June 17 / June 4
1. The Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ismael, of Persia, at Constantinople (362)
Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael were brothers born in Persia, of a pagan father and a Chris- tian mother. They were educated in the spirit of Christianity and were baptized. As Christians, they were high-ranking officials at the court of King Alamundar. They were sent to Emperor Julian the Apostate to conduct negotiations and to confirm peace between the Persian and Graeco-Roman empires. The apostate emperor arranged a blasphemous celebration in honor of the idols in Chalcedon. At this celebration the emperor, with his noblemen, offered sacrifices to the idols. The Persian emissaries absented themselves from this celebration. The emperor summoned them and ordered that they also take part in the celebration and offer sacrifices to the gods. They declared that they were foreign citizens and that they came as emissaries of the Persian king for the sake of establishing peace between the two empires, and not for any- thing else; that they were Christians and that they considered it unworthy to worship dead idols and to offer them sacrifices. The emperor became enraged and cast them into prison. The next day he brought them out and again began to dispute with them about the Faith, but the holy brothers were adamant and unwavering. They were then bound naked to trees, beaten, and scraped with an iron brush. During their torture they prayed to God with thanksgiving for their tortures: “O sweet Jesus, these torments are sweet for the sake of Thy love!” An angel of God appeared to them, comforted them, and removed every pain from them. Contrary to all rules of international relations, the wicked Emperor Julian finally pronounced judgment that the three brothers be beheaded. When they were beheaded there was a great earthquake. The earth split and received the bodies of the holy martyrs so that the pagans could not burn their bodies, as directed by the emperor. The earth later gave up the bodies of these martyrs so that Christians could find them and honorably bury them. Over their relics there occurred many miracles, seeing which, many pagans converted to the Christian Faith. When the Persian king heard how Julian had inhumanly given his emissaries over to death, he prepared an army against him. Convinced of victory, Julian set out against the Persian Empire, but he was overwhelmingly defeated and perished in shame, to the joy and laughter of the entire world.
2. The Venerable Pior and Joseph, of Scetis (4th c.), disciples of St. Anthony the Great
Pior was a hermit in Nitria. Inflamed with love for God, Pior renounced the world at an early age and withdrew to the Egyptian desert, where he heroically lived a life of asceticism. It is said that he never sat at the table to eat but always ate standing and working. When asked why he did this, St. Pior replied: “I do not want to concern myself with eating as an occupation but rather as something marginal.” When they called him to a council to judge a brother who had committed a sin, Pior arrived carrying a sack of sand on his back and a small bag of sand on his chest. Asked what it meant, the saint replied: “The sack of sand on my back represents my sins, which I do not see, and the bag of sand on my chest represents the sins of my brother, whom I have to judge.” All the brethren were then ashamed and cried out: “This is the path of salvation!” Pior lived to be a hundred years old and reposed in the Lord in the fourth century.
- Martyr Djan Darada, the Ethiopian eunuch of Queen Candace (1st ).
- Hieromartyr Philoneides, bishop of Kurion on Cyprus (ca. 306).
- Hypatius, abbot, of the monastery of the Rufinianes (446).
- Martyr Nectan of Hartland (Devon) (6th ).
- Botolph, abbot and confessor, of Ikanhoe, England (680) and his brother, St. Adolph the Confessor, bishop of Maastricht (7th c.).
- Martyr Shalva of Akhaltsikhe, Georgia (1227).
- Uncovering of the relics (1562) of the Alfanov Brothers of Novgorod: Nicetas, Cyril, Nicephorus, Clement, and Isaac (late 14th to early 15th c.), founders of the Sokolnitzki Monastery in 1389.
- Ananias the Iconographer, of Novgorod (1581).
- New Hieromartyr Nicander (Prusak), hieromonk, of Yaroslavl (1918).
- New Hiero-confessor Maximus (Popov), hieromonk, of Ryabash (Bashkiria) (1934).
- (Greek : Hieromartyr Isaurus, deacon, and with him Martyrs Innocent, Felix, Hermias, Basil, Peregrinus, Rufus, and Rufinus, of Appolonia in Macedonia [284]).
HYMN OF PRAISE
The Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ishmael
Of a Christian mother and a pagan father,
Three blood brothers, wonderful peacemakers,
Manuel, Sabel and young Ishmael,
Dead for Christ’s sake to earthly delight.
To serve peace they voluntarily set out—
To unite in peace the Persians and Greeks.
But the servant of the devil, Julian the cursed,
Began to dispute with the three brothers about the Faith
And proposed that the brothers, baptized in Christ,
Embrace his impure faith.
To the crowned beast the brothers then replied:
“We did not come to change our Faith,
But to make peace, O Emperor of the Greeks.
We have faith in the Son of God.
The worse can well be given up for the better,
But only a madman would exchange the better for the worse.”
The enraged emperor—hades burned in him—
In bitter torments slew the three brothers.
But God the All-seeing, Who knows the value of each,
Turned with anger against the evil emperor.
Evil Julian, weak before God,
Died a shameful death and everyone laughed;
Everyone laughed who knew his pride,
And through him they recognized the weakness of injustice.
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