[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

Thu Feb 14 05:00:13 CST 2008

Scripture Readings and Saints for Thu Feb 14 2008

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1 Peter 4:12-5:5  (Epistle)
12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which
is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings,
that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding
joy.
14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for
the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is
blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or
as a busybody in other people's matters.
16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but
let him glorify God in this matter.
17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God;
and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do
not obey the gospel of God?
18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly
and the sinner appear?"
19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit
their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.
1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a
witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory
that will be revealed:
2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers,
not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples
to the flock;
4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of
glory that does not fade away.
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes,
all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility,
for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
Scripture Reading 1 of 2

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Mark 12:38-44  (Gospel)
38 Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware of the scribes, who
desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces,
39 the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts,
40 who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.
These will receive greater condemnation.
41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put
money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much.
42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a
quadrans.
43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly,
I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who
have given to the treasury;
44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her
poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.
Scripture Reading 2 of 2

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Venerable Auxentius of Bithynia
Saint Auxentius, by origin a Syrian, served at the court of the
emperor Theodosius the Younger (418-450). He was known as a virtuous,
learned and wise man, and he was, moreover, a friend of many of the
pious men of his era.
Distressed by worldly vanity, St Auxentius was ordained to the holy
priesthood, and then received monastic tonsure. After this he went to
Bithynia and found a solitary place on Mount Oxia, not far from
Chalcedon, and there he began the life of a hermit (This mountain was
afterwards called Mt. Auxentius). The place of the saint's efforts was
discovered by shepherds seeking their lost sheep. They told others
about him, and people began to come to him for healing. St Auxentius
healed many of the sick and the infirm in the name of the Lord.
In the year 451 St Auxentius was invited to the Fourth Ecumenical
Council at Chalcedon, where he denounced the Eutychian and Nestorian
heresies. Familiar with Holy Scripture and learned in theology, St
Auxentius easily bested those opponents who disputed with him. After
the end of the Council, St Auxentius returned to his solitary cell on
the mountain. With his spiritual sight he saw the repose of St Simeon
the Stylite (459) from a great distance.
St Auxentius died about the year 470, leaving behind him disciples and
many monasteries in the region of Bithynia. He was buried in the
Monastery of St Hypatius at Rufiananas, Syria.
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Repose of St Cyril, Equal of the Apostles and Teacher of the
Slavs
Saint Cyril Equal of the Apostles, Teacher of the Slavs (Constantine
in the schema), and his older brother Methodius (April 6), were Slavs,
born in Macedonia in the city of Thessalonica.
St Cyril received the finest of educations, and from the age of
fourteen he was raised with the son of the emperor. Later, he was
ordained as a priest. Upon his return to Constantinople, he worked as
a librarian of the cathedral church, and as a professor of philosophy.
St Cyril successfully held debates with iconoclast heretics and with
Moslems.
Yearning for solitude, he went to Mount Olympos to his older brother
Methodius, but his solitude lasted only a short while. Both brothers
were sent by the emperor Michael on a missionary journey to preach
Christianity to the Khazars in the year 857. Along the way they
stopped at Cherson and discovered the relics of the Hieromartyr
Clement of Rome (November 25).
Arriving at the territory of the Khazars, the holy brothers spoke with
them about the Christian Faith. Persuaded by the preaching of St
Cyril, the Khazar prince together with all his people accepted
Christianity. The grateful prince wanted to reward the preachers with
rich presents, but they refused this and instead asked the prince to
free and send home with them all the Greek captives. St Cyril returned
to Constantinople together with 200 such captives set free.
In the year 862 began the chief exploit of the holy brothers. At the
request of Prince Rostislav, the emperor sent them to Moravia to
preach Christianity in the Slavic language. Sts Cyril and Methodius by
a revelation from God compiled a Slavonic alphabet and translated the
Gospel, Epistles, the Psalter and many Service books into the Slavonic
language. They introduced divine services in Slavonic.
The holy brothers were then summoned to Rome at the invitation of the
Roman Pope. Pope Adrian received them with great honor, since they
brought with them the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement. Sickly by
nature and in poor health, St Cyril soon fell ill from his many
labors, and after taking the schema, he died in the year 869 at the
age of forty-two. Before his death, he expressed his wish for his
brother to continue the Christian enlightenment of the Slavs. St Cyril
was buried in the Roman church of St Clement, whose own relics also
rest there, brought to Italy from Cherson by the Enlighteners of the
Slavs.
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Venerable Isaac the Recluse of the Kiev Near Caves
Saint Isaac was the first person in northern lands to live as a fool
for Christ. His name in the world was Chern. Before becoming a monk,
he was a rich merchant in the city of Toropets in the Pskov lands.
Having distributed all his substance to the poor, he went to Kiev and
received the monastic tonsure from St Anthony (July 10).
He led a very strict life of reclusion, eating only a single prosphora
and a little water at the end of the day. After seven years as a
hermit, he was subjected to a fierce temptation by the devil. Having
mistaken the Evil One for Christ, he worshipped him, after which he
fell down terribly crippled. Sts Anthony and Theodosius took care of
him and nursed him. Only after three years did he begin to walk and to
speak. He did not wish to attend church, but he was brought there by
force.
Upon his return to health he took upon himself the exploit of holy
foolishness, enduring beatings, nakedness and cold. Before his death
he went into seclusion, where again he was subjected to an onslaught
of demons, from which he was delivered by the Sign of the Cross and by
prayer.
After his healing he spent about twenty years in asceticism. He died
in the year 1090. His relics rest in the Caves of St Anthony, and part
of them were transferred to Toropets by the igumen of the Kudin
monastery in the year 1711. The Life of the Blessed Isaac was recorded
by St Nestor in the Chronicles (under the year 1074). The account in
the Kiev Caves Paterikon differs somewhat from that of St Nestor. In
the Great Reading Menaion under April 27 is the "Account of St Isaac
and his Deception by the Devil."
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12 Greeks who built the Dormition Cathedral in the Kiev
Caves, Far Caves, Lavra
The Kiev Caves Icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (May
3) is one of the most ancient icons in the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Mother of God entrusted it to four Byzantine architects, who in
1073 brought the icon to Sts Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves. The
architects arrived at the monks' cave and asked, "Where do you want to
build the church?" The saints answered, "Go, the Lord will point out
the place."
"How is it that you, who are about to die, have still not designated
the place?" the architects wondered. "And they gave us much gold."
Then the monks summoned all the brethren and they began to question
the Greeks, saying, "Tell us the truth. Who sent you, and how did you
end up here?"
The architects answered, "One day, when each of us was asleep in his
own home, handsome youths came to us at sunrise, and said, 'The Queen
summons you to Blachernae.' We all arrived at the same time and,
questioning one another we learned that each of us had heard this
command of the Queen, and that the youths had come to each of us.
Finally, we beheld the Queen of Heaven with a multitude of warriors.
We bowed down to Her, and She said, 'I want to build Myself a Church
in Rus, at Kiev, and so I ask you to do this. Take enough gold for
three years.'"
"We bowed down and asked, 'Lady Queen! You are sending us to a foreign
land. To whom are we sent?' She answered, 'I send you to the monks
Anthony and Theodosius.'"
"We wondered, 'Why then, Lady, do You give us gold for three years?
Tell us that which concerns us, what we shall eat and what we shall
drink, and tell us also what You know about it.'"
"The Queen replied, 'Anthony will merely give the blessing, then
depart from this world to eternal repose. The other one, Theodosius,
will follow him after two years. Therefore, take enough gold.
Moreover, no one can do what I shall do to honor you. I shall give you
what eye has not seen, what ear has not heard, and what has not
entered into the heart of man (1 Cor.2:9). I, Myself, shall come to
look upon the church and I shall dwell within it.'"
"She also gave us relics of the holy martyrs Menignus, Polyeuctus,
Leontius, Acacius, Arethas, James, and Theodore, saying, 'Place these
within the foundation.' We took more than enough gold, and She said,
'Come out and see the resplendant church.' We went out and saw a
church in the air. Coming inside again, we bowed down and said, 'Lady
Queen, what will be the name of the church?'"
"She answered, 'I wish to call it by My own name.' We did not dare to
ask what Her name was, but She said again, 'It will be the church of
the Mother of God.' After giving us this icon, She said, 'This will be
placed within.' We bowed down to Her and went to our own homes, taking
with us the icon we received from the hands of the Queen."
After hearing this account, everyone glorified God, and St Anthony
said, "My children, we never left this place. Those handsome youths
summoning you were holy angels, and the Queen in Blachernae was the
Most Holy Theotokos. As for those who appeared to be us, and the gold
they gave you, the Lord only knows how He deigned to do this with His
servants. Blessed be your arrival! You are in good company: the
venerable icon of the Lady." For three days St Anthony prayed that the
Lord would show him the place for the church.
After the first night there was a dew throughout all the land, but it
was dry on the holy spot. On the second morning throughout all the
land it was dry, but on the holy spot it was wet with dew. On the
third morning, they prayed and blessed the place, and measured the
width and length of the church with a golden sash. (This sash had been
brought long ago by the Varangian Shimon, who had a vision about the
building of a church.) A bolt of lightning, falling from heaven by the
prayer of St Anthony, indicated that this spot was pleasing to God. So
the foundation of the church was laid.
The icon of the Mother of God was glorified by numerous miracles.
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Translation of the relics of the Martyr Michael of Chernigov
On February 14, 1572, at the wish of Tsar Ivan Vasilievich the
Terrible, and with the blessing of Metropolitan Anthony, the relics of
the holy martyrs Michael and his councilor Theodore were transferred
to Moscow, to the temple dedicated to them. From there in 1770 they
were transferred to the Visitation cathedral, and on November 21, 1774
to the Archangel cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. See September 20 for
their Life.
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Translation of the relics of the Martyr Theodore of Chernigov
On February 14, 1572, at the wish of Tsar Ivan Vasilievich the
Terrible, and with the blessing of Metropolitan Anthony, the relics of
the holy martyrs Michael and his councilor Theodore were transferred
to Moscow, to the temple dedicated to them. From there in 1770 they
were transferred to the Visitation cathedral, and on November 21, 1774
to the Archangel cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. See September 20 for
their Life.
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Venerable Maron the Hermit of Syria
Saint Maron was born in the fourth century near the city of Cyrrhus in
Syria. He spent almost all his time beneath the open sky in prayer,
vigil, ascetical works and strict fasting. He obtained from God the
gift of healing the sick and casting out demons. He counselled those
who turned to him for advice to be temperate, to be concerned for
their salvation, and to guard against avarice and anger.
St Maron, a friend of St John Chrysostom, died before 423 at an
advanced age.
Some of St Maron's disciples were James the Hermit (November 26),
Limnius (February 23), and Domnina (March 1). St Maron founded many
monasteries around Cyrrhus, and converted a pagan temple near Antioch
into a Christian church.
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St Abraham the Bishop of Charres in Mesopotamia
Saint Abraham, Bishop of Charres, lived during the mid-fourth and
early fifth centuries, and was born in the city of Cyrrhus. In his
youth he entered a monastery. Later he became a hermit in Lebanon, a
place where many pagans lived.
St Abraham suffered much vexation from the pagans, who wanted to expel
him from their area. He once saw tax-collectors beating those who were
unable to pay. Moved to pity, he paid the taxes for them, and those
people later accepted Christ.
The Christian inhabitants of this village built a church and they
fervently besought St Abraham to accept the priesthood and become
their pastor. The monk fulfilled their wish. Having encouraged his
flock in the faith, he left them in place of himself another priest,
and he again retired to a monastery.
For his deep piety he was made bishop of Charres; his pastors the
saint constantly taught by his God-pleasing life. From the time of his
accepting of the priesthood, he never used cooked food. The emperor
Theodosius the Younger wanted to meet the bishop and made him an
invitation. After he arrived in Constantinople, St Abraham soon died.
His remains were solemnly transferred to the city of Charres and there
given over to burial.
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The Vilno Icon of the Mother of God
No information available at this time.
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St Hilarion the Georgian, the New
Holy Hiero-schema monk Ilarion the Georgian (Ise Qanchaveli in the
world) was born in 1776 in the village of Losiantkhevi, in the
Shorapani district of Kutaisi. His parents, Khakhuli and Mariam
Qanchaveli, were pious and God-fearing nobles.
According to Gods will, Ises uncle, the hermit Hierodeacon Stepane,
took his six-year-old nephew into his care. When Stepane reposed, Ise
moved to Tabakini Monastery, but learning that a seminary had opened
in Tbilisi, he set off for it. On his way he visited a certain Bishop
Athanasios of Nikozi to receive his blessing, but the bishop,
delighted by the youths fervent prayers, advised him to return home to
his family: My son, you will learn much more in the wilderness than
you ever could in the classroom. Return home, and the Lord, having
instructed you in prayer, will lead you on a path that will serve your
people and the Church.
Ise returned to the bosom of his family, and his father took him to
Kutaisi to be raised in the court of the Imeretian king. King Solomon
II (17891815) soon recognized that the young Ise stood above all the
other courtiers in piety, and he appointed him to be his personal
spiritual adviser and instructor. At the kings suggestion, Ise married
the Princess Mariam. Soon after his marriage, the humble nobleman was
ordained to the priesthood and appointed confessor of the court
church. Only two years later Princess Mariam reposed, leaving Fr. Ise
a widower.
After the Russian annexation of Kartli-Kakheti, the imperial court of
the tsar increased diplomatic correspondence with the court of King
Solomon II. The king was urged likewise to unite the Imeretian Kingdom
to Russia. Solomon summoned a council of noblemen, and it was decided
that Imereti would remain independent, while maintaining friendly
relations with Russia until the kings death. However, it was agreed
that since King Solomon had no heir, after his repose the court of the
imperial tsar would acquire jurisdiction over the region.
But the political climate in Georgia became increasingly tense, and
the ability of the Imeretian court to govern was severely undermined.
The court was suddenly besieged with cases of envy and treason, and it
became necessary for the king to flee to Turkey. Protopresbyter Ise
Qanchaveli accompanied King Solomon II to his place of exile and
remained with him to the end of the kings life.
After the kings death in 1815, Fr. Ise received an amnesty from Tsar
Alexander I (18011825) on behalf of the king and his court. Ise
himself planned to go into reclusion in the village where he was born,
but King Solomons widow, Queen Mariam, summoned him to Moscow where
she was being held in honorable captivity. Fr. Ise brought to her a
piece of the Life-giving Cross of our Lord, which had belonged to King
Solomon, and the queen preserved her husbands treasure in the court
church.
But life at the imperial court was tiresome for the God-fearing Fr.
Ise, so he exchanged his clothing for beggars rags and set off for Mt.
Athos in the year 1819.
Fr. Ise appeared before the holy fathers of Mt. Athos as an unknown
pilgrim, who had come to venerate the holy places. He first visited
Iveron Monastery and from there crossed over the peninsula to
Dionysiou Monastery.
In 1821 Ise was tonsured a monk and given the name Ilarion. He was
presented with new monastic garments for the tonsure service, but
asked permission to remain dressed in his own rags.
Fr. Ilarion fulfilled his every obedience with love. He was dispirited
only by his ignorance of the Greek language, which prevented him from
hearing and understanding the Word of God during the divine services.
Finally he received permission from the abbot of Dionysiou to borrow
some of the Georgian books from the large collection of sacred
manuscripts at Iveron Monastery.
Upon arriving at the monastery, Fr. Ilarion went to venerate the
Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. While praying on his knees before
the icon, a Greek archimandrite whom he knew from Moscow saw and
recognized him. He bowed before him, kissed his hands and cried out:
Fr. Ise! Holy Shepherd! Confessor of the king!
Soon the news spread through all the monasteries of Mt. Athos that the
spiritual father of the king had concealed himself as a beggar.
Everywhere the monks greeted him with great reverence. But Fr.
Ilarion, ashamed of the attention, withdrew to the wilderness not far
from the monastery.
At that time, in retaliation for the Greek Insurrection of 1821, the
Turks were pillaging Greece and slaughtering the Christians. In 1822 a
certain Abdul Robut-Pasha surrounded the Holy Mountain with an
enormous army and commanded the abbots of all the monasteries to
submit to his authority. Representatives of all the monasteries,
including Fr. Ilarion and two others from Dionysiou were sent to
Chromitsa to petition the pasha. Fr. Ilarion stood boldly before the
pasha, burning with a desire to be martyred at the hands of an
unbeliever.
Having learned that Fr. Ilarion was a Georgian, Robut-Pasha was
overjoyed: he himself was also Georgian by descent but had been
kidnapped by the Turks in his early adolescence.
The pasha proposed that St. Ilarion leave the monastery and move to
his palace in Thessalonica, promising him every kind of material
wealth. But Fr. Ilarion refused and condemned the rulers unbelief. The
furious pasha began to curse the Orthodox believers and all the
Christian saints, among them the Most Holy Theotokos. The holy father
was allowed no opportunity to reply to the pashas blasphemous remarks;
instead they released him and took the other monks captive.
Having returned to the monastery, Fr. Ilarion regretted that he had
not properly rebuffed the blasphemous pasha. His suffering was
aggravated when the unbeliever continued to martyr and massacre other
Christians. Finally he asked the abbot for his blessing and set off
for the Turkish court in Thessalonica. There he stood before the pasha
and fearlessly trampled upon his false teachings: You sought to deny
the virginity of the Most Holy Mother of God, he charged. Even your
prophet Muhammad admits that Jesus was born without seed of a Virgin
and that the mystery of the birth of God is necessarily beyond human
comprehension. He is the True God, Who took on flesh for the salvation
of mankind, to rescue fallen man from the curse of sin and death!
The pasha began to argue, but St. Ilarion told him, You, the son of
Christian parents, are on such a brutal rampage that you have deadened
the pangs of conscience calling you back to the true Faith!
The pasha laughed and answered that he was glad to have been delivered
from the ridiculous Christian Faith. I am indebted to the man who
kidnapped me from my parents and sold me to the Turks, he said, and I
have since rewarded him generously for his deed. If your Faith is
indeed true, why have you fallen into the hands of the invaders? Why
has your beloved God punished you so?
You misunderstand everything, Pasha, answered St. Ilarion.
Does not a loving father take up the rod when his beloved son runs
wild? Truly he does this not out of hatred but out of love, desiring
to save the ignorant from grave misfortune. When the father sees that
his child has corrected his behavior, he casts the rod into the fire.
The Lord has permitted these sorrows to befall us because of our sins.
You are a staff in the hands of the Lord: when He sees that we have
mended our ways, He will cast you into the fire as well!
For three consecutive days St. Ilarion confronted the pasha in his
palace, desiring to infuriate him to the point that he would order his
execution. On the fourth day St. Ilarion arrived at the palace and
began to speak about the falseness of Muhammad and the Islamic faith.
Then the pasha provoked him even further, demanding, What do you
thinkwhere will we go after death?
Standing amidst believers of divers faiths, St. Ilarion boldly
answered that only those who truly believe in God, who are found in
the bosom of the Orthodox Faith of Christ, will be saved. The enraged
bystanders demanded that the insolent monk be executed, and Abdul
Robut-Pasha finally ordered his death. St. Ilarion prepared to meet
death with joy, but a pair of the pashas servants, Georgians by
descent, requested that the pasha repeal his death sentence, since it
would be shameful for them to murder their fellow countryman.
They intended to send him in secret to Mt. Athos, but instead St.
Ilarion began to minister to the sick prisoners held in Thessalonica,
and he selflessly dedicated himself to their service for six months.
Then, according to Gods will, he set off again for Mt. Athos. Having
returned to his monastery, Fr. Ilarion labored for three years as a
hermit and afterwards withdrew to the tower of New Skete (a dependency
of the Monastery of St. Paul) to lead a life of strict asceticism.
On Fridays he kept a strict fast, and on other days he ate only tiny
pieces of dried bread. These he would place in a narrow-mouthed jar
and eat only what he was able to draw out with his hand. He drank just
one glass of water a day. Throughout the period of his reclusion in
the tower, demons tempted St. Ilarion with terrible visions.
Once a group of faithful Christians desired to visit the hermit. As
the elder received no one, they were not admitted. The pilgrims
therefore decided to form a human ladder, standing one on top of the
other in order to reach the small window of his cell. Fearing for
their lives but not wanting to break his vow of reclusion, St. Ilarion
temporarily abandoned his cell and fled to the forest.
After some time, St. Ilarion became physically weak from his strict
ascetic labors and was forced to leave behind the solitary life. With
the help of his faithful friend Benedict the Georgian, he gradually
regained some of his strength and moved to the Iveron Monastery.
At the Iveron Monastery he took charge of the Georgian library,
organized a catalog, and compiled twelve volumes of Lives of the
Saints, which he entitled _The Flower Garden_. He presented the twelve
volumes to the abbot of Zographou Monastery before the latter departed
for Russia. In Russia the abbot published the twelve volumes in the
Georgian languagewithout mention of the name of their compiler.
St. Ilarion reposed at St. Panteleimon Monastery, known as the
Russikon, in a cell named for Great-martyr George, on February 14,
1864. Though he was desperately ill, St. Ilarion continued to thank
the Lord sincerely until his last day. Glory to God! he would say. I
desired martyrdom, but God did not grant it to me. Instead He sent me
an illness which will be equal in merit to martyrdom if I am able to
bear it!
Prior to his death he asked his disciple, Fr. Sabbas, to bury his body
in secret, but circumstances later required that his burial place be
revealed. In 1867, during the vigil for the feast of the Ascension of
our Lord, a group of monks opened St. Ilarions burial vault and
immediately sensed a sweet fragrance issuing forth from his body. At
that moment one of the hermits saw a brilliant sphere of light shining
like the sun over Fr. Ilarions cell.
The Holy Synod of the Georgian Apostolic Orthodox Church canonized
Hieroschemamonk Ilarion (Qanchaveli) on October 17, 2002, and to
differentiate him from St. Ilarion the Georgian (commemorated November
19), called him Ilarion Kartveli, Akhali or Ilarion the Georgian, the
New.
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