[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

Thu Jul 12 05:00:19 CDT 2007

Scripture Readings and Saints for Thu Jul 12 2007

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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1 Corinthians 7:24-35
24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he
was called.
25 Now concerning virgins: I have no commandment from the Lord; yet I
give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy.
26 I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present
distress-that it is good for a man to remain as he is:
27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed
from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
28 But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin
marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in
the flesh, but I would spare you.
29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on
even those who have wives should be as though they had none,
30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as
though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not
possess,
31 and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of
this world is passing away.
32 But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for
the things of the Lord-how he may please the Lord.
33 But he who is married cares about the things of the world-how he
may please his wife.
34 There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried
woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in
body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of
the world-how she may please her husband.
35 And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on
you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without
distraction.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2

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Matthew 15:12-21
12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the
Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"
13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has
not planted will be uprooted.
14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the
blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.
15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Explain this parable to us."
16 So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding?
17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into
the stomach and is eliminated?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the
heart, and they defile a man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed
hands does not defile a man.
21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre
and Sidon.
Scripture Reading 2 of 2

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St Veronica (Bernice), a woman healed by Christ
According to Tradition, Saint Veronica was the woman with the issue of
blood, who received healing by touching the hem of Christ's robe (Mt.
9:20).
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Martyr Hilary of Ancyra
The Holy Martyrs Hilary and Proclus were natives of the village of
Kallippi, near Ancyra, and they suffered during the time of a
persecution under the emperor Trajan (98-117). St Proclus was put
under arrest first. Brought before the governor Maximus, he fearlessly
confessed his faith in Christ. The governor decided to compel the
saint to submit himself to the emperor and offer sacrifice to the
pagan gods. During his tortures, the martyr predicted to Maximus that
soon he himself would be compelled to confess Christ as the true God.
They forced the martyr to run after the chariot of the governor,
heading towards the village Kallippi. Exhausted, St Proclus prayed
that the Lord would halt the chariot. By the power of God the chariot
halted, and no force could move it from the spot. The dignitary
sitting in it became petrified. The martyr told him that he would
remain unmoving until such time as he would sign a document with a
confession of Christ. Only after this could the chariot continue on
its way with the governor.
The humiliated pagan took fierce revenge on St Proclus. He commanded
that Proclus be led out beyond the city, tied to a pillar and shot
with arrows. The soldiers, leading St Proclus to execution, told him
to give in and save his life, but the saint said that they should
follow their orders.
Along the way to the place of execution, they met Hilarion, the nephew
of St Proclus, who with tears embraced his uncle and also confessed
himself a Christian. The soldiers seized him, and he was thrown into
prison. The holy Martyr Proclus prayed for his tormentors and
surrendered his soul to God beneath a hail of arrows.
St Hilarion was brought to trial and, with the same courage as St
Proclus, confessed himself a Christian. After tortures he was
sentenced to death. They tied the martyr's hands and dragged him by
his feet through the city, wounded and bloody, and then they beheaded
him three days after the death of his uncle, the holy Martyr Proclus.
Christians buried them together in a single grave.
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Martyr Proclus of Ancyra
The Holy Martyrs Proclus and Hilarion were natives of the village of
Kallippi, near Ancyra, and they suffered during the time of a
persecution under the emperor Trajan (98-117). St Proclus was put
under arrest first. Brought before the governor Maximus, he fearlessly
confessed his faith in Christ. The governor decided to compel the
saint to submit himself to the emperor and offer sacrifice to the
pagan gods. During his tortures, the martyr predicted to Maximus that
soon he himself would be compelled to confess Christ as the true God.
They forced the martyr to run after the chariot of the governor,
heading towards the village Kallippi. Exhausted, St Proclus prayed
that the Lord would halt the chariot. By the power of God the chariot
halted, and no force could move it from the spot. The dignitary
sitting in it became petrified. The martyr told him that he would
remain unmoving until such time as he would sign a document with a
confession of Christ. Only after this could the chariot continue on
its way with the governor.
The humiliated pagan took fierce revenge on St Proclus. He commanded
that Proclus be led out beyond the city, tied to a pillar and shot
with arrows. The soldiers, leading St Proclus to execution, told him
to give in and save his life, but the saint said that they should
follow their orders.
Along the way to the place of execution, they met Hilarion, the nephew
of St Proclus, who with tears embraced his uncle and also confessed
himself a Christian. The soldiers seized him, and he was thrown into
prison. The holy Martyr Proclus prayed for his tormentors and
surrendered his soul to God beneath a hail of arrows.
St Hilarion was brought to trial and, with the same courage as St
Proclus, confessed himself a Christian. After tortures he was
sentenced to death. They tied the martyr's hands and dragged him by
his feet through the city, wounded and bloody, and then they beheaded
him three days after the death of his uncle, the holy Martyr Proclus.
Christians buried them together in a single grave.
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Martyr Theodore and his son of Kiev
The Holy Martyrs Theodore the Varangian and his son John lived at Kiev
in the tenth century, when the Varangians, ancestors of the present
day Swedes and Norwegians took an active role in the governance and
military life of Rus. Merchants and soldiers, they opened up new trade
routes to Byzantium and to the East, they took part in campaigns
against Constantinople, and they constituted a significant part of the
populace of ancient Kiev and the princely mercenary retinues. The
chief trade route of Rus, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, was
then called "the Way from the Varangians to the Greeks."
The chieftains and organizers of the early Russian realm relied upon
their Varangian retinues in their undertakings. Just like the Slavs,
among whom they lived, many of the sea-faring newcomers under the
influence of the Byzantine Church accepted holy Baptism. Kievan Rus
stood between the pagan Scandinavians and the Orthodox Byzantines.
Therefore, the spiritual life at Kiev was affected by the vivifying
influence of the Christian Faith (under St Askold in the years
860-882, under Igor and St Olga in the years 940-950), and then by the
destructive whirlwind of paganism, blowing down from the north from
the Varangian Sea (under the reign of Oleg, killing Askold in 882;
under the revolt of the Drevliani murdering Igor in 945; under Prince
Svyatoslav, who refused to accept Baptism despite the insistence of
his mother, St Olga).
When Svyatoslav was killed by the Pechenegs in 972 (other sources say
in 970), the principality of Kiev was entrusted to his eldest son,
Yaropolk. Oleg, the middle son, held the Drevlianian land, while
Vladimir, the youngest son, held Novgorod. The reign of Yaropolk
(970-978), just like that of his grandmother Olga, again became a time
of predominating Christian influence in the spiritual life of Rus.
Yaropolk himself, in the opinion of historians, confessed
Christianity, although possibly of the Latin rite, and this did not
correspond at all to the interests of the Scandinavian mercenary
retinue. They were pagans, who were accustomed to consider Kiev a
bulwark of their own influence in the Slavic lands. Their leaders
strove to create discord between the brothers themselves. They incited
a fratricidal war between Yaropolk and Oleg. After this when Oleg was
killed, they supported Vladimir in a struggle against Yaropolk.
The future Baptizer of Rus started on his way as a convinced pagan and
he relied upon the Varangians, especially those having come to him
from over the sea, as his military force. His campaign against Kiev in
978, crowned with complete success, pursued not only
military-political aims: it was also a religious campaign of
Russo-Varangian paganism against the outgrowth of Kievan Christianity.
On June 11, 978 Vladimir "sat on the throne of his father at Kiev,"
and the hapless Yaropolk, invited by his brother for negotiations, was
treacherously murdered when he arrived at the entrance hall by two
Varangians who stabbed him with swords. In order to intimidate the
Kievans, among whom were already many Christians both Russian and
Varangian, to renew and strengthen with new idols, human sacrifices
were made in the pagan sanctuary, a practice unknown to the Dniepr
Slavs until then. The chronicles speak of Vladimir setting up idols:
"And they brought them sacrifices, acclaiming them gods, and they
brought to them their own sons and daughters, and these sacrifices
went to the devils... both the Russian land and this hill were defiled
with blood".
The martyrdom of Sts Theodore and his son John may have taken place
during this first period of the triumph of paganism at Kiev with
Vladimir's accession to power. In that case, the date might be July
12, 978. It is probable, however, that the exploit of the holy martyrs
took place in the year 983, when the wave of pagan reaction rolled not
only through Rus, but throughout all the Slavic-Germanic world. Almost
simultaneously pagans rose up against Christ and the Church in
Denmark, Germany, the Baltic Slavic principalities, and everywhere the
unrest was accompanied by the destruction of churches, and by the
killing of clergy and Christian confessors. This was the year Vladimir
went on campaign against the Lithuanian tribe of the Yatvyagi, and
gained victory over them. In recognition of this victory the Kievan
pagan priests again decided to make a bloody sacrificial offering.
"Among the Kievans," reports St Nestor the Chronicler, "lived a
Varangian by the name of Theodore, who was in military service at
Constantinople long before this, and was baptized there. His pagan
name, preserved in the term "Turov pagan temple," was Tur
(Scandinavian Thor) or Utor (Scandinavian Ottar), and this other
signature is also found in the old manuscripts. Theodore had a son
John, a devout and handsome youth, confessing Christianity like his
father."
"And the elders and boyars said: let us cast lots upon the boys and
girls. Upon whichever one it falls, that one we shall slaughter in
sacrifice to the gods." The lots thrown by the pagan priests,
evidently not by chance, fell upon the Christian John.
When the messengers told Theodore that his son "had been chosen by the
gods themselves to be sacrificed to them," the old warrior decisively
answered: "This is not a god, but wood. Today it is, and tomorrow it
rots. They do not eat, nor drink nor speak, but are crafted by human
hands from wood. God however is One, and the Greeks serve and worship
Him. He created heaven and earth, the stars and the moon, the sun and
man, and foreordained him to live upon the earth. But these gods, what
have they created? They themselves are made. I shall not give my son
over to devils."
This was a direct challenge by the Christian to the customs and
beliefs of the pagans. An enraged crowd of pagans rushed at Theodore,
smashed up his courtyard, and surrounded the house. Theodore, in the
words of the chronicler, "stood at the entrance way with his son," and
with weapon in hand he bravely met the enemy. (The entrance way in old
Russian houses as mentioned was set up on posts of a roofed gallery of
the second storey, which was reached by a ladder). He calmly gazed
upon the demon-possessed pagans and said: "If they are gods, let them
send one of the gods to take my son." Seeing that the brave and
seasoned warriors Theodore and John could not be beaten in a fair
fight, the besiegers knocked down the gallery posts. When they were
broken, the crowd rushed upon the confessors and murdered them.
Already during the time of St Nestor, less than a hundred years after
the confessor's deed of the Varangians, the Russian Orthodox Church
numbered them among the Saints. Theodore and John became the first
martyrs for the holy Orthodox Faith in the Russian land. They were
called the first "Russian citizens of the heavenly city" by the
transcriber of the Kiev Caves Paterikon, the holy Bishop Simon of
Suzdal (May 10). The last of the bloody pagan sacrifices at Kiev
became the first holy Christian sacrifice with a co-suffering for
Christ. The pathway "from the Varangians to the Greeks" became for Rus
the pathway from paganism to Orthodoxy, from darkness to light.
On the place of the martyrdom of the Varangians, St Vladimir later
built the Desyatin Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos,
consecrated on May 12, 996. The relics of St Olga were transferred
into it in the year 1007.
Wondrous is God in His saints! Time does not spare stones and bronze,
but the lower framework of the wooden house of the holy Varangrian
martyrs, burned a thousand years before, has been preserved to our
day. It was discovered in the year 1908 during the excavation of the
altar of the Desyatin church at Kiev.
Sts Theodore and John are invoked by women who have miscarried.
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Martyr John of Kiev
Saint John was the son of St Theodore the Varangian. They lived at
Kiev in the tenth century, when the Varangians, ancestors of the
present day Swedes and Norwegians took an active role in the
governance and military life of Rus.
The martyrdom of Sts Theodore and his son John may have taken place on
July 12, 978. It is possible, however, that it took place in the year
983.
"Among the Kievans," reports St Nestor the Chronicler, "lived a
Varangian by the name of Theodore, who was in military service at
Constantinople long before this, and was baptized there. His pagan
name, preserved in the term "Turov pagan temple," was Tur
(Scandinavian Thor) or Utor (Scandinavian Ottar), and this other
signature is also found in the old manuscripts. Theodore had a son
John, a devout and handsome youth, confessing Christianity like his
father."
"And the elders and boyars said: let us cast lots upon the boys and
girls. Upon whichever one it falls, that one we shall slaughter in
sacrifice to the gods." The lots thrown by the pagan priests,
evidently not by chance, fell upon the Christian John.
When the messengers told Theodore that his son "had been chosen by the
gods themselves to be sacrificed to them," the old warrior decisively
answered: "This is not a god, but wood. Today it is, and tomorrow it
rots. They do not eat, nor drink nor speak, but are crafted by human
hands from wood. God however is One, and the Greeks serve and worship
Him. He created heaven and earth, the stars and the moon, the sun and
man, and foreordained him to live upon the earth. But these gods, what
have they created? They themselves are made. I shall not give my son
over to devils."
This was a direct challenge by the Christian to the customs and
beliefs of the pagans. An enraged crowd of pagans rushed at Theodore,
smashed up his courtyard, and surrounded the house. Theodore, in the
words of the chronicler, "stood at the entrance way with his son," and
with weapon in hand he bravely met the enemy. (The entrance way in old
Russian houses as mentioned was set up on posts of a roofed gallery of
the second storey, which was reached by a ladder). He calmly gazed
upon the demon-possessed pagans and said: "If they are gods, let them
send one of the gods to take my son." Seeing that the brave and
seasoned warriors Theodore and John could not be beaten in a fair
fight, the besiegers knocked down the gallery posts. When they were
broken, the crowd rushed upon the confessors and murdered them.
Already during the time of St Nestor, less than a hundred years after
the confessor's deed of the Varangians, the Russian Orthodox Church
numbered them among the Saints. Theodore and John became the first
martyrs for the holy Orthodox Faith in the Russian land. They were
called the first "Russian citizens of the heavenly city" by the
transcriber of the Kiev Caves Paterikon, the holy Bishop Simon of
Suzdal (May 10). The last of the bloody pagan sacrifices at Kiev
became the first holy Christian sacrifice with a co-suffering for
Christ. The pathway "from the Varangians to the Greeks" became for Rus
the pathway from paganism to Orthodoxy, from darkness to light.
On the place of the martyrdom of the Varangians, St Vladimir later
built the Desyatin Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos,
consecrated on May 12, 996. The relics of St Olga were transferred
into it in the year 1007.
Wondrous is God in His saints! Time does not spare stones and bronze,
but the lower framework of the wooden house of the holy Varangrian
martyrs, burned a thousand years before, has been preserved to our
day. It was discovered in the year 1908 during the excavation of the
altar of the Desyatin church at Kiev.
Sts Theodore and John are invoked by women who have miscarried.
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Venerable Arsenius of Novgorod the Fool-For-Christ
No information available at this time.
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Venerable Simon the Abbot of Volomsk
Hosiomartyr Simon of Volomsk, in the world Simon, son of the peasant
Michael from the vicinity of Volokolamsk, was born in the year 1586.
At 24 years of age, after long pilgrimage through Orthodox
monasteries, he received monastic tonsure at the Pinegsk Makariev
monastery. In the year 1613 he settled in the Volomsk forest, 80
versts to the southwest of Ustiug at the River Kichmenga. Here he
spent five years alone, away from people. He nourished himself with
vegetables which he himself cultivated, and sometimes asked for bread
in some settlement.
When lovers of the quiet life began to gather to him, St Simon,
through a grant of Tsar Michael Theodoreovich and with the blessing of
the Rostov Metropolitan Barlaam, built a temple in honor of the Cross
of the Lord, and in 1620 was made head of the monastery he founded. A
strict ascetic, serving as an example to all in virtue, love of toil,
fasting and prayer, he was wickedly murdered in his own monastery on
July 12, 1641. The body of the venerable Simon was buried on the left
side of the church he built.
Veneration of the saint began in 1646 after grace-filled miracles at
his relics were attested. His Life was written in the seventeenth
century.
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Martyr Golinduc, in Holy Baptism Mary, of Persia
The Holy martyr Golinduc, in Baptism Mary, lived in Persia during the
reign of Chosroes I the Elder. She was the wife of the chief magician
of the Persian empire. Endowed with a lucid mind, Golinduc perceived
the falseness of the pagan wisdom, and she pondered much about what
the true Faith might be. When she learned of Christianity, she very
much wanted to know what it taught. Soon through the providence of
God, her wish was fulfilled. In sleep an angel showed Golinduc the
place of torment for sinners and the paradise in which dwell the
believers in Christ, the true God. After this dream she began
fervently to pray to the true God, so that He might help her become a
Christian. The angel of God directed Golinduc to a Christian priest,
from whom she received holy Baptism with the name Mary.
After Baptism she left her magician-husband, and he complained to the
emperor Chosroes. The emperor himself, and dignitaries sent by him,
and illustrious women all urged Golinduc to return to her husband. For
her decisive refusal the emperor sentenced her to be imprisoned for
life. In prison St Mary-Golinduc spent 18 years.
During the reign of Chosroes' successor, his son Ormisdas, there
arrived in Persia an ambassador of the Byzantine emperor Mauricius,
named Aristobulus. Having learned that for many years Mary the
Christian was languishing in prison, Aristobulus repeatedly visited
her in prison with the permission of the emperor and taught her to
sing the Psalms of David. After the departure of Aristobulus, Ormisdas
gave orders to present St Mary-Golinduc before him and for a long time
he tortured her, subjecting her to all sorts of beatings and torments.
But in all the torments through the intercession of God the saint was
preserved unharmed. When they gave her over for defilement, the Lord
made her invisible to the impious and preserved her purity. Finally
the emperor gave orders to cut off the martyr's head, but the Lord
sheltered her from the hand of the executioner and brought her to
Christians living in concealment.
When the persecution against Christians in Persia ceased during the
reign of Chosroes II, who occupied the throne with the help of the
Byzantine emperor Mauricius, St Mary-Golinduc began openly to preach
the Christian Faith.
At the end of her life St Mary made pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where she
prayed at the tomb of the Lord and other holy places. On the return
journey she died (+ 591) in the church of the holy Martyr Sergius at
Nisibis.
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Venerable John the Georgian, of Mt. Athos
Saint John was born the son of a nobleman during the reign of King
Davit Kuropalates.
For his love of Christ he left his family and the world to be tonsured
a monk. After informing the royal court of his decision, St. John
received a blessing from his spiritual father to travel to Greece,
where he settled at a monastery on Mt. Olympus.
At that time, as a sign of friendship, the Byzantine emperor returned
the Georgian lands he had conquered to King Davit Kuropalates, but as
a sign of dedication, he demanded that children of the nobility be
sent as surety. Among those sent to Byzantium was St. Johns son,
Ekvtime. St. John begged the Byzantine emperor to release his son, and
when Ekvtime was finally freed, John took him back with him to the
Monastery of St. Athanasius the Athonite (the Great Lavra).
At that time the famed Georgian military commander Tornike Eristavi
came to visit St. John. Tornike was soon tonsured a monk and given the
new name John (the saint is commemorated as John-Tornike), and he
settled at the Monastery of St. Athanasius the Athonite as well.
Soon the Georgian faithful began to flock to the Monastery of St.
Athanasius, and John withdrew from the monastery to a more secluded
place, where he constructed a cell and a church in honor of St. John
the Theologian. Two more churches were later built in that same area
in honor of theMost Holy Theotokos and St. John the Baptist. In such a
way the celebrated Iveron Monastery of Mt. Athos was established, with
St. John as its first abbot.
After the repose of his faithful friend and assistant St.
John-Tornike, it became difficult for St. John to continue to labor on
the Holy Mountain. He and several of his disciples planned to leave
Athos, but in the end they remained at the insistence of the Byzantine
emperor.
John soon fell ill with gout and was bedridden for several years.
Prior to his death he summoned his son, Ekvtime, confessed to him his
sins, and designated him abbot of the Iveron Monastery. He told his
son that St. Giorgi (later the Builder) should succeed him as abbot,
then blessed all the brothers and fell asleep among the ranks of the
righteous in the arms of his son.
St. Ekvtime robed the holy relics of his fleshly and spiritual father
in costly linens and later erected a church in honor of the Archangels
over his grave.
St. Gabriel was a monk of the IveronMonastery on Mt. Athos. In summer
he would withdraw to the inaccessible cliffs, and in winter he would
return to the monastery and observe a strict rule of silence. Clad in
a coarse robe and eating nothing but roots and herbs, St. Gabriel was
truly a heavenly man and an earthly angel.
Once, at dusk, the monks of the monastery beheld a pillar of light
shining forth upon the sea. The vision lasted for several days, and
finally monks from every monastery on the Holy Mountain gathered and
descended together to the sea.
They beheld an icon of the Mother of God shining brilliantly and
floating upright upon the surface of the water. The fathers lowered a
boat onto the water, hoping to bring the icon back with them to the
shore, but each time their boat approached the icon, it drifted
farther out to sea.
Finally the frustrated monks offered prayers and supplications to God
in order to discern His will, and the Most Holy Theotokos appeared in
a divine revelation and told them that the monk Gabriel alone was
worthy to bring the icon bearing her image out from the sea. At the
same time, she appeared to the God-fearing Gabriel and told him, Enter
onto the sea and walk out upon the waves with faith, and I will send
my love and mercy upon all the monks of this monastery.
The elders of Mt. Athos located the rocky dwelling of the hermit
Gabriel not far from the Iveron Monastery. They brought Gabriel with
them and went down to the sea with hymns and censing. Gabriel stepped
out onto the water and, walking upon the waves as upon dry land,
approached the icon. At the same time, the holy image drew nearer to
him. Clutching the holy icon to his breast, Gabriel crossed back over
the waves and delivered the icon safely to the shore. (The story of
the miraculous Iveron Icon of the Theotokos is recounted in detail in
the commemorations for February 12.)
St. Gabriel reposed peacefully on Mt. Athos.
_________________________________________________________________
Venerable Gabriel the Georgian, of Mt. Athos
Saint John was born the son of a nobleman during the reign of King
Davit Kuropalates.
For his love of Christ he left his family and the world to be tonsured
a monk. After informing the royal court of his decision, St. John
received a blessing from his spiritual father to travel to Greece,
where he settled at a monastery on Mt. Olympus.
At that time, as a sign of friendship, the Byzantine emperor returned
the Georgian lands he had conquered to King Davit Kuropalates, but as
a sign of dedication, he demanded that children of the nobility be
sent as surety. Among those sent to Byzantium was St. Johns son,
Ekvtime. St. John begged the Byzantine emperor to release his son, and
when Ekvtime was finally freed, John took him back with him to the
Monastery of St. Athanasius the Athonite (the Great Lavra).
At that time the famed Georgian military commander Tornike Eristavi
came to visit St. John. Tornike was soon tonsured a monk and given the
new name John (the saint is commemorated as John-Tornike), and he
settled at the Monastery of St. Athanasius the Athonite as well.
Soon the Georgian faithful began to flock to the Monastery of St.
Athanasius, and John withdrew from the monastery to a more secluded
place, where he constructed a cell and a church in honor of St. John
the Theologian. Two more churches were later built in that same area
in honor of theMost Holy Theotokos and St. John the Baptist. In such a
way the celebrated Iveron Monastery of Mt. Athos was established, with
St. John as its first abbot.
After the repose of his faithful friend and assistant St.
John-Tornike, it became difficult for St. John to continue to labor on
the Holy Mountain. He and several of his disciples planned to leave
Athos, but in the end they remained at the insistence of the Byzantine
emperor.
John soon fell ill with gout and was bedridden for several years.
Prior to his death he summoned his son, Ekvtime, confessed to him his
sins, and designated him abbot of the Iveron Monastery. He told his
son that St. Giorgi (later the Builder) should succeed him as abbot,
then blessed all the brothers and fell asleep among the ranks of the
righteous in the arms of his son.
St. Ekvtime robed the holy relics of his fleshly and spiritual father
in costly linens and later erected a church in honor of the Archangels
over his grave.
St. Gabriel was a monk of the IveronMonastery on Mt. Athos. In summer
he would withdraw to the inaccessible cliffs, and in winter he would
return to the monastery and observe a strict rule of silence. Clad in
a coarse robe and eating nothing but roots and herbs, St. Gabriel was
truly a heavenly man and an earthly angel.
Once, at dusk, the monks of the monastery beheld a pillar of light
shining forth upon the sea. The vision lasted for several days, and
finally monks from every monastery on the Holy Mountain gathered and
descended together to the sea.
They beheld an icon of the Mother of God shining brilliantly and
floating upright upon the surface of the water. The fathers lowered a
boat onto the water, hoping to bring the icon back with them to the
shore, but each time their boat approached the icon, it drifted
farther out to sea.
Finally the frustrated monks offered prayers and supplications to God
in order to discern His will, and the Most Holy Theotokos appeared in
a divine revelation and told them that the monk Gabriel alone was
worthy to bring the icon bearing her image out from the sea. At the
same time, she appeared to the God-fearing Gabriel and told him, Enter
onto the sea and walk out upon the waves with faith, and I will send
my love and mercy upon all the monks of this monastery.
The elders of Mt. Athos located the rocky dwelling of the hermit
Gabriel not far from the Iveron Monastery. They brought Gabriel with
them and went down to the sea with hymns and censing. Gabriel stepped
out onto the water and, walking upon the waves as upon dry land,
approached the icon. At the same time, the holy image drew nearer to
him. Clutching the holy icon to his breast, Gabriel crossed back over
the waves and delivered the icon safely to the shore. (The story of
the miraculous Iveron Icon of the Theotokos is recounted in detail in
the commemorations for February 12.)
St. Gabriel reposed peacefully on Mt. Athos.
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Icon of the Mother of God "of the Three Hands" on Mt Athos
The Icon of the Mother of God "Of the Three Hands": The wonderworking
icon, before which St John of Damascus (December 4) received healing
of his amputated hand, was given by him to the Lavra of St Sava the
Sanctified. In the thirteenth century the icon was in Serbia, and
afterwards it was miraculously transported to Athos to the Hilandar
monastery. A more detailed account about the icon is located under
June 28.
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Venerable Michael of Maleinus
Saint Michael Maleinos was born about the year 894 in the Charsian
region (Cappadocia) and at Baptism he received the name Manuel. He was
related to the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-911). At age 18
Manuel went off to Bithynia, to the Kyminas monastery under the
guidance of the Elder, John Heladites, who tonsured him into
monasticism with the name Michael. Fulfilling a very difficult
obedience in spite of his illustrious lineage, he demonstrated an
example of great humility.
After the passage of a certain time, he was found worthy of the grace
of the priesthood. Constantly studying the Holy Scripture, St Michael
showed how the priesthood ought to be properly conjoined with
monasticism, he attained to a high degree of dispassion and acquired
the gift of perspicacity. He was very compassionate and kindly towards
people, he could not let remain without help and consolation those who
were in need and in sorrow, and by his ardent prayer he accomplished
many miracles.
After much monastic effort under the guidance of the Elder John, St
Michael asked his blessing to live in a cave as a hermit, Five days of
the week he spent at prayerful concentration, and only on Saturday and
Sunday did he come to the monastery for participation in the divine
services and to partake of the Holy Mysteries.
By his example of sublime spiritual life the holy hermit attracted
many seeking salvation. In a desolate place called Dry Lake, the
venerable Michael founded a monastery for the brethren gathering
around him, and gave it a strict monastic rule. When the monastery was
secure, St Michael went to a still more remote place and built there a
new monastery. By the efforts of the holy abba, the whole mountain of
Kyminas was covered with monastic communities, where constantly
prayers were raised up for all the world to the Throne of the
Most-High.
About the year 953, the youth Abraham entered the brotherhood,
flourishing under the guidance of St Michael, who gave him the name
Athanasius. Later, St Athanasius (July 5) founded the renowned Great
Lavra, the first cenobitic monastery on Mount Athos. In the building
of the Lavra great help was given to St Athanasius by St Michael's
nephew, the future Byzantine emperor Nicephoros Phocas (963-969), who
met Athanasius while visiting his uncle. After fifty years of
ceaseless monastic struggle, St Michael Maleinos went peacefully to
the Lord in the year 962.
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