Feb 12. St. Meletius of Antioch

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.