commemorated January 20). After the martyric death of their masters, they agreed to follow their example so as to rejoice together with them in heaven. Appearing before Diocletian, they declared themselves Christians. The emperor, seeing such a great multitude of Christians come before him, was at first dismayed; then he tried with flattery to persuade them to renounce Christ, and afterward began to threaten them. “We desire none of your gifts, nor do we fear your threats. For us there is nothing better or more precious than Christ,” the martyrs answered. Then Diocletian ordered his soldiers to behead them all with the sword. This took place in 303.

Saint Bucolus was the bishop of the Church of Smyrna. From his earliest youth he was distinguished by gentleness and chastity. He was ordained bishop by the Evangelist John the Theologian. By the grace of God, he converted many pagans to Christ and reposed in peace, entrusting his flock to Saint Polycarp (whose memory is February 23).

The Martyr Julian lived in the Phoenician city of Emesa. He was a skilled physician. While healing bodily illnesses, he also healed many spiritually—that is, he brought them to Christ. When he learned that Bishop Silouan, the deacon Luke, and the reader Mokios (commemorated January 29) had been condemned to be devoured by wild beasts for their Christian faith, he appeared before them and encouraged them not to fear a martyr’s death. But he himself was seized and imprisoned in a narrow gorge. There, several nails were driven into his head and body, causing his death. This occurred in 312, under the persecutor Maximian.

The Martyr Fausta, a virgin, was the daughter of wealthy and pious parents living in Cyzicus. She was raised in godliness and became an orphan at an early age. When Emperor Maximian learned of her pious life, he sent the priest Evilasius to persuade her to renounce Christ. Seeing the steadfastness of Saint Fausta, Evilasius ordered her placed in a wooden chest; the lid was nailed shut, and the chest was sawn with a saw. But the chest resisted the saw’s power, and several saws were worn out. Then Evilasius ordered the chest burned, but the fire had no effect. After this, Evilasius himself accepted the Christian faith. Upon learning of Evilasius’s conversion, the emperor sent his official Maximus to investigate the matter. Maximus tortured both Fausta and Evilasius: nails were driven into their bodies, and they were thrown into a cauldron of sulfur and pitch. Yet this did them no harm and so affected him that he himself desired to become a martyr for Christ. He threw himself into the cauldron with Fausta and Evilasius. At that moment, a voice from heaven was heard: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest in My Kingdom.” And the holy martyrs reposed. This took place in the early 4th century.

The virgin martyrs Martha and Mary were blood sisters who lived in the 3rd century. During the persecution of Christians, when a military commander passed by their house and opened the door, they declared to him—together with their brother, the young monk Carion—that they were Christians. The commander said to them: “Because of your youth, I forgive you.” But they replied: “A martyr’s death is not death, but life.” Then they were crucified and afterward beheaded with a sword, in the presence of their mother.

Martyr Agatha was from Panormus (Palermo) on the island of Sicily, the daughter of noble and wealthy parents, and was of extraordinary beauty. During the persecution under Decius, the governor of the island, having heard of her beauty and wealth, sought to persuade her to renounce Christ and enter into unlawful marriage with him; but neither flattery nor torments availed him anything in this. “It would be easier to soften stone and melt iron than to persuade this maiden,” said Aphrodisia about Agatha—Aphrodisia to whom she had been entrusted in order to convince her to fulfill the ruler’s desire. After cruel torments, when she was led to prison, she peacefully reposed in the year 251. A year after the repose of St. Agatha, the fire-breathing Mount Etna began to erupt great flames and vast quantities of molten lava. The inhabitants of the city of Catania, where St. Agatha had reposed and been buried, seeing imminent destruction approaching, rushed to the church of St. Agatha, took her garment from her tomb, and used it to defend themselves against the fire—and the eruption of the mountain ceased. Therefore, St. Agatha is considered in many places a protector against fire.

Martyr Theodule suffered in the 4th century in the city of Anazarbus in Asia Minor. When the tormentor, the governor Pelagius, ordered Theodule to be brought to the pagan temple to renounce Christ and offer sacrifice to the idol, she with a single breath shattered the idol and broke it into several pieces. A certain Helladius begged the governor for the martyr, promising to turn her to idolatry, and drove nails into her ears and forehead; yet the martyr patiently endured the sufferings. The nails, however, fell out of the wounds by themselves, and she became completely whole and healthy. Struck by such a miracle, Helladius believed in Christ, for which he himself was beheaded with a sword. After this, they laid Theodule on a red-hot frying pan and poured boiling pitch, wax, and oil over her; yet even there she remained unharmed. This miracle converted many pagans to Christ, including Macarius and Evagrius. Macarius and Evagrius, together with Theodule, were thrown into a fiery furnace, where they reposed.

Saint Isidore of Pelusium came from rich and noble Alexandrian parents and was highly educated. In his youth, he left his parents and wealth behind and withdrew to the desert near the city of Pelusium, at the mouth of the Nile River in Egypt—from which he received the name Pelusiotes. There he became renowned for his long years of strict asceticism, which attracted many fellow strugglers to him. Having heard of the exalted life and rare spiritual gifts of St. John Chrysostom, Isidore journeyed to Constantinople to listen to his instructions. Being himself of brilliant abilities, he fully absorbed the spirit and qualities of Chrysostom. Chosen as abbot of the monastery, he instilled in the brethren—and confirmed by his own example—modesty in clothing, the preservation of silence, frugality in food, and charity toward the poor. From his solitude he wrote many instructions to people, suited to their knowledge, station, and age. He considered his highest happiness to be the successful salvation of any perishing soul. He took part in defending the true doctrine against the heretic Nestorius, who taught that the Most Holy God-bearer gave birth not to the God-Man, but merely to the man Jesus Christ, with Whom God united Himself only after the birth and dwelt in Him as He dwelt in Moses and the other prophets; and therefore he called Christ “God-bearer” and His Mother, the Most Holy Virgin Mary, “Christ-bearer.” Isidore persuaded Emperor Theodosius to convene a Council (the Third Ecumenical Council) against Nestorius. By his writings, Isidore is considered one of the great Fathers of the Church. All his works are profound in content and simple in expression. St. Isidore reposed around the year 436.

The holy right-believing Prince George (Yuri) Vsevolodovich was Grand Prince of Vladimir. During the Tatar invasion, his family was burned in a church in Vladimir, and he himself fell in battle with the Tatars on the Sit River in the year 1238. He was beheaded, but a miracle occurred: his head, placed in the coffin, adhered to the body so that no trace of the beheading was visible. It is related of St. George that he was exceedingly pious, merciful to the poor, released his enemies with gifts, and built many churches and monasteries.

Saint Cyril of Novoezersk was a monk under St. Cornelius of Komel (commemorated May 19) and the founder of the Resurrection Novoezersk Monastery on Krasny Island, fifteen versts from Beloozero. Even as a boy he had a strong desire to dedicate himself to monastic life and secretly left his parents’ home for the Komel Monastery. There, despite his youthful age, he performed monastic labors and obediences with complete zeal and love, and spent his free time reading sacred books. Later he labored for seven years in the desert, where he subsequently founded a monastery. St. Cyril endured much from fishermen who saw in him a man who might interfere with their trade, and from robbers who were annoyed that people had settled on the island who might learn of their lawless deeds. For his holy life Cyril was granted the gift of working miracles. He reposed in the year 1582.

Saint Nicholas the Confessor was abbot of the Studite Monastery. He entered the monastery in his early youth. There, together with St. Theodore the Studite (commemorated January 26), he suffered much from the iconoclasts: they were transferred to various places of exile. After the death of St. Theodore and with the accession of the pious Empress Theodora, wife of the iconoclast Theophilus, he returned to the Studite Monastery and was appointed abbot. The pious Emperor Basil the Macedonian often invited St. Nicholas to himself, conversed with him, and made use of his counsel. For his martyric life, God endowed the venerable one with the gift of healing. He healed the Empress Eudokia, wife of Emperor Basil, from a mortal illness; he composed several hymns; and he reposed around the year 868.

The hieromartyr Abraham, Bishop of Arbela in Persia, was beheaded with a sword during the persecution under Shapur II, king of Persia, in the year 344, because he refused to renounce Christ and worship the sun.