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Appearance of the "Kazan" icon of the Most Holy Theotokos
1579
“In Kazan, in 1579, the nine-year old Matrona, whose parents’ home had burned down in a fire, had a dream in which she beheld an icon of the Theotokos and heard a voice commanding her to recover this icon from the ashes of the ruined house. The icon was found wrapped in an old piece of cloth under the stove, where it may have been hidden during the Tartar invasions. The icon was finally brought to the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, where it became renowned for the healings that the Mother of God wrought through it for the blind… The icon of Kazan is one of the most beloved icons of the Mother of God in Russia.” (Great Horologion)
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Holy great martyr Procopius of Caesarea in Palestine
The holy great martyr Procopius, in the world Neanius, was a native of Jerusalem who lived and suffered during the reign of the emperor Diocletian (284-305). His father, an eminent Roman named Christopher, was a Christian, while his mother, Theodosia, remained a pagan. Deprived of his father at an early age, the young child was raised by his mother. He received an excellent secular education and was introduced to Diocletian in the very first year of the emperor's accession to the throne, advancing rapidly in government service.
Around the year 303, when open persecution against Christians began, Neanius was sent as proconsul to Alexandria with orders to persecute the Church mercilessly. On the way to Egypt, near the Syrian city of Apamea, Neanius experienced a vision of the Lord Jesus, similar to that of Saul on the road to Damascus. A voice from a radiant cross of crystal said to him, "I am Jesus, the crucified Son of God." Neanius was converted and proceeded to confess Christ openly, distributing his possessions to the poor and freeing his servants.
Brought before the courts and repeatedly tortured, he was urged to renounce Christ. The procurator Flavian eventually sentenced him to beheading by the sword. Inspired by his witness, many of his former guards and Roman soldiers, together with their tribunes Nikostratus and Antiochus, also accepted martyrdom. The saint's mother Theodosia herself came to faith and suffered with him.
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Holy Great Martyr Prokopios
303
“He was born in Jerusalem of a Christian father and a pagan mother, at first bearing the name Neanias. After his father’s death, his mother brought him up entirely in the spirit of Roman idolatry. When he had grown up, the Emperor Diocletian saw him at some time and was so pleased with him that he took him to court to serve in the army. When this wicked Emperor launched a persecution of Christians, he ordered Neanias to go with a detachment of soldiers to Alexandria and exterminate the Christians there. But, on the road, there happened to Neanias something similar to that which happened to Saul. At three o’clock in the morning there was a violent earthquake, the Lord Jesus appearing to him and saying: ‘Neanias, where are you going, and against whom are you rebelling?’ In great fear, Neanias replied: ‘Who are you, Lord? I cannot recognise You.’ Then a brilliant Cross, as of crystal, appeared in the sky and a voice came from the Cross: ‘I am Jesus, the crucified Son of God.’ The Lord went on: ‘By this sign that you have seen, overcome your enemies, and My peace will be with you.’ This event utterly changed Neanias’s life. He caused a cross such as he had seen to be made, and, instead of moving against the Christians, set off with his soldiers against the Agarians, who were attacking Jerusalem. He entered Jerusalem victorious and told his mother that he was a Christian. Brought to trial, he took off his army belt and sword and cast them before the judge, demonstrating by this that he was a soldier only of Christ the King. After harsh torture, he was thrown into prison. There Christ the Lord appeared to him again, baptising him and giving him the name Procopius. One day twelve women came to the window of his cell and said to him: ‘We also are the servants of Christ.’ Arrested for this, they were thrown into the same prison, where St Procopius instructed them in the Christian faith and carefully prepared them to receive the crown of martyrdom. These twelve women were then harshly tortured. Beholding their sufferings and courage, Procopius’s mother also came to faith in Christ, and then all thirteen were put to death. When St Procopius was led to the scaffold, he raised his hands towards the East and prayed to God for all the poor and needy, the destitute and the widowed, and especially for the holy Church, that it might grow and spread and that Orthodoxy might shine to the end of time. He was assured from heaven that his prayer was heard, after which he joyfully laid his head under the sword and went to his Lord, to eternal joy. St Procopius suffered with honour in Palestinian Caesarea, and was crowned with an eternal wreath of glory, on July 8th, 303.” (Prologue)
The Kazan icon of the Mother of God
The Kazan icon of the Mother of God is one of the most venerated icons in the Russian Orthodox Church. It was discovered on 8 July 1579 in the city of Kazan, after the Theotokos herself revealed its location. Following a great fire that had destroyed much of Kazan that year, the Mother of God appeared in a dream to a ten year old girl named Matrona, instructing her where the holy image had been hidden in the ground. After the vision was repeated three times, Matrona and her mother dug at the spot indicated, beneath the ashes of a burnt house, and uncovered the icon. The image appeared as bright and luminous as if it were newly painted.
According to tradition, the icon had originally been brought from Constantinople and had been concealed in the earth long before to preserve it from the Tatars. Once revealed, it was carried in solemn procession by the clergy of Kazan, and many miracles of healing followed. Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered the building of a convent on the site of its discovery to enshrine the icon.
When Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich came to the throne, he established two annual feasts for the Kazan icon: 8 July, commemorating its discovery, and 22 October, commemorating the deliverance of Moscow from the Polish invasion of 1612, in which a copy of the icon had been carried by the Russian forces. The Kazan icon has long been regarded as the holy protectress of Russia, and copies are venerated throughout the Orthodox world.
Venerable Theophilus the myrrh-gusher of Pantokrator monastery, Mount Athos
Saint Theophilus the myrrh-gusher was born around 1460 in the village of New Zikhne in Greek Macedonia. From childhood he was drawn to the spiritual life, and he received a sound education before entering the monastic ranks. He was tonsured a monk and lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain of Athos, first at Vatopedi monastery, then at Iveron, and finally settling in the cell of Saint Basil near Karyes, near the monastery of Pantokrator.
A man of profound humility, Theophilus refused all ecclesiastical honours that were offered to him. The archbishopric of Thessalonica was pressed upon him, but he firmly declined to leave his cell or his life of silence. He devoted himself to copying manuscripts, prayer, and the strict ascetical struggle.
As he felt his death approaching in 1548, the saint gave a remarkable instruction to his disciple Isaac: he was not to receive an honourable burial, but Isaac was to tie a cord around his feet and drag him out of the monastery, casting his body into a nearby ravine. When the saint reposed on 8 July 1548, Isaac obeyed his elder.
By divine providence the relics of Saint Theophilus were later revealed, and when they were brought to his cell a fragrant myrrh began to flow from them in great abundance. From this miraculous outpouring he received the title myrrh-gusher. His relics continue to be venerated at the monastery of Pantokrator on Mount Athos.
St Procopius, Fool for Christ
1303
He was a prominent merchant of German origin. Visiting Novgorod on business, he was so moved by the beauty of Orthodoxy that he embraced the Orthodox faith. Seeking to follow Christ more fully, he gave away all his goods to the poor and lived as an indigent, giving his life to prayer and asceticism but feigning madness to avoid the praise of men. He was granted the gifts of prescience and of insight into the hearts of others: he would often speak to those who came to him of their secret sins, and several times he predicted natural disasters. Once he stopped a deadly hailstorm in town of Ustiug through his fervent prayers before the icon of the Mother of God. He was found dead on the road, covered with snow; a church was built over his relics, which worked many wonders.