Hieromartyr Simeon, Bishop in Persia, and those with him
343
The Holy Symeon was bishop of the royal cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon in Persia, during a great persecution under King Sapor II. The king had been incited by (Zoroastrian) Magi jealous of the growth of the Faith in their territory, and by some Jews living in Persia. The king was already displeased with the holy bishop: his eunuch, Ustazan, a secret Christian, had denied Christ, but when reprimanded by Symeon, had confessed the Faith before the King, for which he was executed. On Holy Friday of 343 Symeon, along with at least a hundred other servants of the Church, was sent out to be slain. Symeon exhorted each to be of good courage, and was himself slain last. One year later, again on Holy Friday, the King’s eunuch Azat was executed for Christ, along with a great number of the faithful. It is said that more than 1,000 Christians died as martyrs during this persecution.
The Zoroastrians still live in parts of Iran as a small, somewhat persecuted minority under the Islamic government.
Hieromartyr Symeon, bishop in Persia
Saint Symeon was bishop of the royal Persian cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon during the persecution unleashed by king Sapor II (310 to 381). As the Christian community in Persia grew, building churches and ordaining clergy, the Magi who guarded the old religion of the fire-worshippers, joined by certain of the Jews, accused Symeon to the king of being a friend and spy of the Roman emperor. In 344 Sapor issued an edict imposing a heavy double tax upon Christians; when many refused to pay, the king regarded their refusal as rebellion and began a fierce persecution of the Church. Symeon, brought before Sapor in chains, refused to worship the sun or to bow to the king. He was cast into prison together with many of his clergy and people. On Great Friday of that year a great host of martyrs were beheaded before his eyes: bishops, presbyters, deacons and lay people, two of whom were the eunuchs Usthazanes, the king's foster-father, and Pousikios, head of the royal artisans. Saint Symeon comforted each one as they bowed beneath the sword, and when all had been slain he himself was the last to lay his head on the block. The faithful of his church record that one thousand one hundred and fifty martyrs perished with him for the name of Christ. His commemoration is kept on this day, although his actual repose was on Great Friday, 17 April 344.
Saint Agapitus, pope of Rome
Saint Agapitus, also called Agapetus, was bishop of Rome from 13 May 535 until his death in 536. The son of a Roman priest named Gordianus, he was of noble Roman birth and served as archdeacon of the Roman Church before his election to the chair of Peter. Though his pontificate lasted less than a year, he served the Church through some of its most testing times. His first official act was to burn before the assembled clergy the anathema which his predecessor Boniface II had pronounced against his rival Dioscurus, restoring peace to the divided clergy. King Theodahad of the Ostrogoths, fearing the imperial fleet that Justinian was preparing against him, begged Agapitus to undertake an embassy to Constantinople and persuade the emperor to spare Italy. Agapitus, having been compelled to pawn the sacred vessels of the Roman Church to finance the journey, arrived in the imperial city in February 536. There he confronted the patriarch Anthimus, whom he found to be a Monophysite who had unlawfully been transferred from the see of Trebizond to Constantinople. Agapitus deposed Anthimus and personally consecrated his lawful successor Mennas, the first time a Roman bishop performed such a consecration in the East. Shortly afterwards he reposed in Constantinople on 22 April 536; his body was brought back to Rome and buried in Saint Peter's. His feast in the East is kept on 17 April.
Saint Makarios Notaras, archbishop of Corinth
Saint Makarios was born at Trikala of Corinth in 1731 to devout parents descended from the famous Notaras family of Constantinople, his father George being a leading citizen of the region and his mother Anastasia a woman of deep piety. In holy baptism he received the name Michael. From his early years he was drawn to the solitary life and once fled secretly to the Great Cave Monastery, but his father brought him home, where he devoted himself to the study of the holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers. For six years he taught the young people of Corinth without payment. After the death of his godfather, Archbishop Parthenios of Corinth, in 1764, the clergy and people prevailed on Patriarch Samuel of Constantinople to consecrate Michael, still a layman, as their bishop. Receiving the various ranks of orders he was raised to the throne of Corinth and given the name Makarios. He purged the diocese of unworthy clergy, replacing them with virtuous and qualified men, while sending those needing formation to be trained at the monasteries. When the Russo-Turkish war broke out in 1768 he was forced to flee to Zakynthos, then to Hydra, and afterwards he travelled to Mount Athos and to Patmos in pursuit of the contemplative life. There, in collaboration with Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, he gathered the writings of the holy fathers on prayer of the heart and edited the great five-volume Philokalia, first published at Venice in 1782. He also produced the Evergetinos and an edition of Saint Symeon the New Theologian. He was a chief promoter of the movement for frequent communion. Suffering a stroke in 1804, he reposed in peace at Chios on 17 April 1805.
Venerable Akakios, bishop of Melitene
Saint Akakios was a man of great learning and piety who was raised to the episcopal throne of Melitene in Armenia after the repose of his predecessor Saint Otreios. Known for his upright life and sound teaching, he was numbered among the bishops who took part in the Third Ecumenical Council, held at Ephesus in 431, where he stood firmly with Saint Cyril of Alexandria in the defence of the unity of the person of Christ and the divine motherhood of the Theotokos against the teaching of Nestorius. He was a friend and spiritual father of Saint Euthymius the Great, whom he had received as a young man into the clergy of Melitene; and his counsel guided several of the leading hierarchs and ascetics of the eastern Church in his generation. Akakios shepherded his see with quiet wisdom, building churches, caring for the poor, and reconciling those who had been separated from the Church by the heretical preaching of his day. He reposed peacefully about the year 435. His relics were later uncovered and his memory honoured both on this day and on 15 September, when the discovery of his relics is commemorated.