Saint Gerasimus, Bishop of Great Perm and Ust\u2032vymsk, was the third bishop of the newly-enlightened Zyryani people, and he was a worthy successor to Saint Stephen, the Enlightener of Perm. Having been elevated onto the Perm cathedra-seat sometime after the year 1416, he was a participant in Church Sobor-Councils: in that of the year 1438 condemning the Unia and metropolitan Isidor, and in that of the year 1441, which defined the selection of the metropolitan of All Rus\u2019 by means of a Sobor of Russian pastors. The saint unrelentingly concerned himself about his newly-established flock, which suffered raids from Novgorodians, and in particular from the pagan Vogulians\u2014where he fearlessly showed up in their camps urging them to cease the pillaging of villages of the defenseless Perm Christians. During the time of one of his journeys through the Perm land in 1441, he was murdered (according to tradition, strangled with his omophor) by a Vogul servant. He was buried in the cathedral church of the first bishops of Perm,\u2014later becoming the Annunciation church in the village of Ust\u2032Vyma, situated northeast of the city of Yarensk, at the River Vychegda. The celebration of his memory was established in 1607. On 29 January is made a general commemoration to the three Perm Saint-Hierarchs: Gerasimus, Pitirim and Jona.
"}}, "503": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Gerasimus of Vologda (\u2020 1178)", "short": "Venerable Gerasimus"}}, "504": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Gerasimus of the Jordan (\u2020 451)", "short": "Venerable Gerasimus"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Monk Gerasimos was a native of Lycia (Asia Minor). From his early years he was distinguished for his piety. Having then accepted monasticism, the monk withdrew into the depths of the Thebaid wilderness (in Egypt). Thereafter, in about the year 450, the monk arrived in Palestine and settled at the Jordan, where he founded a monastery.
For a certain while Saint Gerasimos was tempted by the heresy of Eutykhios and Dioskoros, which acknowledged in Jesus Christ only the Divine nature, but not His human nature (i.e. the Monophysite heresy). The Monk Euthymios the Great (Comm. 20 January) helped him to return to the true faith.
At the monastery the Monk Gerasimos established a strict monastic rule. He spent five days of the week in solitude, occupying himself with handicrafts and prayer. On these days the wilderness dwellers did not eat cooked food, nor even kindle a fire, but rather ate only dry bread, roots and water. On Saturday and Sunday all gathered at the monastery for Divine Liturgy and to commune the Holy Mysteries of Christ. In the afternoon, taking with them a supply of bread, tubers, water and an armload of date-palm branches for weaving into baskets, the wilderness dwellers returned to their own cells. Each had only old clothes and a mat, upon which he slept. In exiting their cells, the door was never secured, so that anyone coming by could enter, and rest, or take along necessities.
The Monk Gerasimos himself attained an high level of asceticism. During Great Lent he ate nothing until the very day of the All-Radiant Resurrection of Christ, when he communed the Holy Mysteries. Going out into the wilderness for the whole of Great Lent, the Monk Gerasimos took along with him his beloved disciple Blessed Kyriakos (Comm. 29 September), whom the Monk Euthymios had sent off to him.
At the time of the death of Saint Euthymios the Great, the Monk Gerasimos saw how Angels carried up the soul of the departed off to Heaven. Taking Kyriakos with him, the monk immediately set off to the monastery of Saint Euthymios and consigned his body to earth.
The Monk Gerasimos himself died peacefully, wept over by brethren and disciples. Before his death, a lion had aided the Monk Gerasimos in his tasks, and upon the death of the elder it too died at his grave and was buried nearby. And therefore the lion is depicted on icons of the saint, at his feet.
"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Burning with heavenly love, thou didst prefer the harshness of the desert of Jordan * more than all the delights of the world; * hence, a wild beast submitted unto thee even unto thy death, O father, * dying in obedience and grief on thy grave. * Thus did God glorify thee. * And when thou dost pray to Him, O father Gerasimus, ** be thou mindful of us.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "506": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Erasmus of the Kiev Caves (\u2020 c. 1160)", "short": "Venerable Erasmus"}}, "508": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Hierarch Tarasius, Archbishop of Constantinople (\u2020 806)", "short": "Holy Hierarch"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "Saint Tarasias, Patriarch of Constantinople, came of illustrious lineage. He was born and raised in Constantinople, where he received a fine education. He was rapidly promoted at the court of the emperor Constantine VI Porphyrigenitos (780-797) and Constantine\u2019s mother, the holy Empress Irene (797-802; Comm. 7 August), and the saint reached the rank of senator. During these times the Church was agitated by the turmoil of the Iconoclast disturbances. The holy Patriarch Paul (780-784, Comm. 30August) although not sympathetic in soul with Iconoclasm, through his weakness of character was not able to decisively contend with the heresy and he therefore withdrew to a monastery, where he took the schema. When the holy Empress Irene together with her son the emperor came to him, Saint Paul declared to them, that the most worthy successor to him would be Saint Tarasias (who at this time was still a layman). Tarasias for a long time refused, not considering himself worthy of so very high a dignity, but he then gave in to the common accord, on the condition, that an \u0152cumenical Council be convened for rendering judgement on the Iconoclast heresy. Proceeding in a short while through all the degrees of clergy dignity, Saint Tarasias was elevated to the Patriarchal throne in the year 784. In the year 787 in the city of Nic\u00e6a, with holy Patriarch Tarasias presiding,\u2014the Seventh \u0152cumenical Council was convened, at which were present 367 bishops. The affirmation of holy icons was confirmed at the Council. Those of the bishops, who repented of Iconoclasm, were again received by the Church.
Saint Tarasias wisely governed the Church for 22 years. He led a strict ascetic life. He used up all his money on God-pleasing ends, feeding and giving comfort to the old, to the impoverished, to widows and orphans, and on Holy Pascha he set out for them the meal at which he himself served. The holy Patriarch fearlessly denounced the emperor Constantine Porphyrigenitos when that one slandered his spouse, the empress Maria\u2014the grand-daughter of Righteous Philaretos the Merciful (\u2020 792, Comm. 1 December), so that he could be rid of Maria to a monastery thus freeing him to marry his own kins-woman. Saint Tarasias resolutely refused to dissolve the marriage of the emperor, for which the saint fell into disgrace. Soon, however, Constantine was deposed by his own mother, the Empress Irene. Saint Tarasias died in the year 806. Before his death, devils reminded him of his life from the time of his youth, and they tried to get the saint to admit to sins that he had not even committed. \u201cI am innocent in that of which ye speak,\u2014replied the saint,\u2014and ye do falsely slander me, yet mustneeds it be ye have no power over me.\u201d Mourned by the Church, the saint was buried in a monastery built by him on the Bosphorus. From his grave was worked many a miracle.
"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, * a model of meekness and a teacher of abstinence * wherefore thou hast attained the heights through humility * and riches through poverty. ** O hierarch Tarasius our father, entreat Christ God that our souls be saved.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Having illumined the Church with Orthodox dogmas * and taught all to honor and bow down before the precious icon of Christ, O blessed one, * thou didst denounce the godless decree of the iconoclasts. * Wherefore, we cry out to thee: ** Rejoice, O wise rather Tarasius!
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "509": {"name": {"nominative": "Second translation of the relics of Saint Herman, Archbishop of Kazan (1714)", "short": "Second translation"}}, "510": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Hierarch Porphyrius, Archbishop of Gaza (\u2020 420)", "short": "Holy Hierarch"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "Saint Porphyrios, Archbishop of Gaza, was born in about the year 346 at Thessalonika in Macedonia. His parents were people of substance, and this allowed Saint Porphyrios to receive a fine education. Having the inclination for monastic life, at twelve years of age he left his native region and set off to Egypt, where he asceticised in the Nitreian desert under the guidance of the Monk Makarios the Great (Comm. 19 January). There also he met Blessed Jerome (Comm. 15 June), who was then visiting the Egyptian monasteries; he set off with him to Jerusalem on pilgrimage to the holy places and to reverence the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord (Comm. 14 September), after which he resettled into the Jordanian wilderness for prayer and ascetic deeds. There Saint Porphyrios fell under a serious malady. For healing he decided to go to the holy places of Jerusalem. One time, when fully paralysed he lay half-conscious at the foot of Golgotha, the Lord sent His servant into a salvific sleep-vision. Saint Porphyrios beheld Jesus Christ, descending with the Cross and turning to him with the words: \u201cTake this Wood and preserve it.\u201d Awakening, he sensed himself healthy. The words of the Saviour were soon fulfilled: the Patriarch of Jerusalem ordained Saint Porphyrios to the priestly dignity and appointed him curator of the Venerable Wood of the Cross of the Lord. And it was during this time that Saint Porphyrios received his portion of an inheritance from his parents\u20144thousand gold coins. All this he gave away to the needy and for the embellishing of the churches of God.
In 395 the bishop of the city of Gaza (in Palestine) died. The local Christians set out to C\u00e6sarea to the Metropolitan John with a request to provide them a new bishop, who would be able to contend against the pagans, which were predominant in their city and were harassing the Christians there. The Lord inspired the Metropolitan to summon the Jerusalem presbyter Porphyrios. With fear and trembling the ascetic accepted the dignity of bishop, and with tears he prostrated himself before the Life-Creating Wood and then set off to fulfill his new obedience.
In Gaza he found all of only three Christian churches, but of the pagan temples and idols\u2014there were a great many. During this time there had occurred a long spell without rain, causing a severe drought. The pagan-priests brought offerings to their idols, but the w\u0153s did not cease. Saint Porphyrios imposed a fast for all the Christians; he then made the all-night vigil, followed by going round all the city in a church procession. Immediately the sky covered over with storm clouds, thunder boomed, and abundant rains poured down. Seeing this miracle, many a pagan cried out: \u201cChrist is indeed the One True God!\u201d As a result of this, there came to be united to the Church through Holy Baptism 127 men, 35 women and 14 children, and soon after this, another 110 men.
But the pagans just like before still harassed the Christians, passed them over for public office, and burdened them down with taxes. Saint Porphyrios and the Metropolitan of C\u00e6sarea John set off to Constantinople, to seek redress from the emperor. Saint John Chrysostom (Comm. 14 September, 27 and 30 January) received them and rendered them active assistance.
Saints John and Porphyrios were presented to the empress Eudoxia who at that time was expecting a child. \u201cIntercede for us,\u2014said the bishops to the empress,\u2014and the Lord will send thee a son, who shalt reign during thine lifetime.\u201d Eudoxia very much wanted a son, since she had given birth only to daughters. And actually through the prayer of the saints an heir was born to the imperial family\u2026 In consequence of this, the emperor in the year 401 issued an edict directing the destruction of the pagan temples in Gaza and the restoration of privileges to Christians. Moreover, the emperor bestowed on the saints the means for the construction of a new church, which was to be built in Gaza on the locale of the chief pagan-temple there.
Saint Porphyrios to the very end of his life upheld Christianity in Gaza and guarded well his flock from the vexatious pagans. Through the prayers of the saint there occurred numerous miracles and healings. Over the course of 25 years the archpastor guided veritable flock and reposed at an advanced age, in the year 420.
"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, * a model of meekness and a teacher of abstinence * wherefore thou hast attained the heights through humility * and riches through poverty. ** O hierarch Porphyrius our father, entreat Christ God that our souls be saved.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Adorned with thy most sacred ways, * thou wast resplendent in the robe of the priesthood, * O all-blessed, divinely wise Porphyrius; * and thou dost spread beauty by thine exaltations of healings, ** praying unceasingly in behalf of us all.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "512": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Sebastian and Christodulus (\u2020 c 66)", "short": "Martyrs Sebastian"}}, "518": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Thalel\u00e6us the Hermit of Syria (\u2020 460)", "short": "Venerable Thalel\u00e6us"}}, "523": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Basil the Confessor, companion of the Venerable Procopius of Decapolis (\u2020 c. 750)", "short": "Venerable Basil"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Monk Basil the Confessor was a monastic and suffered during the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741). When a persecution started against those that venerated holy icons, Saint Basil together with his companion the Monk Prokopios (Comm. 27 February) was subjected to much torture and locked up in prison. here both martyrs languished for a long while, until the death of the impious emperor. When the holy Confessors Basil and Prokopios were set free together with other venerators of holy icons, they continued with their monastic efforts, instructing many in the Orthodox faith and the virtuous life. The Monk Basil died peacefully in the year 750.
"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "A dweller in the desert, an angel in the flesh, * and a wonderworker wast thou, * O our God-bearing father Basil. * Receiving heavenly gifts through fasting, vigil and prayer, * thou healest the sicknesses and souls * of those who with faith have recourse unto thee. * Glory to Him Who gaveth thee strength! * Glory to Him Who hath crowned thee! ** Glory to Him Who worketh healings for all through thee!
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Receiving divine revelation from on high, * thou didst withdraw from the midst of the tumult, O wise one; * and having lived the monastic life venerably, thou didst receive the power to work miracles and to heal diseases by grace, ** O most blessed and sacred Basil.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "526": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Proterius the Patriarch of Alexandria (\u2020 457)", "short": "Hieromartyr Proterius"}}, "527": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Nestor, Bishop of Magydos in Pamphylia (\u2020 250)", "short": "Hieromartyr Nestor"}}, "528": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable women: Marina, Cyra, and Domnina of Syria (\u2020 c. 450)", "short": "Venerable women"}}, "530": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable John Cassian of Rome (\u2020 435)", "short": "Venerable John"}, "rank": 1}, "532": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable John, called Barsanuphius, Bishop of Damascus (5th C)", "short": "Venerable John"}}, "533": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Theosterictus the Confessor, abbot of Pelecete Monastery near Triglia (8th C)", "short": "Saint Theosterictus"}}, "535": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople (\u2020 389)", "short": "Saint Gregory"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "Saint Gregory (Nazianzus) the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople, an ecumenical father and teacher of the Church, was born into a Christian family of eminent lineage in the year 329, at Arianzos (not far from the city of Cappadocian Nazianzos). His father, likewise a Saint Gregory, was Bishop of Nazianzos (Comm. 1January); but of these two father and son, the son is the Saint Gregory Nazianzus encountered in Patristic theology. His mother, Saint Nonna (\u2020 374, Comm. 5 August), prayed God for a son, having given a vow to dedicate him to the Lord. As was revealed to her in a dream, she accordingly named her first-born Gregory. When the son learned to read, his mother presented him with the Holy Scripture. Saint Gregory received a quite complete and extensive education: after working at home with his uncle Saint Amphylokhios, an experienced teacher of rhetoric, he then studied in the schools of Nazianzos, C\u00e6sarea Cappadocia and Alexandria. Then for the finishing touches to his education, the saint set off to Athens. On the way from Alexandria to Hellas [Greek name for Greece] (352), during the time of a terrible storm of many days, he was apprehensive only that \u201cthe murderous waters would deprive him of the waters of cleansing.\u201d \u201cFor twenty days and nights,\u2014relates Saint Gregory,\u2014I lay at the ship\u2019s stern, beseeching the merciful God for salvation, and at this perilous time I gave a vow to dedicate myself to God, being saved through this vow.\u201d
The saint spent six years at Athens, and there studied rhetorics, poetics, geometry and astronomy. His teachers were the reknown pagan rhetoricians Gymorias and Pr\u0153resias. Together with Saint Gregory, there also studied there Saint Basil, the future Archbishop of C\u00e6sarea Cappadocia (\u2020 379, Comm. 1 January). Their friendship, formed while still back in school in C\u00e6sarea, flourished in a deep spiritual closeness. But their acquaintance with Julian, the future emperor (361-363)\u2014and apostate from the Christian faith, soon turned into implacable enmity.
Upon completing his education, Saint Gregory remained for a certain while at Athens and taught the rhetoric eloquence of speech. He knew well the pre-Christian pagan philosophy and literature.
In the year 358 Saint Gregory quietly quit Athens and returned to his parents at Nazianzos. And here he at almost 30 years of age received Baptism from his father. Since now it was for him \u201cbecome more significant to be a follower of God, than foremost with the emperor,\u201d he vacillated only on which way was to be \u201cthe preference: contemplative or practical.\u201d
At the suggestion of Saint Basil he withdrew into the wilderness, so as to asceticise alongside him.
But at the demand of his father, Saint Gregory returned to Nazianzos in 361 and received the dignity of presbyter. Sensing however, that solitude and silent prayer were immeasurably closer to his liking than pastoral activity, Saint Gregory again hastened into the wilderness to Saint Basil. There in the wilderness he strengthened in spirit, found the wherewithal to return to his flock and properly do his duty. And there soon befell Saint Gregory the hard task of reconciling the bishop with his flock, which condemned their pastor for signing an ambiguous interpretation of the dogmas of the faith. Saint Gregory gave the flock time for expression of feelings first, and then he convinced his father to openly acknowledge his mistake. After this, and uttering a sermon on the need for reconciliation, Saint Gregory accomplished his intent. Saint Basil the Great made Saint Gregory bishop of the city of Sasima, but in order to assist his dying father, Saint Gregory remained at Nazianzos, and for a certain while after the death of his father he guided the flock of this city.
Upon the death of the Constantinople patriarch Valentus in the year 378, the Antioch Council invited Saint Gregory to help the Constantinople Church, which at this time moreso than at others was ravaged by heretics. Having received the consent of Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory came to Constantinople upon the Patriarchal throne. In the year 379 he began to serve and preach in a not-large house church of his kinsmen. He named this church \u201cAnastasis\u201d (\u201cVoskresenie\u201d or \u201cResurrection\u201d), believing that in this small church he would begin to resurrect Orthodoxy. Heretics ruled everywhere\u2014whether they be Arians or Appolinarians. And the more loudly resounded his preaching, the more fully increased the gathering in church, and by this more bitterly grew the opposition of the heretics. On the night of Pascha 21 April 379, when Saint Gregory was making Baptism of the newly-illumined, a mob of armed heretics burst into the church and showered an hail of rocks upon the Orthodox, killing one bishop and wounding Saint Gregory. But the fortitude and mildness of the saint were his best armour, and his words regathered the Orthodox.
The compiled works of Saint Gregory\u2014discourses, letters, verses\u2014all show, that he strove to be a worthy preacher of the truth of Christ. A gift of words was bestown him, and the saint sought to offer it in gift to God\u2014the Word: \u201c\u201dThis gift offer I up to my God, this gift I do dedicate to Him:\u2014this alone, is what I have remaining as my riches; I gave up all else at the command of the Spirit; everything that I had, I gave in exchange for the pearl of great price. Only in words do I master it, as a servant of the Word; never intentionally would I wish to disdain this wealth, I esteem it, I set value by it, I am comforted by it more, than others are comforted by all the treasures of the world. It\u2014is the companion of all my life, a good counselor and converser; a guide on the way to Heaven and a fervent co-ascetic.\u201d In order to worthily preach the Word of God, the saint assiduously prepared and revised his works.
In five Sermons\u2014\u201dDiscourses on Theology,\u201d dealing with those inclined towards the verbose reasonings of Eunomios, Saint Gregory first of all gives a precise definition, who it is from whom and when that they can theologise. Only those who are experienced can properly reason about God, those successful at contemplation and, foremost of all, pure in soul and body, or in utmost measure cleansed of self. To reason about God properly is possible only for one who enters into it with fervour and reverence. Explaining, that God has concealed His Essence from mankind, Saint Gregory demonstrates, that \u201cby means of flesh it is impossible to view mental objects without admixture of the corporeal.\u201d To theologise talking about God in a positive sense is possible only when we become free from the external impressions of things and from their affects, when our guide\u2014the mind, does not adhere to impure transitory images. Answering the Eunomians, who would presuppose by means of logical speculation to grasp at the Essence of God, the saint declared that man perceives God, when he is commensurate in form with the Divine Principle, i.e. when the mind co-unites with the commensurate Essence. Furthermore, the example of the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets and also the Apostles has demonstrated, that for earthly man the Essence of God is incomprehensible. Saint Gregory cited by way of example the futile sophistry of Eunomios: \u201cGod begat the Son either through His will, or contrary to will. If He begat contrary to will, then He underwent constraint. If by His will, then the Son is the Son of His intent.\u201d
Confuting suchlike reasoning, Saint Gregory points out the harm done by it to man: \u201cThou thyself, who speaketh so thoughtlessly, hast thou issued forth by intent or not by the intent of thy father? If not by intent, then also thy father underwent compulsion in it. From whom? To demonstrate this in nature thou cannot: it would favour chasteness. And if by intent, then on account of a few syllables thou dost deprive thyself of thy father; wherein thou dost make thyself a son by self intent, rather than of thy father.\u201d Saint Gregory then turns himself to Holy Scripture, with particular attention examining a place, where it points out the Divine Nature of the Son of God. The repetitive interpretations of Saint Gregory on Holy Scripture are devoted to revealing the thought, that the Divine power of the Saviour was actualised even when on account of the Salvation of mankind He took upon Himself an impaired human nature. But another place in these Sermons of Saint Gregory is occupied by polemics against the Eunomians for their blaspheming of the Holy Spirit.
Closely examining everything that is said in the Gospel about the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the saint refutes the heresy of Eunomios, which rejected the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. He comes to two fundamentally posited results. First, in reading Holy Scripture, it is necessary to reject blind literalism and to study so as to perceive its spiritual sense. Second, in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit operated hiddenly. In the New Testament \u201cthe Holy Spirit doth reside with us and in most evident form doth disclose Itself before us. As long as they did not acknowledge God the Father, they could not properly preach about the Son, and as long as they did not accept the Son, they could not, expressing it somewhat boldly, additionally burden us with the Holy Spirit. The Divinity of the Holy Spirit\u2014is a sublime subject. Here before us is a mass of testimony. Christ is born\u2014the Holy Spirit precedes this; Christ is baptised\u2014the Spirit witnesses to this; Christ works miracles\u2014the Spirit collaborates; Christ ascends\u2014the Spirit comes in place of Him. And what indeed is great and Divine, that He is not capable of? What Name, appertaining to Divinity, does not apply to Him, except for UnBegotten and Begotten?\u2026I am amazed, when I see such a richness of titles,\u2014I tremble when I consider, which Name it is they do blaspheme, they who do so revolt against the Spirit!\u201d
The content of the Sermons of Saint Gregory does not consist in this alone. He wrote also: five laudatory tracts, ten interpretations of feastdays, two discourses of reproach against Julian the Apostate\u2014\u201dtwo pillars, on which is indelibly written the impiety of Julian for posterity,\u201d and preachings on other themes. In all, 45 sermons of Saint Gregory have been preserved. The letters of the saint compare with his best theological works. All of them are masterfully elaborated while yet brief, for the most part. In his hymns as in everything, Saint Gregory lived for Christ. \u201cIf the lengthy tracts of the heretics,\u2014be indeed new psalters, at variance with David, and\u2014the pretty verses they honour be as a third testament: then we also shalt sing psalms, and begin to write much and compose poetic metres,\u201d\u2014said the saint. About his poetic gift the saint wrote thus: \u201cI\u2014am an organ of the Lord and sweetly by intricacy of song of the MostHigh I do glorify the King: all atremble before Him.\u201d
The fame of the Orthodox preacher spread through East and West. But the saint lived in the very capital just as though he lived still in the wilderness\u2014\u201dhis food was food of the wilderness; his clothing\u2014whatever necessary; his making of rounds was without pretense, and being in proximity of the court\u2014he sought nothing from the court.\u201d During a time of sickness the saint was given a shock. One whom he reckoned as his friend, the philosopher Maximos, was consecrated in place of Saint Gregory at Constantinople. Struck by the ingratitude of Maximos, the saint decided to resign the cathedra, but his faithful flock restrained him from it. The people threw the usurper out of the city. On 24 November 380 the holy emperor Theodosius arrived in the capital and, in enforcing his decree against the heretics, the chief church was returned to the Orthodox, with Saint Gregory solemnly making entrance. Soon an attempt on the life of Saint Gregory was in the offing, but the one who was to be the assassin instead appeared before the saint with tears of repentance.
In the year 381 at the Second \u0152cumenical Council, Saint Gregory was confirmed in the dignity of Constantinople Patriarch. Upon the death of the Antioch Patriarch Meletios, Saint Gregory presided at the Council. Hoping to reconcile the West with the East, he offered to recognise Paulinos as Antioch Patriarch. But with the arrival of those who earlier had acted against Saint Gregory on the side of Maximos\u2014particularly Egyptian and Macedonian bishops, they did not want to acknowledge the saint as Patriarch of Constantinople. Saint Gregory decided to sacrifice himself for the peace of the Church: \u201cLet me be as the Prophet Jonah! I was guilty for the storm, but I would sacrifice myself for the salvation of the ship. Grab hold and throw me\u2026 I was not happy when I ascended the throne, and gladly would I descend it.\u201d Having explained to the emperor about his wish to quit the capital, Saint Gregory appeared again at the Council, in a farewell address asking it to let him depart in peace.
Upon his return to his native region, Saint Gregory concerned himself about the incursion of Appolinarian heretics into the Nazianzos flock, and he established there as bishop the pious Eulalios, while he himself withdrew into the solitude of Arianzos so dear to his heart. Not forsaking the wilderness, the saint with zeal for the truth of Christ continued to affirm Orthodoxy through his letters and verses. In the year 389 he died, on 25 January, being honoured by the Church with the title \u201cTheologian\u201d bestown also on that beloved disciple of Christ\u2014the holy Evangelist and Apostle John.
\u201dI want to speak boldly and forcefully, so that ye may be made the best, so that ye may turn from flesh to spirit, so that in right manner ye progress in spirit,\u201d\u2014said Saint Gregory the Theologian.
In his works Saint Gregory, just like that other Theologian Saint John, directs everything towards the Pr\u00e6ternal Word. The Monk John Damascene (Comm. 4December), in the first part of his book \u201cExposition on the Faith,\u201d followed the lead of Saint Gregory the Theologian.
The body of Saint Gregory was buried at Nazianzos. In the year 950 the holy relics were transferred to Constantinople into the church of the Holy Apostles. Later on part of the relics were transferred to Rome. Tradition has preserved the features of the saint as: \u201ca face humble, pale, eyebrows standing up thick, a meek glance, beard not long, but thick and broad.\u201d His contemporaries already called the archpastor a saint. The Orthodox Church, terming Saint Gregory a second Theologian and mystery-insightful luminous writer of the Holy Trinity, recourses thus to him in the songs of Divine-services: \u201cBy the theology of thy tongue rhetoric wrangling is undone, O glorious one, thou hast adorned the Church with the fabric of Orthodoxy woven from on high: rejoice, O father, thou utmost mind Theological.\u201d [from Kondak].
"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "The shepherd\u201ds pipe of thy theology * vanquished the clarions of the rhetors; * for beauties of discourse were added to thee * who delved into the depths of the Spirit. ** O father Gregory, entreat Christ God, that out souls be saved.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "O glorious one who destroyed the rhetors\u201d webs * with the tongue of thy theology, * thou hast adorned the Church with the vesture of theology woven from on high; * and, wearing it, it crieth out with us, thy children: ** Rejoice, O father, thou uttermost mind of theology!
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "536": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Hierarch Gregory Dialogus, the Pope of Rome (\u2020 604)", "short": "Holy Hierarch"}}, "539": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Nestor and Tribimius (3rd C)", "short": "Martyrs Nestor and Tribimius"}}, "541": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Domnina of Syria (\u2020 c. 450-460)", "short": "Venerable Domnina"}}, "543": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica (\u2020 c. 1360)", "short": "Saint Gregory"}}, "544": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Theodotus, Bishop of Cyrenia (\u2020 c. 326)", "short": "Hieromartyr Theodotus"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Hieromartyr Theodotos, a native of Galatia in Asia Minor, was bishop of the city of Kyreneia in Cyprus. During a time of persecution against christians under the impious emperor Licinius (307-324), Saint Theodotos openly preached Christ, calling on the pagans to abandon idol-worship and turn to the True God. The governor of Cyprus Sabinus gave orders to arrest and bring bishop Theodotos to trial. Having found out about this order, the saint did not wait for the soldiers sent after him, but instead immediately went to the governor with the words: \u201cI am here, whom thou seekest; I have shown myself, so as to preach Christ my God.\u201d The governor gave orders for the saint to be beaten without mercy, hung up upon a tree and be dealt with by sharp implements, and then be taken to prison. After five days Saint Theodotos was again brought to the governor, who presumed that the bishop would prefer after his tortures to renounce Christ, rather than endure new sufferings. But Saint Theodotos did not cease to preach about Christ. At first they put the saint on an iron grate, under which they set a bon-fire, and then hammered nails into his feet and let him go. Many witnessed the sufferings of the martyr: astonished at the endurance of the saint and his Divinely-inspired speaking, they came to believe in Christ. Learning of this, Sabinus gave orders to stop the torture and lock up the saint in prison.
During the time of Saint Constantine the Great (Comm. 21 May), the freedom to confess their faith was given to all christians, and among the sufferers set free from prison was also Saint Theodotos. The saint returned to Kyreneia and after two years serving as bishop he peacefully expired to the Lord in about the year 326.
"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Thou didst denounce the sea of false belief, * and with the faith of correct belief wound the falsehood of the godlessness of idolatry; * and as a divine immolation * thou bedewest the ends of the earth with thy wonderworking. ** O holy hierarch Theodotus our father, entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy!
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "545": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Gregory, Recluse of the Kiev Caves", "short": "Venerable Gregory"}}, "546": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Arsenius the Bishop of Tver (\u2020 1409)", "short": "St. Arsenius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "Saint Arsenii, Bishop of Tver,\u2019 was born at Tver,\u2019 and in his early years took monastic vows in the Kievo-Kiev Caves monastery. Even among the monks of this ancient monastery, distinguished for their piety, Arsenii was noted for his saintly life\u2014a strict keeping of the monastic vows, a knowledge of the Church ustav, the study of Holy Scripture, and a love for work. Under the Kiev metropolitan Kyprian (1380-1382) he served as archdeacon, and during times of the metropolitan\u2019s absence he governed the working of the Kiev metropolitanate. On 3 July 1390 he went together with Metropolitan Kyprian to Tver,\u2019 where at the request of the Tver\u2019 prince Mikhail Aleksandrovich there had been convened a Sobor of Russian and Greek hierarchs for judgement upon the Tver\u2019 bishop Evphymii. The prince and the bishop were in a lengthy quarrel, and many of the Tver\u2019 people had serious accusations against the Tver\u2019 bishop. After unsuccessful attempts to restore peace to the Tver\u2019 church, Metropolitan Kyprian \u201cremoved from the episcopacy\u201d Evphymii and sent him off to Moscow to the Chudov monastery. Saint Arsenii was appointed to the Tver\u2019 cathedra. But he, \u201cfearful to accept the authority at Tver,\u2019 in view of the much enmity and spite there, was both troubled and terrified.\u201d Upon the return of Metropolitan Kyprian and archdeacon Arsenii to Moscow, the Tver\u2019 prince sent his boyars with a petition to the metropolitan concerning ordination of Arsenii to the Tver\u2019 cathedra. This time also Arsenii was not agreeable. In the words of the chronicle for the year 1390 \u201chardly even by the metropolitan\u2019s entreaty would archdeacon Arsenii be at Tver\u2032.\u201d Under the threat of cathedral suspension metropolitan and prince finally received his assent to the ordination, which was done 15 August 1390. Among the bishops taking part in the laying on of hands was Saint Stephen, Bishop of Perm (Comm. 26 April).
Having come upon the cathedra, Bishop Arsenii, as a man of great prayer and peace-maker, was able to stop much of the discord in the Tver\u2019 principality. During his episcopacy, from 1390 to 1409, there were built and consecrated cathedrals in honour of the Archangel Michael at Staritsa and Mikulina, and the Saviour-Transfiguration cathedral was restored with the putting up of a cathedral bell-tower. The saint founded on the river T\u2032maka near Tver\u2019 the Zheltikov monastery, where in similitude to the Kievo-Kiev Caves monastery was built a church in the names of the Monks Antonii and Theodosii of Kiev Caves (1394), and a stone Uspenie cathedral.
Desiring that the monks of this new monastery would always take edification from the asceticism of the Kiev Caves Fathers, Saint Arsenii gave orders to compile a list from the Kievo-Kiev Caves Paterikon, offering the most ancient of redactions surviving into the present of this precious memorial of Russian literature, and receiving the name of the Arsen\u2032ev Redaction.
The saint died on 2 March 1409, and was buried in the Zheltikov monastery of the Uspenie * Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, which he founded. In 1483 his relics were found undecayed and placed in the monastery cathedral. In the same year priest-monk Feodosii wrote the Life and a Kanon of the Saint-bishop. At a Sobor of 1547 was established the celebration of Saint Arsenii throughout all the Church.
"}, "rank": 3}, "547": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Agathon of Egypt (5th C)", "short": "Venerable Agathon"}}, "548": {"name": {"nominative": "440 Martyrs slain by the Lombards in Sicily (\u2020 579)", "short": "440 Martyrs"}}, "551": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Neo-C\u00e6sarea (\u2020 c. 266-270)", "short": "Saint Gregory"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "Born in the city of Neo-C\u00e6sarea, he received an excellent education under the direction of the famous Origen. Upon the completion of his education, St. Gregory left for the desert in which he \"subdued demonic assaults and carnal deception\", and entirely turned himself over to prayer and the study of Holy Scripture. Soon because of his virtuous life, the inhabitants of Neo-C\u00e6sarea elected him bishop. In this rank he so zealously worked at converting the pagans to Christ, that when he died there were only 17 pagans in Neo-C\u00e6sarea. When he became bishop there were only 17 Christians. St. Gregory was called wonderworker and another Moses because of the many miracles performed by him. He died about the year 270. The Holy Church blesses him as \"the strong conqueror of atheistic evil\", \"giver of the laws of piety and wise teacher\", \"an imitator of the apostles as a worker of miracles\", \"guide of those who had gone astray and physician of the infirm\", \"giver of abundant requests to those entreating you, the mightiest oppressor of demons\".
"}, "rank": 2, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "By vigilance in prayer and continuance in the working of miracles, * thou didst acquire the name of thy worthy deeds. ** Yet pray thou to Christ God, O father Gregory, that He enlighten our souls, lest we sleep unto death.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Receiving the power to work many miracles, * thou didst terrify the demons with awesome signs, * and didst dispel the diseases of men, O most wise Gregory. * And thou wast called the wonderworker, ** receiving this title from thy works.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "552": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs and Confessors Gurias, Samonas (\u2020 299-306) and Habib (\u2020 322) of Edessa", "short": "Martyrs"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "Saints Gurius and Samonas were born in Emesa. Tonsured in the desert, they converted pagans to Christ, and for this they were subjected to torture during the Diocletian persecution, locked up in prison, and finally beheaded (in the year 306). St. Abibus, the deacon from the village of Thella, near Ruscia, suffered for Christ in Edessa during the reign of the Emperor Licinius (in 322). These martyrs are called confessors, \"for they are chastisers for the nonperformance of mutual agreements\". One maiden, when she married, received from her husband an oath of faithfulness and love at the grave of the martyrs, was wonderfully protected by them from afflictions and offences and who frustrated her husband and saved her from death.
"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "O Christ God, Thou hast given us an impregnable rampart * in the miracles of Thy holy martyrs. * Through their supplications destroy Thou the councils of the heathen * and strengthen the scepters of kingdoms, ** in that Thou art good and lovest mankind.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "5"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Having received grace from on high, O most lauded martyrs, * ye intercede for those amid temptations; * wherefore, ye delivered the maiden from a bitter death, O holy ones; ** for ye are truly the glory of Edessa and the joy of the world.
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "553": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God \u2018She who Reigns\u2019 (1917)", "short": "Icon"}, "rank": 4}, "555": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus of Amasea (\u2020 c. 308)", "short": "Martyrs Eutropius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Holy Martyrs Eutropios, Kleonikos and Basiliskos suffered in the city of Pontine Amasia (Asia Minor) in about the year 308.
The brothers Eutropios and Kleonikos, and Basiliskos the nephew of the Great Martyr Theodore of Tyre (Comm. 17 February), were comrades. After the martyr\u2019s death of Saint Theodore, they wound up in prison and by their preaching brought to the Christian faith many of the pagans located in prison with them.
When he tortured Saint Theodore, Publius perished shamefully, struck down by Divine wrath. Asclepiodotos was chosen governor of Pontine Amasia, and did not bend from the fierceness of his predecessor. Knowing the comrades of the martyr Theodore of Tyre were still all in prison, the governor commanded that they be brought to him. Saints Eutropios, Kleonikos and Basiliskos thus firmly confessed their faith in Christ in front of this new governor. They were mercilessly beaten, such that their bodies became entirely bruised. At the time of torture Saint Eutropios prayed loudly to the Saviour: \u201cGrant us, O Lord, to endure the making of these wounds for the sake of the crown of martyrdom, and come in help to us, like as Thou camest to Thy servant Theodore.\u201d In answer to this prayer of the saint, there appeared to the martyrs the Lord Himself with Angels and together with them the holy Great Martyr Theodore of Tyre, saying to them: \u201cBehold, the Saviour is come in help to you, that ye may know about life eternal.\u201d
Soldiers and many of the people standing nearby were also granted to behold the Saviour. They began to urge Asclepiodotos to halt the tortures. Seeing, that the people were distraught and ready to believe in the True God, the governor commanded the martyrs to be taken away. The governor then invited Saint Eutropios to him at supper and urged him to publicly offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, yet remain a Christian in soul.
But Eutropios refused this offer.
On the following day they brought the martyrs to a pagan temple, so as to compel them by force to offer sacrifice. Eutropios thereupon began to entreat the Saviour: \u201cLord, be with us, and destroy the raging of the pagans. Grant, that on this place be offered a Christian Bloodless Sacrifice unto Thee, the True God.\u201d These last words of prayer had only just been spoken, when there began an earthquake, the walls of the temple began to collapse, and with them was smashed also the statue of the goddess Artemis. Everyone fled from the temple so as not to be crushed amidst the rubble. Amidst the noise of the earthquake was heard a voice from on high: \u201cYour prayer is heard, and on this place shalt be built an house for Christian prayer.\u201d
When the earthquake ended, the governor Asclepiodotos, barely just recovered from fright, gave orders to drive high wooden stakes into the ground, tie the martyrs to them and pour boiling tar over them. The saints began to pray to God, and Eutropios cried out turning to the torturers: \u201cMay the Lord turn your deed against you!\u201d And the tar began to flow aside the bodies of the martyrs, like water with marble, scorching the torturers. Those seeing this fled in terror, but the governor in his bitterness gave orders to rend their bodies with iron hooks and to sting their wounds with mustard, mixed with salt and vinegar. The saints endured these torments with remarkable firmness.
The following night before execution the saints spent their time at prayer, and again the Lord appeared to them and strengthened them.
On the morning of 3 March, Saints Eutropios and Kleonikos were crucified, but Basiliskos was left in prison.
They executed Saint Basiliskos on 22 May in the city of Komana. They beheaded him, and threw his body into a river. But christians found his remains and buried them in a ploughed field. Later at Komana was built a church in the name of Saint Basiliskos.
An account about the life of the holy martyr is located under 22 May.
"}, "rank": 1}, "556": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Virgin Piama (\u2020 337)", "short": "Venerable Virgin"}}, "557": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God of Volokolamsk (1572)", "short": "Icon of"}}, "561": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Joasaph of Snetogorsk, Pskov (\u2020 1299)", "short": "Venerable Joasaph"}}, "564": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Paul and his sister Juliana (\u2020 c.273) and with them: Quadratus, Akakius and Stratonicus", "short": "Martyrs"}}, "565": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable James the Faster of Ph\u0153nicia (6th C)", "short": "Venerable James"}}, "567": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Conon of Isauria (1st C)", "short": "Martyr Conon"}, "rank": 1}, "569": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Onesimus of Isauria (1st C)", "short": "Martyr Onesimus"}}, "570": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Conon the Gardener of Pamphylia (3rd C)", "short": "Martyr Conon"}}, "572": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Eulampius", "short": "Martyr Eulampius"}}, "575": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Hesychius the Faster of Bithynia (\u2020 c. 790)", "short": "St. Hesychius"}}, "579": {"name": {"nominative": "Right-believing Prince Daniel of Moscow (\u2020 1303)", "short": "Right-believing Prince"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "Holy Nobleborn Prince Daniel (Daniil) of Moscow was born at Vladimir in the year 1261. He was the fourth son of Saint Alexander Nevsky (Comm. 30 August and 23November) and Righteous Vassa. Two years after birth he lost his father. The date of his mother\u2019s repose is not indicated in the chronicles; it is known only, that she was buried in the church in honour of the Nativity of Christ at the Vladimir Uspenie monastery (the Princess monastery), and the people in the surroundings venerated her as \u201cRighteous\u201d (\u201cPravedna\u201d).
In 1272 holy Prince Daniel received as his allotted portion the city of Moscow with its adjacent lands. The holy prince built on the banks of the River Moskva (Moscow) a church (and alongside it a monastery) in honour of his same-name patron saint, the Monk Daniel the Pillar-Dweller (Comm. 11 December). The Moscow principality was during this period small and unobtrusive. While growing up, holy Prince Daniel strengthened and expanded it, not in manners unjust or c\u0153rcive, but instead benevolent and peace-loving. In Rus\u2019 it was a time of unrest. Fratricidal strife amongst the appanage princes was rife. And often, thanks to holy Prince Daniel, and his incessant striving for unity and peace in the Russian Land, bloodshed was averted. In 1293 his brother, the Great-prince Alexander Alexandrovich, together with Tatars summoned from the Horde and headed by Diuden (\u201cthe Diudenev Host\u201d), laid waste to Russian cities: Murom, Suzdal,\u2019 Kolomna, Dmitrov, Mozhaisk, Tver\u2032. Prince Daniel decided to adjoin them to Moscow, to save their people from perishing. There was not the strength for resistance. Together with his people, the prince braced himself for terrible destruction and pillaging. Standing up for his rights, Saint Daniel was compelled to come out against his brother near a place, called Yur\u2032evo Tolchische (\u201cYur\u2032evo Threshing-Mill\u201d), but here also the yearning for peace won out in him, and bloodshed was averted.
In 1300, when the Ryazan prince Konstantin Romanovich, having summoned Tatars to his aid, was occupied in secret preparations for a sudden assault on the lands of the Moscow principality, Prince Daniel went with an army to Ryazan, and beating the enemy, he took captive Konstantin and destroyed a multitude of Tatars. This was a first victory over the Tatars, though not a tremendous victory, but it was noteworthy nonetheless\u2014as a first push towards freedom. Having beaten the Ryazan prince and scattered his confederates the Tatars, holy Prince Daniel did not take advantage of his victory to seize foreign lands or take booty, as was the accepted custom during these times, but rather he displayed an example of true non-covetousness, love and fraternity. The holy prince never resorted to arms to seize the lands of others, nor did he ever snatch away the property of other princes either by force or by treachery. And for this the Lord saw fit to expand the boundaries of his princely realm. Ioann Dimitrievich, prince of Pereslavl\u2032-Zalessk, a nephew of Daniel, was gentle and pious and benevolent towards the poor, and he esteemed and loved his uncle; dying childless in 1302, he bequeathed his principality to Saint Daniel. The Pereslavlsk lands together with Dmitrov were, after Rostov, foremost in number of inhabitants, with corresponding fortification befitting a major city. Pereslavl\u2032-Zalessk was well protected on all sides. But the holy prince remained faithful to Moscow and did not transfer the capital of his princedom to the stronger and more significant seat of the Pereslavl\u2019 of this period. This annexation moved Moscow up to be numbered as the most significant principality. And here was set in place the principle of the unification of the Russian Land into a single powerful realm.
How wondrous over the expanse of ages was clearly manifest the Providential Will of God concerning the Russian Land and its destiny!
Grateful in remembrance of the constant Blessing of the Hodegetria (\u201cWay-Guide Mother of God) both in his personal life, and also in the life of the Russian realm, Saint Daniel\u2019s father\u2014Saint Alexander Nevsky, had expressed it in the words: \u201cGod is not in might, but in right!.\u201d
In 1303 Saint Daniel fell seriously ill. He assumed the monastic great-schema and commanded that he be buried at the Danilov monastery. Through deep humility he wanted to be buried not within the church, but in the common monastery cemetery. The holy prince died on 4 March.
Within the passage of less than 30 years after the repose of holy Prince Daniel, the Danilov monastery founded by him was transformed into the Moscow Kremlin, the church was transformed into a parish church, and the cemetery became non-monastic. During the time of Great-prince Ivan III (1462-1505), the Monk-prince Daniel gave reminders of himself to his forgetful descendents. As a stranger he appeared to a youth attendant on the great-prince and said: \u201cBe not afraid of me\u2014I was a Christian and the master of this place, my name is Daniel Prince of Moscow, and by the will of God I am here. Tell about me to Great-prince Ioann (Ivan) saying: thou delightest thyself while yet having forgotten me, but God hath not forgotten me.\u201d And after this it was that the great-prince established the singing of cathedral panikhidas for his ancestral princes. During the time tsar Ivan the Terrible, at the grave of Saint Daniel was healed the dying son of a barge merchant. The tsar, struck by the miracle, renovated the ancient Danilov monastery and established a yearly church procession, made by the metropolitan to the place of burial of the holy prince, serving there a panikhida.
In 1652 holy Monk-prince Daniel was glorified with the uncovering of his incorrupt relics, which on 30 August were transferred to the church in honour of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh \u0152cumenical Council.
The holy relics were placed in a reliquary \u201cto the glorifying of the Holy Trinity and for the healing of the infirm.\u201d The Moscow metropolitan Platon (\u2020 1812), in the Vita of the holy prince compiled by him, writes: \u201cThis original founder laid the foundation of present-day majestic Moscow, going about this with quiet steps upon a small foot-path. And thus as with any edifice, built not with extreme haste but the rather instead with great artifice and skill, doth receive a particular solidity and doth stand indestructible for a long time; and just as a tall tree growing for many a century, and having started first of all with a small sprout, and thickeneth little by little, with its branches spreading about far around, so also was it needful for this city to grow from the small, but solid root, in order that its first glimmer not beshadow the eyes of the envious, and that initially it not be disturbed or felled early on, but rather grow up to its true height. Thus did this founder prepare the great city given him; though small, but shining uninterrupted by any wafting of the wind, he did bequeathe the great glory of its rise to his son Great-prince Ioann (Ivan) Danilovich, called Kalita.\u201d
"}}, "582": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Conon and his son Conon of Iconium (\u2020 270-275)", "short": "Hieromartyr Conon"}}, "583": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Arcadius of Cyprus (4th C)", "short": "Venerable Arcadius"}}, "584": {"name": {"nominative": "Icons of the Mother of God: \u201cChenstokhov\u201d (1st C), \u201cBlessed Heaven\u201d (14th C) and \u201cShestokovskoy\u201d (18th C)", "short": "Icons"}}, "585": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Daniel the \u201cStylite\u201d [Pillar-Dweller] of Constantinople (\u2020 489-490)", "short": "Venerable Daniel"}, "rank": 1}, "586": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Daniel the Abbot of Shuzhgorsk (16th C)", "short": "Venerable Daniel"}}, "588": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyrs Basil, Ephraim, Eugene, Elpidius, Agathodorus, Aetherius, and Kapiton of Cherson (4th C)", "short": "Hieromartyrs Basil"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Holy Hieromartyrs Basil, Ephraim, Eugene, Elpidias, Agathodoros, Etherias and Kapiton carried the evangelium (Good News) of Christ into the North Black Sea region from the Danube (Dunaj) to the Dniepr, including the Crimea, and they sealed their apostolic activity with a martyr\u2019s death during the IV Century in the city of Tauridian Chersonessus. Long before the Baptism of Rus\u2019 under Saint Vladimir, the Christian faith had already spread into the Crimea, which in antiquity was called Tauridia and was ruled by the Roman emperor. The beginning of the enlightenment of Tauridia is attributed to the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (\u2020 62, Comm. 30 November). Its very enemies even contributed to the further spread of Christianity, and contrary to their intent: the Roman emperors banished to this area transgressors against the state,\u2014which Christianity and the confessors of Christ were considered to be during the first three centuries. Thus, during the reign of Trajan (98-117) Saint Clement, Bishop of Rome (\u2020 101, Comm. 25 November), was exiled for imprisonment to the Inkermann stone-quarry. There he continued with his preaching, and there also he accepted a martyr\u2019s end.
The pagans inhabiting the Crimean land stubbornly resisted the spread of Christianity. But the faith of Christ, through its self-denying preachers, grew strong and was affirmed. Many an evangeliser gave his life for this struggle.
At the beginning of the IV Century a bishop\u2019s cathedra (presiding-chair) was established at Chersonnesus. This was a critical period, when Chersonnesus served as a base for the Roman armies, which constantly passed through in their dependence upon Byzantium. During the reign of Diocletian (284-305), in the year 300 (that is, still before the persecution which the emperor started in the year 303),\u2014the Jerusalem Patriarch Hermonos (303-313) dispatched many bishops for preaching the Gospel in various lands. Two of them, Ephraim and Basil, arrived in Chersonnesus and planted there the Word of God. Later on, Saint Ephraim went to the peoples living along the Danube, where he underwent many tribulations and sorrows. At the time of the start of the persecution he was beheaded (exactly known is only the day of his death\u20147 March). The preaching at Chersonnesus was continued by Saint Basil, the companion of Saint Ephraim. He set many idol-worshippers onto the pathway of truth. Other wayward inhabitants of the city, enraged at his activity, showed wrathful resistance: the saint was arrested, mercilessly beaten and thrown out of the city. Having withdrawn to a mountain and settling in a cave, he incessantly prayed God for those that expelled him, that He might illumine them with the light of true Divine-knowledge. And the Lord sent the unbelieving a miracle. The only son of an important citizen of Chersonnesus died. The dead one appeared to his parents in a dream and said, that a certain man named Basil by his prayers to the True God could resurrect him from the dead. When the parents had searched out the saint and besought him to work the miracle, Saint Basil answered, that he himself\u2014was a sinful man and had not the power to resuscitate the dead, but the Lord Almighty could fulfill their request if they were to believe in Him. For a long time the saint prayed, invoking the Name of the Holy Trinity. Then, having blessed water, he sprinkled it on the dead one, who then came alive. The saint returned to the city with honour, and many believed and were baptised.
Soon, by order of the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311), the persecution against Christians spread with renewed force. The Christ-haters rose up also against Saint Basil: on 7 March 309 he was dragged at night from his house; they tied him up, dragged him along the streets and beat him to death with stones and canes. The body of the saint was thrown out of the city for devouring by dogs and birds, and for many days it was left unburied, but remained untouched. Then Christians secretly buried the body of the holy martyr in a cave.
A year later, having learned of the martyr\u2019s death of Saint Basil, three of his companions\u2014Bishops Eugene (Eugenios), Elpidias and Agathodoros\u2014left off their preaching in the Hellespontine region, and arrived at Chersonnesus to continue his holy work. They underwent many hardships for the salvation of human souls. All three bishops shared the fate of their predecessor\u2014demon-driven pagans likewise stoned them on 7March 311.
After the passing of several years, a time already during the reign of holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine the Great (306-337, Comm. 21 May), Bishop Etherias arrived in Chersonnesus from Jerusalem. At first he also encountered hostility on the part of the pagans, but the holy emperor in declaring freedom for the Christian faith would not tolerate acts of violence against the preacher: he issued a decree, by which it was declared that at Chersonnesus the Christians should be able to make Divine-services without hindrance. Through the efforts of Saint Etherias a church was built in the city, where the saint peacefully governed his flock.
To thank the emperor for protecting the Christians, Saint Etherias journeyed to Constantinople. On the return trip he fell ill and died on the island of Amos (in Greece) on 7 March.
In place of Saint Etherias, the holy emperor Constantine sent to Chersonnesus Bishop Kapiton. The Christians met him with joy, but the pagans demanded from the new bishop a sign, so as to believe in the God Whom he preached. Placing all his hope on the Lord, Saint Kapiton in clergy garb went into a red-hot bonfire, and for a long while he prayed in the fire and emerged from it unharmed, gathering up in his phelonion the red-hot coals. Many of the unbelievers were then persuaded in the power of the Christian God.
About this miracle and the great faith of Saint Kapiton, reports were made to Saint Constantine and the holy fathers of the First \u0152cumenical Council (325).
After several years Saint Kapiton journeyed on business to Constantinople, but the ship hit a storm at the mouth of the Dniepr River. The local people (pagans) seized hold of the ship and drowned all those on board, including Saint Kapiton. This however occurred on 21 December. The memory of the holy bishop of the Church was set in conjunction with the other Chersonnesus Hieromartyrs\u20147 March.
The preaching of the priestmartyrs strengthened the faith in Christ in the Chersonnesus. From the beginning of the V Century this city became a spiritual centre, from which Christianity spread northwards towards Rus\u2032. And all the more during the IXCentury Chersonnesus exerted influence on the Russians, who had begun to settle in the city. Present-day archeological excavations have shown, that in the city were more than fifty churches, dating to the V-XIV Centuries. In the year 987 it was at Chersonnesus that holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir accepted Baptism. This ancient city was a cradle of Christianity for Rus\u2032.
"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "The radiant day of the pastors who were bishops in Cherson * hath dawned with splendor. * We hymn the feast of those who suffered for the sheep of Christ. * O hieromartyrs, entreat Christ, the chief Shepherd, * that He honor us with a place with the sheep on His right hand, * that we may cry aloud to you: ** Rejoice, O sacred fathers who shed your blood for Christ!
", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "589": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Paul the Confessor the Bishop of Plusias (9th C)", "short": "St. Paul"}}, "590": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Emilian, in the world Victorinus, of Italy", "short": "Venerable Emilian"}}, "592": {"name": {"nominative": "Icons of the Mother of God: \u201cthe Unsleeping Eye\u201d, \u201cMatelikiskaya\u201d, and \u201cSurety of Sinners\u201d", "short": "Icons of"}}, "594": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Theophylactus the Bishop of Nicomedia (\u2020 842-845)", "short": "St. Theophylactus"}, "rank": 1}, "597": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Priest Theodoritus of Antioch (4th C)", "short": "Hieromartyr Priest"}}, "50201": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Hierarchs of Perm: Gerasimus (\u2020 c. 1441), Pitirim (\u2020 1455), and Jonah (\u2020 1470)", "short": "Hierarchs of Perm"}}, "50601": {"name": {"nominative": "Glorification of Saint Herman of Alaska", "short": "Glorification"}, "rank": 1}, "50602": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Herman, Wonderworker of Alaska (\u2020 1837) [ROCOR]", "short": "Venerable Herman"}, "rank": 4}, "50901": {"name": {"nominative": "Translation of the relics of Saint Herman, Archbishop of Kazan (1595)", "short": "Translation"}}, "50902": {"name": {"nominative": "Repose of Saint Herman, Archbishop of Kazan (\u2020 1567)", "short": "St. Herman"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "St. Herman descended from a family of boyars, Sadirev-Polev (descendants of the princes of Smolensk), was born in the city of Staritsa, Tver province at the beginning of 16th century and in the world bore the name Gregory. From his young years he loved church services and the reading of the divine scriptures, observed much moderation in food and all the time devoted himself to pious exercises. When he was 25 years old, with the blessing of his parents and taking the name of Herman, he entered the Volokolamsk-St. Joseph Monastery. And here he learned the high moral qualities of a monk, was the first in the temple for prayer and the last leaving it, and when he was free from services and monastic obediences he devoted his time to the transcription of church service books. Since 1543 Hegumen Gurius, later the first archbishop of Kazan, revealed Herman as the leader in monastic asceticism. In 1555, when St. Gurius was installed the Archbishop of Kazan, St. Herman already was known for his holy life, and was entrusted to build a monastery in the city of Sviazhsk (see Kazan Diocese), in order that it serve as a garden of the holy faith among the Moslems. The Ven. Herman honorably performed his duties and upon the death of St. Gurius in 1564 was installed as the Archbishop of Kazan. Called in 1566 to Moscow to become Metropolitan, St. Herman, with deep monastic humility, distinguished by sincere love of truth and unshakable firmness, powerfully accused the disordered oprichnina (private court) during the first personal appointment of Ivan the Terrible. For this he was quietly removed as Metropolitan and remained in Moscow under the ban of the Tsar for a year and seven months before his death. However the imperial anger did not frighten the firm spirit of Herman. At the council called in 1568 by Ivan the Terrible for the condemnation of St. Philip, St. Herman was one among all who raised his voice in the defense of the innocent. Soon after that council on November 6, 1568, St. Herman died in Moscow in abject poverty from the plague epidemic and was interred in the Nicholay-Mokrago Church. Within 24 years his relics were transferred to the Dormition Monastery in Sviazhsk (see the Kazan Diocese), during which a wonderful odor permeated not only throughout the temple but also the entire monastery."}}, "51801": {"name": {"nominative": "Killing of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Gleb, in Baptism David (\u2020 1015)", "short": "Killing of"}}, "53901": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Gregory Decapolites (\u2020 816)", "short": "Venerable Gregory"}, "rank": 1}, "54301": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica (\u2020 c. 1360)", "short": "Saint Gregory"}}, "54401": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Gregory, Wonderworker of Vologda (\u2020 1442)", "short": "Venerable Gregory"}, "rank": 3}, "54501": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Euthalia of Sicily (\u2020 257)", "short": "Martyr Euthalia"}}, "55301": {"name": {"nominative": "Transfer of the Relics of Saint Gurias, Archbishop of Kazan (1630)", "short": "Transfer"}}, "55302": {"name": {"nominative": "Finding of the relics of St Gurias, 1st Archbishop of Kazan (\u2020 1563), and Saint Barsonophius, Bishop of Tver (\u2020 1576) in 1595", "short": "Finding"}, "rank": 3}, "55304": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Gurias, Archbishop of Kazan (\u2020 1563)", "short": "Saint Gurias"}}, "57901": {"name": {"nominative": "42 Martyrs of Ammoria in Phrygia (\u2020 c. 845): Theodore, Constantine, Aetius, Theophilus, Basoes, Callistus, and others", "short": "42 Martyrs"}, "rank": 1}, "57902": {"name": {"nominative": "Finding of the relics of the Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow (1652)", "short": "Finding"}, "rank": 4}, "58201": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Daniel the Abbot of Pereyaslavl-Zalesski (\u2020 1540)", "short": "Venerable Daniel"}}, "58401": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Daniel, Archbishop of Serbia (\u2020 1338)", "short": "Saint Daniel"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1999-2008 Archpriest Eugene D. Tarris.", "text": "St. Daniel was born in Serbia, the son of rich and famous parents. Aspiring to asceticism, he accepted monasticism in the Konchulsk Monastery. From here he went to Mt. Athos where he became the Hegumen of the Hilandar Monastery. In 1325, Daniel was elected Archbishop of Serbia and most successfully deflected the attacks of the Pope of Rome. Serbia is obliged to St. Daniel for the construction of many churches and cultivation of vineyards. He died in 1338."}}}