|
Saint Tryphon the Martyr
Commemorated on February 1
The Martyr Tryphon was born in Phrygia,
one of the districts of Asia Minor, in the village of Lampsacus. From his early years the Lord granted him the power to cast
out demons and to heal various maladies. He once saved the inhabitants of his native city from starvation. St Tryphon, by
the power of his prayer, turned back a plague of locusts that were devouring the grain and devastating the fields.
St
Tryphon gained particular fame by casting out an evil spirit from the daughter of the Roman emperor Gordian (238-244). Helping
everyone in distress, he asked only one thing from them: faith in Jesus Christ, by Whose grace he healed them.
When
the emperor Decius (249-251) assumed the imperial throne, he began a fierce persecution of Christians. Someone reported to
the commander Aquilinus that St Tryphon was boldly preaching faith in Christ, and that he led many to Baptism. The saint was
arrested and subjected to interrogation, during which he fearlessly confessed his faith.
He was subjected to harsh
tortures: they beat him with clubs, raked his body with iron hooks, they scorched his flesh with fire, and led him through
the city, after iron nails were hammered into his feet. St Tryphon bravely endured all the torments without complaint.
Finally,
he was condemned to beheading with a sword. The holy martyr prayed before his execution, thanking God for strengthening him
in his sufferings. He also asked the Lord to bless those who should call upon his name for help. Just as the soldiers raised
the sword over the head of the holy martyr, he surrendered his soul into the hands of God. This event occurred in the city
of Nicea in the year 250.
Christians wrapped the holy body of the martyr in a clean shroud and wanted to bury him
in the city of Nicea, where he suffered, but St Tryphon in a vision commanded them to take his body to his native land to
the village of Lampsada. Later on, the relics of St Tryphon were transferred to Constantinople, and then to Rome.
In
Russia, St Tryphon is regarded as the patron saint of birds. There is a story that when Tsar Ivan the Terrible was out hunting,
his falconer carelessly allowed the Tsar's favorite falcon to fly away. The Tsar ordered the falconer Tryphon Patrikeiev to
find the bird within three days, or else he would be put to death. Tryphon searched all through the forest, but without luck.
On the third day, exhausted by long searching, he returned to Moscow to the place called Marinaya Grove. Overcome
with weariness, he lay down to rest, fervently praying to his patron saint, the Martyr Tryphon, for help.
In a dream
he saw a youth on a white horse, holding the Tsar's falcon on his hand. The youth said, "Take the lost bird, go to the Tsar
and do not grieve." When he awakened, the falconer actually spotted the falcon on a pine tree. He took it to the Tsar and
told him about the miraculous help he received from the holy Martyr Tryphon. Grateful to St Tryphon for saving his life, Tryphon
Patrikeiev built a chapel on the spot where the saint appeared. Later on, he also built a church dedicated to the holy Martyr
Tryphon in Moscow.
The holy martyr is greatly venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church as the heavenly protector of
Moscow. Many Russian icons depict the saint holding a falcon on his arm.
Source: OCA
Martyr Philothea the Monastic
Commemorated on February 19
The Monastic Martyr Philothea was born in Athens in 1522. Her parents, Syriga and Angelos Benizelos, were
renowned not only for being eminent and rich, but also deeply devout. Often the kind-hearted Syriga had implored the Most
Holy Theotokos for a child. Her fervent prayers were heard, and a daughter was born to the couple. They named her Revoula.
The parents raised their daughter in deep piety and right belief, and when she was twelve years old they gave her
away in marriage. Her husband turned out to be an impious and crude man, who often beat and tormented his wife. Revoula patiently
endured the abuse and she prayed to God, that He might bring her husband to his senses.
After three years Revoula's
husband died, and she began to labor in fasting, vigil and prayer. The saint founded a women's monastery in the name of the
Apostle Andrew the First-Called (November 30 and June 30). When the monastery was completed, the saint was the first to accept
monastic tonsure, with the name Philothea.
During this time Greece was suffering under the Turkish Yoke, and many
Athenians had been turned into slaves by their Turkish conquerors. St Philothea utilized all her means to free her fellow
countrywomen, ransoming many from servitude. Once, four women ran away from their Turkish masters, who demanded that they
renounce their Christianity, and took refuge in the monastery of St Philothea.
The Turks, having learned where the
Greek women had gone, burst into the saint's cell, and beat her. They took her to the governor, who threw the holy ascetic
into prison. In the morning, a mob of Turks had gathered, and they led her out of the prison. The governor said that if she
did not renounce Christ, she would be hacked to pieces.
Just when St Philothea was ready to accept a martyr's crown,
a crowd of Christians assembled by the grace of God. They pacified the judges and freed the holy ascetic. Returning to her
monastery, St Philothea continued with her efforts of abstinence, prayer and vigil, for which she was granted the gift of
wonderworking. In Patesia,an Athens suburb, she founded a new monastery, where she struggled in asceticism with the sisters.
During the Vigil for St Dionysius the Areopagite (October 3), the Turks seized St Philothea and tortured her. Finally,
they threw her down on the ground half-dead. The sisters tearfully brought the holy martyr, flowing with blood, to Kalogreza,
where she died on February 19, 1589. Shortly thereafter, the relics of the holy Monastic Martyr Philothea were brought to
the Athens cathedral church. (Source: OCA)
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
St. Luke the Righteous of Greece
February 7
Saint Luke was the descendant of a family from Aegina which, because of the frequent invasions of the Saracens,
left Aegina and dwelt in Phocis, where the Saint was born in 896, From his earliest childhood Luke ate neither flesh, nor
cheese, nor eggs, but gave himself over with his whole soul to hardship and fasting for the love of heavenly blessings, often
away clothing to the poor. for which his father punished him. After his father's death he secretly left home to become a monk,
but the Lord, inclining to the fervent prayers of his mother, made him known, and he returned to her for a time to care for
her. For many years he lived as a hermit, moving from place to place; he spent the last part of his life on Mount Stirion
at Phocis, where there is a city named Stiris. The grace of God that was in him made a wonder-worker, and his tomb in the
monastery of Hosios Loukas, famous for its mosaics, became a source of healings and place of pilgrimage for the faithful.
According to some he reposed in the year 946; according to others, in 953.
St. Photios the Great, Patriarch of Constantinople
Commemorated on February 6
St. Photios was born around 820 AD to holy parents, who were confessors of the Faith. His parents were persecuted
for defending icons against the iconoclasts and were exiled from Constantinople. His greatness was not only due to his defence
of Orthodoxy against heretical papal practices, but also connected to his love and meekness. He vigorously opposed the addition
of the filioque clause to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and wrote On the Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit to preserve "the
purity of our religion" and to hinder "those who chose to promote any other definition of dogma than the unanimous and common
faith of the pious." This treatise became the pattern for all subsequent Byzantine anti-Latin polemics.
The filioque doctrine, espoused by Western Christian, has its source from Augustine of Hippo (359 - 432
AD). Augustine had a fertile imagination, who could not shake off the Platonic influence of his youth. The doctrine of a 'double
procession of the Holy Spirit' was first adopted in the West at the Synod of Toledo (447 AD), which appears to have
followed Augustine's teachings. This addition was forbidden by the Fourth Ecumenical Council (451 AD). Here is the origin
of the problem that was to agitate the Church for a thousand years. Contentions that the filioque has Biblical foundations
have yet to be demonstrated.
St. Photios was forced to become Patriarch of Constatinople, however he took his calling seriously and at
once set to work as a man of God. One of his activities was to correct the error of pope Nicholas of Rome who enslaved the
people of the West with threats of condemnation to hell for disobedience to the pope. Holy Photios wrote Nicholas "Nothing
is dearer that the Truth." In the same letter he noted "It is truly necessary that we observe all things, but above all, that
which pertains to matters of Faith, in which but a small deviation represents a deadly sin."
As a Father of the Church, St. Photios was also known for his brillance and for his missionary zeal. He
blessed St. Cyril in his work of developing an alphabet for the Slavonic people, and for the later work of St. Cyril and his
brother St. Methodios as missionaries to the Slavonic people.
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia
|
|
|
|
|
