Christos Anesti

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The PriestMartyr Methodios, Bishop of Patara

Commemorated on June 20

The PriestMartyr Methodios, Bishop of Patara (Lycian region in Asia Minor), was distinguished for his genuine monastic humility. Calmly and with mildness he instructed his flock, but together with this he firmly defended the purity of Orthodoxy and he energetically contended against heresies, especially the widespread heresy of the Origenists. He left behind him a rich literary legacy: works in defense of Christianity against paganism, explications of Orthodox dogmas against the heresy of Origen, moral discourses, and explanations of Holy Scripture.
Saint Methodios was arrested by the pagans, steadfastly confessed before them his faith in Christ, and in the year 312 he was sentenced to death by beheading.

 

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The Monk Simeon the Pillar-Dweller

Commemorated on May 24

The Monk Simeon the Pillar-Dweller was born in the year 521 in Syrian Antioch from the pious parents John and Martha. Saint Martha (Comm. 4 July)from her youthful years prepared herself for an unmarried life and yearned for monasticism, but her parents insisted on her entering into marriage with the youth John. After ardent prayer in a church in the name of Saint John the Fore-Runner, the future nun was directed in a vision to submit to the will of her parents and enter into marriage. In married life, Saint Martha strove to please God and her husband in everything. She often prayed about granting her a baby and promised to devote him to the service of God. In his appearance to the saint, Saint John the Fore-Runner revealed to the pious Martha that of her would be born a son, who indeed would serve God. When the infant was born, he was named Simeon and baptised at two years of age.
When Simeon was six years old, an earthquake occurred in the city of Antioch, during the time of which his father perished. Simeon during the time of the earthquake was in church. Leaving it, he became lost and spent seven days sheltered by a pious woman. Having again appeared to Blessed Martha, John the Baptist indicated where to find the lost boy. The mother of the saint, having found her lost son, settled after the earthquake on the outskirts of Antioch. Already during his childhood the Lord Jesus Christ appeared several times to Saint Simeon, foretelling him his future exploits and the recompense for them.
The six year old lad Simeon went off into the wilderness, where for a certain time he was situated in complete isolation. During this time a light-bearing Angel guarded and fed him and finally, he arrived at a solitary monastery, the head of which was the hegumen Abba John, pursuing asceticism upon a pillar, and with love he accepted the lad.
After a certain while Saint Simeon turned with a request to the Elder John to permit him also asceticise upon a pillar. A new pillar was erected by the brethren of the monastery with the blessing of the hegumen, not far from his pillar. Having completed the obedience of the seven year old boy into monasticism, Abba John himself raised him up upon this pillar. The young ascetic, strengthened by the Lord, quickly grew spiritually, in his efforts surpassing even his experienced preceptor. For his stringent efforts, Saint Simeon received from God the gift of healing. The fame about the deeds of the young monk began to spread about beyond the bounds of the monastery, and monks and laypeople began to come to him from various places, wanting to hear his counsel and receive healings from infirmities. The humble ascetic continued to pursue asceticism with instructions from his spiritual mentor Abba John.
At 11 years of age the lad decided to pursue asceticism upon still higher a pillar, to the top of which was 40 feet. The bishops of Antioch and Seleukos came to the place of the monk's exploits, and ordained the holy ascetic to the dignity of deacon, and then they permitted him to go up upon the new pillar, on which the Monk Simeon asceticised over the course of 8 years.
The Monk Simeon prayed ardently for the sending down upon him of the Holy Spirit, and the holy prayer of the ascetic was heard. The Holy Spirit came down upon him in the form of a blazing light, filling the ascetic with Divine Wisdom. Alongside with spoken precepts, Saint Simeon dispatched written precepts about repentance, monasticism, about the Incarnation of Christ and about the future Judgement.
After the death of his elder, Saint Simeon structured his life thus: from the rising of the sun until mid-afternoon he read books and copied Holy Scripture, after which he again rose to prayer and prayed all night. When the new day began, having rested somewhat, he began his usual rule of prayer with the rising of the sun.
The Monk Simeon concluded his efforts on the second column and by the decree of God settled upon the Wondrous Mount, having become in his monastery an experienced elder for guidance to monks. The ascent onto the Wondrous Mount was marked by a vision of the Lord, standing atop a column. Saint Simeon continued his exploits at this place where he saw the Lord, at first upon a stone, and then upon a pillar again raised up. Future events were revealed to the Monk Simeon, and thus he foretold the death of the archbishop of Antioch, Ephrem, and the illness of the bishop, Domnos, which overtook him in punishment for his lack of pity. And finally, the Monk Simeon predicted an earthquake for the city of Antioch and urged all the inhabitants to repent themselves of their sins. On the Wondrous Mount Saint Simeon established a monastery, the church of which sick people healed by him built, in gratitude for the mercy shown them. For the needs of the monastery the monk petitioned by prayer a spring of water, and once during the time of a shortage of grain, by his prayer to the Lord wheat was multiplied in the granaries of the monastery. In the year 560 by the command of the Lord the holy ascetic at age 39 received the priestly dignity from the bishop of Seleukos, Dionysios. At age 75 the Monk Simeon was forewarned by the Lord about his impending end. He summoned the brethren of the monastery, instructed them in a farewell blessing talk and peacefully expired to God in the year 596, having toiled in the feat of pillar-dwelling for 68 years.
Just as during life, so also after death the monk worked miracles, healing the blind and lame and leprous, saving many from wild beasts, casting out devils and resuscitating the dead.

 

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The Tikhvonsk Icon of the Mother of God

Commemorated on June 26

The Tikhvonsk Icon of the Mother of God, according to tradition, is one of the icons written by the holy Disciple and Evangelist Luke. In the V Century it was transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople, where the Blakhernae church was built for it. In the year 1383, 70 years before the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, the icon disappeared from the church, and re-appeared amidst a radiant light over the waters of Lake Ladoga. Miraculously taken from place to place, it then remained near the city of Tikhvin. At the place of the appearance of the icon was built a wooden church in honour of the Uspenie-Dormition of the Mother of God. Through the zeal of GreatPrince Vasilii Ivanovich (1505-1533), in place of the wooden church was built a stone church. In 1560 by order of tsar Ivan the Terrible a men's monastery was established nearby the church, and enclosed by a stone wall. During the years 1613-1614 the Swedish army, having seized Novgorod, more than once tried to destroy the monastery, but by the intercession of the Mother of God the monastery was saved. Thus, one time, in sight of the nearby Swedish army, the monks decided to flee from the monastery taking with them the wonderworking icon, but they were not able to remove it from its place. This miracle halted the dispirited, and they remained at the monastery, hoping on the intercession of the Mother of God. The insignificant number of defenders of the monastery successfully repulsed the numerically greater enemy. The invading Swedes then encountered a numerous Russian army, coming from Moscow, like some heavenly host, and they turned to flight. Imperial emissaries arrived at the monastery after the miraculous victory over the Swedes. Taking along a copy of the wonderworking icon, they set off to the village of Stolbovo, 50 versts from Tikhvin, where on 10 February 1617 peace was concluded with the Swedes. The primary pledge of peace from the Russian side was on the transferred copy of the wonderworking icon. Afterwards this copy was taken to Moscow and placed in the Uspensk cathedral, and then at the request of the people of Novgorod, involved then in war with the Swedes, it was sent off to Novgorod and placed in the Sophia cathedral. The All-Russian feast of the Tikhvinsk Icon of the Mother of God, glorified by innumerable miracles, was established by the Church in memory of its miraculous appearance and the vanquishing of enemies through the intercession of the Mother of God.

 

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The Monk Sampson the Hospitable-to-Strangers

Commemorated on June 27

The Monk Sampson the Hospitable-to-Strangers was the son of rich and illustrious Roman parents. In his youth he received an excellent education, he studied the medical arts, and for free he doctored the sick. After the death of his parents Saint Sampson generously distributed alms and set free his slaves, preparing himself to go into the wilderness.
With this intent un mind he soon journeyed from Rome to the East. But the Lord directed him onto a different path, that of service to neighbour, and so Saint Sampson came to Constantinople. Settling into a small house, the saint began to take in the wandering homeless, the poor and the sick, and he attended to them zealously. The Lord blessed the efforts of Saint Sampson and endowed him with the power of wonderworking. He healed the sick not only through being a skilled physician, but also as a bearer of the grace of God. The news about Saint Sampson spread widely. The patriarch, having summoned him, ordained him as presbyter.
One time it was revealed to the grievously sick emperor Justinian (527-565), that he could receive healing only through Saint Sampson. In praying, the saint extended his hand in the direction of the sick emperor, who then received relief, and soon recovered altogether. In gratitude the emperor wanted to reward his healer with silver and gold, but the saint refused and instead asked Justinian to build a domicile for wanderers and the sick. The emperor readily fulfilled his request.
All the rest of his life Saint Sampson devoted to serving his neighbour. He survived into old age and after a short illness he with joy expired to the Lord (+ c. 530). The saint was buried at the church of the holy Martyr Mokias. Many an healing was effected at the grave of Saint Sampson. His home for wanderers and the hospice remained open, and the saint did not cease to care for the suffering. He twice appeared to a neglectful worker of the hospice and upbraided him for his laziness. At the request of an admirer of Saint Sampson the vagrants-home was transformed into a church, and alongside it was built a new edifice for taking in the homeless. During the time of a powerful conflagration at Constantinople the flames did not touch the vagrants-home of Saint Sampson: through his prayers a strong rain poured down, which quenched the fire.

 

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St. Angelina, despotina of Serbia (16th c.)

Commemorated on July 1, December 10

The life of the Serbian ruler Stefan Brankovich and his family was filled with instability and misfortune. After Serbia was seized in 1457 by the Turks, the then Serbian ruler's middle son, Stefan, distinguished by meek disposition and fine knowledge of Holy Scripture, set out to the capital of Turkey after his sister, who had been given to sultan Murat in marriage. But learning however, that the Turks with fanatic cruelty had burned the Mileshevsk monastery, Blessed Stefan rose up in defense of Serbia from oppression. When he married Angelina, the daughter of the prince of Albania, the Turks threatened Blessed Stefan and his family with punishment. With his wife and three children he was forced to hide first in Albania, and then in Italy, where later he died.
Blessed Angelina transferred the undecayed remains of her spouse to Kupinovo. At the end of the XV Century a son of Righteous Stefan and Angelina, Blessed John, became ruler of Serbia. The undecayed relics of Righteous John and his parents were afterwards glorified by many miracles.

 

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Sainted Photii, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia

Commemorated on July 2, September 16

Sainted Photii, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, was by birth a Greek from the Peloponnesian city of Monembaseia (Malbasia). While still in his adolescent years he entered a monastery and took tonsure under the monastic-elder Akakios, a great ascetic (afterwards becoming the metropolitan of Monembaseia). In 1408, when Photii was in Constantinople with the Patriarch on matters entrusted by the metropolitan, the question arose about a replacement for the Russian cathedra-chair after the death of Saint Kiprian (+ 1406, Comm. 16 September). The choice of Patriarch Matthew (1397-1410) fell upon Photii, known for his learning and holiness of life. On 1 September 1408 Saint Photii was made metropolitan and in the next year arrived in Rus'.
He spent half an year at Kiev (September 1409-February 1410), concerning himself over the settling of affairs in the southern dioceses of the Russian Church, included then within the principality of Lithuania, or more precisely as they then called it, of Lithuania and Russia. The saint perceived that the throne of the metropolitan – the spiritual centre of churchly life in Rus' – could not remain in the Kiev lands, where everything increasingly fell under the dependence of Catholic Poland. Following the example of former Russian metropolitans, who transferred their place of dwelling first to Vladimir, then to Moscow, in 1410 on the day of Holy Pascha, Metropolitan Photii arrived in Moscow.
For 22 years the saint asceticised in the difficult service of arch-hierarch of the Russian Church. In grievous conditions of war, fratricidal strife, and pillaging incursions of Tatars he knew how to highly advance the spiritual significance, the material prosperity and well-being of the churches under the Moscow cathedra. Favourable conditions in the Church allowed for Saint Photii to render great assistance to the increasingly impoverished Constantinople Patriarch, and to strengthen the international position of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian realm. The enemies of Orthodoxy more than once tried to subvert the churchly-patriotic service of Saint Photii. In the Spring of 1410, when Saint Photii arrived in Vladimir from Moscow, khan Edigei, having laid waste this portion of the Russian Land for two years, undertook a new campaign with the intent of taking captive the metropolitan himself. A Tatar detachment, headed by the princeling Talychoi "the Exile", suddenly and quickly took Vladimir. But God preserved His righteous saint: the evening before, not suspecting danger, the saint had gone off to the Svyatoozersk monastery beyond the city. When the Tatars attempted pursuit, he concealed himself in a small settlement, surrounded by impassable swamps, at the River Sen'ga. Unable to capture the metropolitan, the rapacious Tatars gave themselves over to a plundering of Vladimir, and especially the Uspensk cathedral church. The doorsman of the cathedral, Patrikei, endured terrible torments and accepted a martyr's death from the plundering Tatars, but he did not reveal the place, where the church sacred items and treasury were hidden.
Through the efforts of holy Metropolitan Photii was restored the canonical unity of prayer of the Russian Church: the separate Lithuanian metropolitanate, established on the initiative of prince Vitovt for the southern and western eparchies (dioceses), was abolished in the year 1420. The saint this same year visited the returned eparchies and greeted the flock with a Circular Missive of teaching. The wise and highly-erudite pastor left behind many an instruction and missive. Great theological significance was had in his denunciation against the heresy of the Strigol'niki, which had arisen at Pskov prior to his time. By his wise efforts the heresy was put to an end (in 1427).
Important Church-historical sources compiled by Saint Photii are his "Order of Selection and Installation of Bishops" (1423), "Discourse on the Seriousness of the Priestly Dignity and the Obligations of Church-servers", and also the "Spiritual Testament", in which he relates about his life. A great work of the saint was likewise the compiling under his guidance of the Obscherussk (All-Russian) Chronicle collation (in about the year 1423).
On 20 April 1430 the holy arch-pastor was informed by an Angel about his impending end and he reposed peacefully in the time allotted him by the Lord, on the feastday of the Placing of the Robe of the Mother of God, on 2 July 1431. His relics were uncovered in the year 1471. In the Armoury Palace of the Moscow Kremlin are preserved two dalmatic-robes ("sakkos") of holy Metropolitan Photii.

 

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The Repose of Nobleborn Princes Vasilii and Konstantin Vsevolodovich of Yaroslavsk

Commemorated on July 3, June 8

The Repose of Nobleborn Princes Vasilii and Konstantin Vsevolodovich of Yaroslavsk: In their youth they lost their father, Vsevolod, who fell in battle with the Tatars (Mongols). Saint Vasilii, the elder brother, succeeded to the throne. A multitude of concerns, tasks and sorrows beset him as prince. The city and the villages were devastated from the invasion of the Tatars, many households remained without shelter and food, and he had to concern himself about everything and about everyone. Besides this, it was necessary to gain the good-will of the Tatar khan, and the holy prince more than once made journey for this reason to the Horde. He suffered also a family misfortune – the loss of his only son. All his tribulations the holy prince suffered without complaint, and he ruled the princedom, like a true Christian: he did not enter into disputes with other princes, he concerned himself over the misfortunate among his subjects, and he built churches. But soon his life, filled with many sorrows, exhausted the strength of the prince, and he took sick and died in the year 1249. After him holy Prince Konstantin succeeded to the throne. He strove to imitate his brother, but to his great dismay, everywhere he saw pillage and murdering done by the Tatars. In 1257 the Tatars fell upon Yaroslavl' itself. The prince came out to fight the enemy, but here in this battle he gave up his life for his country. In the year 1501 the relics of the holy princes were uncovered undecayed and now rest in the Yaroslavsk cathedral.

 

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The Monk Akakios of Sinai (VI Century

Commemorated on July 7, November 29

The Monk Akakios of Sinai lived during the VI Century and was a novice at a certain monastery. The humble monk distinguished himself by his patient and unquestioning obedience to his spiritual-elder, a man of callous character. He forced the monk to toil excessively, starved him with hunger, and beat him without mercy. Despite such treatment, the Monk Akakios meekly endured the affliction and thanked God for everything. Not long surviving such harsh obedience, Saint Akakios died.
The elder after five days told about the death of his disciple to another elder, who did not believe that the young monk was dead. Then this teacher of Akakios called this other elder over to the grave of Akakios and loudly asked: "Brother Akakios, art thou dead?" From the grave was heard a voice: "No, father, not dead; whosoever beareth an obedience, is not wont to die". The startled elder fell down with tears before the grave, asking forgiveness of his disciple.
And after this he changed himself morally, he applied himself in his cell near the grave of Saint Akakios, and in prayer and in meekness he finished out his life. The Monk John of the Ladder Climaticus (Comm. 30 March) offers this tale in his "Ladder" as an example of endurance and obedience, and the rewards for them.