Lives of all saints commemorated on March 1

On this day, we commemorate all the righteous and God-bearing Fathers and Mothers, both known and unknown, who shone forth in asceticism. With these two weeks of Meatfare and Cheesefare, the Church gradually eases us into the full fasting which begins on Monday.

The holy acetics are virtuous men and women who contended against the devil and their own passions. By examining their lives and their struggles against the Enemy, we take courage from the victory they have achieved, and are inspired to imitate their God-pleasing conduct. They also teach us that fasting is not merely abstinence from food, but involves refraining from inappropriate speech and unseemly actions.

Since these holy ascetics share the same human nature that we have, their example is an encouragement to us as we embark on our own spiritual struggles. Their lives are a model for us to follow as we seek to acquire and practice the various virtues and to turn away from everything evil. If we undertake these same struggles of prayer, fasting, and good works, we shall receive from God the same reward they did.

Most of the holy ascetics commemorated today have their own separate Feast Day during the year, while some are remembered only on this day.

Holy Monastic Martyr Eudokia was a Samaritan, a native of the city of Heliopolis in Phoenicia (modern Baalbek), who lived during the reign of Trajan (98-117). Her pagan impiety took her off the good path, and for a long time she led a sinful life. Her soul was deadened and her heart hardened.

Eudokia awoke one night at midnight and heard singing from the house of a Christian woman next to hers. A monk was reading from a book which described the Last Judgment, the punishment of sinners, and the reward of the righteous. The grace of God touched Eudokia’s heart, and she grieved because of her great wealth and for her sinful life.

In the morning Eudokia hastened to call on the man whose rule of prayer she heard the previous night. This was a monk named Germanus, returning from pilgrimage to the holy places to his own monastery. Eudokia listened for a long time to the guidance of the Elder, and her soul was filled with joy and love for Christ. She asked Germanus to stay in her home for a week, during which she secluded herself in her room, and spent her time in fasting and prayer.

The Elder Germanus told her to give away her wealth and to forget her previous life. Eudokia received holy Baptism from Bishop Theodotus of Heliopolis. She entered a monastery and took upon herself very strict acts of penitence. The Lord granted forgiveness to the penitent sinner and endowed her with spiritual gifts.

After she had become the head of the monastery, the young pagan Philostrates (one of her former lovers) heard of her conversion to Christ and longed to see her again. Aflame with impious passion, he came into the monastery in the guise of a monk and began to urge Eudokia to return to Heliopolis, and resume her former life. “May God rebuke you and not allow you to leave these premises,” Eudokia cried. Then the impostor fell down dead. Fearing that she had served as an accomplice to murder, the sisters intensified their prayer and besought the Lord to reveal to them His will.

The Lord appeared to Saint Eudokia in a vision and said: “Arise, Eudokia, and pray for the resurrection of the dead man.” Through Eudokia’s prayers, Philostrates revived. Having been restored to life, the pagan begged the nun to forgive him. After he was baptized, he went back to Heliopolis. From that time he never forgot the mercy of God shown him, and he started onto the way of repentance.

Some time passed, and another situation occurred. Inhabitants of Heliopolis reported to the governor Aurelian, that Eudokia had taken gold and silver out of the city and concealed it at the monastery. Aurelian sent a detachment of soldiers to confiscate these supposed treasures. For three days the soldiers tried in vain to approach the walls of the monastery, but an invisible power of God guarded it.

Aurelian again sent soldiers to the monastery, this time under the command of his own son. But on the very first day of the journey Aurelian’s son injured his leg and soon died. Then Philostrates counseled Aurelian to write to Mother Eudokia, imploring her to revive the youth. And the Lord, in His infinite mercy, and through the prayers of Saint Eudokia, restored the youth to life. Having witnessed this great miracle, Aurelian and his close associates believed in Christ and were baptized.

When persecutions against Christians intensified, they arrested Eudokia and brought her to the governor Diogenes to be tortured. While torturing the saint, the military commander Diodorus received news of the sudden death of his wife Firmina. In despair he rushed to Saint Eudokia with a plea to pray for his departed wife. The monastic martyr, filled with great faith, turned to God with prayer and besought Him to return Firmina to life. As eyewitnesses of the power and grace of the Lord, Diodorus and Diogenes believed in Christ and were baptized together with their families. Saint Eudokia lived for awhile at the house of Diodorus and enlightened the newly-illumined Christians.

Once,the only son of a certain widow, who was working in the garden, was bitten by a snake and died. The mother wept bitterly for her dead son, and asked Diodorus to resurrect him. Learning of her grief, Saint Eudokia said to Diodorus, “The time is at hand for you to show faith in the Almighty God, Who hears the prayers of penitent sinners and in His mercy grants them forgiveness.”

Diodorus was distressed, not considering himself worthy of such boldness before the Lord, but he obeyed Saint Eudokia. He prayed and in the name of Christ he commanded the dead one to rise, and before the eyes of everyone present the youth revived.

Saint Eudokia returned to her monastery, where she lived in asceticism for fifty-six years.

After Diogenes died the new governor was Vicentius, a fierce persecutor of Christians. Having learned of the accomplishments of the saint, he gave orders to execute her. The holy martyr was beheaded on March 1, 107.

Saint Martyrius of Zelenets, in the world Menas, was born in the city of Veliki Luki (Great Meadow) in the sixteenth century. His parents, Cosmas and Stephanida, died when he was just ten years old. He was raised by his spiritual Father, a priest of the city’s Annunciation church, and the child’s soul cleaved to God.

The widowed priest Boris became a monk with the name Bogolep at the Trinity-Sergius monastery in Veliki Luki. Menas often visited him at the monastery, and later on he himself received monastic tonsure there taking the name Martyrius. For seven years both teacher and disciple toiled for the Lord unrelentingly in a single cell, encouraging each other in deeds of work and prayer. Saint Martyrius had the obediences of “kellarios” [cellarer], treasurer, and “ponomar” [or altar server].

It was at this time that the Mother of God first showed Her special solicitude for Saint Martyrius. At mid-day he dozed off in the bell tower and beheld the Tikhvin (Hodēgḗtria) icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in a fiery column. The monk venerated it, and it was still hot from the fiery column. When he awoke, he still felt this heat on his forehead.

On the spiritual advice of Saint Martyrius, the grievously ill monk Abramius went to venerate the wonderworking Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, and he received healing. Saint Martyrius was filled with intense faith in the intercession of the Mother of God. He began to pray that the Heavenly Queen would show him where he might go for the ascetic feat of complete silence, for which his soul yearned.

The monk secretly withdrew into a desolate place situated 60 versts from Veliki Luki. As he himself writes, “in this wilderness I received fearful visitations from demons, but I prayed to God, and the demons were put to shame.”

In a letter to Elder Bogolep, Saint Martyrius asked his blessing to dwell in the wilderness, but the spiritual father advised him to return to the cenobitic life where he would be of use to the brethren. Not daring to disobey his experienced Elder, and not knowing how to proceed, Saint Martyrius went to Smolensk to venerate the wonderworking Hodēgḗtria [She who leads the way] Icon of the Mother of God and the relics of Saints Abramius and Ephraim (August 21). These saints appeared to Saint Martyrius in a dream, and they reassured him that he would be permitted to live in the wilderness, “wherever God will bless and the Most Holy Theotokos will guide you.”

Saint Martyrius then went to the Tikhvin monastery, hoping that the Mother of God would resolve his dilemma. The monk Abramius, who remained at this monastery in gratitude to the Mother of God for his healing, told Saint Martyrius about a secret place, over which he had seen a radiant Cross of stars. This time he received the blessing of the Elder. Saint Martyrius took with him two small icons: one of the Life-Creating Trinity, and the other of the Tikhvin Mother of God. He then settled in Zelents (the green island), which was a beautiful island in a forested swamp.

Harsh and painful was the life of the monk in the wilderness, but neither cold, nor deprivation, nor wild beasts, nor the wiles of the enemy were able to shake his resolve. He built a small chapel for the glorification of, and in gratitude to, the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos. He was again deemed worthy to see an icon of the Mother of God in a dream. This time it was floating on the sea. To the right of the icon he saw the Archangel Gabriel who told him to venerate the icon. Saint Martyrius went into the water, and the icon began to sink in the sea. The saint then cried out, and a wave carried him to shore. With that, the icon vanished.

The wilderness was sanctified by the life of the hermit, and many began to arrive, not only to be instructed by the word and example of the monk, but also to settle there with him. The increased number of disciples prompted the monk to build a church dedicated to the Life-Creating Trinity, where he placed his own icons of the Trinity and of the Tikhvin Mother of God. As a sign of the grace of God resting upon the monastery of Saint Martyrius, his disciple Saint Gurias was permitted to see a Cross in the heavens, shining over the cross on top of the church.

This was the beginning of the Trinity Zelenets monastery, “the green wilderness monastery of Martyrius.” The Lord blessed his labors, and the grace of God shone visibly upon him. The fame of his discernment and gift of healing became known to many. Many eminent people of Novgorod began to send gifts to the monastery. With funds provided by the pious boyar Theodore Syrkov, a heated church was built and consecrated in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in memory of the first church at Veliki Luki, from which the saint had begun his path to God.

Saint Martyrius continued to receive help from the Mother of God. She appeared to him on a bench in the corner where the icons stood. The saint recalled: “I looked upon Her without lowering my eyes... I gazed upon Her holy face, at her eyes filled with tears, ready to trickle down Her all-pure face. I awoke from the dream and was afraid. I lit a candle from the lampada, in order to see whether or not the Most Pure Virgin sat at the place where I saw Her in the dream. I went up to the icon of the Hodēgḗtria and was convinced that in truth the Mother of God had appeared to me as She is depicted on my icon.”

Soon after this (about the year 1570) Saint Martyrius was ordained priest at Novgorod by the archbishop (Alexander or Leonid). He was already an igumen in 1582.

Later, the Lord granted the Zelenets wilderness monastery an even wealthier benefactor. In 1595 at Tver Saint Martyrius resurrected the son of the former Kasimov ruler Simeon Bekbulatovich, praying in front of his own icons of the Life-Creating Trinity and the Tikhvin Mother of God. He placed both icons upon the chest of the dead child, and he awoke as if from sleep. In gratitude Simeon built a church in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God and of Saint John Chrysostom, the Heavenly patron saint of the ruler’s son John.

In 1595 Tsar Theodore endowed the monastery with a sufficient quantity of land for its support.

Having reached a great old age and preparing for death, Saint Martyrius dug a grave for himself, and near it he placed a coffin fashioned by his own hands. He often came there to weep. Sensing his imminent departure, the monk assembled the brethren and told his children in the Lord to have steadfast hope in the Most Holy Trinity and to trust the Mother of God, as he himself had always trusted in Her. After receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ, he gave the brethren his blessing with the words: “Peace to all the Orthodox.” With spiritual joy he fell asleep in the Lord on March 1, 1603.

The saint was buried in the grave he dug near the church of the Mother of God. Later, his holy relics rested beneath a crypt in the church of the Most Holy Trinity, beneath the lower temple in honor of Saint John the Theologian. Cornelius, a former monk of the Zelenets monastery, and later Metropolitan of Kazan and Novgorod (+ 1698), compiled a service and wrote the Life of Saint Martyrius, making use of personal notes and the saint’s testament.

The memory of Saint Martyrius of Zelenets and Veliki Luki is celebrated also on November 11.

The Holy Martyrs Nestor, Tribimius, Marcellus, and Anthony of Perge (Pérgē) in Pamphylia (Pamphylίa)¹ lived during the reign of the impious Emperor Decius.² As Christians, they fearlessly preached Christ, therefore the pagans denounced them to the governor of the region. The latter immediately sent a large detachment of soldiers with orders to arrest them and bring him before him for judgement. When the Holy Martyrs were brought to trial, the governor commanded that all the instruments of torture should be laid out before them in order to frighten them and force them to renounce their Christian Faith. But when they saw them, they cried out with a loud voice: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ" (Romans 8:35), and they did not cease to glorify the Lord.

Then the governor ordered them to be stripped naked and beaten mercilessly with dry ox sinews, after which they were suspended from a tree and their bodies were flayed until their entrails were exposed. Finally, convinced that the Saints were unshakable in their faith in Christ, the governor ordered the executioners to take them down from the tree. After they gave thanks to God, the Saints were beheaded. Thus these Holy Martyrs were executed and thereby inherited the Kingdom of Heaven.

¹ The city of Perge was located in the region of Pamphylia, located in the southern part of Asia Minor on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. ¹ The Roman Emperor Decius reigned from 249-251, and was a fierce persecutor of Christians.

The Holy Martyr Antonina suffered at Nicea during a persecution under the emperor Maximian (284-305). After fierce tortures, Saint Antonina was thrown into prison, but Maximian could not force the saint to renounce Christ and offer sacrifice to idols.

Angels of God appeared to the holy martyr and the executioners took fright. Even when they placed her on a red-hot metal bed, Saint Antonina remained unharmed, by the power of God. Finally, after long torture they sewed the saint into a sack and sank it in a lake.

Saint Marcellus and Saint Anthony were thrown into a fire, where they shone forth brighter than gold in a crucible, receiving crowns of martyrdom from Christ our God.

The Life of Saint Domnina the Younger¹ was written by Theodoret of Cyrrhus in his Historia Religiosa (English title: A History of the Monks of Syria), containing the Lives of thirty ascetics.

The holy virgin Domina was born in the city of Cyrrhus in Syria, to pious and God-loving parents. From a young age she envied the life of the holy ascetics and emulated Saint Maron († February 14) by building a shack in a corner of her mother's garden. Her only food was lentils soaked in water. Early in the morning, and again at night, she went to the church, in order to pray and glorify the name of God. She always covered herself with a cloak so that no one would see her face. Theodoret says she spoke "softly and indistinctly, and her words were always accompanied by tears.”

After a long life of austere asceticism, the Venerable Domnina reposed in peace around the year 460.

¹ Not to be confused with another Saint Domnina commemorated on October 4.

Saint Agapius of the Holy Mountain, was a novice in obedience to a virtuous Elder who lived in silence at the Holy Trinity kellia at Kolitsa, within the boundaries of Vatopedi on Mt. Athos. He was taken into captivity by Turks who had landed on the shore of Athos. They took him to Magnesia and there he worked in chains for twelve years. But he did not lose hope for freedom and fervently he prayed to the Mother of God to free him from this bitter captivity.

The Queen of Heaven manifested Her Mercy to the patient sufferer. She appeared to him in a dream and ordered him “to go to his Elder without fear.” When he awoke, he saw that he was free of his bonds, and the doors were open. Without hindrance, Saint Agapius departed from his master and returned to Mount Athos.

The Elder grieved when he saw his novice, for he thought that Agapius had secretly escaped from his master. “You have deceived the Hagarene,” he said, “but no one can deceive God. If you wish to save yourself, return to your master and serve him.” Saint Agapius returned to his master without complaint.

The Moslem was amazed to see Agapius after he had escaped. Hearing the story of what had happened, he was struck by the virtue of Agapius’ Elder and the loftiness of the Christian Faith. The master and his two sons went to the Holy Mountain with Saint Agapius. There they were baptized and became monks, living in asceticism for the rest of their lives.

Saint Agapius lived in the thirteenth century.

Saint David, Patron of Wales, said to have been the son of a Welsh chieftain, lived in the latter half of the sixth century. Ordained to the priesthood, he studied under the tutorship of a disciple of Saint Germanus, who later became Bishop of the Isle of Man, and engaged in missionary work and the building of churches in many places. Eventually, he settled in the southwest corner of Wales, at Menevia. There he founded a monastery known for its extreme austerity, in imitation of the desert fathers. Eventually he was consecrated Bishop of the primatial See of Wales, Menevia, afterwards known as Saint David’s in his honor. He reposed in the Lord about the year 601 AD and, through the years, has been venerated as one of the greatest and most beloved saints of the British Isles.