~ Fast day
Holy Great Martyr Nikétas;
St. Bessárion, Metropolitan of Lárissa;
St. Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica;
St. Philotheos the Presbyter
St. Bessárion, Metropolitan of Lárissa;
St. Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica;
St. Philotheos the Presbyter
Nikétas was a Goth by birth. He was a disciple of Theóphilos, Bishop of the Goths, who participated in the First Ecumenical Council [Nicaea 325]. When the Gothic prince Athenarik began to torture Christians, St. Nikétas stood before the prince and denounced him for his paganism and inhumanity. Subsequently harshly tortured, Nikétas confessed his faith in Christ even more strongly, and prayed to God with thanksgiving. His mind was unceasingly raised up to God, and on his breast under his robe he bore an icon of the Most-holy Theotokos with the Pre-eternal Christ Child standing and holding the Cross in His hands. St. Nikétas carried this icon because the Holy Theotokos had appeared to him and comforted him. Finally, the torturer threw the soldier of Christ into the fire, where the holy martyr breathed his last, but his body remained untouched by the fire. His companion Marianus took his body from the land of the Goths (Wallachia and Bessarabia) to the town of Mopsuestia, in Cilicia. There, he built a church dedicated to St. Nikétas, and placed the miracle-working relics of the martyr in it. Nikétas suffered and was glorified in the year 372.
2 Saint Timothy 2:1-10 KJV
2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Saint Matthew 10:16-22 KJV
16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT
On the love of money or greed
Saint John Climacos
Many wise instructors examine the thousand-headed devil of greed. As uneducated as we are, we had no desire to alter the ordering of the educated, and so we have used the same custom and rule. Let us speak briefly about this illness and then cover shortly the cure.
Greed, or avarice, is idolatry, the daughter of a lack of faith, an pretext for illness, a forerunner of old age, a prophecy of drought, an announcer of famine. Avarice laughs at the Good News, and deliberately commits iniquity. He who possesses love disperses his money. But the one who claims that he lives for both love and money has tricked himself. He who grieves over himself has also rejected his body, and when the time calls for it, he does not save it. Never say that you are amassing silver for the poor, because with two mites the Kingdom of Heaven was bought. A man who was hospitable and an avarice man once met each other, and the latter referred to the other as incomprehensible. The one who has overcome this passion has removed concern, but the one who is joined to it will never achieve purity of prayer. The start of avarice is the excuse of charity, and the completion is a loathing of the poor. As long as he is acquiring he is generous, but when the silver is in his hand he stiffens his grip. I have seen how people of meager means profit themselves by dwelling with the meek, and they forgot their initial poverty. A monk who is covetous is a foreigner to being idle, and has a regular remembrance of the saying of the Apostle, "Let a lazy man not eat." And also, "These hands of mine have served me and those who accompanied me. The sixteenth contest. The one who has achieved this triumph has either acquired love or removed concern.
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