March 27 / March 14
1. The Venerable Benedict of Nursia, abbot (543)
Benedict was born in the Italian province of Nursia in the year 480, to wealthy and distinguished parents. He did not remain long in school for he realized himself that through book-learning he could lose “the great understanding of his soul.” He left school “an unlearned wise man and an under-standing fool.” He retreated to a monastery, where he was tonsured by the monk Romanus, after which he withdrew to a steep mountain, where he remained in a cave for more than three years in a great struggle with his soul. Romanus brought him bread and low-opening of the cave. When Benedict became known in the vicinity, he withdrew from this cave in order to retreat from the glory of men. He was merciless toward himself. Once, when an unclean and raging passion of the flesh seized him, he removed all his clothes and rolled around naked in the thorns until he repelled every thought of a woman. God endowed him with many spiritual gifts: clairvoyance, healing, the expelling of evil spirits, the raising of the dead, and the ability to appear to others from a distance in visions and dreams. Once Benedict perceived that a glass of wine served to him was poisoned. When he made the sign of the Cross over it, the glass burst. In the beginning, he established twelve monasteries, and in each of them, he placed twelve monks. Later he compiled the special “Benedictine” rule, which is followed even today in the Roman Church. On the sixth day before his death, he ordered that his grave, which had been prepared earlier, be opened, for the saint foresaw that his end was near. He assembled all the monks, counseled them, and then gave up his soul to the Lord, Whom he had faithfully served in poverty and in purity. Scholastica, his sister by birth, lived in a convent where, in imitation of her brother, she greatly subdued herself and reached a high state of spiritual perfection. When St. Benedict gave up his soul, two monks, one traveling on the road and one at prayer in a faraway cell, simultaneously saw the same vision. They saw a path extending from earth to heaven, covered with a precious woven fiber and illuminated on both sides by rows of men. At the head of the path, there stood a man of indescribable beauty and light, who said to them that this path was prepared for Benedict, favored by God. As a result of this vision, these two brothers learned that their good abbot had departed from this world. He reposed peacefully in the year 543 and entered into the Eternal Kingdom of Christ the King.
2. Saint Euschemon, Bishop of Lampsacus
During the iconoclastic controversy, Euschemon endured persecution and imprisonment. He died during the reign of Emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast (829–842).
3. Saint Theognostus, metropolitan of Kiev and Moscow (1353)
Theognostus was the Metropolitan of Kiev. He was a Greek by origin and a successor to St. Peter of Kiev. He suffered much at the hands of the Mongol Horde. Theognostus was slandered by his own Russian people before the Mongolian emperor because he did not render the emperor any tribute for his episcopal rank. When the emperor summoned and questioned him concerning this, Theognostus replied: “Christ our God has redeemed His Church from paganism by His Precious Blood. For what should I pay tribute to the pagans?” In the end, he was released and returned home. He governed the Church for twenty-five years. He reposed in the Lord in the year 1353.
- Martyr Eustathius and his company, at Carrhae, Mesopotamia (741).
- Rostislav-Michael, great prince of Kiev (1167).
- Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Theodore (“Feodorovskaya”) (Kostroma) (1239).
- Andrew, abbot, of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Rafailovo, Siberia (1820).
HYMN OF PRAISE
Saint Benedict
Benedict was a mighty miracle-worker,
A devout person who shed many tears, and a dear companion.
Led by the Spirit of God, holding on to the true Faith,
He was a loving leader, mighty, resolute and humble.
Placidus was his young novice.
Just then the holy Father Benedict prayed to God,
But at once his spirit perceived in the distance:
Behold, the brook suddenly rose, tumbling stones;
Placidus, facing death, was tossed about in the torrent;
The brook seized him and was toying with him.
The saint heard a scream, he heard his own name.
Here faith was necessary, but also pursuit:
Quickly the elder sent Maurus the monk.
Maurus, with a hurried leap, jumped into the water.
On the water as on a road, he rushed to Placidus.
Unaware that he was walking on the water,
Maurus was upheld on the surface by the prayers of the saint.
Maurus and Placidus came to the elder
And kissed his hand. Placidus sobbed:
“I saw you, O Elder, above my head
When my heart was overly filled with dread.
By the hair you grabbed me and above the water lifted me,
Until, at that moment, Maurus came to my assistance!”
Through the prayers of holy Father Benedict,
God also proclaimed Maurus as a miracle-worker.
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