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Apodosis of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple
On this day the Holy Church concludes the great feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, which is celebrated on 21 November. According to ancient tradition recorded in the Protoevangelium of James and in the writings of Saint Gregory Palamas, the righteous Joachim and Anna, having vowed to dedicate to God the child of their old age, brought the three-year-old Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem, where she was received by the high priest Zachariah and led into the Holy of Holies, into which only the high priest could enter, and that only once a year. There she was nourished by an angel until the time of her betrothal to the righteous Joseph.
The apodosis or leave-taking is the day on which the Church repeats the principal hymns of the feast and gathers up its spiritual fruits. The hymns sing of the Theotokos as the living temple who is offered up in the Temple, the heaven on earth who comes to dwell in the house of God, the gate through which the Lord shall come for the salvation of the world. Together with this conclusion of the Marian feast the Church on this day also commemorates the holy Hieromartyrs Clement of Rome and Peter of Alexandria, joining the praise of the Mother of God to that of the great hierarchs and witnesses of Christ.
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Holy Great Martyr and Most Wise Catherine of Alexandria and those with her
305
“Saint Catherine, who was from Alexandria, was the daughter of Constas (or Cestus). She was an exceedingly beautiful maiden, most chaste, and illustrious in wealth, lineage, and learning. By her steadfast understanding, she utterly vanquished the passionate and unbridled soul of Maximinus, the tyrant of Alexandria; and by her eloquence, she stopped the mouths of the so-called philosophers who had been gathered to dispute with her. She was crowned with the crown of martyrdom in the year 305. Her holy relics were taken by Angels to the holy mountain of Sinai, where they were discovered many years later; the famous monastery of Saint Catherine was originally dedicated to the Holy Transfiguration of the Lord and the Burning Bush, but later was dedicated to Saint Catherine.” (Great Horologion) So great was St Catherine’s eloquence that the fifty orators assigned to debate her recognized their error and, as a body, asked for baptism, for which Maximinus condemned them all to death. The Saint was then subjected to torture on a specially-constructed spiked wheel (with which she is usually shown in her icon), but an angel loosed her and miraculously smashed the wheel. Maximinus’ own wife and 200 soldiers, seeing her sufferings and the nobility with which she bore them, were moved to profess their faith in Christ and their yearning to be baptized. All of them were put to death. Finally Catherine herself was led outside the walls of Alexandria and, after a prayer of thanksgiving to God, was beheaded.
Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome
Saint Clement was born at Rome into a rich and illustrious family but was separated from his parents and brothers in childhood by a series of misfortunes. Brought up in Rome, he received an excellent education in the liberal arts, but the wisdom of the philosophers gave him no peace concerning the soul and the meaning of life. Travelling to the East in search of the truth, he met the Apostle Barnabas at Alexandria and through him came to the Apostle Peter, by whom he was baptised and made a zealous disciple and constant companion. By divine providence he was reunited with his lost family, all of whom were baptised. After the martyrdom of the apostles he served as Bishop of Rome, the third or fourth in succession from Saint Peter, from about 92 to 101.
As bishop Saint Clement laboured tirelessly for the Church, ordained presbyters and deacons, and wrote his celebrated Epistle to the Corinthians, the earliest Christian writing outside the New Testament. Through his zeal many pagans, even members of noble Roman houses, came to the faith. The Emperor Trajan, hearing of his success, banished him to the marble quarries in the Crimea, where the saint found two thousand Christian confessors already labouring. He cheered them by his preaching, and through his prayers a spring of fresh water gushed from the ground for their relief. So many were converted that seventy-five new churches were founded in those parts. Trajan therefore commanded that the bishop be drowned in the sea with an anchor tied about his neck, which sentence was carried out about the year 101. Each year on the day of his repose the sea was said to withdraw, revealing the relics of the saint resting in a stone chapel made by angels.
Hieromartyr Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria
300
Saint Peter was born and raised at Alexandria, where he was distinguished from his youth for piety and learning, and became head of the famed catechetical school of the city. Ordained deacon by Theonas, the previous archbishop, he succeeded him on the throne of Saint Mark in the year 300 and proved himself an exemplary shepherd, defending the flock against both the persecutors and against the schism of Meletius of Lycopolis, whose lax discipline he firmly opposed. Among the irregular ordinations of Meletius was that of the future heretic Arius, whom Saint Peter foresaw in spirit and warned the faithful against, excommunicating him when he refused to submit.
The Diocletianic persecution, beginning in 303 and renewed in 306, fell with great violence upon the Egyptian Church. Saint Peter strengthened the martyrs and confessors, fled into hiding for a time, and issued his famous Canonical Epistle to guide the reception of the lapsed. He fasted, slept little, and laboured by night in the writing of letters and instructions. In the year 311, after he had emerged from concealment, the Emperor Maximinus Daia caused him to be seized in his hiding place near the tomb of Saint Mark and beheaded. Because his blood was the last to be shed in Alexandria under that long persecution, the Church honours him as the seal and limit of the persecution.
Great Martyr Mercurius
c. 259
He was born in the province of Asia, to a Scythian who had secretly converted to Christianity. Like his parents, he was a secret follower of Christ, serving as a legionary in the Roman army during the reign of the Emperor Decius. During a campaign, an Angel appeared to him, gave him a sword and told him to go into battle trusting in Christ’s help. Mercurius plunged into battle, fought his way alone through the enemy lines, and reached the barbarian commander Rigas, whom he killed. Upon the death of their chief the barbarians scattered and the victory was won.
The Emperor, hearing of the young soldier’s exploits, promoted him to a position at court. There, lulled by the pleasures and honors of the court, Mercurius forgot his duties to Christ his King. One night the same Angel who had given him the sword appeared to him once again and reminded him of the sword that Christ had given him, an emblem of the battle of martyrdom that he was about to enter. The next day Mercurius, now returned to his senses, refused to offer sacrifice to the gods. When called before the Emperor, he boldly proclaimed Christ and threw off his badges of office. He was thrown in prison and subjected to cruel tortures, all of which he bore with peace and joy, encouraged by the Angel who appeared to him again to offer comfort and encouragement. After long torment he was beheaded in Caesarea in Cappadocia, at the age of twenty-five.