November 6verifiedThis page has been verified with a close reading. It should read in natural hagiographic English.
Lives of the Saints
1. SAINT PAUL THE CONFESSOR, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
When Blessed Patriarch Alexander lay on his deathbed, the grieving faithful asked him whom he was leaving as chief pastor for the rational flock of Christ. The ailing patriarch then said to them: "If you desire to have a pastor who will teach you and shine forth in virtues, choose Paul; but if you desire to have only a handsome man, outwardly adorned, choose Macedonius." The people chose Paul. But this did not please the Arian heretics, nor did it please Emperor Constantius, who was at that time in Antioch. And soon Paul was deposed, and together with Saint Athanasius the Great he fled to Rome, where both of them were well received by Pope Julius and Emperor Constans, who upheld them in their Orthodox Faith. By letter from Emperor Constans and the Pope, Paul was returned to his throne, but when Emperor Constans died, the Arians raised their heads and drove the Orthodox patriarch into exile in Cucusus in Armenia. While serving the Divine Liturgy once during his exile, Saint Paul was attacked by the Arians and strangled with his omophorion in the year 351. In the time of Emperor Theodosius in the year 381, his relics were transferred to Constantinople, and in 1236 to Venice, where they remain to this day. His beloved clerics and secretaries Marcian and Martyrius suffered shortly after their patriarch (see October 25).
2. VENERABLE BARLAAM THE WONDERWORKER OF KHUTYN
Barlaam was born and raised as a Christian in Great Novgorod. After the death of his parents he became a monk and devoted himself to arduous ascetical labors. He founded a monastery on the bank of the River Volkhov, at the place where heavenly light appeared to him. During his life and after his death he was a great wonderworker, seeing into the secrets of men, casting out unclean spirits, and healing all manner of illnesses in people. A servant of Prince Basil Vasilievich was gravely ill, and he begged to be taken to the grave of Saint Barlaam. He also ordered that if he should die along the way, they should carry him dead to the saint. And so it happened. He died on the journey, and they carried him dead to the monastery, where he came to life and arose and venerated the grave of the saint. In the year 1471, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered that the saint's grave be opened. As soon as they began to uncover it, a flame rose from the grave and blazed up the walls of the church. The tsar was so frightened that he fled from the temple, and in his haste he forgot his staff, which to this day is kept beside the saint's grave. In commemoration of this miracle, Saint Barlaam is celebrated again on the Friday after the Sunday of All Saints.
3. COMMEMORATION OF THE FALLING OF ASHES FROM THE SKY
This occurred in Constantinople in the year 472 during the time of Emperor Leo the Great and Patriarch Gennadius.
Hymn of Praise
Our Lord is mercy and goodness itself Yet because of human sins He permits sufferings: Floods, illnesses, earthquakes and droughts, Terrors and torments upon bodies and souls. Whoever does not see the Father when He offers gifts Let him see the Judge when He judges righteously. The fearsome Judge has many servants For human salvation He makes use of all: The earth gives thorns, snakes and wild beasts And heaven gives floods, lightning and thunder, Evil winds bring illness, the sun heat and darkness, The field – either wheat or empty straw. As many gifts prepared for the faithful So many scourges woven for the malicious. Gentle dew waters Adam's fields But the flaming sword mows down Sodom and Gomorrah. Above all other creatures God loves man Therefore He forgives much, therefore He waits long. But when even God's patience is exhausted Then fire does its work instead of dew.
Reflection
When God can bring forth water from stone for the comfort of men, He can also send fire from heaven for punishment. The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah represents a classic example of God's punishment upon hardened sinners. That God can repeat this punishment in another place, He showed over Constantinople in the time of Emperor Leo the Great and Patriarch Gennadius in the year 472. On November 6 of that year, at noon, the sky suddenly darkened with thick black clouds, from which darkness fell upon the earth as well. These clouds were here and there as if set ablaze with fire, then darkened again. This phenomenon lasted over Constantinople for a full forty days. The terrified people turned to repentance and prayer, and together with the emperor and patriarch they went in procession through the streets from church to church, weeping and crying out in supplication to God. On the last day, hot black ash began to fall from the clouds, falling like rain from evening until midnight, then it ceased. The next day dawned clear and bright, but sooty ash lay on the ground to the height of a span. With great labor the people cleaned their homes and streets of this sooty ash, but all the crops in the fields perished irrevocably. And everyone who had understanding understood and felt this phenomenon as God's punishment, and moreover as a mitigated punishment from God, because of the people's swift repentance before the Lord God. Had there not been this swift repentance of the people for their great and accumulated sins, who knows what would have happened to Constantinople in those days? But the repentance of sinners came in time, and the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and the numerous saints and martyrs of Constantinople came, and the punishment was greatly mitigated.
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous power of healing that proceeded from the Apostle Paul (Acts 19), namely:
1. How people carried his handkerchiefs and aprons and placed them on the sick; 2. How all the sick were healed, and evil spirits fled from the mad; 3. How the word of the Savior came true, that whoever believes in Him will do even greater miracles than He (John 14:12).
Homily
on the head of the church and the body of Christ
And gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body (Eph. 1:22-23).
Beheaded humanity regained its head in the Lord Jesus risen from the dead. The severed body began to cleave to its Head, part by part, limb by limb. Not all people are the body, but only those who believe in Christ the Lord; all are called, but only those who respond are received under the Head. Those who respond constitute the body, which is called the Church, and of which the Lord is the Head. And just as the risen and glorified Man Jesus is exalted by the Holy Trinity above all and everything on earth and in heaven, so too will His Church, His body, be raised up to its Head, that is, above all and everything. The entire Church together with its Head will stand at the right hand of the Holy Trinity, for where the head is, there is the body also. To such height, greatness and glory will be raised redeemed and penitent sinners, once enemies of God, gone astray like the prodigal son and beheaded like a dead corpse, but now adopted through Christ and because of Christ, and clothed in the beauty of divine life and radiance. For it is a great thing, brethren, the Incarnation of the Son of God on earth, and His suffering on the Cross, and His death for our sake. His visitation to earth brought an immense change in the destiny of men and in the meaning of all creation. He changed everything and made all things new. Therefore, brethren, let us not live and conduct ourselves as the old man but as the new, let us not live for sin but for righteousness, let us conduct ourselves not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. That we might be made worthy of that height, greatness and glory to which we are called by our Head.
O Lord Jesus, Head of Thy Holy Church, make us worthy to be eternally members of Thy most pure body. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.