Holy Martyr Salonas the Roman
The Holy Martyr Salonas the Roman is named in the synaxaria of the Orthodox Church on 23 May among those early martyrs of the city of Rome whose names alone, with the manner of their death, have come down to us. According to the brief notices preserved in the Greek Synaxaristes, Salonas suffered for his confession of Christ during one of the persecutions of the early centuries and was put to death by the sword. Nothing further of his life or trial is recorded; like many of the early Roman martyrs his memory has been kept in the prayers and hymns of the Church on the day of his death, that the faithful may share by prayer in his contest and ask his intercession. He is commemorated together with Saint Michael the Confessor of Synnada and Saint Salonas's brother martyrs in the Orthodox calendar of this day, and his witness joins that of the great cloud of unknown martyrs whom the Church remembers in her every Liturgy.
Saint Michael the Confessor, Bishop of Synnada
Saint Michael the Confessor was metropolitan of Synnada in Phrygia from about 784 until 815. He was consecrated to the See of Synnada by Saint Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and through his holy life, learning, and pastoral wisdom he won the love of his people and the high regard of the emperors Nicephorus I and Michael I Rangabe, who entrusted him with diplomatic missions to the caliph Harun al-Rashid and to the emperor Charlemagne. Saint Michael was present among the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 787, where the veneration of the holy icons was vindicated. When the iconoclast Leo the Armenian (813 to 820) seized the imperial throne and began to drive Orthodox bishops from their sees and replace them with heretics, Saint Michael fearlessly opposed the new persecution and openly denounced the heresy. For this Leo banished him to the city of Eudokias, where the Confessor reposed in exile about the year 821, having borne the loss of his see and the hardships of banishment for the sake of the holy icons of Christ and His Mother.
Translation of the Relics of Saint Leontius, Bishop of Rostov
Saint Leontius, Bishop of Rostov, was one of the first hierarchs to evangelise the still half-pagan land of Rostov in the eleventh century, and he sealed his apostolic labours with martyric blood, reposing about the year 1073. He was buried in the wooden cathedral of the Most Holy Mother of God in Rostov, and after that church was destroyed by fire a new stone cathedral was built on the same site by order of Prince Andrew Bogolyubsky. While the foundations were being dug in 1164 the incorrupt relics of Saint Leontius were uncovered, fragrant and shining with light, and many miracles of healing began at once to flow from them. The Russian Church appointed his commemoration on this day in remembrance of that uncovering and translation of the relics. By the year 1253, Saint Cyril, Bishop of Rostov, was speaking of the wonders worked at the saint's tomb to the Tatar khan, so widely had the fame of Saint Leontius spread. The holy relics rest to this day at Rostov, where Saint Leontius is honoured as the apostle and first patron of the city.
Venerable Euphrosyne, Abbess of Polotsk
Venerable Euphrosyne of Polotsk (1104 to 1167) was the granddaughter of Vseslav, prince of Polotsk, and the daughter of Prince Svyatoslav-George Vseslavich of Vitebsk. Baptised Predslava, she was noted from earliest childhood for her love of prayer and her zeal for sacred reading. Refusing every proposal of marriage, she ran away to the convent where her aunt was abbess, was tonsured a nun and given the name Euphrosyne. With the blessing of Bishop Elias of Polotsk, she settled near the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom and devoted herself to copying sacred books. About the year 1128 the bishop entrusted her with the founding of a women's monastery on a place called Selce, which became the Saviour-Transfiguration Monastery; there she taught the maidens to copy books, to sing, to embroider, and to practise other handicrafts, and she also founded a men's monastery dedicated to the Mother of God. The cathedral she built in 1161 stands to this day, and for it she commissioned from the master Lazar Bohsha the famed jewelled Cross of Saint Euphrosyne. Toward the end of her life she made pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where she reposed in Jerusalem on 23 May 1167 and was buried in the Lavra of Saint Sabbas; her relics were later transferred to the Kiev Caves, and finally returned to Polotsk in 1910. She is one of the patron saints of Belarus.
Holy Myrrh-bearer Mary, wife of Cleopas
Holy Martyr Michael of St Sabbas' Monastery
9th c.
When his parents died, the young Michael gave away all his goods and travelled to Jerusalem, where he entered the monastery of St Sabbas the Sanctified. Once he was sent into town to sell some handwork for the monastery. A eunuch of an Arab princess met him in the street and brought him to princess’ home to show his wares. (Jerusalem was ruled by Muslim Arabs at that time.) The princess, like Potiphar’s wife, conceived an illicit passion for the young monk and invited him to her bed. When he refused, the angry princess had him beaten and taken to the Sultan, where she accused him of blasphemy against Mohammed. The Sultan tried to make him accept Islam, but he refused. When a dose of poison had no effect on the holy Michael, the Sultan had him publicly beheaded in the center of Jerusalem. The monks retrieved his body and gave it honorable burial at his monastery.
Holy Virgin Euphrosyne, Princess of Polotsk
1173
“She was the daughter of Prince Vseslav of Polotsk. When her parents wished her to be married, she ran away to a monastery and became a nun. An angel of the Lord appeared to her three times to show her the place where she was to build a new monastery for virgins. She brought her own sister, Evdokia, into monasticism and many other young girls from the ranks of the aristocracy. One kinswoman of hers, Zvenislava, a princess of Borisov, brought all her wealth, clothing and precious jewels, and said: ‘I count all the beauty of this world as naught, and wish to give these fine things, prepared for my marriage, to the Church of the Saviour. And I desire to espouse myself to Him in a spiritual marriage, and to bow my head beneath His easy and light yoke.’ Euphrosyne professed her too, and gave her the name Evpraxia. In old age, Euphrosyne evinced a desire to die in Jerusalem, and prayed for this boon. God heard her prayer, and she did indeed die in the monastery of St Theodosius in Jerusalem on May 23rd, 1173, during a visit there.” (Prologue)