Lives of all saints commemorated on April 10

Today we commemorate the Life-Giving Fountain of the Most Holy Theotokos.

There once was a beautiful church in Constantinople dedicated to the Mother of God, which had been built in the fifth century by the holy Emperor Leo the Great (January 20) in the Seven Towers district.

Before becoming emperor, Leo was walking in a wooded area where he met a blind man who was thirsty and asked Leo to help him find water. Though he agreed to search for water, he was unable to find any. Suddenly, he heard a voice telling him that there was water nearby. He looked again, but still could not find the water. Then he heard the voice saying “Emperor Leo, go into the deepest part of the woods, and you will find water there. Take some of the cloudy water in your hands and give it to the blind man to drink.Then take the clay and put it on his eyes. Then you shall know who I am.” Leo obeyed these instructions, and the blind man regained his sight. Later, Saint Leo became emperor, just as the Theotokos had prophesied.

Leo built a church over the site at his own expense, and the water continued to work miraculous cures. Therefore, it was called “The Life-Giving Fountain.”

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the church was torn down by the Moslems, and the stones were used to build a mosque. Only a small chapel remained at the site of the church. Twenty-five steps led down into the chapel, which had a window in the roof to let the light in. The holy Fountain was still there, surrounded by a railing.

After the Greek Revolution in 1821, even this little chapel was destroyed and the Fountain was buried under the rubble. Christians later obtained permission to rebuild the chapel, and work began in July of 1833. While workmen were clearing the ground, they uncovered the foundations of the earlier church. The Sultan allowed them to build not just a chapel, but a new and beautiful church on the foundations of the old one.

Construction began on September 14, 1833, and was completed on December 30, 1834. Patriarch Constantine II consecrated the church on February 2, 1835, dedicating it to the Most Holy Theotokos.

The Turks desecrated and destroyed the church again on September 6, 1955. A smaller church now stands on the site, and the waters of the Life-Giving Fountain continue to work miracles.

There is also a Life-Giving Fountain Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos which is commemorated on April 4.

On Bright Friday we commemorate the Appearance of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Footprint” at Pochaev.

In the year 1340, two monks came and settled in a cave on the hill where the monastery is now located. After reading his usual Prayer Rule, one of them went to the top of the hill, and and suddenly he beheld the Theotokos standing on a rock and enveloped in flames. He summoned the other monk, who also witnessed the miracle. A third witness of the vision was the shepherd John Bosoy. He ran to the hill, and the three of them glorified God. The Most Holy Theotokos left the imprint of her right foot on the stone where she had stood, and this filled up with water. Since that time, many people have been healed at this miraculous spring.

The Holy Martyr Terence and his companions suffered under the emperor Decius (249-251). The emperor issued an edict commanding all subjects to offer sacrifice to the pagan idols.

When the governor of Africa Fortunianus received this edict, he gathered the people into the city square, set out cruel instruments of torture and declared that everyone without exception had to offer the sacrifice to the idols.

Many, afraid of torture, complied. However, Saint Terence and forty other Christians bravely affirmed their faith in the Savior and ridiculed the idols. Fortunianus was amazed at their boldness and he asked how they as rational people, could confess as God, One Whom the Jews crucified as a malefactor.

Saint Terence answered that their belief was in the Savior, Who voluntarily endured death on the Cross and rose on the third day. Fortunianus saw that Terence inspired the others by his example, and so he ordered him to be isolated in prison with his three closest companions: Africanus, Maximus, and Pompeius. Fortunianus was determined to force the rest of the martyrs, including Zeno, Alexander and Theodore, to renounce Christ.

Neither threats nor terrible tortures could sway the holy martyrs. They burned them with red-hot iron, they poured vinegar on the wounds, they sprinkled on salt, and they raked them with iron claws. In spite of their sufferings, the saints did not weaken in their confession of Christ, and the Lord gave them strength.

Fortunianus gave orders to lead the martyrs into the pagan temple, and once again he urged them to offer sacrifice to the idols. The valiant warriors of Christ cried out, “O Almighty God, Who once sent down fire on Sodom for its iniquity, destroy this impious temple of idolatry.” The idols fell down with a crash, and then the temple lay in ruins. The enraged governor gave orders to execute them, and the martyrs, glorifying God, bowed their necks beneath the executioner’s sword.

After the execution of the thirty-six martyrs, Fortunianus summoned Terence, Maximus, Africanus and Pompeius before him. He showed them the martyrs’ bodies and again urged them to offer sacrifice to the idols. The martyrs refused. The governor put heavy chains on them, and gave orders to starve them to death. By night, an angel of the Lord removed the martyrs’ chains and fed them.

In the morning, the guards found the saints cheerful and strong. Then Fortunianus ordered sorcerers and conjurers to carry snakes and all kinds of poisonous creatures into the prison. The guards looked into the cell through an opening in the ceiling and saw the martyrs unharmed, praying, and the snakes crawling at their feet. When the sorcerers opened the door of the prison cell, the snakes bit them. The furious Fortunianus gave orders to behead the holy martyrs. Christians took up their holy bodies and buried them with reverence outside the city.

The Holy Martyrs James the Presbyter and the deacons Azadanes and Abdikius died in Persia under the emperor Sapor in about the year 380. They were arrested together with Bishop Akepsimas (November 3). Weak from hunger, the sufferers had mustard and vinegar inserted into their nostrils. Then they were stripped and led out to stand all night in the cold.

In the morning, after new torments, the martyrs were returned to prison and beheaded.

In the 14th century, during the reign of King Bagrat V (1360-1394), Timur (Tamerlane) invaded Georgia seven times. His troops inflicted irreparable damage on the country, seizing centuries-old treasures and razing ancient churches and monasteries.

Timur’s armies ravaged Kartli, then took the king, queen, and the entire royal court captive and sent them to Karabakh (in present-day Azerbaijan). Later Timur attempted to entice King Bagrat to renounce the Christian Faith in exchange for permission to return to the throne and for the release of the other Georgian prisoners.

For some time Timur was unable to subjugate King Bagrat, but in the end, being powerless and isolated from his kinsmen, the king began to falter. He devised a sly scheme: to confess Islam before the enemy, but to remain a Christian at heart. Satisfied with King Bagrat’s decision to “convert to Islam,” Timur permitted the king to return to the throne of Kartli. At the request of King Bagrat, Timur sent twelve thousand troops with him to complete Georgia’s forcible conversion to Islam.

When they were approaching the village of Khunani in southeastern Georgia, Bagrat secretly informed his son Giorgi of everything that had happened and called upon him and his army to massacre the invaders.

The news of Bagrat’s betrayal and the ruin of his army infuriated Timur, and he called for immediate revenge. At their leader’s command, his followers destroyed everything in their path, set fire to cities and villages, devastated churches, and thus forced their way through to Kvabtakhevi Monastery.

Monastics and laymen alike were gathered in Kvabtakhevi when the enemy came thundering in. Having forced open the gate, the attackers burst into the monastery, then plundered and seized all its treasures. They captured the young and strong, carrying them away.

The old and infirm were put to the sword. As the greatest humiliation, they mocked the clergy and monastics by strapping them with sleigh bells and jumping and dancing around them.

Already drunk on the blood they had shed, the barbarians posed an ultimatum to those who remained: to renounce Christ and live or to be driven into the church and burned alive.

Faced with these terms, the faithful cried out: “Go ahead and burn our flesh—in the Heavenly Kingdom our souls will burn with a divine flame more radiant than the sun!” And in their exceeding humility, the martyrs requested that their martyrdom not be put on display: “We ask only that you not commit this sin before the eyes of men and angels. The Lord alone knows the sincerity of our will and comforts us in our righteous afflictions!”

Having been driven like beasts into the church, the martyrs raised up a final prayer to God: “In the multitude of Thy mercy shall I go into Thy house; I shall worship toward Thy holy temple in fear of Thee. O Lord, guide me in the way of Thy righteousness; because of mine enemies, make straight my way before Thee (Ps. 5:6-7) that with a pure mind I may glorify Thee forever....”

The executioners hauled in more and more wood, until the flames enveloping the church blazed as high as the heavens and the echo of crackling timber resounded through the mountains. Ensnared in a ring of fire, the blissful martyrs chanted psalms as they gave up their spirits to the Lord.

The massacre at Kvabtakhevi took place in 1386. The imprints of the martyrs’ charred bodies remain on the floor of the church to this day.

The Holy Patriarch Gregory (George Angelopoulos in the world) was born in 1745 at Dēmētsána in the Pelopónnēsos. He began his education in the village schools, since his father could not afford to send him to better schools. In 1765, he went to Athens to study under the renowned teacher Dēmḗtrios Vodas, and in 1767, he went to Smyrna to attend an ecclesiastical school. Later, he went to Patmos for further study, and was ordained as a Deacon in 1775 at Smyrna. Soon after, he was ordained as a Hieromonk.

In 1785 he was consecrated as a Bishop, and was chosen as the Metropolitan of Smyrna. His ministry produced much spiritual fruit, and he edified his flock by his eloquent sermons, by building schools, and by writing books. On May 1,1797 he was elected as Patriarch of Constantinople. From that day forward, he concerned himself with the internal and external order of the Patriarchate. He established rules for his household and staff, called regular meetings, and set agendas for the Synod of Bishops.

In the early XIX century, Greece was suffering under the heavy Turkish yoke, though many Greek patriots hoped to regain their independence. They found support from the Holy Patriarch, whose connections with Greek patriots were revealed only after Alexander Ypsilantis crossed the Prut River with his army against Sultan Mahmud.

The Patriarch was an ascetic who kept the fasts and devoted himself to the unceasing Prayer of the Heart. Such traits did not endear him to everyone, and he had many enemies. The Saint's austerity annoyed some bishops, who slandered him, resulting in his removal and exile to Mount Athos from 1798-1806, where he lived in the Greatest Lavra.

His second tenure as Patriarch began amid political turmoil. Once more he began a program of building churches and schools. Turkey declared war in 1807 as the result of Russian activity in the Balkans. The Sultan ordered Saint Gregory to issue an encyclical against Russia in order to prevent the Greeks from cooperating with them. He bore no malice toward Russia, but he was trying to avoid massacres and insurrections. Three times during his second Patriarchate, Saint Gregory was forced to quell Greek attempts to revolt. Nevertheless, he was deposed and exiled to the Holy Mountain in 1808.

In January 1819, the Holy Hierarch ascended the Patriarchal throne for the final time. He established a fund to help the poor of Constantinople and reorganized the Patriarchal printing press, which published many spiritual books. In March, several bishops were imprisoned or executed because of the failed insurrection of Alexander Ypsilantis in Moldavia. When the Greek Revolution began on March 25, 1821, the Turks ordered the Patriarch and his Synod to issue an anathema against Ypsilantis and those who had cooperated with him. The anathema was ignored, because the Greeks knew that it had been issued under duress.

During that Lent, jailings and executions were common. One of the Patriarch's friends advised him to flee from Constantinople to the Morea. Saint Gregory replied: "I have a premonition that the fish of the Bosphorus will eat my body, but I will die calmly, for the sake of of saving my nation."

On Holy Pascha, April 10, 1821, the Patriarch was seized at 10:00 A.M. and hanged at the gate of the Patriarchate, and then his body was thrown into the sea. That gate has remained shut ever since.

Greek sailors noticed the place where the Hieromartyr's body was abandoned, and placed it on a ship from Kephalonia under the command of Captain Macri Sklavos, and then it was taken to Odessa under the Russian flag. The Hierarch's relics were buried in the Greek church of the Holy Trinity on June 19, 1821. Patriarchal vestments were sent from Moscow for the Saint's relics, as well as a mitre and a cross, which had belonged to His Holiness Patriarch Nikon (1652-1658). The Hieromartyr Gregory V of Constantinople, held the See of Constantinople three times (1797-1799, 1806-1808, 1819-1821).

In 1871, at the request of the Greek government, permission was granted to transfer Patriarch Gregory's relics from Odessa to Athens for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Greek independence. A special Service was composed in Athens in honor of the Hierarch, whose martyrdom heralded the triumph of Christianity in Greece.

The Hieromartyr Gregory was glorified as a Saint in 1921. The scroll on his Icon reads: "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).