March 21 / March 8
1. Saint Theophylactus, Bishop of Nicomedia
When the emperor’s advisor Tarasius, a layman, was elected Patriarch of Constantinople, then many of his friends, admirers, and other laymen received the monastic tonsure either with him or by him. Among them was Theophylactus. Tarasius appointed him Bishop of Nicomedia. As a bishop, Theophylactus was a good shepherd to his entrusted flock and proved to be exceptionally compassionate toward the less fortunate and indigent. After the death of St. Tarasius, the patriarchal throne was occupied by Nicephorus. Short- ly after that, the imperial throne was occupied by Leo the Armenian, an iconoclast. As such, he raised up an absolute storm in the Church of Christ. Even though iconoclasm had been anathematized by the Seventh Ecumenical Council [Nicaea, 787], nevertheless, Emperor Leo reinstated it and wanted thereby to supplant Orthodoxy. St. Theophylactus opposed the emperor to his face. When the emperor would not yield, Theophylactus said to him: “O Emperor, great ruin will unexpectedly befall you, and you will find no one to deliver you from it.” Because of these words and by the order of the emperor, Theophylactus was removed from his see and sent into exile. There he spent thirty years undergoing many hardships and insults, and in the end, he rendered his soul to the Lord in about the year 845.
The Holy Hieromartyr Theodoretus , priest, of Antioch (361-363)
The Emperor Constantine built a cathedral church of exceptional beauty in Antioch. The people called this church “the Golden Church” because of the gold-plated exterior and interior and because of the many gold and silver adornments housed in The emperor donated a great deal of land to this church for the upkeep of the clergy, whose number was significant. The custodian of these accouterments and all the other precious items in the church was the presbyter Theodoretus, a priest of great faith and rare devotion. When Julian the Apostate began his reign, he (Julian) denied Christ and, even though he was baptized, stirred up a persecution against the Christians. The apostate’s uncle, also named Julian, came to Antioch and began to plunder the Golden Church. He summoned Theodoretus, the custodian of the treasury, to court and counseled him to deny Christ. Not only did Theodoretus refuse to deny Christ, but he also insulted the Emperor Julian because of his apostasy from the true Faith and his return to idolatry. He compared him to a dog returning to his own vomit. When the wicked uncle, out of unruliness, urinated in the Golden Church, St. Theodoretus prophesied a horrible death for him, which shortly came to pass. Theodoretus was beheaded with an axe for his faith in Christ. From the time that the judge Julian urinated in the church, he felt pains in the lower part of his body. The entire lower half of his body was eaten away by worms so that he vomited forth his apostate soul in the most horrible pain. Also, in accordance with the prophecy of Theodoretus, Felix, Julian’s assistant, died from a hemorrhage of the mouth immediately after this righteous man was beheaded. St. Theodoretus was beheaded- ed in the year 362 and went to the all-glorious Kingdom of Christ the King.
- Apostle Hermas of the Seventy (1st ).
- Felix of Burgundy, bishop of Dunwich and enlightener of East Anglia (ca. 648).
- Julian, archbishop of Toledo (690).
- Martyrs Quintilian and Capatolinus, at
- Lazarus, founder (1391) and Athanasius (15th c.), monk, of Murmansk Monastery (Karelia).
- Andronicus (Lukash), schema-archimandrite of Tbilisi, Georgia, elder of Glinsk Monastery (1974).
- (Greek: St. Paul the Confessor, bishop of Plousias in Bithynia [ca. 840]. St. Tarasius the Wonderworker, of Lycaonia).
- “Kursk Root” Icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos (1295).
HYMN OF PRAISE
Adam’s Lament
Outside empty Paradise,
Adam folded his hands.
Banished and alienated, he throbbed with pain.
The angels of heaven, until then his companions,
As beautiful dreams flew hurriedly away—
Away from the banished one, away from the cursed one,
Who, until yesterday, was the mighty proprietor of Paradise!
And Adam sobbed on the cold boulder:
“Woe to my descendants! Woe to me, a sinner!
For one moment I despised my Creator,
To be despised by all that was created
Throughout the days and nights,
throughout the long centuries.
Instead of God, to have a serpent for a companion!
Instead of me ruling over all created things,
Now everything will rule over me:
The winds and the heat, the elements of nature,
The beasts and scorpions, repulsive things and serpents.
Instead of freedom, behold, fear grips me,
And confuses my thoughts and chills me to the bone.
There is only One Who is able to help:
The One Whom I offended.
Have mercy, O God!”
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