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The Holy and Great Martyr George On this day we celebrate the translation of St George"s relics from Nicomedia to the city of Lydda in Palestine, where he suffered in the time of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305). The sufferings of this wonderful saint are recorded on April 23rd. At the time of his death, St George asked his servant to take his body and carry it to Palestine, to the place where his mother was born, and where he had much land that he had given away to the poor. His servant did this. In the time of the Emperor Constantine (305-337), a beautiful church was built in Lydda by devout Christians, and. on the occasion of the consecration of that church, the saint"s relics were translated and buried there. Innumerable miracles have been wrought by the relics of St George, Christ"s great martyr.The Hieromartyr Acepsimas, Bishop of Naeson, and others with him The eighty-year-old Acepsimas, filled with every Christian virtue, was sitting one day in his house with his guests when a child, filled with the Spirit of God, ran up to the aged bishop, kissed him on the head, and said: "Blessed is this head, for it will be martyred for Christ!" This prophecy was soon fulfilled. King Sapor raised a fierce persecution of Christians throughout Persia, and St Acepsimas was seized and taken before a prince who was also a pagan priest. When the bishop had been arrested and bound, he was approached by one of his household, who asked him what he wanted done about his house. The saint replied: "It"s no longer my house; I"m going to a higher home, and shall not return." After long interrogation, he was thrown into prison, whence, the next day, were brought a seventy year-old priest called Joseph and a deacon, Aeithalas. After three years" imprisonment and many sufferings, Acepsimas was beheaded, and Joseph and Aeithalas were buried up to the waist in the ground, being stoned by a group of men who were without mercy towards Christians. Joseph"s body, by God"s providence, disappeared that night, and above Aeithalas"s body there grew a tree, which healed all manner of disease and pain. Five years passed, then the wicked and jealous pagans cut down this tree. These soldiers of Christ suffered in Persia in the fourth century, in the time of the pagan King Sapor.Our Holy Father Elias of EgyptHe lived in asceticism near Antinoe, the capital of the Thebaid. He spent seventy years on and inaccessible rocks in the wilderness. He ate only bread and dates and, as a young man, fasted whole weeks at a time. He healed all manner of pains and weaknesses. He became very shaky in old age, and entered into rest at the age of 110, going to the joy of his Lord. "Keep your mind from malicious thoughts of your neighbours, knowing that such thoughts are hurled by diabolical power, to keep your mind from your own sins and from seeking God", he said. Martyrs Atticus, Agapius, Eudoxius, Carterius, Istucarius (Styrax), Pactobius (Tobias), and Nictopolion, at Sebaste (320) They suffered during the reign of Emperor Decius in the city of Sebaste. They were warriors and for their confession of Christ, after enduring diverse torments were burned.Martyrs Dacius, Severus, Andronas, Theodotus, and TheodotaVenerable Acepsimas, hermit of Cyrrhus in Syria (4th c.)The Monk Akepsimos (IV) dwelt for sixty years in the wilderness, not far from Cyrrhus, Syria. He concerned himself with fasting, silence and prayer. At the command of the patriarch, he came out of solitude and was ordained a bishop. He died in extreme old age. St. Achaemonides, (or Hormisdas), confessor, of Persia (4th)He suffered for Christ in the IV Century during the reign of King Yazdgird I in Persia. New Martyr Hieromonk George of Neopolis, Asia Minor (1797) St. Theodore, confessor, bishop of Ancyra (8-9th c.)Venerable Princess Anna Vsevolodna (1112) The Holy Princess Anna Vsevolodna was daughter of the Kiev GreatPrince Vsevolod Yaroslavich (1078-1093) whose wife was daughter of the Greek emperor Constantine Monomachos. She did not wish to marry, and as a maiden she took monastic vows in 1082 at the Andreev Yanchinov monastery built for her at Kiev, later destroyed under the Tatar invasion. The monastic and nobleborn princess Anna journeyed to Constantinople, from whence she returned in the company of the newly ordained metropolitan John the Eunuch. She died in the year 1112. Venerable Elias of EgyptFor 70 years he practiced asceticism as a hermit on a mountain near the city of Antinous, Egypt and died in peace. Venerable Nicholas, Radiant Star of the Georgians (1308) Saint Nicholas was the author of many church services, but little else about his life is known. He lived in the second half of the 13th century, and the last years of his life coincided with the reign of King Vakhtang III (1298, 1302–1308), the son of the holy king Demetre the Devoted... |
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