Orthodox Church in America (September 6)
Commemoration of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael at Colossae
In Phrygia, not far from the city of Hieropolis, in a place called
Cheretopos, there was a church named for the Archangel Michael, built
over a miraculous spring. This church was built by a certain inhabitant of the city of Laodicia in gratitude to God for healing his mute daughter. The holy Chief Commander Michael appeared to this man in a dream and revealed to him that his daughter would receive the gift of speech after drinking from the water of the spring. The girl actually did receive healing and began to speak. After this miracle, the father and his daughter and all their family were baptized. In fervent gratitude, the father built the church in honor of the holy Chief Commander Michael. Not only did Christians begin to come to the spring for healing, but also pagans. In so doing, many of the pagans turned from their idols and were converted to the faith in Christ.
At this church of the holy Chief Commander Michael, a certain pious man by the name of Archippus served for sixty years as church custodian. By his preaching and by the example of his saintly life he brought many pagans to faith in Christ. With the general malice of that time towards Christians, and especially against Archippus, the pagans thought to destroy the church in order to prevent people from coming to that holy place of healing, and at the same time kill Archippus.
Toward this end they made a confluence of the Lykokaperos and Kufos Rivers and directed its combined flow against the church. Saint Archippus prayed fervently to the Chief Commander Michael to ward off the danger. Through his prayer the Archangel Michael appeared at the temple, and with a blow of his staff, opened a wide fissure in a rock and commanded the rushing torrents of water to flow into it. The temple remained unharmed. Seeing such an awesome miracle, the pagans fled in terror. Archippus and the Christians gathered in church glorified God and gave thanks to the holy Archangel Michael for the help. The place where the rivers plunged into the fissure received the name “Chonae”, which means “plunging.”
The Chudov (“of the Miracle”) monastery in Moscow is named for this Feast.
Icon of the Mother of God Arapet (Arabian)
The Arapet [= Black (our note)] or “Arabian” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared
while the holy Apostle Thomas (October 6) was evangelizing Ethiopia,
Arabia, and India.Instead of the usual three stars (signifying the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God), the outer garment of the Theotokos has three circles with the head of an angel inside each one. In this feature, it resembles the icons “In Giving Birth you Preserved your Virginity” (“A Virgin Before and After Giving Birth”) (October 17) and “O All-Hymned Mother” (October 6).
Martyrs Cyriacus, Faustus the Presbyter, Abibas the Deacon, and 11 others, at Alexandria
The Martyrs Cyriacus, Faustus the Presbyter, (Habib) Abibas the Deacon, and eleven other martyrs suffered martyrdom for Christ at Alexandria under the emperor Decius (249-251). During the persecution, they all steadfastly confessed themselves as Christians before the governor Valerius. They were beheaded by the sword, about the year 250. Their bodies were buried by Christians in Alexandria.
Saint David of Hermopolis, Egypt
Saint David of Egypt before his entry into a monastery was the leader of a band of bandits in Egypt, in the desert of Hermopolis. He had committed many murders and other wicked deeds. As he grew older, he contemplated his life and was filled with fear because of his past crimes. Leaving his gang of bandits, he went to the monastery intending to repent of his wickedness.
He begged the igumen to accept him as one of the brethren, but the igumen refused. He explained to David that their monastic life was very severe and would be beyond his strength. David persisted and finally, he revealed to the igumen, that he was the notorious robber David. He said that if they did not accept him, he would return to his former life, then come back and plunder the monastery and kill the monks.
The Holy Prophet Zachariah and the Righteous Elizabeth were the
parents of the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, John.
They were descended from the lineage of Aaron: Saint Zachariah, son of
Barach, was a priest in the Jerusalem Temple, and Saint Elizabeth was
the sister of Saint Anna, the mother of the Most Holy Theotokos. The
righteous spouses, “walking in all the commandments of the Lord (Luke
1:6), suffered barrenness, which in those times was considered a
punishment from God. Zachariah doubted that this prediction would come true, and for his weakness of faith he was punished by becoming mute. When Elizabeth gave birth to a son, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit she announced that his name was John, although no one in their family had this name.
They asked Zachariah and he also wrote the name John down on a tablet. Immediately the gift of speech returned to him, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, he began to prophesy about his son as the Forerunner of the Lord.
When King Herod heard from the Magi about the birth of the
Messiah, he decided to kill all the infants up to two years old at
Bethlehem and the surrounding area, hoping that the new-born Messiah
would be among them. Herod knew about John’s unusual birth and he wanted to kill him, fearing that he was the foretold King of the Jews. But Elizabeth hid herself and the infant in the hills. The murderers searched everywhere for John. Elizabeth, when she saw her pursuers, began to implore God for their safety, and immediately the hill opened up and concealed her and the infant from their pursuers.
In these tragic days Saint Zachariah was taking his turn at the services in the Temple. Soldiers sent by Herod tried in vain to learn from him the whereabouts of his son. Then, by command of Herod, they murdered this holy prophet, having stabbed him between the temple and the altar (MT 23: 35). Elizabeth died forty days after her husband, and Saint John, preserved by the Lord, dwelt in the wilderness until the day of his appearance to the nation of Israel.
On the Greek calendar, Saints Zachariah and Elizabeth are also commemorated on June 24, the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.
The Holy Prophet and God-Seer Moses was of the tribe of Levi, the
son of Abram and Jochabed (Exodus 6:20). His life is described in the
Bible (Exodus 2 through Deuteronomy 34:12).Moses was born in Egypt around 1689 B.C. When Pharaoh ordered all male children of the Hebrew slaves to be killed (Exodus 1:22), Moses’ mother placed him in a basket of papyrus coated with pitch, and set him adrift on the Nile. Pharaoh’s daughter found him and raised him as her own son.
At the age of eighty, Moses fled to Midian, where he spoke to God in the Burning Bush on Mt. Horeb (Exodus 3:2). God chose Moses to lead His people from the slavery of Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea as if it were dry land, and for forty years they wandered in the desert.
Arriving in the land of Moab, Moses went to the top of Mt. Nabau, or Nebo (Deuteronomy 32:49), which is called Phasga (Deut. 34:1). There, according to the will of God, he died in 1569 B.C. at the age of 120 without entering the Promised Land.
The first two Biblical Odes are attributed to Moses: “Let us sing to the Lord...” (Exodus 15:1-9), which was sung on the shores of the Red Sea after the Hebrews had crossed it. “Attend, O heaven...” (Deut. 32:1-43) was sung in the land of Moab, a few days before Moses’ death. He is also regarded as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament).
The holy Prophet Moses performed many miracles during his lifetime, and also after his death. He appeared on Tabor with the Prophet Elias at the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6).
On the day that Saint John of the Ladder (March 30) was installed as abbot of Mt. Sinai, the Prophet Moses was seen going around and giving orders to the cooks, stewards, and servants. When the guests had gone and the monks were sitting at table, they wondered what had become of the stranger who had been giving orders. Saint John said, “Our Lord Moses does nothing strange by serving in the place which belongs to him.”
Icon from here
The Holy Martyr Hermione was a daughter of Saint Philip the
Deacon (October 11). Wishing to see the holy Apostle John the
Theologian, Hermione with her sister Eutychia went to Asia Minor in
search of the saint. During their journey, they learned the saint had
died. Continuing on, the sisters met a disciple of Saint Paul named
Petronius, and imitating him in everything, they became his disciples.
Saint Hermione, having mastered the healing arts, rendered help to many
Christians and healed the sick by the power of Christ.During this period, the emperor Trajan (98-117) waged war against the Persians and he came with his army through the village where the saint lived. When they accused Hermione of being a Christian, he gave orders to bring her to him.
At first the emperor, with casual admonitions, sought to persuade the saint to renounce Christ. When this did not succeed, he commanded that she should be struck on the face for several hours, but she joyfully endured this suffering. Moreover, she was comforted by a vision of the Lord, in the form of Petronius, sitting upon the throne of judgment. Convincing himself that she was steadfast in her faith, Trajan sent her away. Hermione later built a hospice in which she took in the sick, treating their infirmities both of body and soul.
Trajan’s successor, Hadrian, again commanded that the saint be brought to trial for confessing the Christian Faith. At first, the emperor commanded that she be beaten mercilessly, then they pierced the soles of her feet with nails, and finally they threw her into a cauldron with boiling tar, lead and sulphurous brimstone. The saint bore everything, giving thanks to God.
And the Lord granted her His mercy: the fire went out, the
lead spilled out, and the saint remained unharmed. Hadrian in surprise
went up to the place of torture and touched at the cauldron, to
ascertain whether it had cooled. When he touched at the cauldron, he
burned the skin on his hand, but even this did not dissuade the
torturer.He gave orders to heat a sort of skillet and put the holy martyr in it naked. Here again another miracle took place. An angel of the Lord scattered the hot coals and burned many who stood by the fire. The saint stood in the skillet, as though on green grass, singing hymns of praise to the Lord.
When she was removed from the skillet, the holy martyr seemed to be willing to offer sacrifice to the pagan god Hercules. The delighted emperor gave orders to take her off to the temple. When the saint prayed to God, a loud thunderclap was heard, and all the idols in the pagan temple fell and shattered.
In a rage, the emperor ordered that Hermione be led out of the city and beheaded. Two servants, Theodulus and Theotimos, were entrusted to carry out the execution. Since they were in such a hurry to execute the saint, not allowing her time for prayer, their hands withered. Then they believed in Jesus Christ and with repentance they fell at the feet of Saint Hermione. They besought her to pray that the Lord would call them to Himself before her. This is what transpired, through her prayers. After this, she also fell asleep in the Lord.
The Martyr Babylas and 84 disciples with him suffered in the city
of Nicomedia for confessing Christianity during the reign of the
emperor Maximian (284-305). The emperor, who was then in Nicomedia,
renewed the persecution against Christians. Like many other believers, Saint Babylas was denounced as someone who was instructing children in Christian piety. When Babylas was brought before the emperor, and after his confession of faith in the true God, he was given over to many torments.
During his sufferings the holy martyr cried to God, “I thank You, O Lord, that You have made me, who am old and infirm, to be young and strong.” After being pelted with stones, he was clapped in irons and they took him to prison.
Then the saint ‘s young disciples were brought before the emperor. Neither flattery nor promise of gifts were able to alter the Christian convictions of the children. Two of them, Ammonias and Donatus, firmly declared, “We are Christians, and we will not offer sacrifice to deaf and dumb devils.”
The emperor flew into a rage over the unexpected and firm rebuke from the children. At first, he ordered them to be whipped, and later to be put to death by beheading, together with their teacher. On the way to execution, the holy Martyr Babylas quoted Isaiah, “Behold, I and the children which God has given me” (Isaiah 8:18). With spiritual rejoicing, first Saint Babylas, and then his 84 disciples, received the crown of martyrdom.
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