Wednesday, 4 September 2024

Wednesday of the 11th week after Pentecost

122 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Liturgy · Fast

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, and the three children with him

Saint Babylas was bishop of the great see of Antioch in Syria from about 237, succeeding Saint Zebinas. His episcopate fell in a time of intermittent persecution under the emperors Maximinus Thrax, Gordian, Philip the Arabian and Decius. He is famous for an act of holy boldness recorded by Eusebius and by Saint John Chrysostom. The Emperor Philip, who had embraced Christianity and was making his way to attend the paschal vigil, was met at the doors of the church by Bishop Babylas, who refused him entrance until he had submitted to the discipline of penance for the murder of the young Emperor Gordian. The emperor humbly accepted, took his place among the penitents, and only afterwards was admitted to the assembly of the faithful. When Decius came to the throne in 249 and unleashed his savage edict requiring sacrifice from every citizen, the holy bishop was seized at Antioch together with three young children whom he was instructing in the faith, named Urbanus, Prilidian and Epolonius, the children of a Christian widow named Christodoula. Babylas openly confessed Christ, and the three boys, despite their tender age, refused to deny the Lord, even when the emperor caressed and threatened them by turns. Babylas was loaded with chains and beheaded, asking that his fetters be buried with him as a sign of his confession. The three children were beheaded after him. Many years later, in the reign of Julian the Apostate, the relics of the holy hieromartyr were transferred to Daphne, near Antioch, where their presence silenced the oracle of Apollo, an event recorded by Saint John Chrysostom in his homilies on the saint.

Holy Martyr Hermione, daughter of the Apostle Philip the Deacon

Saint Hermione was one of the four daughters of the Apostle Philip the Deacon, one of the seven first deacons of the Church and not to be confused with Philip the apostle of the Twelve. The Acts of the Apostles records that Philip had four virgin daughters who prophesied, and Hermione, with her sister Eutychia, devoted herself from youth to the life of consecrated virginity in the household of her father at Caesarea in Palestine. After the falling asleep of her father, Hermione travelled to Ephesus together with her sister to venerate the tomb of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, intending to receive his blessing. Finding that he had already departed to the Lord, she met instead the Apostle Petronius, a disciple of the Apostle Paul, under whom she was further instructed in the faith. She settled at Ephesus and devoted herself to the practice of medicine, treating the bodies of the sick and at the same time leading them to faith in Christ, healing many also by the power of prayer. When the Emperor Trajan was passing through the East on his Persian expedition, he heard of her gift of prophecy and summoned her to foretell the outcome of his campaign. He attempted by flattery and threat to compel her to deny Christ, and finally subjected her to torments. Trajan died before her death sentence could be executed, but his successor Hadrian renewed the persecution, and Hermione was beheaded at Ephesus in the early second century. She was buried near the tomb of the holy Theologian, and her relics worked many miracles for those who came to her in faith.

Holy Prophet and God-Seer Moses

The Holy Prophet and God-Seer Moses was of the tribe of Levi, the son of Amram and Jochebed, and was born in Egypt around 1689 BC at the time when Pharaoh had decreed that every male Hebrew infant should be cast into the Nile. His mother hid him for three months, and then placed him in a basket of bulrushes among the reeds at the river's edge, where he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh and raised at the royal court, instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Having defended one of his brethren by slaying an Egyptian taskmaster, he fled to Midian, married Zipporah the daughter of the priest Jethro, and tended his flocks for forty years. There at Mount Horeb the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush which was not consumed, and revealed to him the divine Name, "I AM WHO I AM," sending him back to Egypt to lead His people out of slavery. Through the ten plagues and the Passover lamb, the Hebrews were freed; the Red Sea parted before them and was closed upon their pursuers; in the desert they were fed with manna and quail and given water from the rock. On Mount Sinai Moses received the two tablets of the Law from the hand of God, and conversed with Him face to face as a man speaks with his friend, so that the skin of his face shone with such brightness that the people could not look upon him without a veil. He led the people for forty years in the wilderness, interceding for them in their rebellions and bearing patiently with their murmurings. At the end of his hundred-and-twentieth year, having beheld the promised land from Mount Nebo, he reposed and was buried by the Lord Himself in a place no man knows. The Church honours him as a foreshadowing of Christ the new Lawgiver, and at the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor he appeared with the Prophet Elias, conversing with the incarnate Word.

Holy Prophet Moses, who beheld God.

What can we say of Moses? For his story read the Old Testament books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Church holds him to be the author of the Pentateuch or Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.

St John Mavropos, Metropolitan of Euchaita

1100

He is best known for his part in the institution of the Synaxis of Sts Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom (see January 30). The three holy hierarchs appeared to him and revealed that all three are united and equally honored in heaven, thus dispelling a spirit of factionalism that was disturbing Constantinople. He is the composer of the Canon to the Most Sweet Jesus and the Canon to the Guardian Angel, both found in many prayer books. He reposed in peace. Mavropos is a nickname meaning ‘Black-foot’. He is commemorated on June 14 on the Slavic Calendar.

Venerable Anthimos the Blind, New Ascetic

1782

He was born on the island of Kephalonia in 1727, with the name Athanasios Kourouklis. At the age of seven he became blind as a result of smallpox. His devout mother prayed for his healing, and asked her priest to serve forty Ligurgies for her son’s healing. At the fortieth Liturgy, as the priest said ‘In the fear of God and with faith and love draw near,’ Athanasius cried out that he could see the priest’s vestments and chalice. He had recovered sight in his right eye. For a time he followed his father’s occupation as a seaman, but then took up the life of a monk, receiving the name Anthimos. At some point he went blind again, and soon thereafter had a vision: he was praying for the restoration of his sight before an icon of the Theotokos when two young men in radiant garments appeared and led him to the Mother of God herself, who told him ‘Depart, for your continual prayer that I restore your sight is not profitable to you.’ But the two young men pleaded for him, and the Theotokos said ‘Anthimos, because of your great piety and many prayers, I will restore your sight in part, but do not forget that, having gained temporal vision, you can lose that which is eternal.’ Thereafter, though Anthimos was almost completely blind, he could dimly discern the outlines of objects; but in compensation he was granted the gift of spiritual insight,and was able to predict the future and call by name those he had never met. Saint Anthimos was about twenty when he entered monastic life, and lived on Mt Athos for awhile. Despite his blindness, he then took up a life of missionary work that took him throughout the Greek mainland and islands. Traveling from place to place he preached the Gospel, healed the sick, founded several monasteries. Once he restored a blind woman’s sight by his prayers, though he himself remained blind throughout his life. Throughout his amazing labors he maintained a life of the most severe asceticism, eating little, sleeping on a plank or on the floor. In 1782, in the course of one of his many sea journeys, he told the sailors to change course for Kephalonia, saying ‘God’s will is not that I concern myself with [the mission he had undertaken], but that I go back and die in my monastery.’ On returning he fell ill and called his spiritual children to him. ‘My children, the hour has come for me to go where the Lord ordains. Death is the common lot of us all and is nothing to be afraid of. It is important rather to do your best to keep your promises and your monastic vows. The one thing necessary in this life is to please God and save your souls.’ Having said this, he fell asleep in peace, at the age of fifty-four. He was glorified as a Saint in 1976. Note: It is sometimes said that celebrating Divine Liturgies for special intentions is ‘not Orthodox.’ The example of St Anthimos’ mother shows that the practice is a both traditional and efficacious.

Holy New Martyr Gorazd, Bishop of Slovakia and the Czech Lands

1942

He was born in 1879 in Moravia and given the name Matthew Pavlik. He became a Roman Catholic priest, active in a movement for reform within the Roman Catholic Church. When Czechoslovakia became an independent state in 1919, about 800,000 Christians, including Fr Matthew, approached Bishop Dositheus of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Serbia, asking to be received into the Orthodox faith. Father Matthew was received into the Church in 1920; a year later was made Bishop of the Orthodox of Moravia and Silesia by Patriarch Demetrius of Serbia, and was named for St Gorazd, a disciple of St Methodius (July 27). Though many of the original ‘reform’ leaders turned back, finding the demands of Orthodoxy too difficult, Bishop Gorazd labored mightily for the restoration of Orthodoxy in Czechoslovakia: he established eleven parishes, translated the divine services into Czech, and published a Czech Prayer Book. During the Second World War, two priests of the Orthodox Cathedral in Prague were arrested because some of the Czech resistance had taken refuge in the Cathedral. It was clear that the Nazis were planning retaliation against the entire Orthodox Church. Bishop Gorazd presented himself to the Nazis and, to save his priests, took full responsibility for the events in the Cathedral. He was arrested, tortured and finally shot on September 4 1942 (August 22 OC). Despite his selfless sacrifice, the Orthodox Church was severely persecuted by the Nazis: all the churches were closed and the priests sent to concentration camps in Germany. Saint Gorazd was glorified by the Church of Serbia in 1961 and by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1987.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 3.4-11

⁴And such confidence have we through Christ to God-ward:

⁴And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: ⁵not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; ⁵Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; ⁶who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. ⁶Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. ⁷But if the ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look stedfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which glory was passing away: ⁷But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: ⁸how shall not rather the ministration of the spirit be with glory? ⁸How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? ⁹For if the ministration of condemnation hath glory, much rather doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. ⁹For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. ¹⁰For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. ¹⁰For verily that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasseth. ¹¹For if that which passeth away was with glory, much more that which remaineth is in glory. ¹¹For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 23.29-39

²⁹Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

²⁹Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, ³⁰And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. ³⁰and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. ³¹Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. ³¹Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets. ³²Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. ³²Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. ³³Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? ³³Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? ³⁴Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:

³⁴Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: ³⁵that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁵That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. ³⁶Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁶Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! ³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. ³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. ³⁹For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. ³⁹For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.