Marina was born in Pisidian, Antioch of pagan parents. At the age of twelve Marina learned about the Lord Jesus Christ; how He became incarnate of the All-Pure Virgin, how He worked many miracles, how He suffered death on the Cross and gloriously resurrected. Her young heart became inflamed with love for the Lord and she vowed that she would never marry and further desired in her soul to suffer for Christ and to be baptized in the blood of martyrdom.
Her father hated her because of her faith and did not consider her as his daughter. The imperial deputy Olymbrius, learning from Marina that she was a Christian, first wished that she would become his wife. When Marina rejected that he ordered her to bow down before the idols and to that St. Marina replied: "I will not bow down nor offer sacrifice to the breathless and dead idols who do not recognize themselves nor do they know that we honor or dishonor them. I will not give them that honor which belongs only to my Creator."
Then Olymbrius subjected Marina to harsh torture and threw her into prison completely covered with wounds and blood. While in prison Marina prayed to God and, after prayer, the devil appeared to her under the guise of a horrible serpent which entwined itself around her head. When she made the sign of the cross the serpent burst and vanished.
Then she was engulfed with a heavenly light and it seemed to her that the walls of the prison vanished together with the roof and a radiant and towering cross appeared and atop the cross a white dove, from which a voice came saying: "Rejoice Marina, rational [discerning] dove of Christ, daughter of Zion in the highest, for your day of rejoicing has arrived."
Marina was healed from all her wounds and pains by the power of God. The demented judge tortured her the following day, both in fire and in water, but Marina endured all as though she were in another body. Finally he condemned her to be beheaded. Before her death the Lord Jesus appeared to her with angels. She was beheaded during the reign of Diocletian but in soul and power she remained alive in the heavens and on earth. A hand of St. Marina reposes in the Monastery of Vatopedi on Mt. Athos. However, atop Mt. Langa in Albania overlooking Lake Ohrid, there is a monastery dedicated to St. Marina with a portion of her miraculous relics. Countless miracles have occurred and still occur in this monastery, whose witnesses are not only Christians but many Muslims as well. So much did the Turks have respect for this holy place that they never dared disturb either this holy place or the property of this monastery. At one time a Turk was the guardian of the monastery.
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| Hand of St. Marina reposes in the Monastery of Vatopedi on Mt. Athos. |
Galatians 3:23-4:5 KJV
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
4 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Saint Mark 5:24-34
24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
THE HOLY MARTYR MARINA
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
Saint Marina, to the Lord prayed,
And with warm tears, she strengthened her prayers;
Lord Jesus, my God and my Savior,
Everyone who in You hope, You help.
Be near me, near to my soul,
When the unbelievers begin my body to destroy,
Be near me, O Strength of martyrs,
That, without fear and screams, I endure pains.
Before the hungry wolves, as sheep I stand,
As a lonely bird before many hunters,
As a miserable fish snared by the net
But, the Lord of salvation, to You I gaze!
My body, as a cheap sack, let them tear apart,
O Christ, You will I not deny;
Then all decaying pleasures, with You sufferings I like,
Only to Your authority, O Savior I bow down
Conqueror of death, the devil and Hades,
These victories now, through me repeat!
For all, Lord and Savior, to You thanks,
That You help everyone who hopes in You.
About the need to repeat and repeat
"Wherefore
I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things,
though you know them, and be established in the present truth" (2 St Peter
1:12).
The plowman sows in the field. Does not the plowman repeat the same task every
second? How would he, therefore, plow the field if not plowing from morning to
dusk deepening furrow after furrow?
The traveler walks the road. Does not the traveler repeat the same task every
second with the same effort? How else would he have traveled the road and
reached his destination?
The carpenter prepares the boards in his workshop. Does not the carpenter
repeat the same task with every board, with the same labor? How else would he
be able to prepare the ordered amount of prepared boards?
Brethren, is not all of our beneficial works comprised of strands and strands
of repetition? Therefore, let not the preacher of the truth become slothful and
let him not say: "I told them so and I will not repeat it!" Let not
the hearer of the truth become proud and let him not say: "I heard it once
and I do not need to hear it again!"
O preacher of the truth, do not be afraid to repeat and to repeat: that through
repetition you teach and by repetition you remind. Without repetition even the
field is not plowed, nor the path traveled, nor the framework [rafters] of the
house prepared. And you [preacher of the truth] are to plow, to lead and to
prepare.
O hearer of the truth, do not become proud and do not say that you heard the
truth once. Truth is food for the soul. You have eaten bread today, yesterday
and the day before yesterday and for months and years past. And again you will
eat it, so that your body would be healthy. Nourish also the soul. Nourish it
with the truth, the same truth, yesterday, today and tomorrow and until death
so that your soul may be healthy, strong and radiant.
O Lord Jesus, nourish us every day and every hour with Thy truth which is Thee
O Jesus, sweet nourishment!
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