[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

Mon Feb 11 05:00:13 CST 2008

Scripture Readings and Saints for Mon Feb 11 2008

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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1 Peter 2:21-3:9  (Epistle)
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22 Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth";
23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He
suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges
righteously;
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we,
having died to sins, might live for righteousness-by whose stripes you
were healed.
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the
Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if
some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the
conduct of their wives,
2 when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.
3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward-arranging the hair,
wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-
4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the
incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very
precious in the sight of God.
5 For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in
God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands,
6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are
if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.
7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor
to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of
the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one
another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;
9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the
contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may
inherit a blessing.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2

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Mark 12:13-17  (Gospel)
13 Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to
catch Him in His words.
14 When they had come, they said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You
are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of
men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to
Caesar, or not?
15 Shall we pay, or shall we not pay? But He, knowing their hypocrisy,
said to them, "Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see
it."
16 So they brought it. And He said to them, "Whose image and
inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's."
17 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar the things
that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they
marveled at Him.
Scripture Reading 2 of 2

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Hieromartyr Blaise the Bishop of Sebaste
The Hieromartyr Blaise (Blasius), Bishop of Sebaste, was known for his
righteous and devout life. Unanimously chosen by the people, he was
consecrated Bishop of Sebaste. This occurred during the reign of the
Roman emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Licinius (307-324), fierce
persecutors of Christians. St Blaise encouraged his flock, visited the
imprisoned, and gave support to the martyrs.
Many hid themselves from the persecutors by going off to desolate and
solitary places. St Blaise also hid himself away on Mount Argeos,
where he lived in a cave. Wild beasts came up to him and meekly waited
until the saint finished his prayer and blessed them. The saint also
healed sick animals by laying his hands upon them.
The refuge of the saint was discovered by servants of the governor
Agrilaus, who had come to capture wild beasts to loose on the
Christian martyrs. The servants reported to their master that
Christians were hiding on the mountain, and he gave orders to arrest
them. But those sent out found there only the Bishop of Sebaste.
Glorifying God Who had summoned him to this exploit, St Blaise
followed the soldiers.
Along the way the saint healed the sick and worked other miracles.
Thus, a destitute widow complained to him of her misfortune. A wolf
had carried off a small pig, her only possession. The bishop smiled
and said to her, "Do not weep, your pigl will be returned to you...."
To the astonishment of everyone, the wolf came running back and
returned his prey unharmed.
Agrilaus, greeting the bishop with words of deceit, called him a
companion of the gods. The saint answered the greeting, but he called
the gods devils. Then they beat him and led him off to prison.
On the next day, they subjected the saint to tortures again. When they
led him back to the prison, seven women followed behind and gathered
up the drops of blood. They arrested them and tried to compel them to
worship the idols. The women pretended to consent to this and said
that first they needed to wash the idols in the waters of a lake. They
took the idols and threw them in a very deep part of the lake, and
after this the Christians were fiercely tortured. The saints stoically
endured the torments, strengthened by the grace of God, their bodies
were transformed and became white as snow. One of the women had two
young sons, who implored their mother to help them attain the Kingdom
of Heaven, and she entrusted them to the care of St Blaise. The seven
holy women were beheaded.
St Blaise was again brought before Agrilaus, and again he
unflinchingly confessed his faith in Christ. The governor ordered that
the martyr be thrown into a lake. The saint, going down to the water,
signed himself with the Sign of the Cross, and he walked on it as
though on dry land.
Addressing the pagans standing about on shore, he challenged them to
come to him while calling on the help of their gods. Sixty-eight men
of the governor's retinue entered the water, and immediately drowned.
The saint, however, heeding the angel who had appeared to him,
returned to shore.
Agrilaus was in a rage over losing his finest servants, and he gave
orders to behead St Blaise, and the two boys entrusted to him, the
sons of the martyr. Before his death, the martyr prayed for the whole
world, and especially for those honoring his memory. This occurred in
about the year 316.
The relics of the Hieromartyr Blaise were brought to the West during
the time of the Crusades, and portions of the relics are preserved in
many of the lands of Europe [and his memory traditionally honored
there on February 3].
We pray to St Blaise for the health of domestic animals, and for
protection from wild beasts.
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Venerable Demetrius the Wonderworker of Priluki, Vologda
Saint Demetrius of Priluki, Wonderworker, was born into a rich
merchant's family in Pereyaslavl-Zalessk. From his youth the saint was
uncommonly handsome. Receiving monastic tonsure at one of the
Pereyaslavl monasteries, the saint later founded the St Nicholas
cenobitic monastery on the Sts Boris and Gleb Hill at the shore of
Lake Plescheevo near the city, and became its igumen.
In 1534 St Demetrius first met with St Sergius of Radonezh, who had
come to Pereyaslavl to see Metropolitan Athanasius. From that time, he
frequently conversed with St Sergius and became close with him. The
fame of the Pereyaslavl igumen was so widespread that he became
godfather to the children of Great Prince Demetrius Ioannovich. Under
the influence of the Radonezh wonderworker, St Demetrius decided to
withdraw to a remote place, and went north with his disciple
Pachomius.
In the Vologda forests, at the River Velika, near the Avnezh
settlement, they built a church of the Resurrection of Christ and they
prepared to lay the foundations for a monastery. The local inhabitants
were fearful that if a monastery were built there, their village would
become monastery property. They demanded that the monks leave their
territory, and wishing to be a burden to no one, they moved farther
away.
Not far from Vologda, at the bend of a river in an isolated spot, St
Demetrius decided to form the first of the cenobitic monasteries of
the Russian North. The people of Vologda and the surrounding gladly
consented to help the saint. The owners of the land intended for the
monastery, Elias and Isidore, even trampled down a grain field, so
that a temple might be built immediately. In 1371 the wooden Savior
cathedral was built, and brethren began to gather.
Many disciples of the monk came there from Pereyaslavl. St Demetrius
combined prayer and strict asceticism with kindliness. He fed the poor
and hungry, he took in strangers, he conversed with those in need of
consolation, and he gave counsel. He loved to pray in solitude. His
Lenten food consisted of prosphora with warm water. Even on feastdays,
he would not partake of the wine and fish permitted by the Rule. Both
winter and summer he wore an old sheepskin coat, and even in his old
age he went with the brethren on common tasks. The saint accepted
contributions to the monastery cautiously, so that the welfare of the
monastery would not be detrimental to those living nearby.
The Lord granted His servant the gift of clairvoyance, and he attained
a high degree of spiritual perfection. St Demetrius died at an
advanced age on February 11, 1392. The brethren approaching found him
as though asleep, and his cell was filled with a wondrous fragrance.
Miracles from the relics of St Demetrius began in the year 1409, and
during the fifteenth century his veneration spread throughout all Rus.
And no later than the year 1440, the Priluki monk Macarius recorded
his Life (Great Reading Menaion, February 11) based on the narratives
of St Demetrius's disciple Igumen Pachomius.
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St Vsevolod (in holy baptism Gabriel) the Wonderworker of
Pskov
Holy Prince Vsevolod of Pskov, in Baptism Gabriel, a grandson of
Vladimir Monomakh, was born at Novgorod, where in the years 1088-1093
and 1095-1117 his father ruled as prince. His father was the holy
prince St Mstislav-Theodore the Great (April 15). In the year 1117,
when Great Prince Vladimir Monomakh gave Mstislav Kievan Belgorod as
his "udel" (land-holding), practically making him co-ruler, young
Vsevolod remained as his father's vicar in the Novgorod principality.
Holy Prince Vsevolod did much good for Novgorod. Together with the
Archbishop of Novgorod, St Niphon (April 8), he raised up many
churches, among which were the cathedral of the Great Martyr George at
the Yuriev monastery, and the church of St John the Forerunner at
Opokakh, built in honor of the "angel" (i.e. patron saint) of his
first-born son John, who had died in infancy (+ 1128).
In his Ustav (Law code) the prince granted a special charter of lands
and privileges to the cathedral of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) and
other churches. During a terrible famine, he exhausted his entire
treasury to save people from perishing. Prince Vsevolod was a valiant
warrior, he marched victoriously against the Yam and Chud peoples, but
he never took up the sword for lucre or power.
In 1132, upon the death of holy Great Prince Mstislav, Vsevolod's
uncle Prince Yaropolk of Kiev fulfilled the last wishes of his brother
and transferred Vsevolod to Pereyaslavl, then regarded as the eldest
city after Kiev itself. But the younger sons of Monomakh, Yuri
Dolgoruky and Andrew Dobry, were apprehensive lest Yaropolk make
Vsevolod his successor at Kiev, and so they marched out against their
nephew. Hoping to avoid internecine strife, St Vsevolod returned to
Novgorod, but was received there with disaffection. The Novgorodians
felt that the prince had been "raised" by them and should not have
left them earlier. "Vsevolod went to Rus, to Pereslavl," noted the
Novgorod chronicler, "and kissed the cross against the Novgorodians,
saying, 'I will kill you.'"
Striving to restore good relations with Novgorod, the prince undertook
a victorious campaign against the Chud people in 1133, and he annexed
Yuriev to the Novgorod domain. But a harsh winter campaign in
1135-1136 against Suzdal was unsuccessful. The stubborn people of
Novgorod would not heed their chastisement by God, and they could not
forgive the prince for their defeat. The assembly decided to summon a
prince from the hostile Monomakh line of the Olgovichi, and they
condemned St Vsevolod to banishment. "You suffered exile at the hands
of your own people," we sing in the troparion to the saint. For a
month and a half they held the prince and his family under guard at
the archbishop's palace. When Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich arrived on
July 15, 1136, Vsevolod was released from his captivity.
Vsevolod went again to Kiev, and his uncle Yaropolk gave him the
Vyshgorod district near Kiev, the place where St Olga (July 11) had
lived in the tenth century during the rule of her son Svyatoslav,
"preferring the cities of Kiev and Pskov." St Olga came to the defense
of her descendant in 1137 when the people of Pskov, recalling the
campaigns of the Novgorod-Pskov army led by the prince, invited him to
the Pskov principality, the native region of St Olga. He was the first
Pskov prince, chosen by the will of the Pskov people.
Among the glorious works of St Vsevolod-Gabriel at Pskov was the
construction of the first stone church dedicated to the Life-Creating
Trinity, replacing a wooden church from the time of St Olga. On the
icons of the saint, he is often depicted holding the church of the
Holy Trinity.
St Vsevolod ruled as prince at Pskov for only a year. He died on
February 11, 1138 at the age of forty-six. All of Pskov gathered at
the funeral of the beloved prince, and the chanting of the choir could
scarcely be heard over the people's wailing.
The people of Novgorod sent an archpriest from the Sophia cathedral to
take his holy relics back to Novgorod. The prince, however, did not
want his body to rest in Novgorod. He would not allow Novgorod to be
deprived of his relics by the people of Pskov, who had driven him out,
and the coffin would not move from the spot. The Novgorod people wept
bitterly and repented in their misfortune. Then they asked to be given
just a small piece of his relics "for the protection of their city."
Through their prayers a fingernail fell from the saint's hand. The
Pskov people put St Vsevolod into the temple of the holy Great Martyr
Demetrius. Beside the grave they placed the military armaments of the
prince, a shield and sword, in the shape of a cross, with the Latin
inscription, "I will yield my honor to no one."
On November 27, 1192, the relics of holy Prince Vsevolod were
uncovered and transferred into the Trinity cathedral, in which a
chapel was consecrated in his honor.
The deep spiritual bond of the city of St Olga with the holy Prince
Vsevolod was never broken. He always remained a Pskov wonderworker. At
the siege of Pskov by Stephen Bathory in 1581, when the walls of the
fortress were already breached and the Poles were ready to rush into
the city, they brought the holy relics of Prince Vsevolod from the
Trinity cathedral to the place of battle, and the enemy withdrew.
On April 22, 1834, on the first day of Pascha, the saint's holy relics
were solemnly transferred to a new shrine in the main church of the
cathedral.
At the appearance of the wonderworking Pskov-Protection Icon (October
1), holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel stood among the heavenly defenders of
Pskov.
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Righteous Theodora, wife of the Emperor Theophilus, the
Iconoclast
Holy Empress Theodora was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Theophilus
the Iconoclast (829-842), but she did not share in the heresy of her
husband and secretly venerated the holy icons. After the death of her
husband, St Theodora governed the realm because her son Michael was a
minor.
She convened a Council, at which the Iconoclasts were anathematized,
and the veneration of icons was reinstated. St Theodora established
the annual celebration of this event, the Triumph of Orthodoxy, on the
first Sunday of the Great Fast. St Theodora did much for Holy Church
and fostered a firm devotion to Orthodoxy in her son Michael.
When Michael came of age, she was retired from governing and spent
eight years in the monastery of St Euphrosyne, where she devoted
herself to ascetic struggles, and reading books that nourished her
soul.
A copy of the Gospels, copied in her own hand, is known to exist. She
died peacefully around the year 867.
In 1460, her relics were given by the Turks to the people of Kerkyra
(Kephalonia).
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St George, the Newmartyr of Sofia
No information available at this time.
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St Gobnata of Ballyvourney
Saint Gobnata was born in Co.Clare at the end of the fifth, or the
beginning of the sixth century. Later she fled to the Aran Islands to
escape from some enemy. An angel appeared to her one day and told her
to leave that place and to keep walking until she found nine white
deer. She saw three white deer at Clondrohid, Co. Cork, and decided to
follow them. Then at Ballymakeera, she saw six white deer. Finally, at
Ballyvourney she came upon nine white deer grazing in a wood. There
she was given land for a women's monastery by her spiritual Father St
Abban of Kilabban, Co. Laois (March 16), and he installed her as
abbess. Excavations in 1951 proved that indeed there had been an early
Christian settlement on the site.
St Gobnata was renowned for her gift of healing, and there is a story
of how she kept the plague from Ballyvourney. She is also famous for
her skill as a bee-keeper.
One day, St Gobnata was watching from a hill overlooking a valley as
an invading chieftain and his army came through, destroying crops and
driving off cattle. She sent the bees to attack them, and they were
thrown into such confusion that they left without their plunder.
The holy virgin St Gobnata fell asleep in the Lord on February 11. The
exact year of her death is not known, but it probably occurred in the
sixth century. Although she is regarded as the patron saint of
Ballyvourney, she is venerated throughout southern Ireland. There are
churches dedicated to her in Waterford and Kerry, for example, and she
is also revered in Scotland.
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