[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

[Daily Orthodox Readings and Saints]

Scripture Readings and Saints for Tue Aug 21 2007

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5
16 But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into
the heart of Titus.
17 For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent,
he went to you of his own accord.
18 And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel
throughout all the churches,
19 and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to
travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the
glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind,
20 avoiding this: that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift
which is administered by us-
21 providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but
also in the sight of men.
22 And we have sent with them our brother whom we have often proved
diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, because of the
great confidence which we have in you.
23 If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker
concerning you. Or if our brethren are inquired about, they are
messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.
24 Therefore show to them, and before the churches, the proof of your
love and of our boasting on your behalf.
1 Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for
me to write to you;
2 for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the
Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has
stirred up the majority.
3 Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in
vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready;
4 lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we
(not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting.
5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you
ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you
had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of
generosity and not as a grudging obligation.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2


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Mark 3:13-19
13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself
wanted. And they came to Him.
14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He
might send them out to preach,
15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:
16 Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter;
17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He
gave the name Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder";
18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of
Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite;
19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a
house.
Scripture Reading 2 of 2



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Afterfeast of the Dormition of the Mother of God
No information available.
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Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy
Saint Thaddeus, Apostle of the Seventy, was by descent a Hebrew, and
he was born in the Syrian city of Edessa. The holy Apostle Thaddeus of
the Seventy must be distinguished from St Jude, also called Thaddeus
or Levi (June 19), who was one of the Twelve Apostles.
When he came to Jerusalem for a feastday, he heard the preaching of
John the Forerunner. After being baptized by him in the Jordan, he
remained in Palestine. He saw the Savior, and became His follower. He
was chosen by the Lord to be one of the Seventy Disciples, whom He
sent by twos to preach in the cities and places where He intended to
visit (Luke. 10: 1).
After the Ascension of the Savior to Heaven, St Thaddeus preached the
good news in Syria and Mesopotamia. He came preaching the Gospel to
Edessa and he converted King Abgar, the people and the pagan priests
to Christ. He backed up his preaching with many miracles (about which
Abgar wrote to the Assyrian emperor Nerses). He established priests
there and built up the Edessa Church.
Prince Abgar wanted to reward St Thaddeus with rich gifts, but he
refused and went preaching to other cities, converting many pagans to
the Christian Faith. He went to the city of Beirut to preach, and he
founded a church there. It was in this city that he peacefully died in
the year 44. (The place of his death is indicated as Beirut in the
Slavonic MENAION, but according to other sources he died in Edessa.
According to an ancient Armenian tradition, St Thaddeus, after various
tortures, was beheaded by the sword on December 21 in the Artaz region
in the year 50).
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Martyr Bassa of Edessa, and her sons
The Martyr Bassa with her sons Theognis, Agapius and Pistus, lived in
the city of Macedonian Edessa and she was married to a pagan priest.
>From childhood she had been raised in the Christian Faith, which she
passed on to her sons.
During the reign of the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311), the
husband denounced his wife and children to the governor. In spite of
threats, the boys refused to offer sacrifice to idols, so they were
tortured and put to death.
St Bassa was thrown into prison and was weakened by hunger, but an
angel strengthened her with heavenly food. Under successive tortures
she remained unharmed by fire, water and beasts. When they brought her
to a pagan temple, she shattered the statue of Zeus. Then they threw
the martyr into a whirlpool in the sea. But to everyone's surprise a
ship sailed up, and three radiant men pulled her up (St Nicodemus of
the Holy Mountain (July 14) suggests that these were her children,
martyred earlier). After eight days St Bassa came by ship to the
governor of the island of Alona, not far from Cyzicus, in the
Propontis or Sea of Marmora. After beating her with rods, they
beheaded her.
By the year 450 there was already a church in honor of the holy martyr
Bassa at Chalcedon.
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Martyr Theogonius
Saints Theognis, Agapius and Pistus were the sons of St Bassa, and
lived in the city of Macedonian Edessa. From childhood they had been
raised in the Christian Faith, but their pagan father denounced his
wife and chldren to the governor.
In spite of threats, they refused to offer sacrifice to idols. The
eldest son, Theognis, was raked with iron claws, then he was beheaded.
One account says that the three brothers suffered at Edessa in
Macedonia. Another account says they died at Larissa in Thessaly,
their homeland.
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Martyr Agapius
Saints Agapius, Theognis, and Pistus were the sons of St Bassa, and
lived in the city of Macedonian Edessa. From childhood they had been
raised in the Christian Faith, but their pagan father denounced his
wife and chldren to the governor. In spite of threats, they all
refused to offer sacrifice to idols.
The skin of the young Agapius was flayed from head to chest, but the
martyr did not utter a sound.
One account says that the three brothers suffered at Edessa in
Macedonia. Another account says they died at Larissa in Thessaly,
their homeland.
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Martyr Pistus
Saints Pistus, Agapius, and Theognis were the sons of St Bassa, and
lived in the city of Macedonian Edessa. From childhood they had been
raised in the Christian Faith, but their pagan father denounced his
wife and chldren to the governor. In spite of threats, they all
refused to offer sacrifice to idols.
The youngest son Pistus was tortured and beheaded, just as his
brothers had been.
One account says that the three brothers suffered at Edessa in
Macedonia. Another account says they died at Larissa in Thessaly,
their homeland.
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Venerable Abramius the Archimandrite and Wonderworker of
Smolensk
Saint Abramius of Smolensk, a preacher of repentance and the Dread
Last Judgment, was born in the mid-twelfth century at Smolensk of rich
parents, who had twelve daughters before him, and they begged God for
a son.
>From childhood he grew up in the fear of God, he was often in church
and had the opportunity to read books. The parents hoped that their
only son would enter into marriage and continue their illustrious
lineage, but he sought a different life. After the death of his
parents, having given away all his wealth to monasteries, to churches
and to the destitute, the saint walked through the city in rags,
asking God to show him the way to salvation.
He was tonsured in the monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos, five
versts from Smolensk, at Selischa. Having passed through various
obediences there, the monk fervently occupied himself with copying
books, culling spiritual riches from them. The Smolensk prince Roman
Rostislavich (+ 1170) started a school in the city, in which they
taught not only in Slavonic, but also from Greek and Latin books. The
Prince himself had a large collection of books, which St Abramius
used. He had struggled for more than 30 years at the monastery, when
in the year 1198 the igumen persuaded him to accept the dignity of
presbyter. Every day he served the Divine Liturgy and fulfilled the
obedience of clergy not only for the brethren, but also for the laity.
Soon the monk became widely known. This aroused the envy of the
brethren, and then of the igumen also, and five years later, the monk
was compelled to transfer to the Exaltation of the Cross monastery in
Smolensk itself. With offerings from the devout, he embellished the
cathedral church of the poor monastery with icons, and with curtains
and candle-stands. He himself painted two icons on themes which most
concerned him. On one he depicted the Dread Last judgment, and on the
other the suffering of the trials of life. Lean and pale from extreme
toil, in priestly garb the ascetic resembled St Basil the Great in
appearance. The saint was strict both towards himself, and towards his
spiritual children. He preached constantly in church and to those
coming to him in his cell, conversing with rich and poor alike.
The city notables and the clergy demanded that Bishop Ignatius bring
the monk to trial, accusing him of seducing women and tempting his
spiritual children. But even more terrible were the accusations of
heresy and the reading of forbidden books. For this they proposed to
drown or burn the ascetic. At the trial by the Prince and the Bishop,
the saint answered all the false accusations. Despite this, they
forbade him to serve as a priest and returned him to his former
monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos . A terrible drought occurred in
consequence of God's wrath over the unjust sentence, and only when St
Ignatius pardoned St Abramius, permitting him to serve and preach, did
the rain again fall on Smolensk.
The bishop St Ignatius built a new monastery, in honor of the Placing
of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos, and he entrusted the guidance
of it to St Abramius, and he himself settled into it, retiring from
the diocese because of age. Many wished to enter under the guidance of
St Abramius, but he examined them very intensely and only after great
investigation, so at his monastery there were only seventeen brethren.
St Abramius, after the death of St Ignatius, having become his
spiritual friend, urged the brethren, more than before, to think about
death and to pray day and night, that they be not condemned in the
Judgment by God.
St Abramius died after the year 1224, having spent 50 years in
monasticism. Already at the end of the thirteenth century a service
had been compiled to him, together with his disciple St Ephraim. The
terrible Mongol-Tatar invasion, seen as the wrath of God for the
nation's sins, not only did not stifle the memory of St Abramius of
Smolensk, but rather was a reminder to people of his calling to
repentance and recollection of the dread Last Judgment.
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Venerable Ephraim the Disciple of Abramius, Archimandrite and
Wonderworker of Smolensk
Saint Ephraim was the disciple of St Abramius of Smolensk. He compiled
the Life of St Abramius, which provides many details about education
in the remote northwestern part of Russia in those days.
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Venerable Abramius the lover-of-labor of the Kiev Near Caves
No information available at this time.
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St Sarmean, the Catholicos of Kartli, Georgia
The chronicles listing the generations of chief shepherds of Georgia
reveal that St. Sarmean was leader of the Georgian Apostolic Church
from the year 767 (or 760, according to some sources) until the year
774. These were years of Arab-Muslim rule in Georgia. The Arabs
persecuted the Christians, oppressed those who served in the Church,
and tried in every way to convert the country to Islam. Despite the
frightful abuses that the faithful endured and the transformation of
the city into a residence for the emir, many Tbilisi churches
continued to function.
Sarmean was a firm defender of Orthodoxy. Once, however, on
Cheese-fare Thursday at Shio-MgvimeMonastery, a group of strangers
bearing gifts arrived at the monastery. He served Holy Communion to
them without ever inquiring into their faith. Later he learned that
they were Jacobites. (members of one of the Monophysite churches.)
His carelessness was revealed to him in a dream that same night.
When he awoke the next morning, Catholicos Sarmean summoned the
bishops, confessed his mistake, burned the gifts that the Jacobites
had given him before their eyes, and departed for an isolated cave,
where he wept over his sin with bitter tears.
But the All-merciful Lord sent a sign to St. Sarmean to inform him
that his transgression had been forgiven. The bishops sent him a
message from Mtskheta: O Great Sovereign Patriarch Sarmean! Rejoice!
We, your spiritual children, believers in your holiness, the entire
council of bishops, wish to inform you that St. Shio has appeared and
told each of the five of us that the Lord has remitted your sin. Make
haste and summon us to the monastery, that we may give thanks together
to our Holy Father Shio!
Holy Catholicos Sarmean, divinely endowed with humility, faith, love,
and the fear of God, led his flock wisely to the end of his days and
reposed peacefully in the year 774.
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New Martyr Simeon of Samokov
No information available at this time.
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Hieromartyr Raphael of Serbia
No information available at this time.
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St Cornelius of Paleostrov and Olonets
Saint Cornelius of Paleostrov and Olonets, born at Pskov, was the
founder of monastic life on Pali island in Lake Onega at the end of
the fourteenth century. Despite the desolation of the island, brethren
soon gathered near him. He built for them a church in honor of the
Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, and a trapeza church in honor of
the holy Prophet Elias.
The saint spent the final years of his life in a cave half a verst
from the monastery, in unceasing prayer. The ascetic added the wearing
of heavy chains to his struggles.
The saint's blessed repose occurred around the year 1420. His relics
were transferred to the monastery church by his disciple, St Abramius
of Paleostrov (August 21), who was also glorified by his ascetical
life, and was buried in the Paleostrov monastery beside his Elder.
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Hieromartyr Raphael of Sisatovac
No information available at this time.
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