Thursday April 21 / May 4ns 2023 • Holy Hieromartyr Januárius and those with him, St. Anastásios the Sinaite + from ETERNAL MYSTERIES BEYOND THE GRAVE Entrance Into the Kingdom by Archimandrite Panteleimon

  CHRIST IS RISEN!

 Holy Hieromartyr Januárius and those with him

Saint Anastásios the Sinaite

Thursday April 21 / May 4 ns 2023

Cathedral of Saint Januarius - Naples, Italy

Holy Hieromartyr Januárius was the bishop of Benevento in Italy. At the time of persecution under Maximian, Januarius was brought before the court and tortured in various ways, which he blamelessly and patiently endured. When they cast him into the fire, the fire was cooled by an invisible dew and the martyr stood unharmed amidst the flames and sang praises to God. Then they scrapped his body with iron brushes until the bones shown white, which the martyr innocently and patiently endured. His Deacon Festus and Lector Desiderius witnessed the suffering of the martyr and wept for their spiritual father. Then they bound both of them and together with Bishop Januarius brought them to the city of Puteoli [near Naples] and cast them into prison.  In this same prison for the sake of Christ, were Sussos, Deacon of Miseno and Proculus, Deacon of Puzzuoli and two Christian laymen Euticius and Acutius. The next day all seven of them were thrown before the wild beasts. The wild beasts did not touch them. They were all beheaded and the Christians of the city of Naples secretly carried away to their city the body of St. Januarius and buried it honorably in church. 

To the present day numerous miracles have occurred at the grave of this saint. Among the many miracles one is particularly remembered i.e., a poor widow whose only son had died removed the icon of St. Januarius from the church and placed it on the body of her dead son, sobbing and praying to the saint and her son restored to life. St. Januarius honorably suffered in the year 305 A.D.

🕂 Acts 8:26-39 KJV 🕂

26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.

29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

🕂 Saint John 6:40-44 KJV🕂

40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.

42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.

44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

from 

ETERNAL MYSTERIES BEYOND THE GRAVE

Entrance Into the Kingdom

by Archimandrite Panteleimon

For entrance into the kingdom of God and into the Church which has been founded by the Lord on earth, for the fulfillment of Christ’s commandments, and for a recognition of the mysteries of His teaching—for all this, it is necessary to be blessedly reborn of the Holy Spirit. It is absolutely impossible to actuate Christ’s law in our life with the help of nothing but our weak strength, which is prone to sin. Only with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, when our being has been renovated by the force of a new life, full of grace, does the law of Christ become comprehensible. 

Christianity has not yet been understood and properly valued by the world. But Christianity is precisely that “unperishing treasure” for which people search so avidly. This treasure is a real, inner communion with Christ, which develops into the limitless joy of eternity. Spiritual experience testifies to the closeness of our spirit to God’s Spirit, to the influence of God on our soul when it comes into a vivid closeness with Him. In this feeling of God’s presence or proximity lies the very essence of religious feeling or faith. 

For us, faithful and believing sons of the Church, there can exist no doubt whatsoever about the divinity of Jesus Christ, our Savior. But let us talk to a skeptic, and he will declare that Christ was merely a man. This thought is not new. Many centuries ago, Arius, who was later punished by a revolting death, declared the same thing. Now, however, people have gone beyond his position. 

This heresy is not enough for Satan. He is intent on manifesting his evil power. Now his servants preach that Christ never existed at all, that He is merely a legend, a myth! We are pained, and fear for those who express thoughts of this kind; but let us speak calmly. The appearance of great men in history was by no means prepared for so that they should be known about in advance and expected. The coming of Christ, on the other hand, was predestined thousands of years before it happened, and with such clarity and in such detail that even the place, the time, almost the year of His appearance were pointed out. 

By the Savior’s time, the entire Orient knew about and expected someone infinitely great Who would come from Judea and to Whom all the nations would subject themselves. Apart from Jesus Christ, there has been no person on earth in whom the entire sum of all these signs and prophecies proved itself. The life of Jesus Christ was accompanied by events so great as have never occurred in the life of any great man; and actions so great as none of the founders of other religions accomplished, nor did other great men achieve so much. 

The Roman centurion, a pagan who stood at the cross and saw the signs that took place during the Lord’s sufferings and death, recognized Him as the Son of God. How many souls appear to strive diligently toward Christ and yet do not find full faith in Him? Unremittingly they are troubled by doubts; they cannot admit or recognize many things. In vain do we think that our doubts are something new that never happened before. Such doubts existed even during our Lord’s own time and then repeated themselves and still repeat themselves all the time, since the enemy of the human race never rests and perpetually works for our destruction. Alone, without Christ, we cannot overcome Satan’s evil power. But if we are reborn in grace into a communion with our Savior, we receive the ability to struggle and to overcome our enemies.