November 19 / November 6
1. Saint Paul the Confessor, Archbishop of Constantinople (350)
When Blessed Patriarch Alexander lay on his deathbed, the sorrowing faithful asked him who he would have follow him as the chief shepherd of the spiritual flock of Christ. He said: “If you desire a shepherd who will teach you and who will shine with virtues, choose Paul; but if you only want a suit- able man, externally adorned, choose Macedonius.” The people chose Paul. Unfortunately, this was not accepted by the Arian heretics, nor was it ac- cepted by Emperor Constantius, who was then in Antioch. Paul was soon deposed, and fled to Rome with St. Athanasius the Great. In Rome, Pope Julian and Emperor Constans received them warmly and upheld them in their Orthodox Faith. Emperor Constans and Pope Julian saw to it that Paul was returned to his throne, but when Em- peror Constans died the Arians raised their heads again, and Patriarch Paul was banished to Cucusus in Armenia. Once, as Paul was celebrating the Di- vine Liturgy in exile, he was attacked by the Ari- ans and strangled with his omophorion, in the year 351. In 381, during the reign of Emperor The- odosius, Paul’s relics were transferred to Constan- tinople, and in the year 1236 they were translated to Venice, where they still repose. His beloved priests and notaries, Marcian and Martyrius (Oc- tober 25), suffered soon after their patriarch.
2. The Venerable Barlaam of Khutyn, the Miracle-worker (1192)
Barlaam was born and raised as a Christian in Novgorod the Great. After the death of his parents, he was tonsured a monk and devoted him- self to a life of strict asceticism. He founded a monastery on the bank of the Volkhov River, at a place where a heavenly light appeared to him. Bar- laam was a great miracle-worker both during his life and after his death: he saw into the secrets of men’s hearts, expelled unclean spirits and healed all sicknesses. After his repose, a servant of Prince Vasili Vasilievich be- came gravely ill and begged to be taken to the saint’s grave. He further instructed them that, if he should die on the way, they should carry his dead body to the saint. And thus it happened—he died on the way and they carried him dead to the monastery, where he returned to life, stood up and prostrated before the grave of the saint. In the year 1471, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered that the saint’s grave be dug up. As soon as they began to dig, a flame sprang from the grave and flared up along the walls of the church. The Tsar was so frightened that he ran out of the church and, in his haste, forgot his staff, which is still preserved beside the grave of the saint. The commemoration of this miracle is celebrated on the Friday after the Sunday of All Saints.
3. Commemoration of the falling of ash from the sky
This took place in Constantinople in the year 472*) during the reign of Emperor Leo the Great and Patriarch Gennadius.
- Virgin-martyrs Tecusa, Alexandra, Claudia, Matrona, Polactia, Euphrosyne, and Athanasia, of Ancyra (303). Illtyd, abbot, of Llanilltyd Fawr, Wales (505).
- Leonard of Noblac (Gaul) (ca. 559).
- Winnoc, abbot, of Flanders (716).
- Cowey of Portaferry, abbot, of Moville Monastery (8th c.).
- Luke, monk, of Sicily (820).
- Demetrianus, bishop of Cytheria on Cyprus (ca. 915).
- Luke, steward of the Kiev Caves (13th c.).
- Herman, archbishop of Kazan (1567).
- Barlaam of Keret (Karelia) (16th c.).
- Synaxis of the New Martyrs of Sarov: Anatole, Basil, Hierotheus, Isaac, and Ru- finus (1927-1940).
- New Hieromartyrs Nicetas, bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsk; Barlaam, abbot, of Andreyevskoe (Moscow); Gabriel, hieromonk of the St. Michael Skovorodsky Monastery (Novgorod); and Gabriel, hieromonk, of Lytkarino (Moscow) (1937).
- Elias Fondaminsky of Paris (1942).
HYMN OF PRAISE
The Lord’s mercy and goodness
Our Lord is mercy and true goodness,
Yet He allows man to suffer for his sin:
Floods, sickness, earthquakes, droughts,
Horror and pains for body and soul.
He who does not see the Father when He offers gifts
Will see Him at the Judgment as the Righteous Judge.
The awesome Judge has many servants,
And employs them all for man’s salvation—
The earth’s thorns; serpents and beasts;
And floods, lightning, thunder from the sky;
And evil winds of illness; the sun, heat and darkness;
And the field, which gives either wheat or empty straw.
As many gifts await the faithful,
So many scourges are woven for the evil.
Adam’s fields are watered with gentle dew,
But Sodom and Gomorrah are mowed with a flaming sword.
Above other created things,
God loves man:
Therefore He forgives much;
therefore He waits long.
But, when God’s patience exceeds all bounds,
Then fire, not dew, does the work.
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