Lives of all saints commemorated on May 24

At the end of Chapter 8 in Gospel of Saint John, the Savior was disputing with the Pharisees in the Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles. He told them, "Your father Abraham was glad that he should see my day; and he saw it and rejoiced" (John 8:56). The Jews said that Jesus was not even fifty years old, so how could He claim to have seen Abraham? The Lord replied, "Before Abraham was, I am." I am, of course, is the name that God revealed to Moses in the Burning Bush. When the Jews picked up stones to throw at Him, He hid Himself and went out of the Temple.

We read in SaInt John's Gospel (9:1-38): "As He passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth." It might appear that Jesus was on His way to something or someone else, but in his Commentary on the Gospel of Saint John, the ever-memorable Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas, quotes from Homily LVI of Saint John Chrysostom: "that on going out of the Temple, He proceeded intentionally to the work, is clear from this: it was He who saw the blind man, and not the blind man who came to Him...."

Christ's disciples asked Him who had sinned, the blind man or his parents that he had been born blind. Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be manifested in him" (John 9:3). It was thought that a person who had some affliction must have sinned (or his parents did) to deserve such punishment. In the Book of Exodus (20:5), God said that he would visit "the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." This, however, applied to the sin of idolatry, if the children emulated their parents' behavior.

The blind man was not born blind just so the miracle could be performed, but seeing the man in such a condition, the Lord decided to use him in a way that would manifest God's glory. He Who is the Light of the world healed the blind man and enlightened him. Giving sight to the blind was one of the signs which would identify the Messiah (Matthew 11:4-6).

The Lord made clay when He spat on the ground, and placed it in the man’s empty eye sockets and sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash. Most versions of the Gospels translate the word επεθηκεν as "anointed," but it can also mean "to spread on," or "to smear." Siloam means "sent," and in Saint John's Gospel Christ says about forty times that He Himself had been sent by the Father."

This manner of healing reminds us of the way God created man by fashioning him from the dust of the earth. In the Old Testament God created man from the dust of the earth, now Christ, the same God, fashions eyes from the clay and places them in the blind man’s empty sockets. Here are some quotes from the Pentecostarion:

At the Oikos of Matins: "He receives physical eyes as well as those of the soul."

In the Verses of the Synaxarion: O Bestower of light. Who are Light coming forth from Light; You gave eyes to the man who was blind from birth, O Word."

In the second exapostilarion: "Along the way, the Savior found a man who lacked both sight and eyes."

At Monday Vespers (stikheron of the Feast) we sing, "With his whole soul, and mind, and his tongue, the man who in times not long passed had been blind, confessed Him Who had fashioned eyes for him out of spittle and clay..."

Saint Theophylaktos says in his Commentary that "Jesus our Lord fashioned all the members of the blind man's body except for the eyes, which He omitted. By healing them now, he completes the divine act of creating and demonstrates that He is the Creator."

Jesus tests the faith of the blind man by sending him to the Pool of Siloam (which means “sent”). He respects the man’s freedom, but asks for his voluntary and free participation in the miracle. The blind man, with faith, obeys God’s command. He goes and washes in the pool, and he returns seeing.

The former blind man’s life was not made easier, however. He becomes the object of the Scribes' and Pharisees' evil and hatred, those who believed in God and in the observance of His Law. They themselves were blind, yet they were suspicious of the formerly blind man, imagining that he only pretended to be blind and now was able to see. "They willingly were made blind by the dark letter of the Law, in which Christ, the resplendent Sun shines."¹

They questioned the man who was blind, but when they see the miracle before their eyes, instead of believing, they shut the eyes of their souls. Then the man's parents were questioned. They were afraid to confirm the miracle that happened to their son who was born blind, because they did not want to be expelled from the synagogue. They tried to avoid trouble by concealing the truth. Therefore, they said, "He is of age, ask him!"

We who receive benefits from God every day are ashamed or afraid to confess God because of our lack of trust. We put our own interests above God, knowing that He will understand us! He will understand us, but He will also see our faith and what priorities we have in our lives. Christ will see what "gods" we have put in His place, but He will not cease to remind us that He is the light of the world.

The blind man was healed, not only in the eyes of his body but eventually in his soul as well. He recognizes Jesus as God, and does not hesitate to confess it before the religious rulers with courage that many of us would envy. Faith alone is not enough, we also need to confess our faith in order to become genuine children of God. When we confess Christ before men, He will confess us before His Father, as the Lord has promised us: "Everyone who shall confess me before men, I also shall confess him before my Father who is in Heaven; and whoever denies me before men I also will deny him before my Father who is in Heaven" (Matthew 10:32).

In addition to the Sunday of the Blind Man, today the Church also commemorates the Icon of the Mother of God "Of the Passion" (see August 13) in remembrance of the miracles which occurred on this day.

In the Moscow church of the Unburnt Bush in the Khamovniki district, there is an Icon which was once in the Palace. The ancient writing is beautiful. The size of the Icon measures 1 arshin 12 vershkov long, and 1 arshin 7 vershkov wide. This Icon is commemorated twice: on September 4, the Feast Day of the Prophet Moses, and also on the Sixth Sunday After Pascha (the Sunday of the Blind Man), because according to Tradition, the Icon was transferred from the Kremlin to the newly-consecrated Khamovniki church on this day.

At Khamovniki is the Novodevichii Convent (founded in 1524) and the Zachatievsky convent (founded in 1584), the rebuilt cathedral of Christ the Savior, the church of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker at Khamovniki and others. More than ten Orthodox churches in Khamovniki were destroyed during the Soviet era. Memorial chapels and memorial signs have now been placed on the site of some of the destroyed temples. Khamovniki is also the working residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

¹ Sunday of the Blind man, at Vespers, fourth stikheron on "Lord, I Call."

The Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Passion” The icon received its name because on either side of the Mother of God are two angels with the implements of the Lord’s suffering: the Cross, the lance, and the sponge.

There was a certain pious woman, Katherine, who began to suffer seizures and madness after her marriage. She ran off into the forest and attempted suicide more than once.

In a moment of clarity she prayed to the Mother of God and vowed that if she were healed, she would enter a monastery. After recovering her health, she only remembered her vow after a long time. Afraid and mentally afflicted, she took to her bed. Three times the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to her, commanding the sick woman to go to Nizhni-Novgorod and to buy Her icon from the iconographer Gregory.

After she had done this, Katherine received healing. From that time on, miracles have occurred from this icon. The Feast day of this icon is on August 13, commemorating its transfer from the village of Palitsa to Moscow in 1641. A church was built at the place where it was met at the Tver gates, and in 1654, the Strastna monastery was built.

The icon is also commemorated on April 30, and on the sixth Sunday after Pascha (the Sunday of the Blind Man) in memory of the miracles which occurred on this day. Other “Passion” icons of the Mother of God have been glorified in the Moscow church of the Conception of Saint Anna, and also in the village of Enkaeva in Tambov diocese.

Saint Simeon the Stylite was born in the year 521 in Antioch, Syria of pious parents John and Martha. From her youth Saint Martha (July 4) prepared herself for a life of virginity and longed for monasticism, but her parents insisted that she marry John. After ardent prayer in a church dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner, the future nun was directed in a vision to submit to the will of her parents and enter into marriage.

As a married woman, Saint Martha strove to please God and her husband in everything. She often prayed for a baby and promised to dedicate him to the service of God. Saint John the Forerunner revealed to Martha that she would have a son who would serve God. When the infant was born, he was named Simeon and baptized at two years of age.

When Simeon was six years old, an earthquake occurred in the city of Antioch, in which his father perished. Simeon was in church at the time of the earthquake. Leaving the church, he became lost and spent seven days sheltered by a pious woman. Saint John the Baptist again appeared to Saint Martha, and indicated where to find the lost boy. The saint’s mother found her lost son, and moved to the outskirts of Antioch after the earthquake. Already during his childhood the Lord Jesus Christ appeared several times to Saint Simeon, foretelling his future exploits and the reward for them.

The six-year-old child Simeon went into the wilderness, where he lived in complete isolation. During this time a light-bearing angel guarded and fed him. Finally, he arrived at a monastery, headed by the igumen Abba John, who lived in asceticism upon a pillar. He accepted the boy with love.

After a time, Saint Simeon asked the Elder John to permit him also to struggle upon a pillar. A new pillar was raised by the brethren of the monastery with the blessing of the igumen, near his pillar. Having completed the initiation of the seven-year-old boy into monasticism, Abba John placed him upon this pillar. The young ascetic, strengthened by the Lord, quickly grew spiritually, in his efforts surpassing even his experienced instructor. For his efforts, Saint Simeon received from God the gift of healing.

The fame of the young monk’s deeds began to spread beyond the bounds of the monastery. Monks and laypeople began to come to him from various places, desiring to hear his counsel and receive healing from their infirmities. The humble ascetic continued to pursue asceticism with instructions from his spiritual mentor Abba John.

When he was eleven, Simeon decided to pursue asceticism upon a higher pillar, the top of which was forty feet from the ground. The bishops of Antioch and Seleukia came to the place of the monk’s endeavors, and ordained him as a deacon. Then they permitted him to ascend the new pillar, on which Saint Simeon labored for eight years.

Saint Simeon prayed ardently for the Holy Spirit to descend upon him, and the holy prayer of the ascetic was heard. The Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a blazing light, filling the ascetic with divine wisdom. Along with oral instructions, Saint Simeon wrote letters about repentance, monasticism, about the Incarnation of Christ, and about the future Judgment.

After the death of his Elder, Saint Simeon’s life followed a certain pattern. From the rising of the sun until mid-afternoon he read books and copied Holy Scripture. Then he rose and prayed all night. When the new day began, he rested somewhat, then began his usual Rule of prayer.

Saint Simeon concluded his efforts on the second column, and by God’s dispensation, settled upon the Wonderful Mountain, having become an experienced Elder to the monks in his monastery. The ascent to Wonderful Mountain was marked by a vision of the Lord, standing atop a column. Saint Simeon continued his efforts at this place where he saw the Lord, at first upon a stone, and then upon a pillar.

Future events were revealed to Saint Simeon, and so he foretold the death of Archbishop Ephraim of Antioch, and the illness of Bishop Domnus, which overtook him as punishment for his lack of pity. Finally, Saint Simeon predicted an earthquake for the city of Antioch and urged all the inhabitants to repent of their sins.

Saint Simeon established a monastery on Wonderful Mountain,where the sick people he healed built a church in gratitude for the mercy shown them. The saint prayed for a spring of water for the needs of the monastery, and once during a shortage of grain, the granaries of the monastery were filled with wheat by his prayers.

In the year 560 the holy ascetic was ordained to the priesthood by Dionysius, Bishop of Seleukia. At age seventy-five Saint Simeon was warned by the Lord of his impending end. He summoned the brethren of the monastery, instructed them in a farewell talk, and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord in the year 596, having toiled as a stylite for sixty-eight years.

After death, the saint worked miracles just as he had when alive. He healed the blind, the lame and the leprous, saving many from wild beasts, casting out devils and raising the dead.

Saint Niketas (Nikḗtas) the Stylite of Pereyaslavl was a native of the city of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and he was in charge of collecting taxes. In 1152, Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy founded the city of Pereyaslavl and built a stone church dedicated to the All-Merciful Savior in that new place. Because of the cost of building the city and the church, more taxes had to be collected from the residents of the city. Niketas mercilessly overcharged people, keeping a large portion of the money for himself. This went on for many years. But the merciful Lord, Who desires that all sinners might be saved, led Niketas to repentance.

One day, he went to church and heard the words of the Prophet Isaiah: "Wash, and make yourselves clean, remove the iniquities from your souls before my eyes; cease your wickedness, learn to do good; diligently seek judgment; deliver those who suffer wrongs; defend the orphan, and obtain justice for the widow" (Isaiah 1:16-17).

He was shaken, as if by thunder, by these words which penetrated into the depths of his heart. Niketas did not sleep all night, remembering the words: "Wash, and make yourselves clean." In the morning, however, he decided to invite some friends to his home for some cheerful conversation, and to forget the horrors of the previous night. Once again, the Lord called Niketas to repentance. While his wife was preparing a meal for their guests, suddenly she saw some things rising to the surface in the boiling pot: blood, human heads, hands, and feet. Horrified, she called out to her husband, and Niketas saw the same thing. Suddenly, his sleeping conscience was awakened, and he realized that by overcharging people he was acting like a robber and a murderer. "Alas," he cried, "I have sinned much! O God, lead me on Your path!" With these words, he ran out of the house.

Three versts from Pereyaslavl there was a monastery dedicated to the Great Martyr Niketas (September 15) where Niketas went, shaken by the terrible vision. With tears he fell at the feet of the Igoumen saying: "Save a perishing soul."

Then the Igoumen decided to test the sincerity of his repentance, giving him his first obedience: to stand at the monastery gates for three days, confessing his sins to everyone who passed. With profound humility, Niketas fulfilled his first obedience. Three days later, the Igoumen remembered him and sent a monk to see what he was doing at the monastery gates. But the monk did not find Niketas there. He found him lying in a swamp, covered with mosquitoes and midges, and he was bleeding from their bites. Then the Igoumen came to the sufferer and said, "My son! what are you doing to yourself?"

"Father! Save a perishing soul," Niketas replied.

The Igoumen clothed Niketas in a hair shirt, received him into the monastery, and tonsured him as a monk. Embracing the monastic vows with all his heart, Saint Niketas spent his days and nights in prayer, chanting Psalms, and reading the Lives of the holy ascetics. With the Igoumen's blessing, he wore heavy chains, and there in the place of his monastic struggles, he dug two deep wells. Soon he increased his struggles. He dug a deep round pit and there he placed a stone upon which he stood, becoming a man of ardent prayer, like the ancient stylites. Only the blue sky and the night stars saw him at the bottom of his pillar-well, but there was a narrow underground passage beneath the wall of the church, and through it Niketas went to church for the Services.

Thus, by struggling well in the monastery of the Great Martyr Niketas , the Venerable Niketas also ended his life with a martyr's death. One night, some of the Saint's relatives came to him for his blessing, and were attracted by the glitter of his chains and crosses. They mistook them for silver, and decided to steal them. On the night of May 24, 1186, they removed part of the roof, killed the ascetic, took his crosses and chains, wrapped them in a rough canvas, and then ran away.

Before Matins, the sacristan, who came to Saint Niketas for the blessing, found the damaged roof and reported it to the Igoumen. The Igoumen and the brethren hurried to the Venerable Stylite and saw that he had been murdered, and his body was fragrant.

Meanwhile the killers stopped on the banks of the Volga River, and decided to divide their loot, but they were astonished to see that it was not made of silver but of iron, and threw the chains into the Volga. The Lord glorified these visible signs of the Saint's hidden struggles and works.

That night Simeon, a pious Elder of the Yaroslavl Monastery of Saints Peter and Paul, saw three bright rays of light over the Volga. He informed the Igoumen of the Monastery and the city officials. The assembled priests and numerous townspeople, who had come down to the river, saw three crosses and chains floating in the waters of the Volga. With reverence and prayers they were brought to the Monastery of the Great Martyr Niketas and laid on the grave of Saint Niketas. At the same time, there were miracles of healing.

Around 1420 - 1425, Saint Photios, the Metropolitan of Kiev (July 2), gave his blessing to uncover the relics of Saint Niketas. The Igoumen of the Monastery served a Moleben with the brethren, and then he opened the coffin, in which was an incorrupt body. Suddenly, the grave filled up with earth, and the relics remained in the ground.

Between 1511-1522 a chapel was built in honor of the Monastic Martyr Niketas, and in the XIX century Archpriest A. Svirelin composed an Akathist to the Saint.

Saint Meletius the General, Stephen, John, Serapion the Egyptian, Callinicus the Sorcerer, Theodore, Faustus and 1218 soldiers, women and children with them.

The holy martyr Meletius was a military commander of the Galatia district of Asia Minor during the reign of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161). He was a Christian and he prayed fervently that the Lord would put an end to the pagan error. Terrified by his prayer, the devils inhabiting the pagan temples entered into dogs, which frightened the inhabitants of the district with their howling.

Saint Meletius and his soldiers got rid of the mad dogs, and destroyed the temples. He was arrested and brought to trial before the governor Maximian. Since he refused to offer sacrifice to idols, Saint Meletius was tortured and he died confessing his faith in Christ. The tribunes of his regiment, the holy martyrs Stephen and John, were beheaded for their confession of Christ as true God.

The remaining soldiers of the regiment, also declaring themselves Christians, were beheaded by the sword, together with their wives and children. One thousand, two hundred eighteen men perished, although some historians put the number at 11,000.

The holy martyrs Theodore and Faustus were burned along with many others. Among the women and children who suffered are the holy martyrs Marciana, Susanna, Palladia, and the infants Kyriakos and Christian. Saint Callinicus, a former sorcerer, also suffered martyrdom. The names of some of the soldiers, and of the twelve tribunes are known: the holy martyrs Faustus, Festus, Marcellus, Theodore, Meletius, Sergius, Marcellinus, Felix, Photinus, Theodoriscus, Mercurius and Didymus.

The holy martyr Serapion was born in Egypt. He had come to Galatia and witnessed the martyrdom of Saint Meletius and his comrades. Seeing the bravery with which those who believed in Christ died for Him, Saint Serapion also believed, for which he was imprisoned. An angel of God visited Saint Serapion in prison and made him a bishop.

Information about the life of Saint Vincent is very scarce. Our primary source for him is the work of Gennadius of Massilia "On Famous Men" (Latin: De viris illustribus), composed about 495 as a continuation of the work of the same title by Saint Jerome of Stridon (June 15).

Vincent was born in the city of Toul, in the northeast of what is now France, and was the brother of Saint Lupus.of Troyes (July 29). After serving in the army (Latin: secularis militia), he entered the monastery of Saint Honoratus (January 16) at Lerins (Lérins), where he was tonsured and ordained to the priesthood.

In 434, under the pseudonym Peregrinus, Saint Vincent wrote his most famous work: "Commentary Against Heretics" (Latin: Commonitorium adversus Hæreticos) which he composed in 434, three years after the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus had condemned the Nestorians. In this book he differentiated between the Church's teachings and the heresies of his time. He is remembered for saying that Christians must follow the true Faith which has been held “everywhere, always, and by all.” He also defended the term “Theotokos” being applied to the Mother of God, in opposition to the teachings of Nestorius which were condemned at the Third Ecumenical Council.

He reposed during the reign of Emperors Theodosios II and Valentinian III, i.e. in the year 450 or earlier. Saint Vincent was much appreciated by his contemporaries. Saint Eucherius of Lyons (November 16) calls him a holy man, conspicuous for his eloquence and knowledge. On the other hand, Saint Vincent humbly describes himself as "the least of all the servants of God, and less than the least of all the Saints, and unworthy to bear the holy name of a Christian."

Saint Vincent fell asleep in the Lord about 445.. His holy relics are preserved at Lerins.