Lives of all saints commemorated on November 4

Hieromartyr Seraphim, Archbishop of Uglich (in the world Semyon N. Samoylovich) was born on July 19, 1881 in the city of Myrgorod, Poltava governorate.

Semyon graduated from the Poltava Theological Seminary in 1902 and received a place as a teacher of Unalashkinskaya, a two-year school in Alaska. In 1905 he held the same position at Sitka, where he was tonsured into the mantiya by Bishop Innocent (Pustynsky) and a month later he was ordained as a Hieromonk. In 1906, Father Seraphim was rector of the Nugek Spiritual Mission in North America. In 1907-1908 he taught at Sitka Theological Seminary. In America, Vladyka was the associate of His Eminence Archbishop Tikhon, the future Patriarch, who valued the zealous missionary-ascetic highly.

In 1908, Father Seraphim was an assistant to the Vladikavkaz diocesan missionary, and in 1909 he was the Father Confessor of the Alexander Ardon Theological Seminary. In 1910, he was appointed first Vicar of the Mogilev Brotherhood First-Class Monastery, and then, at the request of His Eminence Archbishop Tikhon, who then held the Yaroslavl kathedra, he was transferred to the post of viceroy of Tolzhsk Yaroslavl Monastery.

There, Father Seraphim wrote a serious work on the history of the Tolzhsk Monastery, timed to coincide with its 600th anniversary. He started a beekeeping school for orphan boys, and at the beginning of the war he established an infirmary.

From 1915, Father Seraphim was the vicar of the Uglich Protection Monastery. In February 1920 he was consecrated as Bishop of Uglich, and vicar of the Yaroslavl Diocese.

Vladyka was a member of the so-called "Parallel Synod", which existed with the tacit approval of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon in the Danilov Monastery. It was founded by the Hieromartyr Archbishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky) and it included prominent bishops: Archbishop Andrew (Ukhtomsky), Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky), Bishop Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), and Bishop Gouria (Stepanov).

The reason for the emergence of the "Parallel Synod" was that in the opinion of its members, the Patriarchal Synod, which was under the tight control of the G. P. U, was ineffective and was forced to stand in a conciliatory position. It was conceived as a "permanent Pre-Conciliar Conference" but its main purpose was the preparation of a secret Local Council capable of resolving Church problems without pressure from the authorities. The fundamental decisions of "Danilovtsy" were:

1. Affirmation of the principles of decentralization of Church life as the most effective way to resist the Bolsheviks' control over the Church;

2. Secret installations of bishops and priests. Thus, the "Parallel Synod" was the cornerstone on which the Catacomb Church began to be established.

From July 1922 Vladyka was in prison at Yaroslavl, and after his release in 1924 he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. In 1925, Vladyka became the temporary administrator of the Yaroslavl Diocese.

Hieromartyr Metropolitan Joseph (Petrov), as one of the Deputies of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, in case of his arrest, he appointed temporary Deputies in 1925, including Bishop Seraphim. In 1926, on December 16 (29), after the arrest of the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Joseph (Petrov), Vladyka issued an Epistle on assuming the office of Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens. He ran the Church until April 1927, then handed over the administration to Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), who had been released from prison.

It is known that in 1927 Vladyka was summoned to G. P. U. headquarters in Moscow, where he was offered to accept compromising conditions for the legalization of the Church, indicating who to appoint as members of the Synod. The Saint refused to do this, proposing its members of the Synod and among them Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov). "After all, he's sitting there," the Chekists said.

"But you have him, free him," the Saint replied. After such a reply, he was soon arrested.

After the publication of Metropolitan Sergius' Declaration, the Saint joined the Yaroslavl Opposition, headed by the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Agathangel (commemorated on October 3). With regret, he wrote in January 1928 that he had "hastily and unconditionally" handed over the Deputy Rights to Metropolitan Sergius. He pleaded with Metropolitan Sergius to be courageous and publish another Declaration "to correct the first," which "detracts from service to the Truth, and God does not help lies."

He called on the Metropolitan to look to the oldest hierarch, Metropolitan Agathangel of Yaroslavl, and transfer the Deputy Rights to him. In April 1928, Metropolitan Sergius deprived Vladyka of his kathedra and suspended him from the priesthood. He was arrested and then expelled from Yaroslavl to Mogilev in the Buynichi Holy Spirit Monastery.

In his January 1929 Epistle to the Entire Church, the Saint continued to denounce the politics of Metropolitan Sergius and the grave sin of "the infatuation of our faint-hearted and weak brethren into the new renewal," for which he was soon arrested again (in February 1929) and sentenced to five years in a prison camp. But the Saint's Message was widely circulated throughout the country, and was published in Belgrade.

He was released from the camp and exiled for three years to the Northern Territory, where he headed the secret Church, assigning priests, and performing tonsures. According to the memoirs of his spiritual children, "he weakened physically, but he was strong in spirit." He believed that in an era of persecution there should be no centralized Church Administration. The Bishop must govern his Diocese himself.

Around 1934, Vladyka wrote another Epistle, in which Metropolitan Sergius was suspended from the priesthood for his uncanonical activities beginning in 1927. To approve this Epistle, a "small catacomb council" was held at Arkhangelsk, the decisions of which were to be the basis for all exiled bishops and clergy. There is evidence that the Patriarchal Deputy Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) wrote from exile that the Russian Bishops themselves must rebuke Metropolitan Sergius for his uncanonical actions.

In May 1934, the Saint was arrested once again in Arkhangelsk on charges of creating a new "counter-revolutionary organization of supporters of the true Orthodox Church" and he was sentenced to five years in the Camps. He served his sentence in the Suslov branch of Siblaga. Vladyka was shot in the camp on October 22, 1937 (November 4 New Style).

He was canonized as a Saint with the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Bishops' Council of Russia. In August of 2000, the Hieromartyr Seraphim was approved by the Orthodox Church for general Church veneration.

Saint Joannicius the Great was born in Bithynia in the year 752 in the village of Marikat. His parents were destitute and could not provide him even the basics of an education. From childhood he had to tend the family cattle, their sole wealth. Love for God and prayer completely dominated the soul of the child Joannicius. Often, having shielded the herd with the Sign of the Cross, he went to a secluded place and spent the whole day praying, and neither thieves nor wild beasts came near his herd.

By order of the emperor Leo IV (775-780), a multitude of officials went through the cities and towns to draft young men for military service. Young Joannicius was also drafted into the imperial army. He earned the respect of his fellow soldiers for his good disposition, but he was also a brave soldier who struck fear in the hearts of his enemies. Saint Joannicius served in the imperial army for six years. More than once he was rewarded by his commanders and the emperor. But military service weighed heavily on him; his soul thirsted for spiritual deeds and solitude.

Saint Joannicius, having renounced the world, longed to go at once into the wilderness. However, on the advice of an Elder experienced in monastic life, he spent a further two years at the monastery. Here the saint became accustomed to monastic obedience, to monastic rules and practices. He studied reading and writing, and he learned thirty Psalms of David by heart.

After this, commanded by God to go to a certain mountain, the monk withdrew into the wilderness. For three years he remained in deep solitude in the wilderness, and only once a month a shepherd brought him some bread and water. The ascetic spent day and night in prayer and psalmody. After each verse of singing the Psalms Saint Joannicius made a prayer, which the Orthodox Church keeps to this day in a somewhat altered form, “The Father is my hope, the Son is my refuge, the Holy Spirit is my protection.”

By chance, he encountered some of his former companions from military service. The saint fled the wilderness and withdrew to Mount Kountourea to hide himself from everyone. Only after twelve years of ascetic life did the hermit accept monastic tonsure. The saint spent three years in seclusion after being tonsured. Then he went to a place called Chelidon to see the great ascetic Saint George (February 21). The ascetics spent three years together. During this time Saint Joannicius learned the entire Psalter by heart. As he grew older, Saint Joannicius settled in the Antidiev monastery and dwelt there in seclusion until his death.

Saint Joannicius spent seventy years in ascetic deeds and attained to a high degree of spiritual perfection. Through the mercy of God the saint acquired the gift of prophecy, as his disciple Pachomius has related. The Elder also levitated above the ground when he prayed. Once, he crossed a river flooded to overflowing. The saint could make himself invisible for people and make others also hidden from sight.

Once, Saint Joannicius led Greek captives out of prison under the very eyes of the guards. Poison and fire, with which the envious wanted to destroy the saint, did him no harm, and predatory beasts did not touch him. He freed the island of Thasos from a multitude of snakes. Saint Joannicius also saved a young nun who was preparing to leave the monastery to marry; he took upon himself the agonized maiden’s suffering of passion, and by fasting and prayer, he overcame the seductive assault of the devil.

Foreseeing his death, Saint Joannicius fell asleep in the Lord on November 4, 846, at the age of 94.

The Hieromartyrs Nicander, Bishop of Myra, and Hermas the Presbyter, were disciples of the holy Apostle Paul’s follower and fellow ascetic, the holy Apostle Titus of the Seventy (August 25), and they were ordained by him to the priesthood.

Living the ascetic life amid incessant pastoral works, the saints converted many pagans to Christ. For this they were arrested and brought before the city prefect, Libanius. Neither flattery nor threats swayed the holy martyrs to renounce Christ. Then Libanius gave orders that they be tortured.

The saints endured fierce and inhuman torments: they were tied to horses and dragged over stones, their bodies were raked with iron hooks, and they were cast into a hot oven. The Lord helped them endure things that a mere man by his own strength could not endure. Towards the end, iron nails were hammered into their heads and hearts. They were thrown into a pit, then covered over with earth.

After enduring such a cruel death, now they live forever in the joy of the Lord (Mt. 25:21).

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Among the multitude of saints we remember those Christians who dedicated their earthly lives to glorifying God and serving others. In a single lifetime they performed all the spiritual feats of the venerable and devout fathers, confessors, and martyrs.

Among the saints canonized by the Georgian Church, only four have been called “Righteous.” They are Saint Ilia Chavchavadze, well known as the “father” and “uncrowned king” of the Georgian nation, and Saints John, Steven, and Isaiah the Georgians.

It is believed that Holy John, Steven, and Isaiah lived in Jerusalem and guarded the Tomb of our Lord. It is probable that the Georgian Orthodox Church proclaimed them deserving of exceptional honor in recognition of their dedicated service at the Tomb of the Savior.

For several centuries the Georgian Church has glorified the Righteous John, Steven, and Isaiah and asked for their intercessions before the Lord.

Blessed Simon of Yurievets was born in the city of Yurievets in the Povolzhsk or Volga region. Forsaken by his parents, the saint took upon himself the exploit of foolishness for Christ. Both winter and summer he went barefoot, dressed only in a shirt, so that his skin became blackened and withered from fasting.

Thoughtless people often were cruel to him, sometimes beating him. The holy fool never complained, but prayed for those who mistreated him. Blessed Simon was fond of praying on the porches of various churches. The ascetic exploit of self-denial cleansed his soul, and he received from God the gift of clairvoyance: he foresaw many things and predicted the future. Contemporaries, mentioning his name, beheld various miraculous signs.

Just before his death, the saint went to the house of the military commander Theodore Petelin. He, not knowing the saint, in a fit of anger gave orders to beat him. Saint Simon fell grievously ill. He summoned a priest, made his confession, received the Holy Mysteries of Christ and commended his soul to God. The commander later repented of his sin.

The city gathered for the saint’s funeral, and the body of Blessed Simon was buried in Theophany monastery. This occurred on November 4, 1584. In the year 1635, Patriarch Joasaph ordered the Theophany monastery’s Igumen Dionysius to compile an account of the life and miracles of Blessed Simon and gave a blessing to paint his icon. The Feast of Blessed Simon was established in the year 1635.

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