[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

Sat Mar 1 05:00:22 CST 2008

Scripture Readings and Saints for Sat Mar 1 2008

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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1 Corinthians 10:23-28  (Epistle)
23 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all
things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.
24 Let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being.
25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for
conscience' sake;
26 for "the earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness."
27 If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you
desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for
conscience' sake.
28 But if anyone says to you, "This was offered to idols," do not eat
it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience' sake; for
"the earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness."
Scripture Reading 1 of 4

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1 Thessalonians 4:13-17  (Epistle, Departed)
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those
who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will
bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are
alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede
those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead
in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall
always be with the Lord.
Scripture Reading 2 of 4

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Luke 21:8-9,25-27,33-36  (Gospel)
8 And He said: "Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come
in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time has drawn near.'
Therefore do not go after them.
9 But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for
these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come
immediately.
25 And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars;
and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the
waves roaring;
26 men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those
things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens
will be shaken.
27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and
great glory.
33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass
away.
34 But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with
carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on
you unexpectedly.
35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of
the whole earth.
36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to
escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before
the Son of Man.
Scripture Reading 3 of 4

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John 5:24-30  (Gospel, Departed)
24 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in
Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into
judgment, but has passed from death into life.
25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when
the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear
will live.
26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to
have life in Himself,
27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is
the Son of Man.
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are
in the graves will hear His voice
29 and come forth-those who have done good, to the resurrection of
life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of
condemnation.
30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is
righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the
Father who sent Me.
Scripture Reading 4 of 4

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------ SAINTS/FEASTS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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Memorial Saturday of Meatfare
Today we remember the miracle of the boiled wheat performed by the
holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit (February 17). Fifty years
after the death of St Theodore, the emperor Julian the Apostate
(361-363), wanting to commit an outrage upon the Christians, commanded
the city-commander of Constantinople to sprinkle all the food
provisions in the marketplaces with the blood offered to idols during
the first week of Great Lent. St Theodore, having appeared in a dream
to Archbishop Eudoxius, ordered him to inform all the Christians that
no one should buy anything at the marketplaces, but rather to eat
cooked wheat with honey (kolyva).
In memory of this occurrence, the Orthodox Church annually celebrates
the holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit on the first Saturday of
Great Lent. On Friday evening, at the Divine Liturgy of the
Presanctified Gifts following the prayer at the ambo, the Canon to the
holy Great Martyr Theodore, composed by St John of Damascus, is sung.
After this, kolyva is blessed and distributed to the faithful. The
celebration of the Great Martyr Theodore on the first Saturday of
Great Lent was set by the Patriarch Nectarius of Constantinople
(381-397).
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Martyr Eudokia of Heliopolis
Holy Monastic Martyr Eudokia was a Samaritan, a native of the city of
Heliopolis in Phoenicia (modern Baalbek), who lived during the reign
of Trajan (98-117). Her pagan impiety took her off the good path, and
for a long time she led a sinful life. Her soul was deadened and her
heart hardened.
Eudokia awoke one night at midnight and heard singing from the house
of a Christian woman next to hers. A monk was reading from a book
which described the Last Judgment, the punishment of sinners, and the
reward of the righteous. The grace of God touched Eudokia's heart, and
she grieved because of her great wealth and for her sinful life.
In the morning Eudokia hastened to call on the man whose rule of
prayer she heard the previous night. This was a monk named Germanus,
returning from pilgrimage to the holy places to his own monastery.
Eudokia listened for a long time to the guidance of the Elder, and her
soul was filled with joy and love for Christ. She asked Germanus to
stay in her home for a week, during which she secluded herself in her
room, and spent her time in fasting and prayer.
The Elder Germanus told her to give away her wealth and to forget her
previous life. Eudokia received holy Baptism from Bishop Theodotus of
Heliopolis. She entered a monastery and took upon herself very strict
acts of penitence. The Lord granted forgiveness to the penitent sinner
and endowed her with spiritual gifts.
After she had become the head of the monastery, the young pagan
Philostrates (one of her former lovers) heard of her conversion to
Christ and longed to see her again. Aflame with impious passion, he
came into the monastery in the guise of a monk and began to urge
Eudokia to return to Heliopolis, and resume her former life. "May God
rebuke you and not allow you to leave these premises," Eudokia cried.
Then the impostor fell down dead. Fearing that she had served as an
accomplice to murder, the sisters intensified their prayer and
besought the Lord to reveal to them His will.
The Lord appeared to St Eudokia in a vision and said: "Arise, Eudokia,
and pray for the resurrection of the dead man." Through Eudokia's
prayers, Philostrates revived. Having been restored to life, the pagan
begged the nun to forgive him. After he was baptized, he went back to
Heliopolis. From that time he never forgot the mercy of God shown him,
and he started onto the way of repentance.
Some time passed, and another situation occurred. Inhabitants of
Heliopolis reported to the governor Aurelian, that Eudokia had taken
gold and silver out of the city and concealed it at the monastery.
Aurelian sent a detachment of soldiers to confiscate these supposed
treasures. For three days the soldiers tried in vain to approach the
walls of the monastery, but an invisible power of God guarded it.
Aurelian again sent soldiers to the monastery, this time under the
command of his own son. But on the very first day of the journey
Aurelian's son injured his leg and soon died. Then Philostrates
counseled Aurelian to write to Mother Eudokia, imploring her to revive
the youth. And the Lord, in His infinite mercy, and through the
prayers of St Eudokia, restored the youth to life. Having witnessed
this great miracle, Aurelian and his close associates believed in
Christ and were baptized.
When persecutions against Christians intensified, they arrested
Eudokia and brought her to the governor Diogenes to be tortured. While
torturing the saint, the military commander Diodorus received news of
the sudden death of his wife Firmina. In despair he rushed to St
Eudokia with a plea to pray for his departed wife. The monastic
martyr, filled with great faith, turned to God with prayer and
besought Him to return Firmina to life. As eyewitnesses of the power
and grace of the Lord, Diodorus and Diogenes believed in Christ and
were baptized together with their families. St Eudokia lived for
awhile at the house of Diodorus and enlightened the newly-illumined
Christians.
Once,the only son of a certain widow, who was working in the garden,
was bitten by a snake and died. The mother wept bitterly for her dead
son, and asked Diodorus to resurrect him. Learning of her grief, St
Eudokia said to Diodorus, "The time is at hand for you to show faith
in the Almighty God, Who hears the prayers of penitent sinners and in
His mercy grants them forgiveness."
Diodorus was distressed, not considering himself worthy of such
boldness before the Lord, but he obeyed St Eudokia. He prayed and in
the name of Christ he commanded the dead one to rise, and before the
eyes of everyone present the youth revived.
St Eudokia returned to her monastery, where she lived in asceticism
for fifty-six years.
After Diogenes died the new governor was Vicentius, a fierce
persecutor of Christians. Having learned of the accomplishments of the
saint, he gave orders to execute her. The holy martyr was beheaded on
March 1, 107.
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Venerable Martyrius of Zelenets, Pskov
Saint Martyrius of Zelenets, in the world Menas, was born in the city
of Veliki Luki (Great Meadow) in the sixteenth century. His parents,
Cosmas and Stephanida, died when he was just ten years old. He was
raised by his spiritual Father, a priest of the city's Annunciation
church, and the child's soul cleaved to God.
The widowed priest Boris became a monk with the name Bogolep at the
Trinity-Sergius monastery in Veliki Luki. Menas often visited him at
the monastery, and later on he himself received monastic tonsure there
taking the name Martyrius. For seven years both teacher and disciple
toiled for the Lord unrelentingly in a single cell, encouraging each
other in deeds of work and prayer. St Martyrius had the obediences of
"kellarios" [cellarer], treasurer, and "ponomar" [or altar server].
It was at this time that the Mother of God first showed Her special
solicitude for St Martyrius. At mid-day he dozed off in the bell tower
and beheld the Tikhvin (Hodigitria) icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in
a fiery column. The monk venerated it, and it was still hot from the
fiery column. When he awoke, he still felt this heat on his forehead.
On the spiritual advice of St Martyrius, the grievously ill monk
Abramius went to venerate the wonderworking Tikhvin Icon of the Mother
of God, and he received healing. St Martyrius was filled with intense
faith in the intercession of the Mother of God. He began to pray that
the Heavenly Queen would show him where he might go for the ascetic
feat of complete silence, for which his soul yearned.
The monk secretly withdrew into a desolate place situated 60 versts
from Veliki Luki. As he himself writes, "in this wilderness I received
fearful visitations from demons, but I prayed to God, and the demons
were put to shame."
In a letter to Elder Bogolep, St Martyrius asked his blessing to dwell
in the wilderness, but the spiritual father advised him to return to
the cenobitic life where he would be of use to the brethren. Not
daring to disobey his experienced Elder, and not knowing how to
proceed, St Martyrius went to Smolensk to venerate the wonderworking
Hodigitria [She who leads the way] Icon of the Mother of God and the
relics of Sts Abramius and Ephraim (August 21). These saints appeared
to St Martyrius in a dream, and they reassured him that he would be
permitted to live in the wilderness, "wherever God will bless and the
Most Holy Theotokos will guide you."
St Martyrius then went to the Tikhvin monastery, hoping that the
Mother of God would resolve his dilemma. The monk Abramius, who
remained at this monastery in gratitude to the Mother of God for his
healing, told St Martyrius about a secret place, over which he had
seen a radiant Cross of stars. This time he received the blessing of
the Elder. St Martyrius took with him two small icons: one of the
Life-Creating Trinity, and the other of the Tikhvin Mother of God. He
then settled in Zelents (the green island), which was a beautiful
island in a forested swamp.
Harsh and painful was the life of the monk in the wilderness, but
neither cold, nor deprivation, nor wild beasts, nor the wiles of the
Enemy were able to shake his resolve. He built a small chapel for the
glorification of, and in gratitude to, the Lord and the Most Holy
Theotokos. He was again deemed worthy to see an icon of the Mother of
God in a dream. This time it was floating on the sea. To the right of
the icon he saw the Archangel Gabriel who told him to venerate the
icon. St Martyrius went into the water, and the icon began to sink in
the sea. The saint then cried out, and a wave carried him to shore.
With that, the icon vanished.
The wilderness was sanctified by the life of the hermit, and many
began to arrive, not only to be instructed by the word and example of
the monk, but also to settle there with him. The increased number of
disciples prompted the monk to build a church dedicated to the
Life-Creating Trinity, where he placed his own icons of the Trinity
and of the Tikhvin Mother of God. As a sign of the grace of God
resting upon the monastery of St Martyrius, his disciple St Gurias was
permitted to see a Cross in the heavens, shining over the cross on top
of the church.
This was the beginning of the Trinity Zelenets monastery, "the green
wilderness monastery of Martyrius." The Lord blessed his labors, and
the grace of God shone visibly upon him. The fame of his discernment
and gift of healing became known to many. Many eminent people of
Novgorod began to send gifts to the monastery. With funds provided by
the pious boyar Theodore Syrkov, a heated church was built and
consecrated in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in
memory of the first church at Veliki Luki, from which the saint had
begun his path to God.
St Martyrius continued to receive help from the Mother of God. She
appeared to him on a bench in the corner where the icons stood. The
saint recalled: "I looked upon Her without lowering my eyes... I gazed
upon Her holy face, at her eyes filled with tears, ready to trickle
down Her all-pure face. I awoke from the dream and was afraid. I lit a
candle from the lampada, in order to see whether or not the Most Pure
Virgin sat at the place where I saw Her in the dream. I went up to the
icon of the Hodigitria and was convinced that in truth the Mother of
God had appeared to me as She is depicted on my icon."
Soon after this (about the year 1570) St Martyrius was ordained priest
at Novgorod by the archbishop (Alexander or Leonid). He was already an
igumen in 1582.
Later, the Lord granted the Zelenets wilderness monastery an even
wealthier benefactor. In 1595 at Tver St Martyrius resurrected the son
of the former Kasimov ruler Simeon Bekbulatovich, praying in front of
his own icons of the Life-Creating Trinity and the Tikhvin Mother of
God. He placed both icons upon the chest of the dead child, and he
awoke as if from sleep. In gratitude Simeon built a church in honor of
the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God and of St John Chrysostom, the
Heavenly patron saint of the ruler's son John.
In 1595 Tsar Theodore endowed the monastery with a sufficient quantity
of land for its support.
Having reached a great old age and preparing for death, St Martyrius
dug a grave for himself, and near it he placed a coffin fashioned by
his own hands. He often came there to weep. Sensing his imminent
departure, the monk assembled the brethren and told his children in
the Lord to have steadfast hope in the Most Holy Trinity and to trust
the Mother of God, as he himself had always trusted in Her. After
receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ, he gave the brethren his
blessing with the words: "Peace to all the Orthodox." With spiritual
joy he fell asleep in the Lord on March 1, 1603.
The saint was buried in the grave he dug near the church of the Mother
of God. Later, his holy relics rested beneath a crypt in the church of
the Most Holy Trinity, beneath the lower temple in honor of St John
the Theologian. Cornelius, a former monk of the Zelenets monastery,
and later Metropolitan of Kazan and Novgorod (+ 1698), compiled a
service and wrote the Life of St Martyrius, making use of personal
notes and the saint's testament.
The memory of St Martyrius of Zelenets and Veliki Luki is celebrated
also on November 11.
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Martyr Nestor
The Holy Martyrs Nestor and Tribiminus were natives of the Asia Minor
district of Pamphylia. They fearlessly preached Christ during a
persecution in the reign of the impious emperor Decius (249-251).
When the saints were brought before the pagan court, the governor
ordered that all sorts of instruments of torture be placed before them
in order to frighten them and force them to renounce the Christian
Faith. The saints replied that no one could separate them from Christ.
The angry judge then gave orders to torture them. They scourged the
holy martyrs with dried ox thongs, suspended them from a tree and
flayed their bodies, but Sts Nestor and Tribiminus did not cease to
glorify the Lord. When they were beheaded, they inherited the Heavenly
Kingdom.
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Martyr Tribiminus
The Holy Martyrs Tribiminus and Nestor were natives of the Asia Minor
district of Pamphylia. They fearlessly preached Christ during a
persecution in the reign of the impious emperor Decius (249-251).
When the saints were brought before the pagan court, the governor
ordered that all sorts of instruments of torture be placed before them
in order to frighten them and force them to renounce the Christian
Faith. The saints replied that no one could separate them from Christ.
The angry judge then gave orders to torture them. They scourged the
holy martyrs with dried ox thongs, suspended them from a tree and
flayed their bodies, but Sts Nestor and Tribiminus did not cease to
glorify the Lord. When they were beheaded, they inherited the Heavenly
Kingdom.
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Martyr Antonina of Nicea, in Bithynia
The Holy Martyr Antonina suffered at Nicea during a persecution under
the emperor Maximian (284-305). After fierce tortures, St Antonina was
thrown into prison, but Maximian could not force the saint to renounce
Christ and offer sacrifice to idols.
Angels of God appeared to the holy martyr and the executioners took
fright. Even when they placed her on a red-hot metal bed, St Antonina
remained unharmed, by the power of God. Finally, after long torture
they sewed the saint into a sack and sank it in a lake.
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Martyr Marcellus of Syria
No information on the life of this saint is available at this time.
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Martyr Anthony of Syria
No information on the life of this saint is available at this time.
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Virginmartyr Domnina of Syria
The Virgin Domnina of Syria was a disciple of St Maron (February 14).
the nun built a straw-covered hut in her mother's garden and lived
there as an ascetic, eating only lentils soaked in water.
Each morning and evening she went to church, covered in a veil so that
no one ever saw her face. The voice of the nun, in the words of her
biographer Theodoret of Cyrrhus, was "resonant and expressive, and her
words were always accompanied by tears." The holy ascetic peacefully
fell asleep in the Lord between 450-460.
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Venerable Agapius of Vatopedi
Saint Agapius of the Holy Mountain, was a novice in obedience to a
virtuous Elder who lived in silence at the Holy Trinity kellia at
Kolitsa, within the boundaries of Vatopedi on Mt. Athos. He was taken
into captivity by Turks who had landed on the shore of Athos. They
took him to Magnesia and there he worked in chains for twelve years.
But he did not lose hope for freedom and fervently he prayed to the
Mother of God to free him from this bitter captivity.
The Queen of Heaven manifested Her Mercy to the patient sufferer. She
appeared to him in a dream and ordered him "to go to his Elder without
fear." When he awoke, he saw that he was free of his bonds, and the
doors were open. Without hindrance, St Agapius departed from his
master and returned to Mount Athos.
The Elder grieved when he saw his novice, for he thought that Agapius
had secretly escaped from his master. "You have deceived the
Hagarene," he said, "but no one can deceive God. If you wish to save
yourself, return to your master and serve him." St Agapius returned to
his master without complaint.
The Moslem was amazed to see Agapius after he had escaped. Hearing the
story of what had happened, he was struck by the virtue of Agapius'
Elder and the loftiness of the Christian Faith. The master and his two
sons went to the Holy Mountain with St Agapius. There they were
baptized and became monks, living in asceticism for the rest of their
lives.
St Agapius lived in the thirteenth century.
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St David, Bishop of Wales
No information available at this time.
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