Commemorated today:
• Apodosis of Mid-Pentecost
• Holy Martyr Thalléleos; Sts. Nikétas, Joseph, and John of Chios; St. Lydia of Philippi, the seller of purple
• Holy Martyr Thalléleos; Sts. Nikétas, Joseph, and John of Chios; St. Lydia of Philippi, the seller of purple
Thalléleos was born in Lebanon. His father was called Berucius and his mother was called Romila. Thalléleos was an eighteen-year old youth, handsome of countenance, physically tall and with reddish yellow hair. He was a physician by profession. He suffered for Christ during the reign of Numerian. When he bravely confessed his faith in Christ the Lord before his tormenting judge, the judge ordered the two executioners, Alexander and Asterius, to bore through his knees with a drill, to thread a rope through the perforated bones and to hang him from a tree. But God through an invisible power, took away the sight of the executioners. In place of Thalléleos they bored through a board and hung it from a tree. When the judge-torturer found out, he thought that the executioners did this intentionally and ordered them both to be flogged. Then Alexander and Asterius, in the midst of their flogging, cried out: "The Lord is alive to us and, from now on, we are also becoming Christians. We believe in Christ and suffer for Him." Upon hearing this, the judge-torturer ordered that both be beheaded. Then the judge took the drill to bore the knees of Thalléleos himself but his hands became paralyzed and he begged Thalléleos to save him, which the innocent martyr of Christ did, with the help of prayer. Following that, Thalléleos was thrown into water but appeared alive before his tormentor (for Thalléleos prayed to God inwardly to prolong his sufferings that he not die immediately). When he was thrown before wild beasts, they licked his feet and were amiable toward him. Finally, Thalléleos was beheaded and took up his habitation in life eternal in the year 284 A.D.
Acts
26:1, 12-20
26:1, 12-20
KJV
26 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:
12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
Saint John
10:1-9
10:1-9
KJV
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
THE JOURNEY IS CALLED HUMAN LIFE
by Saint Ignaty Brianchaninov
At man’s procreation in his present fallen state, the body serves the soul as the swaddling cloth serves a newborn. The swaddled body of a newborn forms correctly, but without the bindings his organs, being soft, can become misshapen.
So too the soul, clothed in the body, covered and separated by it from the world of spirits, gradually forms itself by studying God’s law, or, which is the same, by studying Christianity and receiving the ability to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5: 14). Then the spiritual perception of spirits is granted and, if it conforms to God’s purpose guiding the soul, the sensory perception is then granted, since deception and seduction of the soul are now less dangerous, while experience and knowledge are beneficial.
Safe entrance into the world of spirits
When our souls are separated from the body by physical death, we once again enter the state and community of the spirits. It is clear then that for a safe entrance into the world of spirits, a timely self-teaching of God’s law is necessary. It is exactly for this learning that we are given a certain time, determined by God for each man, to wander the earth. That journey is called human life.
For your continued edification
Saint Isaac of Nineveh ON BEING A VICTOR
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