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Holy Great Martyr Mamas of Caesarea in Cappadocia
275
The Holy Great Martyr Mamas was born in Paphlagonia in Asia Minor in the third century to noble Christian parents, Theodotus and Rufina. They were arrested for confessing Christ during the persecutions of the emperor Aurelian and imprisoned at Caesarea in Cappadocia, where Mamas was born and immediately orphaned, both his parents dying in chains. The infant was named Mamas because, when he later began to speak, the first word he uttered was the Greek word for "mother." A wealthy Christian widow named Ammia took the child into her home and raised him as her own son, instructing him in the Scriptures. From his youth Mamas was conspicuous for his courage in confessing Christ before his schoolmates, and word of his faith reached the governor of Cappadocia, Democritus, who had him arrested and sent to the emperor. Refusing to renounce Christ before threats and torments, the boy was scourged, and an angel delivered him from his sufferings, bringing him to a high mountain near Caesarea. There Mamas built a small church and led a solitary life of fasting and prayer, taming the wild beasts of the desert by his gentleness; deer came at his call and gave him their milk, from which he made cheeses to feed the poor. Betrayed at last and brought to Caesarea, he was tortured by the new governor Alexander, was thrown to wild beasts in the arena, and was finally pierced with a trident. He gave up his soul to God in the year 275, at the age of fifteen. His relics worked many miracles, and his veneration spread rapidly through the Christian East. The Holy Hierarch Basil the Great preached a famous panegyric in his honour, and Saint Gregory the Theologian appealed to him as a special intercessor.
Holy Martyrs Theodotus and Rufina of Caesarea in Cappadocia
The Holy Martyrs Theodotus and Rufina were the parents of the Great Martyr Mamas. They were of noble birth, citizens of Gangra in Paphlagonia, and openly confessed the Christian faith during the persecution of the emperor Aurelian in the third century. Arrested for refusing to sacrifice to the idols, they were brought to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where they were imprisoned in chains and treated harshly by the governor Faustus. Theodotus, weakened by torture and confinement, gave up his soul to the Lord while still in prison, and was honoured as a confessor of the faith. Saint Rufina, who was at that time with child, prayed earnestly that she might be permitted to give birth to her son and to see him baptised before her own death. After the holy infant Mamas was safely born, Rufina, exhausted by her sufferings and worn out by sorrow, departed peacefully to be with her husband in the Lord, entrusting the child to the providence of God. Their bodies were buried by the pious Christian widow Ammia, who then took the orphaned child into her own house and raised him in the faith for which his parents had died. The Church honours them on the day appointed for the memory of their son.
Martyr Mamas of Caesarea in Cappadocia, and his parents, Martyrs Theodotus and Rufina
275
He began his life in the cruelest of circumstances: both of his parents were imprisoned for their faith in Christ. First his father, Theodotus, died in prison, then his mother, Rufina, died shortly after his birth, so the infant was left alone in prison beside the bodies of his parents. But an angel appeared to the widow Ammia, telling her to go to the prison and rescue the child. Ammia obtained the city governor’s permission to bury the parents and bring the child home. He was called Mamas because he was mute until the age of five and his first word was `Mama’. Despite his late beginning, he showed unusual intelligence and, having been brought up in piety, soon openly proclaimed his Christian faith. When he was only fifteen years old he was arrested and brought before the Emperor Aurelian. The Emperor, perhaps seeking to spare the boy, told him to deny Christ only with his lips, and the State would not concern itself with his heart. Mamas replied `I shall not deny my God and King Jesus Christ either in my heart or with my lips.’ He was sent to be tortured, but miraculously escaped and lived in the mountains near Caesarea. There he lived in solitude and prayer and befriended many wild beasts. In time, he was discovered by the persecutors and stabbed to death with a trident by a pagan priest.
Saint John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople
595
Saint John the Faster was a native of Constantinople, born in the early sixth century to pious parents. As a young man he learned the trade of a goldsmith, and seemed destined for a quiet life in the city. From his youth, however, he was inclined to the monastic life, devoting himself to long prayer, severe abstinence and acts of almsgiving, by which he earned his title of "the Faster." He was eventually ordained deacon at the Great Church and entrusted with the care of the poor and of the imperial sakellion, which he discharged with such integrity that the Emperor Justin II and later the Emperor Tiberius II held him in high honour. On the death of Patriarch Eutychius in 582 he was, against his will, elected to succeed him as archbishop of Constantinople, and was consecrated at the insistence of the emperor and the clergy. As patriarch he continued his strict ascetic regime, sleeping on the bare ground, eating only vegetables, and giving away the revenues of the Church to the poor and the destitute, so that at his death only a single coarse blanket and a wooden spoon were found among his possessions. He convened a synod in 588 at which he was acclaimed as Ecumenical Patriarch, the title still borne by his successors, and laboured to maintain the discipline of the Church and the dignity of the priesthood. A penitential manual ascribed to him circulated widely in the East as a guide for confessors. Saint Gregory the Great, his contemporary, corresponded with him from Rome and bore witness to his austerity and gentleness. He reposed in peace in the year 595.
Saint Phoebe the Deaconess of Cenchreae
Saint Phoebe lived in the apostolic age and is the first deaconess named in the New Testament. She was a member of the Christian community at Cenchreae, the eastern port of the city of Corinth, and is commended by the Apostle Paul at the end of his Epistle to the Romans, where he writes, "I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deaconess of the church at Cenchreae, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a helper of many and of myself also." From these words the Church has always understood that Phoebe was the bearer of the Epistle to the Romans, carrying the great theological letter of the apostle from Corinth to the Christian community at Rome. As a deaconess she devoted herself to the ministry of hospitality and charity, sheltering travelling missionaries, instructing women candidates for baptism, and supporting the labours of the apostle Paul both with her means and her service. Her example became foundational for the order of deaconesses in the early Christian centuries, who assisted at the baptism of women, ministered to the sick and poor, and served the bishop in works of charity. Although her commemoration is often kept on the third of September, she is also remembered on the second day of the month in some Orthodox calendars, in close association with the apostolic women who served the Lord and the apostles.
St John IV, Patriarch of Constantinople, known as John the Faster
595
He was born and raised in Constantinople. When he came of age he worked as a goldsmith and an engraver at the mint; but, renouncing worldly things, he was ordained a deacon and given charge of the distribution of alms in Constantinople. He gave freely to all with no consideration of their worthiness. The Synaxarion says ‘the more he distributed the more God filled his purse, so that it seemed inexhaustible.’
Upon the death of Patriarch Eutyches in 582, John became Patriarch and reigned for thirteen years, reposing in peace in 595. (It was during his reign that the term “Ecumenical Patriarch” began to be used to refer to the Patriarch of Constantinople.) St John was known for his great asceticism and fasting, and as a powerful intercessor and wonderworker. So generous was he to the poor that he used up all his funds in almsgiving and had to ask the Emperor for a loan, which he used to give more alms. After his repose, his only possessions were found to be an old cassock, a linen shirt and a wooden spoon.
Righteous Eleazar, son of Aaron and second High Priest of Israel
He was the son of Aaron, the first High Priest of Israel, and he in turn became the second High Priest. He reposed in peace.
Repose of Hieromonk Seraphim of Platina
1982
This modern-day pioneer of Orthodoxy and monasticism in America has not been glorified as a Saint of the Church, though many individuals ask his prayers and icons of him have been painted.
Eugene Rose was born in 1934 in California, where he spent all his life. Following an intense spiritual search that took him through study of several Eastern Religions (he earned a graduate degree in Chinese Philosophy), he providentially encountered the Russian Orthodox community in San Francisco, and in 1962 was received into the Orthodox Church. The sanctity of Archbishop (now Saint) John Maximovich was especially important to his development in the Faith.
After a few more years living in the world, he and his friend Gleb Podmosensky founded a small monastic brotherhood in the wilderness of far northern California; in time they were tonsured as monks and ordained as priests: Fr Seraphim and Fr Herman. At a time when Orthodoxy was almost invisible in North America, the monastery became a beacon of Orthodoxy for Americans seeking an authentic Christian faith.
Fr Seraphim reposed in 1982 at the age of forty-eight. Many of his writings are still in print. A biography, Father Seraphim Rose: His life and works, by Hieromonk Damascene, is highly recommended.