January 4translatedThis page has been translated from Serbian to English. It may contain minor phrasing or syntactic issues.
The Lives of the Saints
1. THE SYNAXIS OF THE SEVENTY APOSTLES
Besides the twelve great apostles, the Lord chose seventy other, lesser apostles, and sent them to preach the Gospel, "And he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come... Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves" (Luke 10:1, 3). But just as one of the Twelve, Judas, fell away from the Lord, so some of these Seventy abandoned the Lord not with the intention of betrayal, but through human weakness and lack of faith (John 6:66). And just as Judas's place was filled by another apostle, so the places of these were filled by other chosen ones. These apostles labored at the same task as the twelve great apostles, they were helpers to the Twelve in spreading and establishing the Church of God in the world. Many torments and afflictions they endured from men and demons, but their firm faith and burning love toward the Risen Lord made them victors over the world and heirs of the Heavenly Kingdom.
2. EUSTATHIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF SERBIA
Eustathius was born in the district of Budimlje of God-fearing parents. As a young man he took monastic vows in Zeta, then passed to a higher ascetic struggle in Hilandar. In time he became the igumen of Hilandar. And as igumen he was elected Bishop of Zeta, and after a certain time also Archbishop of Serbia. He was a man of high virtue and governed the flock of Christ with zeal and love. He reposed peacefully in the year 1279 in old age, crying out before death: "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." His relics rest beneath the floor in the church of the Patriarchate of Peć.
3. THE EUNUCH OF QUEEN CANDACE
The Apostle Philip baptized this black man and eunuch (Acts 8:26-39). After baptism the eunuch returned home and began to preach Christ. He was the first apostle of the faith among the black people in Ethiopia. He ended his life as a martyr and was deemed worthy of the Kingdom of God.
4. VENERABLE MARTYR ONUPHRIUS OF HILANDAR
In his youth he angered his parents and before the Turks declared that he would become a Turk. Immediately afterward he repented of those words, went to Hilandar where he took monastic vows. Tormented by his conscience, he resolved upon martyrdom. Therefore, with the blessing of his spiritual father, he went to Trnovo, where he presented himself to the Turks, declared himself a Christian, mocked Muhammad, for which he was beheaded on January 4, 1818 in the thirty-second year of his life. The body of this spiritual knight was not preserved, for the Turks cast it into the sea.
Hymn of Praise
O knights of the cross, sons of light, You have not yet passed away, children of the future, For you are not dead, as Christ is not, But alive with a life that never decays. The crown-giving Lord crowned you beautifully For you proclaimed His holy name loudly Before emperors and princes, before terrible executioners. You served God—the world repaid you with torment. You walked after Christ, O Christ's bees! You filled the world with honey, filled the bowls! You soothed souls, calmed passions, With Christ's fragrance you incensed the earth, For you were both light to the world and incense to it. Seventy companions, all with the same love, Like branches with the trunk all united with Christ; Seventy stars around the Sun—Christ, And there are the angels, and the Most Pure Virgin, There is ineffable sweetness, unseen joy, Of glorious victors over passing time. Holy apostles, glory to you and praise, From your blood righteousness has blossomed.
Reflection
God hears the prayers of the righteous. This is clearly seen from the lives of Moses and Elijah and the other Old Testament righteous ones and prophets, as well as from the lives of the apostles and saints. When Saint Genevieve as a nun was practicing asceticism in Paris, it came to pass that Attila with his wild Huns surrounded Paris. Fear and terror seized all the inhabitants of Paris who at any hour expected the capture of the city by the enemy. Then Saint Genevieve called upon the people to fast and pray to God and the disaster would be averted. A multitude of men and women responded to the call of this saint and began to fast and pray. Genevieve herself fasted the most and prayed to God most fervently. After a short time the enemy turned away from Paris, without any visible cause, and went in another direction. What the sword of many sinners cannot accomplish, the prayer of one righteous person can.
Contemplation
Contemplate the richness of God's power, wisdom and love, namely:
1. The richness of that power, wisdom and love, shown in created nature; 2. The richness of that power, wisdom and love, revealed to the world through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Homily
on the citizens of that world
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (John 17:16)
Christ the Lord is not of this world but only in the garment of this world. He is a commander, disguised in the garment of a captive, to save the captives, enslaved by sin, matter and Satan. And as is the commander, so are His soldiers. They also in spirit are not of this world: they are not captives but free, they are not slaves but masters, they are not perishable but immortal, they are not lost but saved. Such are all those whom Christ recruited and who, having tasted immortal life, voluntarily renounced the world and joined Him, and remained faithful to Him until the end of life on earth. Abba Moses said: "No one can enter into the army of Christ, if he is not all like fire, and does not despise honors and comfort, and if he does not cut off all bodily desires, and does not keep all the commandments of God." Judas was also recruited, but he fell away and loved the dungeon more than the royal court, and slavery more than freedom, and decay more than immortality, and perdition more than salvation. But the other apostolic recruits, great and small, remained faithful to Him until the end, and won the victory, which glorified them on earth among men and in heaven among the angels. Therefore they are glorified and blessed both on earth and in heaven. All who were glorified by the world, perished with the world, and those who were glorified by Christ, were saved by Christ. The glory of the world is death, and the glory of Christ is life, eternal life and never dying.
O immortal Lord, although we also are of the world by body and sin, recruit us into Thy army, which is not of the world by spirit, by power, by wisdom and love. That we also, when we die to the world, may live in Thy immortal kingdom, with the angels, apostles and saints. Through the love and prayers of Thy holy apostles. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.