Lives of all saints commemorated on February 16

In the Orthodox Church, the last Sunday before Great Lent—the day on which, at Vespers, Lent is liturgically announced and inaugurated—is called Forgiveness Sunday. On the morning of that Sunday, at the Divine Liturgy, we hear the words of Christ:

“If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses...” (Mark 6:14-15).

Then after Vespers—after hearing the announcement of Lent in the Great Prokeimenon: “Turn not away Thy face from Thy child, for I am afflicted! Hear me speedily! Draw near unto my soul and deliver it!”, after making our entrance into Lenten worship, with its special melodies, with the prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian, with its prostrations—we ask forgiveness from each other, we perform the rite of forgiveness and reconciliation. And as we approach each other with words of reconciliation, the choir intones the Paschal hymns, filling the church with the anticipation of Paschal joy.

What is the meaning of this rite? Why is it that the Church wants us to begin the Lenten season with forgiveness and reconciliation? These questions are in order because for too many people Lent means primarily, and almost exclusively, a change of diet, the compliance with ecclesiastical regulations concerning fasting. They understand fasting as an end in itself, as a “good deed” required by God and carrying in itself its merit and its reward. But the Church spares no effort in revealing to us that fasting is but a means, one among many, towards a higher goal: the spiritual renewal of man, his return to God, true repentance and, therefore, true reconciliation. The Church spares no effort in warning us against a hypocritical and pharisaic fasting, against the reduction of religion to mere external obligations. As a Lenten hymn says:

“In vain do you rejoice in not eating, O soul!
For you abstain from food,
But from passions you are not purified.
If you persevere in sin, you will perform a useless fast!”

Now, forgiveness stands at the very center of Christian faith and of Christian life because Christianity itself is, above all, the religion of forgiveness. God forgives us, and His forgiveness is in Christ, His Son, whom He sends to us so that by sharing in His humanity we may share in His love and be truly reconciled with God. Indeed, Christianity has no other content but love. And it is primarily the renewal of that love, a growth in it, that we seek in Great Lent, in fasting and prayer, in the entire spirit and the entire effort of that season. Thus, truly forgiveness is both the beginning of, and the proper condition for, the Lenten season.

One may ask, however: Why should I perform this rite when I have no “enemies?” Why should I ask forgiveness from people who have done nothing to me, and whom I hardly know? To ask these questions is to misunderstand the Orthodox teaching concerning forgiveness. It is true that open enmity, personal hatred, real animosity may be absent from our life, though if we experience them, it may be easier for us to repent, for these feelings openly contradict Divine commandments. But the Church reveals to us that there are much subtler ways of offending Divine Love. These are indifference, selfishness, lack of interest in other people, of any real concern for them—in short, that wall which we usually erect around ourselves, thinking that by being “polite” and “friendly” we fulfill God’s commandments. The rite of forgiveness is so important precisely because it makes us realize—be it only for one minute—that our entire relationship to other men is wrong, makes us experience that encounter of one child of God with another, of one person created by God with another, makes us feel that mutual “recognition” which is so terribly lacking in our cold and dehumanized world.

On that unique evening, listening to the joyful Paschal hymns we are called to make a spiritual discovery: to taste of another mode of life and relationship with people, of life whose essence is love. We can discover that always and everywhere Christ, the Divine Love Himself, stands in the midst of us, transforming our mutual alienation into brotherhood. As I advance towards the other, as the other comes to me—we begin to realize that it is Christ who brings us together by His love for both of us.

And because we make this discovery—and because this discovery is that of the Kingdom of God itself: the Kingdom of Peace and Love, of reconciliation with God and, in Him, with all that exists—we hear the hymns of that Feast, which once a year “opens to us the doors of Paradise.” We know why we shall fast and pray, what we shall seek during the long Lenten pilgrimage.

Forgiveness Sunday: the day on which we acquire the power to make our fasting—true fasting; our effort—true effort; our reconciliation with God—true reconciliation.

—Father Alexander Schmemann

The Holy Martyrs Pamphίlios the Presbyter, Valens the Deacon, Paul, Porphyrios, Séleukos, Theódoulos, Julian, Samuel, Elias, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah suffered martyrdom during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284 – 305) at Caesarea in Palestine.

The holy Martyr Pamphίlios, a native of the city of Beirut, was educated at Alexandria, after which he was ordained as a priest at Caesarea. He devoted much labor to collating manuscripts and correcting the copyists' errors in the manuscripts of the New Testament. These texts were copied and distributed to anyone who wanted them. Thus, many pagans were converted to Christ by them.

His works were gathered into the extensive library of spiritual books available for the enlightenment of Christians. Saint Jerome (IV-V century) had deep respect for Saint Pamphίlios and considered himself fortunate to have located and acquired several of his manuscripts.

Actively assisting Saint Pamphίlios in proclaiming the faith in Christ were Saint Valens, a Deacon of the Church, and Elias, a man stooped with age and well-versed in the Holy Scriptures, and Saint Paul, ardent in his faith and love for Christ the Savior. All three were imprisoned for two years by Urban, the governor of Palestinian Caesarea.

During the rule of his successor Firmilian, 130 Christians were sentenced in Egypt and sent to Cilicia (Asia Minor) to work in the gold mines. Five young brothers accompanied them to the place of exile. On their return to Egypt they were detained at Caesarea and thrown into prison for confessing Christ.

These young men appeared before Firmilian, together with those previously imprisoned incarcerated: Saints Pamphίlios, Valens and Paul. The five Egyptian youths took the names of Old Testament Prophets, Elias, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel, and Daniel. Asked where they were from, the youths said that they were citizens of Jerusalem, meaning the heavenly Jerusalem. Firmilian knew nothing of such a city, since Jerusalem had been razed to the ground by Emperor Titus in the year 70. Emperor Hadrian (117-138) built a new city on the site, which was called Aelia Capitolina.

Firmilian tortured the youths for a long time, trying to learn the location of this unknown city, and he tried to persuade them to apostatize. Accomplishing nothing, the governor sentenced them to be beheaded with a sword, along with Pamphίlios, Valens, and Paul.

Before this took place, one of Pamphilios' servants endured suffering. This was the eighteen-year-old youth Porphyrios, who was meek and humble. He had heard the death sentence for the condemned martyrs, and asked the governor for permission to bury the bodies after their execution. Because of this he was also sentenced to death, and was thrown into a fire.

A pious Christian named Séleukos, a former soldier, praised the deeds of the Martyrs. He went to Pamphίlios and told him of the martyric death of Saint Porphyrios. He was arrested by soldiers and, on Firmilian’s orders, he was beheaded with a sword, together with the others.

One of the governor’s servants, Theódoulos, was a man of venerable age, and a secret Christian. He met the Martyrs as they were being led to execution. He embraced them and asked them to pray for him. Soldiers brought him before Firmilian, at whose orders he was crucified.

The young Julian, a native of Cappadocia who had come to Caesarea, saw the bodies of the Saints which had been thrown to wild beasts without burial. Julian knelt down and venerated the bodies of the sufferers. Soldiers apprehended him and took him to the governor, who condemned him to be burnt alive. The bodies of all twelve Martyrs remained unburied for four days, but neither beasts nor birds would touch them. Embarrassed by this situation, the pagans permitted the Christians to take the bodies of the martyrs and bury them.

Although these twelve Martyrs came from various places, they were also united by their love for Christ, and from Him they received unfading crowns of glory.

Saint Maruthas was Bishop of Tagrith (Martyropolis), a city which he founded between the Byzantine Empire and Persia. He was famed for his knowledge and his piety, he wrote about the martyrs, and he suffered for his faith in Christ under the Persian emperor Sapor. He also left behind other works in the Syrian language, among which the most famous are: “Commentary on the Gospel,” “Verses of Maruthas,” “Liturgy of Maruthas” and “The 73 Canons of the Ecumenical Council at Nicea” (325) with an account of the acts of the Council.

In the year 381 Saint Maruthas participated in the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, convened against the heresy of Macedonius. In 383, he attended the Council of Antioch against the Messalians.

During the years 403-404 Saint Maruthas set off to Constantinople to plead with the emperor Arcadius to protect Persian Christians. He was twice sent by the emperor Theodosius the Younger to the Shah Izdegerd to secure the peace between the Empire and Persia.

In the year 414 Saint Maruthas, having done his duty as envoy to the court of Izdegerd, persuaded the Shah to a favorable disposition towards Christians, and he assisted greatly in the freedom of Christians in Persia. He rebuilt Christian churches razed during the persecution by the Persian ruler Sapor. He also located relics of saints who had suffered martyrdom and transferred them to Martyropolis. He died there in 422. The relics of Saint Maruthas were later transferred to Egypt and placed in a skete monastery of the Mother of God.

No information available at this time.

Saint Flavian, Archbishop of Antioch, was a contemporary of Saint John Chrysostom. He attempted to obtain from the emperor Theodosius (379-395) a pardon for the citizens of Antioch, who had angered the emperor by destroying his statue. Saint Flavian’s death was peaceful and without illness. He is also commemorated on September 27.

Saint Nicholas, Enlightener of Japan, was born Ivan Dimitrievich Kasatkin on August 1, 1836 in the village of Berezovsk, Belsk district, Smolensk diocese, where his father served as deacon. At the age of five he lost his mother. He completed the Belsk religious school, and afterwards the Smolensk Theological Seminary. In 1857 Ivan Kasatkin entered the Saint Peterburg Theological Academy. On June 24, 1860, in the academy temple of the Twelve Apostles, Bishop Nectarius tonsured him with the name Nicholas.

On June 29, the Feast of the foremost Apostles Peter and Paul, the monk Nicholas was ordained deacon. The next day, on the altar feast of the academy church, he was ordained to the holy priesthood. Later, at his request, Father Nicholas was assigned to Japan as head of the consular church in the city of Hakodate.

At first, the preaching of the Gospel in Japan seemed completely impossible. In Father Nicholas’s own words: “the Japanese of the time looked upon foreigners as beasts, and on Christianity as a villainous sect, to which only villains and sorcerers could belong.” He spent eight years in studying the country, the language, manners and customs of the people among whom he would preach.

In 1868, the flock of Father Nicholas numbered about twenty Japanese. At the end of 1869 Hieromonk Nicholas reported in person to the Synod in Peterburg about his work. A decision was made, on January 14, 1870, to form a special Russian Spiritual Mission for preaching the Word of God among the pagan Japanese. Father Nicholas was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and appointed as head of this Mission.

Returning to Japan after two years in Russia, he transferred some of the responsibility for the Hakodate flock to Hieromonk Anatolius, and began his missionary work in Tokyo. In 1871 there was a persecution of Christians in Hakodate. Many were arrested (among them, the first Japanese Orthodox priest Paul Sawabe). Only in 1873 did the persecution abate somewhat, and the free preaching of Christianity became possible.

In this year Archimandrite Nicholas began the construction of a stone building in Tokyo which housed a church, a school for fifty men, and later a religious school, which became a seminary in 1878.

In 1874, Bishop Paul of Kamchatka arrived in Tokyo to ordain as priests several Japanese candidates recommended by Archimandrite Nicholas. At the Tokyo Mission, there were four schools: for catechists, for women, for church servers, and a seminary. At Hakodate there were two separate schools for boys and girls.

In the second half of 1877, the Mission began regular publication of the journal “Church Herald.” By the year 1878 there already 4115 Christians in Japan, and there were a number of Christian communities. Church services and classes in Japanese, the publication of religious and moral books permitted the Mission to attain such results in a short time. Archimandrite Nicholas petitioned the Holy Synod in December of 1878 to provide a bishop for Japan.

Archimandrite Nicholas was consecrated bishop on March 30, 1880 in the Trinity Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Returning to Japan, he resumed his apostolic work with increased fervor. He completed construction on the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Tokyo, he translated the service books, and compiled a special Orthodox theological dictionary in the Japanese language.

Great hardship befell the saint and his flock at the time of the Russo-Japanese War. For his ascetic labor during these difficult years, he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop.

In 1911, half a century had passed since the young hieromonk Nicholas had first set foot on Japanese soil. At that time there were 33,017 Christians in 266 communities of the Japanese Orthodox Church, including 1 Archbishop, 1 bishop, 35 priests, 6 deacons, 14 singing instructors, and 116 catechists.

On February 3, 1912, Archbishop Nicholas departed peacefully to the Lord at the age of seventy-six. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified him on April 10, 1970, since the saint had long been honored in Japan as a righteous man, and a prayerful intercessor before the Lord.

The Holy New Martyr Elias (Nikolayevich) was born in a Moscow village in the XIX century. He studied at the Moscow Theological Academy and married a devout woman named Eugenia. Then he was then ordained as a priest and served in the small church of a poorhouse, and in the parish of Saint Nicholas Tolmachev in Moscow, before the October revolution of 1917 broke out.

Saint Elias was a most pious priest. His church was a beacon of spiritual light for many believers. He was married, but he lived an ascetical life. In 1932 the Soviet secret police arrested and imprisoned him. He was exiled to the Krasnaya Visera River region. Matushka Eugenia spent the entire night in prayer and tears. But in the morning she fell asleep and then she saw the Theotokos in a dream, who told her not to be afraid.

Two years later, Matushka Eugenia visited him at his place of exile and brought him a Gospel and a small vial of holy water. The guards confiscated the Gospel. When they asked her what was in the vial, she replied that for them it was plain water, but for herself and her husband it was sacred, their medicine. The Saint looked as if he had been tortured. They did not allow him to serve, and this caused him immeasurable grief. He began to tell Eugenia of his martyrdom. When they brought him and many others to the place of exile, they were forced to walk on the surface of the melting snow. The thin layer of ice was breaking up beneath their feet and the "convicts" were sinking in the snow up to the waist. Wet to the bone, with nothing to eat or drink all day, they were forced to spend the night inside a hut. The exhausted men immediately fell to the floor and fell asleep as if dead. Only the Saint stayed awake. Around midnight he cried from the depths of his heart: "Lord, why have you forsaken me? I have served you so faithfully. I devoted my entire life to You. How many times have I read the Akathist Hymn and the Canons? I served in the church with reverence. Why, O Lord, have You forsaken me, and why do I suffer so much? O Most Holy Theotokos, Holy Hierarch Nicholas, Holy Father Seraphim, and all the Saints of God! After all my prayers to you, why am I tormented so much?"

Suddenly a divine visitation, like a flame, touched his aching soul and flooded it with otherworldly consolation. The light of faith secretly illumined his heart and ignited in him an inexpressible and irresistible love for Christ, which, as the Apostle Paul says, "he heard unspeakable words which no man may utter."¹ When dawn came, he was a young man, born again as if he had been baptized in fire.

As he bade farewell to Matushka Eugenia, the Saint said to her: "You know, my heart is ablaze for Christ. I think I came here to understand that there is absolutely nothing better, nothing more wonderful than He. I wish to die for Him!"

When Matushka arrived back in Moscow, she learned that there had been a fire in the concentration camp and that Saint Elias was burned along with eleven other Christians.

¹ 2 Corinthians 12:4.