November 12translatedThis page has been translated from Serbian to English. It may contain minor phrasing or syntactic issues.
Lives of the Saints
1. SAINT JOHN THE MERCIFUL, Patriarch of Alexandria
John was born on the island of Cyprus in a princely family. His father was Prince Epiphanius. He was raised from childhood as a true Christian. At the insistence of his parents he married and had children. But by God's Providence both his children and his wife departed from this life to the next. Famous for his mercy and piety, John was chosen as Patriarch of Alexandria in the time of Emperor Heraclius. For ten years he governed the Alexandrian Church as a true shepherd, guarding it from pagans and heretics. He was a model of meekness, mercy, and love of mankind. "If thou desirest nobility," he would say, "seek it not in blood but in virtue, for that is true nobility." All the saints were distinguished by mercy, but Saint John gave himself completely to this wondrous virtue. Once while celebrating the Liturgy, the patriarch remembered the words of Christ: If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee (Matt. 5:23-24), and he remembered that one of the clergy there in the church bore ill will toward him; he quickly left the holy gifts, approached that cleric, fell before his feet, and begged forgiveness. And only when he was reconciled with that man did he return to the altar. Another time, going to the church of Saints Cyrus and John, it happened that a certain poor widow met him and began to tell him of her poverty. The patriarch's attendants grew weary of the woman's long complaining, and told the bishop to hurry to the church for the service, and after the service he could hear the woman. Saint John answered them: "But how will God hear me now if I do not hear her?" And he would not move from the spot until he heard the widow's complaint to the end. When the Persians attacked Egypt, Patriarch John boarded a ship to escape the danger. Along the way he fell ill, and reaching Cyprus he died in his birthplace in the year 620, and passed into the immortal kingdom of his Lord. His wonderworking relics were transferred first to Constantinople, then to Budapest, and finally to Pressburg.
2. HOLY PROPHET AHIJAH of Shiloh
Ahijah prophesied one thousand years before Christ. He foretold to Jeroboam, the servant of Solomon, that he would reign over ten tribes of Israel (I Kings 11:29).
3. VENERABLE NILUS OF SINAI
Nilus was at first a prefect in the capital, Constantinople. As a married man he had one son and one daughter. Seeing the corrupt life of the capital, he agreed with his wife that they should withdraw from the world. And so they did. His wife with their daughter went to a women's monastery in Egypt, while Nilus with his son Theodulus went to Mount Sinai. For a full sixty years Saint Nilus struggled ascetically on Sinai. He wrote beautiful books on the spiritual life. He reposed peacefully around the year 450, in the eightieth year of his earthly life, and passed into the blessed heavenly life. His holy word is this: "Bodily passions derive their origin from bodily needs, and against them abstinence is necessary; while passions of the soul are born from the needs of the soul, and against them prayer is necessary."
4. VENERABLE NILUS THE MYRRH-GUSHER
This Nilus was a native of Morea. As a hieromonk he came with his uncle to the Holy Mountain. He struggled ascetically as a hermit in a deserted place called Holy Stone. When he reposed, myrrh flowed from him in such abundance that it streamed from the mountaintop into the sea. This wonderworking myrrh attracted sick people from all sides. The disciple of Saint Nilus grew weary of the multitude of visitors, and in prayer complained to his spiritual father, Saint Nilus. And the flowing of myrrh at once ceased. Saint Nilus struggled ascetically in the full sense like the ancient saints. He reposed in the seventeenth century.
Hymn of Praise
Holy Nilus of Sinai addresses the monks: – Speak the name of Jesus in your heart! Train your heart in guilelessness, Your body in purity and abstinence. If you are wronged, endure the wrong, Thus will the wrongdoer feel remorse. Weep for the sinner even when he progresses: He is traveling toward eternal justice. If you suffer hardships, they serve you, For hardships are thorns on which roses grow. When you pray to God, seek not pleasure, But seek what brings profit to the soul. Fear not death, but await the death of the body; Before shame from men, be ashamed before the angels. Avoid temptation and seek it not yourself, But when it comes, show yourself a hero; Whoever frequently receives communion with the gentle Christ, Christ dwells in him as in a temple, With men speak little and rarely But with God speak often, and ever more often. Thus Nilus of Sinai taught the monks, And all his words he testified by deeds.
Reflection
To many holy men and women it has been revealed beforehand when they will die and change from this life. This is a great gift from heaven. But without awaiting this gift, we unworthy ones ought every day through repentance to prepare ourselves for our departure. One may flee from men but never from God. When Saint John the Merciful was fleeing from the Persians out of Egypt, a certain radiant man with a golden scepter in his hand appeared to him on the ship and said to him: "The King of kings summons thee to Himself." John understood these words and began to prepare for death, which soon came upon him. To holy King Stephen Dechanski, his beloved saint Nicholas appeared frequently, and he appeared to him also before his death and said to him: "Stephen, prepare thyself for thy departure; soon thou shalt stand before the Lord." In mercy these two saints were very similar. Of the immeasurable wealth which John possessed as patriarch at the Alexandrian Church, at his death he had only one-third of a dinar, and this he ordered to be given to the poor. And when Dechanski was in the Pantokrator Monastery in Constantinople, a certain merciful Serbian nobleman secretly sent him a considerable sum of money. "I thank the good lord for his love," Stephen answered the bearer, "but he will give me greater joy if the money intended for me he distributes to the poor."
Contemplation
Contemplate the courage of the Apostle Paul (Acts 28), namely:
1. How he sat for two years in chains in Rome; 2. How he freely preached the Gospel to the Gentiles and the Jews, fearing no one; 3. How neither chains, nor prison, nor death itself could turn him from preaching Christ.
Homily
on how strangers became household members
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God (Eph. 2:19)
Before the coming of Christ the Lord, it appeared that only the Jews were near to God while the Gentiles were far off. In actual fact both Jews and Gentiles were equally distant from God and from true worship of God. Then He came, Christ the Savior, and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near, and through this He brought both—that is, both Jews and Gentiles—in one Spirit to the Father. In the new creation, or the new man, or the Church of God, there is one Spirit; and everyone who enters the Church of God receives that Spirit, so that however much the number of members of the Church increases, there always remains the same one Spirit of God; and however many peoples and tribes and races enter the Church of God, the Spirit does not change but remains ever and always one and the same Spirit. That is why you Gentiles are not strangers and foreigners in the Church, but like all other members of the Church are fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God. For the Church is founded upon holiness, and its cornerstone is the Holy One above all holy ones, and according to the plan all its members ought to be holy. Saints are also called all those who lived before Christ but awaited Christ and hoped in Him, as well as those who lived after Christ acknowledging Christ as Lord the Son of God, as Savior, Redeemer, Resurrector, and Judge. Sin divides and estranges from God. But through Christ the Lord the division and estrangement vanished, and all the faithful—whether they were formerly Jews or Gentiles—became of the household of God. All this is because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ. O my brethren, the Lord Christ has granted us something higher and more precious than this life – He has granted us peace and friendship with God. And this is greater and more precious than life in estrangement from God.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Peacemaker and Peace-giver, sustain us to the end in peace with God. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.