Holy Martyrs Maurice and Photinus of Apamea
305
Maurice was a distinguished military commander of the Syrian city of Apamea who held considerable authority and respect among the soldiers under his command. When the imperial authorities learned that Maurice was proclaiming the faith in Christ and converting his subordinates to the Orthodox Christian religion, he was brought before the authorities to answer charges of apostasy from the imperial pagan gods. Maurice, together with his beloved son Photinus and the seventy soldiers under his military command, stood firm in their confession of Christ, neither yielding to persuasion nor succumbing to threats against their lives. They endured systematic and cruel torture, being beaten mercilessly, burned with fire and torn with iron implements. The young man Photinus, who had heroically borne the torments inflicted upon him, was eventually beheaded by the sword before the very eyes of his father. The sight of his son's martyrdom did not break Maurice's resolve but rather strengthened his faith, knowing that his child had been granted the crown of martyrdom.
The remaining confessors were subsequently led to a swampy place infested with mosquitoes, wasps and gnats, where they were bound to trees and covered with honey to enhance their suffering. Weakened by hunger and thirst, these holy martyrs endured this terrible torment for ten days, yet they never ceased their prayers and praises of God. Finally the Lord granted them relief from their earthly struggles in the year 305, during the reign of the emperor Maximian Galerius.
Saint Athanasius the Confessor of Constantinople
821
Saint Athanasius was born in Constantinople to pious and affluent parents who ensured he received both a classical education and thorough grounding in Holy Scripture and the spiritual life. From his earliest years he felt called to dedicate himself entirely to the service of God. Upon reaching maturity, he retired to the Pavlopetrios monastery in Nicomedia, a community dedicated to the memory of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, where he embraced the monastic vocation.
During the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820), Saint Athanasius endured severe persecution for his steadfast defence of the veneration of holy icons. He was subjected to vicious torture and subsequently exiled, suffering imprisonment, grief and anguish for his Orthodox faith. Despite the ferocity of imperial opposition and the horrors inflicted upon his body, he remained unwavering in his confession of the Orthodox teaching, never wavering in his witness to the sacred tradition. Saint Athanasius continued to confess the Orthodox Faith until the very end of his earthly existence, and he fell asleep in the Lord peacefully in the year 821, departing to the eternal rest that awaits the faithful.
Uncovering of the relics of the Holy Martyrs at the gate of Eugenius at Constantinople
c. 423
“At the time of the holy Patriarch Thomas I of Constantinople (607-610), the relics of some unknown holy Martyrs were discovered buried in the district of Eugenius. As soon as the Patriarch exposed them for the veneration of the people who gathered from all over the city, numerous healings took place.
“Many years had gone by when a clergyman named Nicolas, who worked as a book copyist, learnt by divine revelation that among these anonymous relics were those of Saint Paul’s disciples, the holy apostles Andronicus and Junia, who are mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans (16:7). The Emperor Andronicus I (1183-5) built a beautiful church at the place where thise relics were venerated.” (Synaxarion)
Venerable Limnaeus, hermit of Syria
Venerable Limnaeus was a Syrian ascetic who devoted himself to monastic life under the spiritual direction of the great Saint Thalassius, dwelling with his elder for a considerable time. Through constant association with this accomplished master, Limnaeus acquired the virtues characteristic of his teacher, namely simplicity of manner, gentleness and profound humility. After establishing himself in these spiritual foundations, Limnaeus joined the venerable Saint Maron and together with him pursued a life of rigorous mortification atop a mountain, exposed to the elements without shelter or protection. He constructed a small stone enclosure without a roof, and through a narrow aperture cut into its walls, he conversed with those who approached seeking his counsel and prayers. After the death of Saint Thalassius, Limnaeus continued his labours with Saint Maron, witnessing to the power of monastic dedication and the grace of God throughout his long years of solitary struggle.
Venerable Thalassius, hermit of Syria
440
Venerable Thalassius was a fifth-century ascetic who withdrew from the world to practise strict monasticism in the deserts of Syria. At a young age he left secular life and established himself on a hill near the village of Targala, where he remained for thirty-eight years engaged in unceasing prayer and ascetic labour. Throughout this extended period of spiritual struggle, he neither possessed nor sought shelter, enduring the elements without roof or cell, relying entirely upon divine providence. He became renowned for his exceptional virtue and wisdom, attracting many who sought his spiritual guidance. His practice of profound silence as a form of ascetical discipline became widely known, and he served as an example to countless monks and ascetics who sought to emulate his unwavering commitment to prayer and mortification of the flesh. Saint Thalassius reposed peacefully in the year 440.