The story of the Hieromartyr Eleutherios is a touching tale of service, loyalty and love. He was born in Rome in the latter years of the 1st century. His father was in the imperial service of the Emperor, while his mother Anthia chose to serve another Master: Jesus Christ. After becoming a widow at an early age, Anthia entrusted her only son to the care of the Bishop of Rome, who immediately recognized the special spiritual gifts that Eleutherios possessed. He ordained him a deacon at the age of 15, a priest at 18 and a bishop at 20!

Eleutherios was soon largely responsible for winning many converts to Christianity, which caused him to be branded as an “enemy of the state”. The commander Felix was sent to arrest the youthful bishop and bring him back to Rome for trial. Instead, the heart of Felix was touched by the words of Eleutherios and he, too, became a Christian.

The gentle Eleutherios nonetheless returned to Rome, where he was tortured and beheaded, along with his new convert Felix. His blessed mother Anthia fearlessly came to grieve over the body of her martyred son, and she too suffered the same fate. These terrible executions took place in 120 A.D. during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.

Discerning the will of God is not always an easy task, and even the greatest saints have admitted that they have often been confused as to the Lord’s intentions for them. Apostle Ananias certainly was faced with great difficulty in understanding a command given to him by God. He was one of the 70 disciples sent out by Christ to spread His Gospel – a task he performed zealously.

The early Church suffered severe persecution soon after its inception, and one the greatest persecutors of the church was a man named Saul. His very name struck fear in the hearts of Christians. It was no wonder, then, that Ananias was taken aback when he heard the voice of God speaking these puzzling words: “ARISE AND GO TO THE STREET CALLED STRAIGHT AND INQUIRE AT THE HOUSE OF JUDAS FOR ONE CALLED SAUL OF TARSUS, FOR BEHOLD HE IS PRAYING.” (Acts 9:1 I) When Ananias showed some hesitation in approaching this feared persecutor of the Church, the Lord assured him that this dreaded man was His “CHOSEN VESSEL” who would take the Gospel out to the Gentiles.

Obediently, Ananias arose and did as he was told. He baptized the man who would later be known as the APOSTLE PAUL, the greatest of all Christian missionaries! It was Ananias, together with other Christians in Damascus, who saved the life of the newly-baptized Paul. As his enemies watched the gates of the city day and night to slay him, Paul was put in a basket and lowered over the city wall, thus escaping with his life. Refusing to offer sacrifices to idols would later result in martyrdom for Apostle Ananias.

In Luke 10:1, we read these words: “After these things, the Lord appointed 70 others also, and sent them out two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.” Although not nearly as prominent as the Twelve Apostles, the Seventy carried out their mission with great fervor and zeal. The

Sacred Tradition of the Church is that these men were carefully selected by Christ to carry his message throughout the Roman Empire, and even far beyond its boundaries.

Although each of the Seventy have their own day of commemoration on the Church Calendar, they are also remembered collectively. It is only natural that we know more about some of the Seventy than others. One of them — Barnabas by name — worked closely with the Apostle Paul in spreading the Gospel. Titus is another of the better known of the Seventy. He was also intimately associated with Paul. It is said that Titus was in Rome at the time of Paul’s beheading, and that he had the sad task of burying the body of his beloved friend.

SAINT HERODION was also a distinguished apostle. His missionary endeavors took him throughout the Near East and Asia. He ultimately returned to Rome, where he, too, suffered beheading during the reign of the Emperor Nero.

The labors of the Seventy will long be remembered and appreciated by the Church. It was largely through their efforts that the Church was planted on a firm foundation.

Then we read about life in the early Church, we are struck by the fact that so many men, women and even children were willing to endure hardships, tortures and death for the sake of their Christian Faith. MARTYR CHARITINA was one such person. Charitina lived in the 3rd century during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian; a reign that saw the bloodiest period of Christian persecution. Orphaned at an early age, Charitina was adopted by a Roman merchant Claudius, who although a pagan, allowed his new daughter to practice her Christian beliefs. When the governor of the region heard of this, however, she was taken from her adopted family and brought to trial.

Refusing to show fear before the wicked magistrate, Charitina firmly answered the charges brought against her. When she was accused of “deluding others” by bringing them to a dishonorable faith, Charitina calmly replied: “I LEAD THOSE IN ERROR TO THE WAY OF TRUTH, BRINGING THEM TO MY LORD.” Seeing that he could not entrap her with his words, the magistrate then attempted to end her life with his terrible deeds. She was forced to endure a series of brutal tortures, but Charitina was shielded from death by the power of God. When the judge ordered that she be raped by several men, Charitina prayed to be spared from this inhuman act. Her plea was answered; Charitina fell asleep in the Lord while on her knees in prayer only minutes before the sentence could be handed out.

It has been said that we must evaluate a person’s life based on the QUALITY of his years, not upon their QUANTITY. This certainly holds true for the saint depicted on the cover of today’s Church Bulletin: the Holy and Great Martyr PANTELEIMON. Panteleimon was born in Asia Minor in 275 A.D. A brilliant student, he became a physician at a young age. He developed a reputation for being a great healer, with word of his prowess reaching the ears of the Emperor himself. What was not known, however, was that Panteleimon had befriended a priest named Hermolaus, who instructed him in the Christian faith and later baptized him. This was the real source of his healing powers!

When the Emperor Maximian learned that Panteleimon was a Christian, he summoned him to appear before his throne and renounce his beliefs. Defying Maximian’s command, Panteleimon proceeded to heal a paralytic before his very eyes, causing many to abandon their pagan ways and become Christians. The enraged Emperor handed Panteleimon over to be tortured, but the Lord continued to protect him. Finally, this great healer was beheaded under an olive tree, which became laden with fruit after the execution.

Fittingly, the name “Panteleimon” means “ALL-MERCIFUL.” In his brief life of 29 years, Panteleimon exhibited mercy and compassion to all who came to him seeking assistance. Through his example, we are reminded that our Lord Jesus Christ is the true Physician of our souls and bodies, and every “good and perfect gift” comes from Him alone.

Born in Nazianzus of a Greek father (who later became a Christian and a bishop) and a Christian mother, he studied in Athens before his baptism with Basil the Great and Julian the Apostate. He often foretold to Julian that he would become an apostate and a persecutor of the Church, and so it came to pass. Gregory was especially influenced by his mother Nonna. He was baptized when he had completed his studies. St. Basil consecrated him bishop of Sasima, and the Emperor Theodosius quickly called him to the vacant archepiscopal throne of Constantinople.

His works were manifold, the best-known being his theological writings, for which he received the title “the Theologian.”

He is particularly famed for the depth of his sermons on the Holy Trinity. He also wrote against the heretic Macedonius, who taught wrongly of the Holy Spirit (that the Spirit was a creature of God), and against Apollinarius who taught that Christ did not have a human soul but that His divinity was in place of His soul. He also wrote against the Emperor Julian the Apostate, his sometime schoolfellow.

In the year 381, when a quarrel broke out in the Council concerning his election as archbishop, he withdrew himself, declaring: “Those who deprive us of the (archepiscopal) throne cannot deprive us of God.” He then left Constantinople and went to Nazianzus, remaining in retirement, prayer and writing instructive books until his death. And, although he was in weak health all his life, he lived to the age of seventy.

His relics were later taken to Rome, and his head to the Cathedral of the Dormition in Moscow. He was, and remains, a great and wonderful light of the Orthodox Church, as much for the meekness and purity of his character as for the unsurpassable depth of his mind. He entered into rest in the Lord in the year 389. He is revered in the Orthodox Church as one of the “Three Holy Hierarchs”, along with Basil the Great and John Chrysostom.

From the Prologue From Ochrid, St. Nicholas of South Canaan

St. Herman was part of the group of nine missionaries who first set foot on the North American continent in 1793. This group came from Valaam, Russia near the Finnish border and endured many hardships in planting the Cross here in America. Of that first group, some died from the hardship, some were martyred, and some returned. In the end only the simple monk Herman remained to carry on the work. He settled on Spruce Island and worked among the Native Americans who to this day remain Orthodox. Blessed Fr. Herman is the antithesis of what America stands for today.

In fact, he would be considered a failure by modern standards. He had no formal education and very little human skills. He made no name for himself while he was here. He was not in the public eye. He had no power, owned no property and in fact had very few possessions. He died in obscurity among an outcast people as a simple monk. Yet he is venerated in thousands of churches by millions of people with countless icons made in his honor.

St. Herman represents the exact opposite of what it means to be an American. He did not seek power, possessions, profits or pleasures. We measure people by the wealth they possess, the skills they exploit and the height they reach in society. Yet St. Herman fled from all of these, concentrating rather on salvation. He taught the people the Gospel, attended to their needs, defended them against the cruelty of the traders, and pled their cause before the Imperial throne. He was even beaten and persecuted by his own people for defending the natives. How totally opposite of what America considers glorious!

Yet Herman knew before his death that his actions would be a light for the future Church in America. He foretold of his own glorification and that millions of immigrants would come to this continent. His feast now stands as an important point in the Nativity celebration for all Orthodox in North America. From such humble origins stands our Church today. We pray that St. Herman hears our prayers!

“O Blessed Father Herman of Alaska, North Star of Christ’s Holy Church! The light of your holy life and great deeds guides those who follow the Orthodox way. Together we lift high the Holy Cross, you planted firmly in America. Let all behold and glorify Jesus Christ, singing His Holy Resurrection.” -Troparion to St. Herman of Alaska

He was born in Antioch in the year 347, his father’s name being Secundus and his mother’s Anthusa. Studying Greek philosophy, John became disgusted with Hellenic paganism and turned to the Christian faith as the one and all-embracing truth. John was baptized by Meletius, Patriarch of Antioch, and, after that, his parents were also baptized.After their death, John became a monk and began to live in strict asceticism. He wrote a book: ‘On the Priesthood’, after which the holy Apostles John and Peter appeared to him, prophesying for him great service, great grace and also great suffering. When the time came for him to be ordained priest, an angel of God appeared at the same time to Patriarch Flavian (Meletius’s successor) and to John himself. When the Patriarch ordained him, a shining white dove was seen above John’s head. Renowned for his wisdom, his asceticism and the power of his words, John was, at the desire of Emperor Arcadius, chosen as Patriarch of Constantinople.

He governed the Church for six years as Patriarch with unequalled zeal and wisdom, sending missionaries to the pagan Celts and Scythians and purging the Church of simony, deposing many bishops who were given to this vice. He extended the Church’s charitable works, wrote a rite for the Holy Liturgy, put heretics to shame, denounced the Empress Eudoxia, interpreted the Scriptures with his golden mind and tongue and left to the Church many precious books of sermons. The people glorified him; the jealous loathed him; the Empress twice had him sent into exile.

He spent three years in exile, and died on Holy Cross Day, September 14th, 407, in a place called Comana in Armenia. The holy Apostles John and Peter again appeared to him at the time of his death, and also the holy martyr Basiliscus (see May 22nd), in whose. church he received Communion for the last time. ‘Glory to God for everything!’ were his last words, and with them the soul of Chrysostom the Patriarch entered into Paradise. Of his relics, the head is preserved in the Church of the Dormition in Moscow, and the body in the Vatican in Rome.

The recorder of the life of this wonderful saint was St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. A hieromonk, the elder Zossima, had gone off at one time during Great Lent on a twenty-day walk into the wilderness across the Jordan. He caught sight of a human with a withered and naked body and with hair as white as snow, who fled from his sight because of its nakedness. Fr. Zossima chased the figure until they came to a stream when it cried out, “Fr. Zossima, forgive me for the Lord’s sake. I cannot turn round to you, for I am a naked woman.” Zossima threw the woman his cloak and she turned around to him. The elder was amazed that’s he knew him by name and after considerable pressure she told him her life’s story. She had been born in Egypt and lived as a prostitute in Alexandria since the age of twelve, spending almost seventeen years in that life. She had a desire to go to Jerusalem to venerate the Precious Cross. Arriving in the city she found that some force kept her from entering the church. In fear she turned to an icon of the Theotokos and begged to be allowed to go in, and after confessing her sin and promising to change her life, she was allowed entrance. She was then told to cross the Jordan to find true peace. She had spent forty-eight years there in prayer living only on plants. She begged Fr. Zossima to come back next year to give her communion.

The next year, Fr. Zossima came back as promised and saw Mary on the other bank of the river. She made the sign of the cross and walked across the water to Zossima who gave her communion. He promised to come back the next year and when he did he found her naked body dead on that same spot. She had written in the sand, “Fr. Zossima, bury in this place the body of the humble Mary. Give dust to dust. I passed away on April 1st after receiving the communion of the divine Mysteries.”” Zossima buried the body and recounted the story to others. Thus, the Lord God glorifies the repentant sinners. She is also commemorated on the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent and the Church holds her up before the faithful during the days of the Great Fast as a model of repentance. She entered rest around the year 530 AD.

The year 2003 marked the repose of Saint Mitrofan of Voronezh, one of Russia’s most illustrious hierarchs. His life holds an important lesson for us today, teaching us to stand up for the truth and to defend the principles and practices of our holy Orthodox Faith, even when that means opposing our friends or people of rank or authority.

Saint Mitrofan was born in 1627 in a religious family. He married and had a son. When he was 39 his wife died and he entered the Zolotnikov monastery, where he was soon made a priest. Within three years the monks of the nearby Yakhromsk monastery chose him to be their abbot. His wise rule came to the attention of Patriarch Joachim, who entrusted him with the guidance of the much larger Kostroma monastery near Moscow. Finally, on April 2,1682, he was consecrated bishop of the newly-established diocese of Voronezh.

Located along the Don River some distance from Moscow, the diocese encompassed a vast area whose very remoteness attracted fiercely independent and unruly characters. It was seldom visited by its ruling hierarchs, and even the clergy had developed an attitude of doing as they pleased. With a firm hand, the new bishop set to work to bring order to his diocese. He established monasteries, battled against superstition, preached tirelessly, and took particular care for the welfare of family life among his flock. His episcopal residence was a haven for the needy, for wandering pilgrims, and for the homeless. He himself lived very simply, and was never idle. At his summer dacha he liked to work in the fields. He recommended to people of all ranks: “Labor willingly and preserve moderation, and you will be rich; be temperate in drink and eat little, and you will be healthy; do good and flee from evil, and you will be saved!”

At the time the young Tsar Peter I had some wharves constructed in Voronezh for his fleet. He developed a close friendship with the already aged bishop. Saint Mitrofan explained to his flock the necessity of Peter’s generally unpopular reforms and on occasion he even assisted the Tsar financially. He taught his flock to be kind towards foreigners, many whom had come to help with the ship building and other ventures introducing Western technology. The bishop appreciated the usefulness of their knowledge, although he cautioned against undue familiarity, fearing the influence of their loose morals.

The friendship between tsar and hierarch was put to the test when, one day in 1700, the Tsar invited Saint Mitrofan to his palace. Arriving on foot, the Saint was appalled to see statues of naked pagan gods at the entrance. He immediately turned heel and returned home. This infuriated the Tsar and, hot with temper, he threatened the bishop with death for having defied his will. “To live for me is Christ, and to die is gain,” replied the Saint calmly to the Tsar’s messenger. He asked that the bell be rung for the All-night Vigil, that he might worthily prepare himself for death. His strength of conviction so impressed the Tsar that the latter ordered the statues removed at once, and sent to reassure the hierarch, who came the next day to the palace. One has to know the Tsar’s strong character to appreciate his great respect for Saint Mitrofan, so dramatically illustrated by this incident.

When the Saint was dying, the Tsar quickened his trip to Voronezh, arriving on the very day of the Saint’s repose, 23 November 1703. After bearing the coffin to the grave, the Tsar said to his entourage, “Never will I have another such holy elder.” Miracles attributable to the intercession of Saint Mitrofan, and the discovery, in 1831, of his incorrupt relics, led to his official glorification on 6 August 1832. Holy Saint Mitrofan, pray to God for us!

Translated and adapted from: Zhitiya Russkikh Sviatykh, compiled by Nun Taisia, Jordanville, New York 1984

This saint, famed throughout the entire world today, was the only son of his eminent and wealthy parents, Theophanes and Nona, citizens of Patara in Lycia. They dedicated to God the only son he gave them. St. Nicholas was instructed in the spiritual life by his uncle Nicholas, Bishop of Patara, and became a monk at New Zion, a monastery founded by his uncle. On the death of his parents, Nicholas distributed all the property he inherited to the poor and kept nothing back for himself. As a priest in Patara, he was known for his charitable works, fulfilling the Lord’s words: “Let not your left hand know what your right hand does” (Matt 6:3).

When he embraced a life of solitude and silence, thinking to live in that way until his death, a voice from on high came to him: “Nicholas, set about your work among the people if you desire to receive a crown from Me.” Immediately after that, by God’s wondrous providence, he was chosen archbishop of the city of Myra in Lycia. Merciful, wise and fearless, Nicholas was a true shepherd to his flock. He was cast into prison during the persecutions of Diocletian and Maximian, but even there continued to instruct the people in the Law of God. He was present at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicea in 325, and, in his zeal, struck the heretic Arius with his hand. For this act, he was removed from the Council and from his Episcopal duties, until some of the chief hierarchs had a change of heart and showed sympathy with Nicholas.

This wonderful saint was a defender of the truth of God, and was ever a spirited champion of justice among the people. On two occasions, he saved three men from undeserved sentences of death. Merciful, trustworthy and loving right, he walked among the people like an angel of God. People considered him a saint even during his lifetime, and invoked his aid when in torment or distress. He would appear both in dreams and in reality to those who called upon him for help, responding speedily to them, whether close at hand or far away. His face would shine with light as Moses did aforetime, and his mere presence among people would bring solace, peace and goodwill. In old age, he sickened of a slight illness, and went to his rest in the Lord after a life full of labor and fruitful toil on December 6th, 343 AD.

Nikola Velimirovich was born into a large peasant family in the village of Lelich, Serbia on December 23, 1880. Young Nikola began his education in Lelich and later went to the capital city, Belgrade, to attend St. Sava Theological Seminary. He graduated in 1902 at age 22.

He entered the graduate Theological Faculty (or school) in Bern, Switzerland, in1905 and in 1909 received a doctorate in sacred theology – the first of many doctoral degrees he would earn. Later that year, he returned to Serbia and was tonsured a monk at the Monastery of Rakovica, receiving the name Nikolai. He was soon ordained to the priesthood and eventually elevated to the rank of Archimandrite. Two years after his ordination, he joined the faculty at his alma mater, the St. Sava Theological Seminary in Belgrade and taught there until 1915. During his four summer vacations from St. Sava’s, Archimandrite Nikolai went to study in Russia.

When World War I broke out, Archimandrite Nikolai was sent to England on a diplomatic mission. While he was there, he lectured at Oxford University and received a doctorate in philosophy at the university’s King College. At the same time, he received honorary doctorates from Cambridge University and Glasgow University. He returned to Serbia in 1919 and was elected and consecrated a bishop that same year, at age 39. He was appointed to the Diocese of Zicha and later the Diocese of Ochrid.

He spent 1921 and 1922 as a missionary bishop in America, creating and administering the Serbian Orthodox Diocese in the United States and Canada. After his two years in America, he returned to Ochrid, where he resumed the archpastorate of his two Serbian dioceses. That is where he remained until 1934, when he went back to Zicha until the collapse of Yugoslavia in World War II.

During World War II, the Nazis occupied Yugoslavia. Civil war broke out, and Serb fought Serb. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Christians were tortured or massacred by the Croatians under the direction of the Nazis. Hosts of other Serbs were sent to Nazi death camps. Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo and Bishop Nikolai were sent to the infamous Dachau concentration camp, where – although they suffered horribly – they both survived the war.

Years later, Bishop Nikolai said that he had once spoken with an elder on Mount Athos. Young Nikolai asked the monk” “Father, what is your main spiritual exercise?” The elder replied, “The perfect visualization of God’s presence.” “Ever since then,” Bishop Nikolai said, “I tried this visualization of God’s presence. And as little as I succeeded, it helped me enormously to prevent me from sinning in freedom, and from despairing in prison. If we kept the vision of the invisible God, we would be happier, wiser, and stronger in every walk of life.”

As the war was nearing its end, Bishop Nikolai and Patriarch Gavrilo were liberated from Dachau. Patriarch Gavrilo returned to Yugoslavia, but Bishop Nikolai did not, having found that he was unwelcome in Serbia. During the years that followed the war, Church leaders were not given the freedom to preach the Gospel and teach the Faith in Yugoslavia. So it was from abroad that Bishop Nikolai felt he could best serve the faithful of his Church, and chose to remain in foreign exile.

He first went to England, but within a year, in April 1946, he decided to go again to America. This time he was a refugee, without any official position in the Church. He arrived at the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in New York City. He also taught at the Serbian Orthodox Seminary in Libertyville, Illinois until 1949. Bishop Nikolai moved to the Russian Orthodox St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York and later to St. Tikhon’s Monastery and Seminary in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. There he would teach, preach, continue to write, and pursue his won studies. In addition to degrees from Bern and Oxford, Bishop Nikolai received doctorates from Halle in Germany, the Sorbonne in Paris, and Columbia University in New York.

He began as a professor at St. Tikhon’s Seminary, but eventually he was appointed rector. At that time, most of the courses were taught in Russian, but Bishop Nikolai chose only to teach in English. Other faculty members disagreed with his decision, and some were resentful of him, but the bishop knew that it was important for the students to hear lectures in their own language. On most occasions, he preached his sermons in English in the monastery church at St. Tikhon’s so that everyone – the monks, the seminarians and the faithful laity who attended the Liturgy – would be able to understand him. The people often complained about the use of English, but he would answer: “You have learned and heard enough. It is time for the seminarians to learn something.”

One of his students wrote of Bishop Nikolai: “He sighed a great deal when he prayed and before class he would spontaneously pray for us and the seminary. He knew the strengths and weaknesses of each seminary student. At times he would sit on a warm evening and play his flute, and tears would stream down his face as he remembered his beloved Serbia. He also survived the Dachau prison camp. When the students would complain about the food, he would say, ‘You don’t know what bad food is. We would search through the garbage cans at Dachau.’ But beyond that, he would not mention his sufferings.”

Bishop Nikolai’s health had been weakened by his captivity at Dachau. Despite his ill health, however, he remained in constant contact with the faithful of the Serbian and other Orthodox churches. He taught his seminary classes with enthusiasm, power and deep insight. He often traveled to the Serbian Church House in New York, and there received his spiritual children, his students, his fellow monks, and all who knew him came to regard him with love and respect.

Bishop Nikolai fell asleep in the Lord on Sunday, March 18, 1956, at St. Tikhon’s. Ten days later, his body was moved for burial to the Serbian Monastery of St. Sava in Libertyville, Illinois, where it remained until April 24, 1991. At that time, his body was taken back to Yugoslavia, where he lay in state in many towns and cities. According to his own final wishes, the bishop’s body was finally transferred to his native village of Lelich in Serbia on May 12, 1991. His remains joined those of his parents and his nephew, Bishop Jovan Velimirovich. In 1987, Bishop Nikolai was glorified by the local diocese as a saint of the Church.

From Portraits of American Saints, George Gray and Jan Bear,  Diocese of the West 1994

The son of Stefan Nemanja, the great Serbian national leader, he was born in 1169. As a young man he yearned for the spiritual life, which led him to flee to the Holy Mountain of Mt. Athos, where he became a monk and with rare zeal followed all ascetic practices. Nemanja followed his son’s example and himself went to the Holy Mountain, where he lived and ended his days as the monk Simeon. Sava obtained independence of the Serbian Church from the Emperor and the Patriarch, and became the first archbishop. He, together with his father, built the monastery of Hilandar and after that many other monasteries, churches, and schools throughout the land of Serbia.

Sava traveled to the Holy Land on two occasions, on pilgrimage to the holy places there. He made peace among his brothers, who were in conflict over their rights, and also between the Serbs and their neighbors. In creating the Serbian Church, he created the Serbian state and the Serbian culture along with it. He brought peace to all the Balkan peoples, working for the good of all, for which he was venerated and loved by all on the Balkan peninsular. He gave a Christian soul to the people of Serbia, which survived the fall of the Serbian state. He died in Trnovo in the reign of King Asen, being taken ill after the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of Theophany in 1236.

King Vladislav took his body to Mileseva where it was buried. In the time of the Turkish occupation, the Serbian people gathered together around the relics of their saint, to seek support and healing. Fearing that a rebellion against the Turks might be stirred up in that place, Sinan Pasha of Belgrade commanded that St. Sava’s relics be brought to Belgrade and burned there at Vracar. This was done on April 27th, 1594. But, with the burning of the saint’s relics, the wicked Pasha did not burn the saint, who remains alive before the throne of God in heaven and in the hearts of his people on earth.

From the Prologue From Ochrid, St. Nicholas of South Canaan

The Byzantine calendar assigns to September 1st, as “saint of the day”, the earliest and best known of the “stylites” – those ascetics who, on the top of a pillar, lived a life separated from the world. Such was the extraordinary life of Simeon in the 5th century. The Church seems to throw down a challenge to the world deliberately in inviting us, on the first day of the year, to contemplate a case so extreme that it constitutes a paradox. For the life of a stylite appears to be a negation of all the values honored by “reasonable”, “civilized”, “modern” man.

The history of Christian sainthood is full of such cases, which are in some ways a scandal. Of course, sainthood adapts itself to the conditions of each age and usually takes on some of the features of contemporary life. But it is good that, from time to time, a voice cries in the desert and sends out a strong call to renunciation and penitence. This call has never ceased being heard, and even in our day, hermit life still has a number of followers. In honoring Simeon the Stylite on the first day of the year, Eastern Christianity takes a clear stand; it shows that it neither disowns nor abandons heroic forms of sainthood.

The world does not understand; it either jeers or is indignant. For these belong to the kind of things Christ spoke of when he said: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes.” (MT 11:25)

Thecla was born in Iconium of eminent pagan parents. She was betrothed at the age of eighteen to a young man, at the time that the Apostle Paul came to Iconium with Barnabas to preach the Gospel. Listening to Paul for three days and nights, Thecla turned utterly to the Christian faith and vowed to live in virginity. Her mother, seeing that she shunned her betrothed and thought no more of marriage, first talked to her and then beat her and starved her. Finally, she gave her over to the judges and demanded, wicked mother that she was, that Thecla be burned. The judge threw her into the flames, but God preserved her unharmed. Thecla then became a follower of the Apostle Paul, and went with him to Antioch.

Attracted by Thecla’s beauty, an elder of the city attempted to take her by force, but Thecla tore herself out of his grasp. The elder denounced her to the governor as a Christian who was averse to marriage. The governor condemned her to death and threw her to the wild beasts, but the animals would not touch the body of this holy virgin. Amazed at this, the governor asked: ‘Who are you, and what is the power that you have in you, that nothing can do you harm?’ Thecla replied: ‘I am a servant of the living God.’ Then the governor let her go free, and she began to preach the Gospel and succeeded in bringing many to the true Faith, among whom was an eminent and honoured widow, Tryphena.

After this, St Thecla, with the blessing of the Apostle Paul, withdrew to a solitary place near Seleucia. She lived a long time there in asceticism, healing the sick with miraculous power and in this way bringing many to Christianity. The doctors in Seleucia were jealous of her and sent some young men to assault her, hoping that, in losing her virginity, she would lose also her miraculous power. Thecla fled from these insolent young men and, when she saw that they would catch her, prayed to God for help in front of a rock, and the rock opened and hid the holy maiden and bride of Christ. This rock was her hiding- place and her tomb. St Chrysostom says of this wonderful Christian heroine and saint: ‘I seem to see this blessed virgin going to Christ with virginity in one hand and martyrdom in the other.’

This glorious and wonderworking saint was born in the city of Salonica of well-born and devout parents. Begged of God by these childless parents, Demetrius was their only son and was, because of this, most carefully cherished and educated. His father was the military commander of Salonica, and, when he died, the Emperor made Demetrius commander in his place. In doing this, the Emperor Maximian, an opponent of Christ, particularly recommended him to persecute and exterminate the Christians in Salonica.

Demetrius not only disobeyed the Emperor: he openly confessed and preached Christ the Lord in the city. Hearing of this, the Emperor was furious with Demetrius and, at one time, on his way back from a war against the Sarmathians, went to Salonica especially to look into the matter. The Emperor, therefore, summoned Demetrius and questioned him about his faith. Demetrius proclaimed openly before the Emperor that he was a Christian, and, furthermore, denounced the Emperor’s idolatry. The enraged Emperor cast him into prison. Knowing what was awaiting him, Demetrius gave his goods to his faithful servant, Lupus, to give away to the poor, and went off to prison, glad that suffering for Christ was to be his lot.

In the prison, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: ‘Peace be with thee, thou sufferer for Christ; be brave and strong!’ After several days, the Emperor sent soldiers to the prison to kill Demetrius. They came upon the saint of God at prayer, and ran him through with their spears. Christians secretly took his body and gave it burial, and there flowed from it a healing myrrh by which many of the sick were healed. A small church was very soon built over his relics.

An Illyrian nobleman, Leontius, became sick of an incurable illness. He ran prayerfully up to the relics of St Demetrius and was completely healed, and in gratitude built a much larger church in place of the old one. The saint appeared to him on two occasions. When the Emperor Justinian wanted to take the saint’s relics from Salonica to Constantinople, a spark of fire leapt from the tomb and a voice was heard: ‘Leave them there, and don’t touch!’, and thus the relics of St. Demetrius have remained for all time in Salonica. As the defender of Salonica, St. Demetrius has many times appeared and saved the city from calamity, and there is no way of counting his miracles. The Russians regarded St. Demetrius as the protector of Siberia, which was overcome and annexed by Russia on October 26, 1581

The Holy Disciple and Evangelist Luke, was a native of Syrian Antioch, a Disciple from amongst the Seventy, a companion of the holy Apostle Paul (Phil 1:24, 2 Tim 4:10-11), and a physician enlightened in the Greek medical arts. Hearing about Christ, Luke arrived in Palestine and here he fervently accepted the preaching of salvation from the Lord Himself. Included among the Seventy Disciples, Saint Luke was sent by the Lord with the others for the first preaching about the Kingdom of Heaven while yet during the earthly life of the Savior (Lk 10:1-3).

After the Resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Saints Luke and Cleopas on the road to Emmaus. The Disciple Luke took part in the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, and from that time they were inseparable. At a point when all his co-workers had left the Apostle Paul, the Disciple Luke stayed on with him to tackle all the toiling of pious deeds (2 Tim 4:10-11). After the martyr’s death of the First-Ranked Apostles Peter and Paul, Saint Luke left Rome to preach in Achaeia, Libya, Egypt and the Thebaid. In the city of Thebes he finished his life in martyrdom.

Tradition ascribes to him the writing of the first icons of the Mother of God. “Let the grace of He born of Me and My mercy be with these icons” — said the All-Pure Virgin in beholding the icons. Saint Luke wrote likewise icons of the First-Ranked Apostles Peter and Paul. His Gospel was written by Saint Luke in the years 62-63 at Rome, under the guidance of the Apostle Paul. Saint Luke in the preliminary verses (1:3) spells out exactly the aim of his work: he recorded in greater detail the chronological course of events in the framework of everything known by Christians about Jesus Christ and His teachings, and by doing so he provided a firmer historical basis of Christian hope (1:4). He carefully investigated the facts, and made generous use of the oral tradition of the Church and of what the All-Pure Virgin Mary Herself had told him (2:19, 51).

In the theological content of the Gospel of Luke there stands out first of all the teaching about the universal salvation effected by the Lord Jesus Christ, and about the universal significance of the preaching of the Gospel [Latin evangelium with Greek root eu-angelos, both meaning “good-news”]. The holy disciple likewise wrote in the years 62-63 at Rome, the Book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles. The Acts, which is a continuation of the Four Gospels, speaks about the works and effects of the holy Apostles after the Ascension of the Savior.

At the center of the narrative is the Council of the holy Apostles at Jerusalem (year 51 AD), a Church event of great critical significance, with a dogmatic basis for the distancing of Christianity from Judaism and its independent dispersion into the world (Acts 15:6-29). The theological objective of the Book of Acts is that of the Dispensation-Economy of the Holy Spirit, actualized in the Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ, from the time of the Ascension and Pentecost to the Second Coming of Christ.

He was the son of Jonah and brother of Peter, born in Bethsaida and a fisherman by profession. He was first a disciple of St. John the Baptist, but, when John pointed to the Lord Jesus and said: “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:36), St. Andrew left his first teacher and followed Christ. After that, Andrew brought his brother Peter to the Lord. After the Descent of the Holy Spirit, it fell to the lot of the first of Christ’s apostles, St.

Andrew, to preach the Gospel in Byzantium and Thrace, then in the lands along the Danube, in Russia and around the Black Sea, and finally in Epirus, Greece and the Peloponnese, where he suffered.

In Byzantium, he installed St. Stachys as its first bishop; in Kiev he raised the Cross on high and prophesied a Christian future for the Russian people; in Thrace, Epirus, Greece and the Peloponnese, he brought many people to the Faith and gave them bishops and priests. In the city of Patras he performed many wonders in the name of Christ and brought many to the Lord, among whom were the brother and wife of the Imperial governor, Aegeatus. Aegeatus, infuriated by this, put Andrew to torture and then crucified him. While he was still alive on the cross, the Apostle of Christ taught the Christians who were gathered around him. The people wanted to take him down from the cross, but he would not let them.

Finally, the Apostle prayed to God and a strange radiance surrounded him. This light lasted for half an hour and, when it disappeared, the Apostle gave his holy soul into God’s hands. Thus the first-called Apostle, who first of the twelve Great Apostles came to know the Lord and followed him, finishing his earthly course. St. Andrew suffered for his Lord in the year 62. His relics were translated to Constantinople, but his head was later taken to Rome and one hand to Moscow.

From the Prologue From Ochrid, St. Nicholas of South Canaan

He was an Egyptian, born about 250 in a village called Quemen-el-Arons near Heracleopolis. After the death of his rich and noble parents, he shared his inherited possessions with his sister, who was still in her minority, made sure that she was cared for, gave away his half of the inheritance to the poor and, at the age of twenty, consecrated himself to the life of asceticism that he had desired from childhood.

At first he lived near his own village but then, in order to escape the disturbance of men, went off into the desert, on the shores of the Red Sea, where he spent twenty years as a hermit in company with no-one but God, in unceasing prayer, pondering and contemplation, patiently undergoing inexpressible demonic temptations. His fame

spread through the whole world and around him gathered many disciples whom he, by word and example, placed on the path of salvation.

In eighty-five years of ascetic life, he went only twice to Alexandria: the first time to seek martyrdom during a time of persecution of the Church, and the second at the invitation of St Athanasius, to refute the Arians’ slanderous allegations that he too was a follower of the Arian heresy. He departed this life at the age of 105, leaving behind a whole army of disciples and followers.

And, although Anthony was unlettered he was, as a counselor and teacher, one of the most learned men of his age, as also was St Athanasius the Great. When some Hellenic philosophers tried to test him with literary learning, Anthony shamed them with the question: ‘Which is older, the understanding or the book? And which of these is the source of the other?’ The shamed philosophers dispersed, for they saw that they had only book-learning without understanding, while Anthony had understanding.

Here was a man who had attained perfection insofar as man is able on earth. Here was an educator of educators and teacher of teachers, who for a whole eighty-five years perfected himself, and only thus was able to perfect many others. Full of years and great works, Anthony entered into rest in the Lord in the year 356.

The Saints of the Orthodox Church are not limited to those of the Middle East, Eastern Europe and a few who lived in the Americas. It also includes those who came from the Western patriarchate of Rome, before the schism of 1054.

The Venerable Bede 

Saint Bede was a church historian who recorded the history of Christianity in England up to his own time. He was probably born around 673 in Northumbria. We do not know exactly where he was born, but it is likely that it was somewhere near Jarrow. When he was seven, Bede was sent to St. Benedict Biscop (January 12) at the monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth to be educated and raised. Then he was sent to the new monastery of St. Paul founded at Jarrow in 682, where he remained until his death. There he was guided by the abbot St. Ceolfrith (September 25), who succeeded St. Benedict in 690, ruling both Wearmouth and Jarrow. There is an incident in the anonymous Life of Ceolfrith which may refer to the young Bede.

A plague swept through Ceolfrith’s monastery in 686, taking most of the monks who sang in the choir for the church services. Only the abbot and a young boy raised and educated by him remained. This young boy “is now a priest of the same monastery and commends the abbot’s admirable deeds both verbally and in writing to all who desire to learn them.” Grieved by this catastrophe, Ceolfrith decided that they should sing the Psalms without antiphons, except at Matins and Vespers. After a week of this, he went back to chanting the antiphons in their proper place. With the help of the boy and the surviving monks, the services were performed with difficulty until other monks could be brought in and trained to sing. St. Bede was ordained as a deacon when he was nineteen, and to the holy priesthood at the age of thirty by St. John of Beverley (May 7), the holy Bishop of Hexham (687), and later (705) of York. Bede had a great love for the church services, and believed that since the angels were present with the monks during the services, that he should also be there. “What if they do not find me among the brethren when they assemble? Will they not say, ‘Where is Bede?’ Bede began as a pupil of St. Benedict Biscop, who had been a monk of the famous monastery at Lerins, and had founded monasteries himself. St. Benedict had brought many books with him to England from Lerins and from other European monasteries.

This library enabled Bede to write his own books, which include biblical commentary, ecclesiastical history, and hagiography. Bede was not an objective historian. He is squarely on the Roman side in the debate with Celtic Christianity, for example. He was, however, fair and thorough. His books, derived from “ancient documents, from the traditions of our ancestors, and from my own personal knowledge” (Book V, 24) give us great insight into the religious and secular life of early Britain. To read St. Bede is to enter a world shaped by spiritual traditions very similar to those cherished by Orthodox Christians. These saints engage in the same heroic asceticism shown by saints in the East, and their holiness fills us with love and admiration. Christians were expected to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, and there was a forty day Nativity Fast (Book IV, 30). St. Bede became ill in 735. For about two weeks before Pascha, he was weak and had trouble breathing, but experienced little pain. He remained cheerful and gave daily lessons to his students, then spent the rest of the day singing Psalms and giving thanks to God. He would often quote the words of St. Ambrose, “I have not lived in such a way that I am ashamed to live among you, and I do not fear to die, for God is gracious” (Paulinus, Life of Saint Ambrose, Ch. 45). In addition to giving daily lessons and chanting the Psalms, St. Bede was also working on an Anglo-Saxon translation of the Gospel of St. John, and also a book of extracts from the writings of St. Isidore of Seville (April 4). On the Tuesday before the Feast of the Lord’s Ascension, the saint’s breathing became more labored, and his feet began to swell. “Learn quickly,” he told those who were taking dictation from him, “for I do not know how long I can continue. The Lord may call me in a short while.” After a sleepless night, St. Bede continued his dictation on Wednesday morning.

At the Third Hour, there was a procession with the relics of the saints in the monastery, and the brethren went to attend this service, leaving a monk named Wilbert with Bede. The monk reminded him that there remained one more chapter to be written in the book which he was dictating. Wilbert was reluctant to disturb the dying Bede, however. St. Bede said, “It is no trouble. Take your pen and write quickly.” At the Ninth Hour, Bede paused and told Wilbert that he had some items in his chest, such as pepper, incense, and linen. He asked the monk to bring the priests of the monastery so that he could distribute these items to them. When they arrived, he spoke to each of them in turn, requesting them to pray for him and to remember him in the services. Then he said, “The time of my departure is at hand, and my soul longs to see Christ my King in His beauty.” That evening, Wilbert said to him, “Dear Master, there is one sentence left unfinished.” Bede said, “Very well, write it down.” Then the young monk said, “It is finished now.” St. Bede replied, “You have spoken truly, it is well finished.” Then he asked Wilbert to raise his head so that he could see the church where he used to pray. After chanting, “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” to its ending, St. Bede fell asleep in the Lord Whom he had loved. Although St. Bede reposed on May 25, the eve of the Ascension, he is commemorated on the 27th, since the Feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury is appointed for the 26th. His body was first buried in the south porch of the monastery church, then later transferred to a place near the altar. Today his holy relics lie in Durham Cathedral, in the Galilee chapel. St. Bede is the only Englishman mentioned by Dante in the DIVINE COMEDY (Paradiso).

Saint Patrick of Ireland 

Saint Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish, was seized from his native Britain by Irish marauders when he was sixteen years old. Though the son of a deacon and a grandson of a priest, it was not until his captivity that he sought out the Lord with his whole heart. In his Confession, the testament he wrote towards the end of his life, he says, “After I came to Ireland – every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed – the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was so moved that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many at night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountain; and I would rise for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm.” After six years of slavery in Ireland, he was guided by God to make his escape, and afterwards struggled in the monastic life at Auxerre in Gaul, under the guidance of the holy Bishop Germanus.

Many years later he was ordained bishop and sent to Ireland once again, about the year 432, to convert the Irish to Christ. His arduous labours bore so much fruit that within seven years, three bishops were sent from Gaul to help him shepherd his flock, “my brethren and sons whom I have baptized in the Lord – so many thousands of people,” he says in his Confession. His apostolic work was not accomplished without much “weariness and painfulness,” long journeys through difficult country, and many perils; he says his very life was in danger twelve times. When he came to Ireland as its enlightener, it was a pagan country; when he ended his earthly life some thirty years later, about 461, the Faith of Christ was established in every corner.

They lived and suffered in Rome in the time of the Emperor Hadrian. The wise Sophia (as her name – Sophia – wisdom, indicates) was left a widow and, as a Christian, steeped herself and her daughters in the Christian faith. At the time that Hadrian’s persecuting hand stretched out over the virtuous house of Sophia, Vera was twelve, Nada ten and Lubov nine.

The four of them were brought before the Emperor, with their arms entwined ‘like a woven wreath’, humbly but firmly confessing their faith in Christ the Lord and refusing to offer sacrifice to the goddess Artemis.

They beat them, stabbed them and threw them into fire and boiling pitch, and finally beheaded them one after the other. Sophia took the dead bodies of her daughters out of the town and buried them, and stayed by their grave in prayer for three days and nights, then gave her soul to God, hastening to the heavenly company where the blessed souls of her daughters awaited her.

Some Selected Quotes from the Cappadocians 

St. Basil the Great 

“The way to divine knowledge ascends from one Spirit through the one Son to the one Father. Likewise, natural goodness, inherent holiness and royal dignity reaches from the Father through the Only-begotten to the Spirit.” -On the Holy Spirit 18,47 

“When through the illuminating power (of the Spirit) we fix our eyes on the beauty of the image of the invisible God (on the Son), and through the Image are led to the supreme beauty of the Archetype (of the Father), then the Spirit of knowledge is with us inseparably. To those who love the vision of the truth, He gives in Himself the power of beholding the Image […]; He does not reveal it from outside, but leads to knowledge of Himself.” -On the Holy Spirit 18,47 

Gregory Nazianzen 

“No sooner do I place before the mind the One, than I am surrounded by the splendor of the Three. No sooner do I distinguish the Three, than I am brought back to the One. When any one of the Three appears to me, I think of Him as a whole; my eyes are filled, and the greater part escapes my eye. I cannot comprehend the magnitude of the One, so as to impart a greater greatness to the Rest. When, again, I consider the Three together, I perceive but one splendor, and I cannot divide or measure the light that is one.” -On Holy Baptism 41

“The Father is the Father and is Unoriginate, for He is of no one, the Son is Son, and is not unoriginate, for He is of the Father. But if you take the word ‘origin’ in a temporal sense, He too is Unoriginate, for He is the Maker of time, and is not subject to time. The Holy Spirit is truly Spirit, coming forth from the father indeed, but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by generation, but by procession since I must coin a word for the sake of clearness; for neither did the Father cease to be Unbegotten because of His begetting something, nor the Son to be begotten because He is Unbegotten, nor the Spirit changed into the father or the Son because He proceeds, or because he is God – though the ungodly do not believe it.” -Theological Orations 39

Gregory of Nyssa 

“We say to begin with that the practice of calling those who are not divided by nature by the very name of their common nature in the plural and saying they are ‘many men’ is a customary abuse of language, and that it would be much the same thing to say there are ‘many human natures’…Thus there are many who have shared in the same nature – many disciples, say, or apostles, or martyrs – but the man in them all is one; since, as had been said, the term ‘man’ does not belong to the nature of the individuals as such, but to that which is common….Thus it would be better to correct our erroneous habit, so as to no longer extend a plurality to the name of the nature. We should no longer be tempted to project our error of speech into theological doctrine.” –There are Not Three God, Introduction

By St. Gregory Nazianzen

“Christ is Born; glorify Him! Christ from heaven, go to meet Him! Christ on earth, be lifted up! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. And that I may join the two in one word: Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, because of Him who is of heaven and is now on earth. Christ in the flesh, rejoice with trembling and with joy because of your hope. Christ of a virgin. Live as virgins, you mothers, that you may be mothers of Christ. Who does not worship Him who is from the beginning? Who does not glorify Him who is also the end?

Again the darkness is past. Again Light is made….The people that sat in darkness, let them see the Great Light of full knowledge. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things are becoming new. The letter gives way, and the Spirit comes to the fore. The shadows flee away, for the Truth has come upon them. Melchisedec is now fulfilled. He that was without a mother (being begotten from the Father before all ages) now becomes without a father (being born of the Virgin). The laws of nature are upset. The world above must be filled. Christ commands it. Let us not set ourselves against Him.

Clap your hands together, all people. For unto us a Son is born, unto us a Child is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders (for with the Cross it is raised up), and His name is called The Angel of the Great Counsel of the Father. Let John the Baptist cry aloud: Prepare ye the way of the Lord! And I too will cry aloud with the power of this Day. He who is without flesh has become incarnate. The Son of God becomes the Son of man. Jesus Christ: the same yesterday and today and forever! Let the children of Israel who seeks signs be scandalized. Let the pagans who seek wisdom speak of their folly. Let all the heretics talk till their tongues ache. They shall believe when they see Him ascending up into the heavens. And if not then, when they see Him coming out of the heavens to sit in judgment.

This then is our present festival. It is this that we are celebrating today: the Coming of God to man, that we might go forth, or rather (for this is a more proper expression), that we might go back to God – that putting off the old man, we might put on the New; and that as we died in Adam so we might live in Christ, being born with Christ and crucified with Him and buried with Him and rising with Him!”

From Oration #38 delivered in 381 AD on Christmas Day

By St. Peter of Damascus – from “The Philokalia”

“We ought all of us always to give thanks to God for both the universal and the particular gifts of the soul and body that he bestows on us. The universal gifts consist of the elements of the world and all that comes to being through them, as well as all the marvelous works of God mentioned in the divine Scriptures. The particular gifts consist of all that God has given each individual.

These include wealth, so that one can perform acts of charity; poverty, so that one can endure it with patience and gratitude; authority, so that one can exercise righteous judgment and establish virtue; obedience and service, so that one can more readily attain salvation of soul; health, so that one can assist those in need and undertake work worthy of God; sickness, so that one can earn the crown of patience; spiritual knowledge and strength, so that one may acquire virtue; weakness and ignorance, so that, turning one’s back on worldly things, one may be under obedience in stillness and humility; unsought loss of goods and possessions, so that one may deliberately seek to be saved and may be helped when incapable of shedding all one’s possessions or even giving alms; ease and prosperity, so that one may voluntarily struggle and suffer to attain the virtues and thus become dispassionate and fit to save other souls; trials and hardship, so that those who cannot eradicate their own will may be saved in spite of themselves, and those capable of joyful endurance may attain perfection.

By St. Cyril of Alexandria (early 5^th Century)

Many are the faults of the Pharisee: first of all he is boastful, and without sense, for he praises himself, even though the sacred Scripture cries aloud, “let a neighbor praise you, and not your own mouth: a stranger and not your own lips.” (Prov 27:2)….Our virtue, therefore, must not be contaminated with fault, but must be single-minded and blameless and free from all that can bring reproach. For what profit is there in fasting twice a week, if you so doing serve only as a pretext for ignorance and vanity, and if it makes you supercilious, haughty and selfish? You tithe your possessions and make boast of it; but in another way you provoke God’s anger, by condemning men generally on this account and accusing others. And you yourself are puffed up, though not crowned by the divine decree for righteousness, but on the contrary, heap praises upon yourself. For I am not, he says, as the rest of mankind. Moderate yourself, O Pharisee: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth, and a strong door about my lips.” (Ps 140:3)

You speak to God Who knows all things. Await the decree of the Judge. None of those skilled in the practice of wrestling ever crowns himself; nor does any man receive the crown for himself but awaits the summons of the arbiter. Lower your pride, for arrogance is both accursed and hated by God. Although, therefore, you fast with puffed up mind, your so doing will not avail you; your labor will be unrewarded; for you have mingled dung with your perfume. Even according to the law of Moses a sacrifice that had a blemish was not capable of being offered for sacrifice, “there must be no blemish therein.” (Lev 22:21) Since, therefore, your fasting is accompanied by pride, you must expect to hear God saying, “This is not the fast I have chosen.” (Is 58:5)….You offer tithes, but you wrong in another way Him Who is honored by you, in that you condemn men generally. This is an act foreign to the mind that fears God.

By St. John Chrysostom

The value of fasting consists not in abstinence only from food, but in a relinquishment of sinful practices, since one who limits his fasting only to an abstinence from meat is one who especially disparages it. Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man, take pity on him! If you see a friend enjoying honor, do not envy him. For let not the mouth only fast, but also the eye, and the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all members of our bodies. Let the hands fast by being pure from avarice. Let the feet fast by ceasing from running to forbidden spectacles. Let the eyes fast by being taught never to fix themselves rudely upon handsome countenances. For looking is the food of the eyes, but if it be unlawful or forbidden it mars the fast and overturns the safety of the soul; but if it be lawful and safe, it adorns fasting. For it would be an instance of the highest absurdity to abstain from meats and unlawful food because of the fast, but with the eyes to feed on what is forbidden. Do you eat flesh? Do not feed on licentiousness by means of the eyes. Let the ear fast also. The fasting of the ear is not to receive evil speaking and calumnies. “You shall not receive an idle report,” it says. Let also the mouth fast from foul words. For what does it profit if we abstain from birds and fish, and yet bite and devour our brethren?

And so, the Feasts of Feasts has passed by us: and the Royal Gates in the Lord’s temples are shut; and the services is no longer as triumphant as it was during Holy Week. What then, brethren, has this feast left in our souls? Christian holidays, you see, do not pass before us, one after another, just to leave our souls idle, but in order to discharge us from the cares and affairs of life’s concerns; to put it another way: the Lord provides us with holidays in order that we might temporarily put aside thinking about, concerning ourselves with, rejoicing at, grieving over, that which is worldly, earthly, quick to pass; but instead, that we might meditate upon, concern ourselves with, rejoice at, that which is heavenly and eternal. It was precisely for this reason, as well, that the holiday just past was given to us.

The Lord made us worthy of beholding the all-radiant feast of Christ’s Resurrection in order that we might descry in it the first-fruits of the universal resurrection of all mankind in the last days of the world: Christ rose from the dead, being the first fruits of those who had died (1 Cor 15:20), says the Word of God. It was for us, you see, that the Lord suffered, died, was buried, and arose: His death, burial and resurrection is, as it were, our own death, burial and resurrection. It is for this reason that we sang during the Matins of Bright Week: “Yesterday was I interred with Thee, O Christ; conjointly with Thee do I rise today.” (Paschal Canon Ode 3, Troparion 2) Yes, we, all of us, invariably shall rise up; and we all look for and await the resurrection of the dead. This is as certain as it is certain that there will be a day tomorrow. Has this ever entered your heads; have you given any thought to this during the holiday? Yet it was necessary to think upon this, without fail. All the great holidays of the Church – and the Feast of Pascha in particular – remind us of our redemption, through Jesus Christ, from the age to come.

“If any man be devout and loves God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast.     If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall nowise be deprived therefore. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of His honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour. And he shows mercy on the last and cares for the first; and to the one he gives and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts, and praises the offering.

Wherefore, enter all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go away hungry. Enjoy all the feast of faith: receive all the riches of loving-kindness. Let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one weep his iniquities, for pardon has shone forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, he made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death where is thy sting? O Hell where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and thou are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.”