November 10translatedThis page has been translated from Serbian to English. It may contain minor phrasing or syntactic issues.
Lives of the Saints
1. HOLY APOSTLES OLYMPAS, ERASTUS, QUARTUS, RODION, SOSIPATER, AND TERTIUS
They were all from the Seventy Apostles. The last three are also commemorated elsewhere: Rodion on April 8, Sosipater on April 28, and Tertius on October 30. Saint Olympas and Rodion were followers of the Apostle Peter; and when Peter suffered, they also suffered, for by the command of Nero they were beheaded. Erastus was at first steward of the Jerusalem Church, and later bishop in Paneas in Palestine. Quartus was bishop in Beirut; he suffered much but also brought many to the Christian Faith. Sosipater was bishop in Iconium; and Tertius was the second bishop in that same Iconium. They fought spiritually, were victorious, and were crowned with crowns of glory.
2. HOLY MARTYR ORESTES
Orestes was from the city of Tyana in Cappadocia. Saint Orestes was a Christian from birth and a physician by profession. He was interrogated harshly by a certain wicked governor named Maximus in the time of the reign of Diocletian. When the governor first advised him to renounce Christ and worship the idols, Orestes answered: "If thou didst know the power of the Crucified One, thou wouldst cast aside the falsehood of idols and wouldst worship the true God." For this he was severely beaten, then scraped and torn, then burned with red-hot iron, and finally thrown into prison to die of starvation. Young Orestes spent seven days without bread or water. On the eighth day he was again brought before the governor, who began to threaten him terribly with tortures. To this Orestes answered: "I am ready to endure every torture, having the sign of my Lord Jesus Christ depicted upon my heart." Then the governor commanded that they drive twenty iron nails into his feet, then bind him to a horse and drive him over thorns and stones until the martyr of God expired. At the place where Orestes' body was thrown, a certain man appeared, radiant as the sun, and he gathered all of Orestes' bones and carried them to a hill near the city of Tyana and reverently buried them there. This wondrous saint Orestes appeared to Saint Demetrius of Rostov and showed him all his wounds on his body.
3. SAINT NONNUS, BISHOP OF HELIOPOLIS
Nonnus became famous as a great ascetic in the Tabennisi Monastery in Egypt, for which reason he was chosen as bishop in the year 448 for the Diocese of Edessa. Later he transferred to the Diocese of Heliopolis. Here he converted thirty thousand Arabs to the Christian Faith. After the death of Bishop Iba, Saint Nonnus returned again to Edessa, where he remained until his death, namely until the year 471 when he also reposed. Through his prayers the famous sinner Pelagia was converted to the Christian Faith, who afterward became renowned for the holiness of her life (see October 8).
Hymn of Praise
Young Orestes spared not his youth, Before the judge he boasted of Christ, The Living God, the only and holy One, For the human race on the Cross Crucified. Holy Orestes, flogged upon his shoulders, Mocked the dead idols; Wondrous Orestes, burned in the fire, Was cooled by the dew of God's Spirit. Into his feet they drove nails, All his body they covered with wounds; Mighty in spirit Orestes prayed, Giving thanks to God, That He made him worthy of such torments, That He adopted him as His son. O Orestes, pleasing one to God, And brave martyr for Christ, Help us until our last days, Help us with thy prayers, That we also may end life honorably, That we may be made worthy of Paradise with thee.
Reflection
The wondrous ways of Divine Providence were shown in an extraordinary and miraculous event in the monastery of Dochiariou in the time of blessed Neophyte, the nephew of Saint Euthymius. When after Euthymius' death Neophyte began to build a new and larger church to Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, his means ran out, and he began to pray to God for help. And God helped him in a miraculous way. Opposite the Dochiariou Monastery lies the peninsula of Longos, or Sika. On that island Neophyte had a small metochion, near which there stood a human statue of stone. On that statue it was written: "Whoever strikes me on the head will find much gold." Many struck the statue on the head, but found nothing. Neophyte sent on some errand the monastic obedientiary Basil. This Basil one day stood before the statue and marveled at the mysteriousness of that inscription. Just then the sun rose; and the statue cast its shadow toward the west. Basil took a stone and struck the head of the shadow, and there he began to dig, and found a cauldron full of gold coins. Immediately he ran and told the abbot Neophyte. The abbot appointed three honorable monks to go with Basil on the monastery boat and bring the gold. So these monks went, loaded the gold onto the boat and set off on their return. But when they were at sea, the devil pressed into their minds the thought to seize that gold for themselves. And those three honorable monks, deceived by the devil, bound Basil with a rope, hung a stone around his neck, and threw him into the sea. When Basil fell to the bottom of the sea, suddenly the Archangels Michael and Gabriel appeared to him as two radiant youths, took him, carried him to the Dochiariou church, and placed him in the locked church before the Royal Doors. The next day when the monks entered the church, they found Basil bound, lying before the altar. The abbot questioned him and learned the miraculous event concerning him. Just then those three monks also arrived, who, seeing Basil alive, were as though struck by lightning. The abbot justly punished them, and took the gold and finished the church, but did not dedicate it to Saint Nicholas but to the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel. That is why the old church of Euthymius in Dochiariou is called the church of Saint Nicholas, while the new one is called the church of the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel.
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous salvation of Paul from the viper (Acts 28), namely:
1. How Paul gathered sticks and threw them on the fire; 2. How a venomous viper leaped out from the fire and fastened onto his hand; 3. How he shook off the viper and suffered no harm.
Homily
on the one peace and reconciler
For He is our peace, who hath made both one (Eph. 2:14)
Between the Israelites and the Gentiles there gaped an abyss which no mortal could fill and level. The Lord Christ alone could do this, and He did it. That which was far off He brought near and joined together. By what means? By His Blood. Namely, by His sacrifice He replaced all other sacrifices. Thereby He redeemed and replaced by Himself all of nature, from which men took and offered to God (that is, to the gods) as a sacrifice. One sacrifice is sufficient both for the Israelites and for the Gentiles – that is the sacrifice of Christ. Furthermore, animal blood divided the Israelites and the Gentiles: by the place where it was offered, by the divinity to whom it was offered, by the kind of animal that was offered, and by the manner in which it was offered. Now the most pure Blood of Christ has come in place of all that blood, and this Blood of Christ unites and makes brothers of the Israelites and the Gentiles. Both the one and the other become blood brothers, just as we all believers are blood brothers, because of the Blood of Christ by which we were redeemed from the curse and by which we are now nourished. The middle wall of the fence which divided and separated, He destroyed, and He joined together the hands and hearts of the Israelites and the Gentiles. By what means? By His Body. That is: by the living truth, the truth incarnate in Himself. The shadow of the Law replaced the truth among the Israelites, and fables among the Gentiles. Both of these He set aside and showed the living truth in the flesh. And the world saw and rejoiced.
O Lord Jesus Christ, most good Redeemer of ours, unite the hearts of us Thy faithful. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.