[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

Fri Feb 29 05:00:20 CST 2008

Scripture Readings and Saints for Fri Feb 29 2008

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2 John 1:1-13  (Epistle)
1 The Elder, To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth,
and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth,
2 because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4 I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking
in truth, as we received commandment from the Father.
5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new
commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning:
that we love one another.
6 This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is
the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should
walk in it.
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess
Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an
antichrist.
8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for,
but that we may receive a full reward.
9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ
does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both
the Father and the Son.
10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not
receive him into your house nor greet him;
11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.
12 Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with
paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that
our joy may be full.
13 The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2

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Mark 15:22-25,33-41  (Gospel)
22 And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated,
Place of a Skull.
23 Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not
take it.
24 And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting
lots for them to determine what every man should take.
25 Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.
33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole
land until the ninth hour.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God,
why have You forsaken Me?"
35 Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, "Look, He
is calling for Elijah!"
36 Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a
reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, "Let Him alone; let us
see if Elijah will come to take Him down."
37 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.
38 Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
39 So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried
out like this and breathed His last, he said, "Truly this Man was the
Son of God!"
40 There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome,
41 who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee,
and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.
Scripture Reading 2 of 2

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Venerable John-Barsanuphius the Bishop of Damascus
Saint John, called Barsanuphius, was a native of Palestine. He was
baptized when he was eighteen years old, and later became a monk.
Because of his ascetic life, St John was consecrated Archbishop of
Damascus. Because of his love for the solitary life, St John gave up
his position as hierarch and secretly withdrew to Alexandria, calling
himself Barsanuphius. Then he went into the Nitrian desert, arrived at
a monastery, and begged the igumen to accept him into the monastery to
serve the Elders. He conscientiously fulfilled this obedience by day,
and spent his nights in prayer.
Theodore of Nitria saw the monk, and knew that he was a bishop. St
John concealed himself again and withdrew into Egypt, where he lived
in asceticism until the end of his days.
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Venerable John Cassian the Roman
Saint John Cassian the Roman was born around 360, probably in Lesser
Scythia (in Dacia Pontica). His pious Christian parents gave him an
excellent classical education, and also instructed him in the Holy
Scriptures and in the spiritual life.
St John entered a monastery in the diocese of Tomis, where his friend
and relative St Germanus labored as an ascetic. In 380, desiring to
venerate the Holy Places, St John went to Jerusalem with his sister
and his friend St Germanus. The two monks stayed at a Bethlehem
monastery, not far from where the Savior was born.
After five years at the monastery, Sts John and Germanus traveled
through the Thebaid and the desert monasteries of Sketis for seven
years, drawing upon the spiritual experience of countless ascetics.
The Egyptian monks taught them many useful things about spiritual
struggles, prayer, and humility. Like honeybees they journeyed from
place to place, gathering the sweet nectar of spiritual wisdom. The
notes St John made formed the basis of his book called CONFERENCES
WITH THE FATHERS in twenty-four chapters.
Returning to Bethlehem for a brief time, the spiritual brothers lived
for three years in complete solitude. Then they went back to Egypt and
lived there until 399. Because of the disturbances caused by
Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria to the monasteries along the Nile,
they decided to go to Constantinople, after hearing of the virtue and
holiness of St John Chrysostom. The great hierarch ordained St John
Cassian as a deacon and accepted him as a disciple. John and Germanus
remained with St John Chrysostom for five years, learning many
profitable things from him.
When Chrysostom was exiled from Constantinople in 404, Sts John
Cassian and Germanus went to Rome to plead his case before Innocent I.
Cassian was ordained to the holy priesthood in Rome, or perhaps later
in Gaul. After Chrysostom's death in 407, St John Cassian went to
Massilia [Marseilles] in Gaul (now France). There he established two
cenobitic monasteries in 415, one for men and another for women, based
on the model of Eastern monasticism.
At the request of Bishop Castor of Aptia Julia (in southern Gaul),
Cassian wrote THE INSTITUTES OF CENOBITIC LIFE (De Institutis
Coenobiorum) in twelve books, describing the life of the Palestinian
and Egyptian monks. Written between 417-419, the volume included four
books describing the clothing of the monks of Palestine and Egypt,
their schedule of prayer and services, and how new monks were received
into the monasteries.The last eight books were devoted to the eight
deadly sins and how to overcome them. Through his writings, St John
Cassian provided Christians of the West with examples of cenobitic
monasteries, and acquainted them with the asceticism of the Orthodox
East.
Cassian speaks as a spiritual guide about the purpose of life, about
attaining discernment, about renunciation of the world, about the
passions of the flesh and spirit, about the hardships faced by the
righteous, and about prayer.
St John Cassian also wrote CONFERENCES WITH THE FATHERS (Collationes
Patrum) in twenty-four books in the form of conversations about the
perfection of love, about purity, about God's help, about
understanding Scripture, about the gifts of God, about friendship,
about the use of language, about the four levels of monasticism, about
the solitary life and cenobitic life, about repentance, about fasting,
about nightly meditations, and about spiritual mortification. This
last has the explanatory title "I do what I do not want to do."
br> Books 1-10 of the CONFERENCES describe St John's conversations
with the Fathers of Sketis between 393-399. Books 11-17 relate
conversations with the Fathers of Panephysis, and the last seven books
are devoted to conversations with monks from the region of Diolkos.
In 431 St John Cassian wrote his final work, ON THE INCARNATION OF THE
LORD, AGAINST NESTORIUS (De Incarnationem Domini Contra Nestorium). In
seven books he opposed the heresy, citing many Eastern and Western
teachers to support his arguments.
In his works, St John Cassian was grounded in the spiritual experience
of the ascetics, and criticized the abstract reasoning of St Augustine
(June 15). St John said that "grace is defended less adequately by
pompous words and loquacious contention, dialectic syllogisms and the
eloquence of Cicero (i.e. Augustine), than by the example of the
Egyptian ascetics." In the words of St John of the Ladder (March 30),
"great Cassian reasons loftily and excellently." His writings are also
praised in the Rule of St Benedict.
St John Cassian lived in the West for many years, but his spiritual
homeland was the Orthodox East. He fell asleep in the Lord in the year
435. His holy relics rest in an underground chapel in the Monastery of
St Victor in Marseilles. His head and right hand are in the main
church.
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Martyr Theokteristus
The Holy Martyr Theokteristus, Igumen of the Pelekete monastery,
suffered for the holy icons under the impious emperor Constantine
Copronymos (741-775). Also subjected to tortures were St Stephen the
New (November 28), and other pious monks. St Theokteristus was burned
with boiling tar.
The holy martyr was a spiritual writer, and composed a Canon to the
Mother of God "Sustainer in Many Misfortunes."
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St Leo of Cappadocia
Saint Leo of Cappadocia fulfilled the commandment to love his neighbor
by suggesting to the Saracens, who had captured three sickly monks,
that he take the place of these infirm captives with himself, since he
was healthy and able to work.
While journeying in the desert, St Leo weakened and was not able to go
any farther. He was beheaded with the sword, thereby laying down his
life for his neighbor.
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St Meletius, Archbishop of Kharkov and Akhtyr
Saint Meletius, Archbishop of Kharkov and Akhtyr (in the world Michael
Ivanovich Leontovich), was born November 6, 1784 in the village of
Stara Stanzhara in the Poltava district.
In 1808 Michael Leontovich successfully completed the Ekaterinoslav
Seminary. As the best student, he was sent by Archbishop Platon of
Ekterinoslav to Peterburg, to the St Alexander Nevsky Spiritual
Academy [in Russia, "spiritual academy" is higher level of religious
training beyond seminary]. Finishing the spiritual academy in 1814
with the degree of "magister" ["teacher"], he was appointed
adjunct-professor of Greek.
On March 11, 1817 Michael Leontovich was appointed to the office of
secretary of the Academy Building committee.
On July 30, 1817 they transferred him to the Kiev Seminary, to serve
as inspector and professor of Church History and Greek. When the Kiev
Spiritual Academy opened on September 28, 1819, Michael Leontovich
became its first inspector.
On February 11, 1820, on the eve of the Feast of St Meletius of
Antioch, in the cathedral church of the Kiev-Bratsk monastery, he was
tonsured into monasticism with the name Meletius. The tonsure was done
by Metropolitan Eugene (Bolkhovitnikov) of Kiev. On February 22, 1820
St Meletius was ordained deacon by Metropolitan Eugene, and to the
priesthood on February 25.
On August 9, 1821 Hieromonk Meletius was appointed rector of the
Mogilev Seminary and head of the Kutein Orshansk monastery with the
rank of archimandrite. In August 1823 he was made rector of the Pskov
Seminary, and on January 24, 1824 Archimandrite Meletius was appointed
rector of the Kiev Spiritual Academy.
In October 1826 the Holy Synod decided to appoint Archimandrite
Meletius as Bishop of Chigirinsk, a vicar of the Kiev diocese and head
of the Zlatoverkh Michaelov monastery. He was elected as bishop on
October 19, 1826, and was consecrated on October 21, 1826 at Kiev's
cathedral of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) .
With a fatherly love the saint looked after young foster-children,
raising them in a spirit of devotion to the Church of Christ. The
saint particularly cared for the needy, widows and orphans. He often
visited the imprisoned and provided them the consolation of religious
services in the prison churches. The saint also was also concerned for
the spiritual nourishment of the brethren of the Michaelov monastery.
With edifying discourses and by personal example he inspired in the
monks a spirit of true asceticism. St Meletius said, "Humility is the
guarding sword, with which we pass over earth and Hades to reach
Heaven."
In April 1828 St Meletius was appointed to the Perm cathedral.
Strict with himself, the saint was also strict towards others. To
prepare chosen candidates for ordination, St Meletius himself wrote
the so-called "Ordinand's Catechism" for them. In August 1831 St
Meletius was transferred to the See of Irkutsk, with the rank of
archbishop.
The saint devoted great attention to the enlightenment of the lesser
nations of Russia with the light of the Gospel teaching. He founded
churches in the north of Kamchatka, in the northeast parts of the
Irkutsk diocese and along the Aldan River, on the tract from Yakutsk
to Okhotsk.
He often reviewed his extensive diocese, going to the shores of the
Okhotsk and Arctic Seas, to the borders of North America, where the
renowned Apostle of Siberia, the priest John Veniaminov, later known
as St Innocent the Apostle to America (October 6 and March 31) then
labored. Journeying through Siberia and along the shores of the
Pacific Ocean, St Meletius frequently interacted with the native
peoples who professed Lamaism. The saint urged them to abandon their
errors and he explained the Gospel truths to these pagan peoples: the
Tungus, the Buryats, the Kamchadali, and also the inhabitants of the
Kurile and Aleutian Islands.
Because of his untiring labors, the saint's health began to
deteriorate, and they transferred him in 1835 to the Slobodsk-Ukrainsk
cathedra (afterwards the cathedra of Kharkov and Akhtyr).
Here St Meletius devoted his attention to the institutions of
spiritual learning, and concerned himself with the life and education
of the clergy.
He raised questions about restoring those monasteries and spiritual
schools which Empress Catherine II had closed. The saint was also
concerned with combating schismatics.
On July 2, 1839 St Meletius led the celebrations in the city of Akhtyr
for the tenth anniversary of the appearance of the wonderworking
Akhtyr Icon of the Mother of God (July 2).
The blessed repose of the saint occurred on the night of February 29,
1840. After Communion, with the words "Now lettest Thou Thy Servant
depart in peace," the saint signed himself with the Sign of the Cross
and, after asking forgiveness of everyone, he departed to the Lord.
On March 4, 1840 St Meletius was consigned to the earth by the Kursk
bishop Heliodorus in a crypt beneath the Church of the Cross at the
Protection monastery.
>From the first days after his death, believing people firmly trusted
in the intercession of St Meletius before God, and they received help:
healing in sicknesses, comfort in sorrows and deliverance from
difficult circumstances. Believers in Kharkov put special trust in St
Meletius during the terrible days of the "Great War for the
Fatherland" (World War II). The saint predicted the impending
deliverance of the city from the enemy.
In 1948, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexis, the
coffin with the relics of St Meletius was transferred to the
Annunciation cathedral church, where they remain to the present day,
providing spiritual recourse and prayerful comfort for believers.
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St Germanus of Dacia Pontica
Saint Germanus of Dacia Pontica (Dobrogea) was related to St John
Cassian, and accompanied him to Bethlehem. There they lived near the
cave where the Lord was born. Later, they visited Egypt and met many
of the Fathers there and at Sinai.
St Germanus and St John went to Constantinople in 399 and met St John
Chrysostom (November 13). They admired Chrysostom, so when he was
exiled, they went to Rome to intercede with Pope Innocent I for him.
It is not known where St Germanus finished the course of his life. He
was glorified by the Orthodox Church of Romania in 1992.
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St Germanus of Dacia Pontica (Dobrogea)
Saint Germanus the Daco-Roman was born in the mid-fourth century,
probably on the borders of Cassian and the Caves in the diocese of
Tomis (in what is now Romania), and was related to St John Cassian
(February 29). St Germanus, who was older than St John, was tonsured
at one of the local monasteries when he was still a young man. The
holy bishop St Theotimus I (April 20) may have been his Spiritual
Father.
In turn, St Germanus became the Spiritual Father, friend, and teacher
of St John Cassian, instructing him in monastic perfection. They both
lived at one of the monasteries of Dacia Pontica for a short time, and
then worked together in Bethlehem from 380-385. Later, they traveled
to Egypt and visited some of its cenobitic monasteries. They also
visited the hermits of Nitria and Mount Sinai, seeking to benefit from
their holy example and wise counsel.
Sts Germanus and John went to Constantinople in 399 in order to be
near St John Chrysostom (November 13), and around this time Germanus
was deemed worthy of ordination to the holy priesthood. When
Chrysostom was deposed and exiled in 404, the two saints journeyed to
Rome in order to plead his case before Pope Innocent I.
St Germanus completed the course of his life in the early fifth
century, perhaps at the monastery estabished by St John Cassian at
Marseilles, or in one of the monasteries of Dacia Pontica.
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