Hieromartyr Basil, bishop of Amasia and Righteous Virgin Glaphyra
322
Licinius was co-emperor with Constantine the Great. At his accession, he had agreed to tolerate Christianity in his territories, but soon turned to persecuting the Christians, and to a variety of carnal sins. He conceived a passion for Glaphyra, a Christian virgin handmaid of the Empress Constantia. When Glaphyra told Constantia of this, the Empress sent her away to Amasia in the East for her protection. There she was received and protected by Bishop Basil of that city. Licinius learned where Glaphyra was hiding and ordered that both she and the bishop be brought to him as prisoners. The soldiers who came for her found that she had already died, so they returned with only Bishop Basil, who was subjected to cruel tortures, then beheaded. His body was cast into the sea, but, with the help of an angel of God, his people found his body, retrieved it from the sea, and returned it to Amasia.
The Prologue adds, “The Emperor Constantine raised an army against Licinius, overcame him, arrested him and sent him into exile in Gaul, where he ended his God-hating days.”
Hieromartyr Basileus, bishop of Amasea
322
Saint Basileus lived in the late third and early fourth centuries and was bishop of the city of Amasea in Pontus. He was distinguished for his learning, his pastoral zeal and his courage in defending the faith. He took part in the local councils of Ankyra in 314 and of Neocaesarea in 315, where the canons of these holy synods were drawn up. The persecution of the Christians flared up again under the Emperor Licinius, the eastern colleague and rival of Saint Constantine. The Empress Constantia, sister of Constantine and wife of Licinius, had a young virgin in her service, Glaphyra, whom Licinius pursued with impure desire. The empress dressed Glaphyra in male clothing and sent her secretly out of Nicomedia. The maiden came at last to Amasea, where she was sheltered by Bishop Basileus and helped him with the building of a church through her gifts. When her hiding place was betrayed and her letter to the empress fell into the emperor's hand, Licinius summoned the saint to Nicomedia. Glaphyra reposed before the order arrived. Basileus presented himself before the emperor with two deacons, Parthenios and Theotimos, and after refusing to deny the faith was beheaded by the sword in the year 322. His body was cast into the sea but was carried by divine providence back to Amasea, where his disciples received it with reverence and buried it on this day.
Righteous virgin martyr Glaphyra
Saint Glaphyra was a young virgin of noble Italian birth who served as handmaid to the Empress Constantia, sister of Saint Constantine the Great and wife of the Emperor Licinius. The emperor, inflamed by an impure passion for the maiden, sought to violate her, but she repulsed his advances and fled for help to her mistress. Constantia, fearing for the chastity and life of her servant, dressed her in male attire, gave her gold and jewels, and sent her secretly out of Nicomedia together with a faithful escort. Glaphyra travelled through Asia Minor and reached Amasea in Pontus, where she was received by the holy bishop Basileus. He sheltered her in the house of a pious Christian and counselled her to live in retirement so as not to bring danger upon the local Church. Hearing that the bishop was building a new church for his flock, she gave him all the gold and treasure she carried with her, and even wrote to Constantia asking for further means to complete the work. The letter fell into the hands of Licinius, who at once gave orders that both she and the bishop should be brought to him. Saint Glaphyra reposed in peace before the soldiers arrived. The Church remembers her with Saint Basileus, who suffered martyrdom on her account.
Saint Justa the nun
Saint Justa is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on this day among the saints listed in the synaxaria of 26 April. The brief notices of the menologion remember her as a nun who served Christ in the monastic life and reposed in peace, whose name is preserved among the company of the saints though few details of her life have survived. She is honoured together with the holy hieromartyr Basileus of Amasea, the virgin Glaphyra, the holy hierarch Stephen of Perm, and the other saints whose memory is kept on this day, joining their voices in prayer before the throne of the Lamb.
Saint Stephen, bishop of Perm and enlightener of the Zyrians
Saint Stephen of Perm was born about the year 1340 in the city of Velikii Ustiug in the north of Russia, the son of a clergyman of the cathedral named Simeon. From his youth he was drawn to the spiritual life, learning to read at an early age and devoting himself to the study of the Scriptures and the Fathers. He took monastic vows at the monastery of Saint Gregory the Theologian at Rostov, where he gathered a great library and learned Greek as well as the language of the Zyrian people, who lived in the forests of the far north and were still given to paganism. With a fervent missionary spirit Stephen invented an alphabet for the Zyrian tongue and translated the Liturgy, the Psalter, parts of the Gospels and many prayers into the language of the people. In 1379 he received the blessing of the metropolitan and went into the country of Perm, where he preached Christ, baptised whole villages, cut down sacred trees of the heathen, and overthrew their idols. He held a public disputation with the famed pagan sorcerer Pam, defeating him by the power of God. In 1383 he was consecrated the first bishop of Lesser Perm. He built churches and monasteries and opened schools where young Zyrians learned the Scriptures in their own tongue. Going to Moscow on church business in 1396, he reposed there in peace and was buried in the Saviour Monastery in the Kremlin. He is honoured as the apostle and enlightener of the Zyrian people.
St Stephen,Bishop of Perm
1396
As a young man he entered monastic life at the monastery of St Gregory the Theologian in Rostov. Learning that the land of Perm (on the western slopes of the Ural Mountains) was still immured in paganism, he was filled with a desire to bring the Gospel to its people. He set about learning the language, created an alphabet and translated the service books. With the blessing of the Metropolitan of Moscow he then set out and began his apostolic labors. When, after much difficulty and many sufferings, he had gathered a community of baptised Christians, he was made Bishop of the region. Once, in his old age, he returned to Moscow, where he reposed in 1396.