March 8 / February 23

The Holy Hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna (167)

Polycarp, this great apostolic man, was born a pagan. St. John the Theologian converted him to the Christian Faith and baptized him. In his childhood Polycarp was orphaned. Callista, a noble widow, after a vision in a dream, adopted, raised and educated him. From his childhood Poly- carp was devout and compassionate. He strove to emulate the life of St. Bucolus, then the Bishop of Smyrna, as well as of the Holy Apostles John and Paul, whom he knew and had heard. St. Bucolus ordained him a presbyter and before his death designated him as his successor in Smyrna. The apostolic bishops, who gathered at the funeral of Bucolus, consecrated Polycarp as bishop. From the very beginning Polycarp was endowed with the power of working miracles. He expelled an evil spirit from the servant of a prince and through prayer stopped a terrible fire in Smyrna. Upon seeing this, many pagans regarded Polycarp as one of the gods. He brought down rain in times of drought, healed illnesses, had the gifts of discernment and prophecy, and so forth. He suffered during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Three days before his death, St. Polycarp prophesied: “In three days I will be burnt in the flames for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ!” And on the third day, when the soldiers arrested him and brought him to trial, he cried out: “Let this be the will of the Lord my God.” When the judge counseled him to deny Christ and to acknowledge the Roman gods, Polycarp said: “I cannot exchange the better for the worse!” The Jews especially hated Polycarp and endeavored to have him burned alive. When they bound him at the stake, he prayed to God for a long time. He was very old and gray, and radiant like an angel of God. The people witnessed how the flame encircled him but did not touch him. Frightened by such a phenomenon, the pagan judges ordered the executioner to pierce him with a lance through the fire. When he was pierced, so much blood flowed from him that the fire was completely extinguished, and his body remained whole and unburnt. At the persuasion of the Jews, the judge ordered that Polycarp’s lifeless body be incinerated according to the custom of the Hellenes. So the evil ones burned the dead body of the one whom they could not burn while alive. St. Polycarp suffered on Great and Holy Saturday in the year 167.

The Venerable Damian of Esphigmenou, Mt. Athos (1280)

Damian, a monk of the Monastery of Esphigmenou on Mount Athos, was a contemporary and companion of the great Cosmas of Zographou. He lived a life of asceticism on Mount Samareia between Esphigmenou and Hilandar. He died peacefully in the year 1280. When he reposed, a pleasant and sweet-smelling aroma was emitted from his grave for forty days.

• Gorgonia (372), sister of St. Gregory the Theologian.
• Alexander, founder of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones, Constantinople (430).
• Sts. John, Antioch, Antoninus, Moses, Zebinas, Polychronius, Moses (another), and Damian, ascetics near Cyrrhus (5th c.).
• John Theristes (the Harvester) of Stylos in Calabria (11th c.).
• Cosmas of Zographou, Mt. Athos (1281).
• Moses, monk, of White Lake (1480).
• New Monk-martyr Damian of Philotheou and Kissavos, at Larissa (1568).
• New Hieromartyr Lazarus of the Peloponnese (ca. 1618).
• Polycarp, monk, of Bryansk (1620-1621).
• Nazarius, abbot of Valaam Monastery (1809).
• New Hieromartyr Michael Edlinsky, archpriest, of Kiev (1938).
• New Hieromartyrs Sergius (Bukashkin), hieromonk, of Novo-Alexandrovka (Mos- cow), and Antipas (Kyrillov), hieromonk, of Tatarintsevo (Moscow) (1938), and Philaret (Pryakhin), abbot, of Trubino (Tver) (1942).
• Seraphim (Zenobius), schema-metropolitan of Tetritskaro, Georgia, monk of Glinsk Monastery (1985).

HYMN OF PRAISE

Saint Polycarp

God preserves His holy ones
So that they do not perish until their appointed time,
Until they complete their task.
The elder and saint of God Polycarp Journeyed with his deacon.
At an inn by the road he spent the night.
The elder prayed while the deacon slept,
Until an angel of God appeared to the elder
And commanded that they immediately arise,
And depart from the inn,
For the inn was soon to be destroyed.
The elder roused the young deacon,
But the deacon, fatigued, slept on.
Thus, the angel appeared again,
And again gave the same warning.
Again, the elder woke his deacon,
But a heavy sleep overpowered the deacon.
One moment he would awake,
The next moment he would be drowned in sleep.
A third time the angel appeared,
And issued a warning for the third time.
The elder perceived that this was not a deceit,
But verily a warning from God.
The saint leaped up and lifted the deacon,
And out of the inn they walked.
As soon as they walked out of the inn,
The entire house was destroyed down to its very foundation.
All who were in it perished
Because of their secret transgressions.
The young deacon was filled with fright,
But the saint was silent in prayer.
To the Most-high God they offered thanks,
And continued on their way under the stars.

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