The Holy Hieromartyr Patrick, Bishop of Proussa, and those with him;
St. Dunstan of Canterbury
St. Dunstan of Canterbury
During the reign of Julian the Apostate in Asian Brussa, Junius, the imperial deputy, brought these saints to a hot spring and asked Patrick: "Who created these curative waters if not our gods Aesculapius and others whom we worship?"
St. Patrick replied: "Your gods are demons and these waters, as everything else, were created by Christ the Lord, our God."Then the deputy asked: "And will your Christ save you if I toss you into this boiling water?"The saint replied: "If He wants. He is able to preserve me whole and unharmed, even though I desire that in these waters I become separated from this temporary life to live with Christ eternally; but let His Holy will be done on me, without which not even a hair does not fall from the head of men!"
Hearing this, the deputy ordered that Patrick be tossed into the boiling water. Drops of boiling water splashed on all sides and bitterly scalded many of those present but the saint of God, on whose lips were continually in prayer, remained unharmed as though he were standing in cold water. Seeing this, the deputy became enraged out of embarrassment and ordered Patrick and his remaining three presbyters be beheaded with an ax. Then the innocent followers of Christ recited their prayers and placed their heads under the ax of the executioner. When they were beheaded, their joyful souls ascended into the illuminating kingdom of Christ to reign forever.
Acts
25:13-19
25:13-19
KJV
13 And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute Festus.
14 And when they had been there many days, Festus declared Paul's cause unto the king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix:
15 About whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him.
16 To whom I answered, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.
17 Therefore, when they were come hither, without any delay on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be brought forth.
18 Against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed:
19 But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.
Saint John
16:23-33
16:23-33
KJV
23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
31 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Abba Mark
from
The Evergentinos
Brother, when you hear about the transgression of Adam and Eve, you should believe that it was indeed committed by them in their day; however, you should also see that it is now committed spiritually by you and me. For, having been regenerated through Holy Baptism and been placed in the Paradise of the Church, we have transgressed the commandment of Him Who regenerated us. For the Lord enjoined us to love all of our brethren of the same Faith and to regard the fruit that
comes from all as good, and eat thereof with patience, as Scripture says: “Of every tree in Paradise thou mayest freely eat” (Genesis 2:16). But we, led astray by the thoughts which the serpent puts in us, regard some of our brethren as good and love them, but regard others as bad and detest them. It is precisely this distinction between good and bad that is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; that is to say, we do not put up with our neighbor’s mistakes, but ensnare each person by his shortcomings. Those who seem good we love, but those whom we consider bad we hate.
When the mind tastes the fruits of this tree, it immediately falls into those same mistakes that it condemned, thereafter realizing its own nakedness through the malicious discovery of a brother’s faults. It did not previously perceive this nakedness, because it was veiled by brotherly empathy. As a result of this denudation, our rational faculty becomes deadened, not because God made death, but because man hated his neighbor. For “God made not death, neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living” (Wisdom of Solomon 1:13); nor is He moved by the passion of anger; nor does He devise anything for the purpose of taking revenge on it; nor does He alter His disposition according the worth of each man; but He created all things in wisdom (cf. Psalm 103:24) and determined that they should be regulated by spiritual laws. For this reason, He did not say to Adam, “On whatsoever day ye eat of it, I will kill you,” but, issuing a warning to him, He announced the law of Divine justice in advance: “On whatsoever day ye eat of it, ye shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). In this way, He linked good with reward and evil with chastisement, in such a way that reward would naturally correspond to virtue and chastisement to evil, without His having to reinvent it in each case, as certain people, in their ignorance of the spiritual law, suppose.
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