The Shepherd, June 2006
THE COMING MONTH
WE ENTER JUNE this year in the middle of the fastfree week that follows the day of Pentecost-Trinity. This means that a series of “All Saints’ Sundays” falls within June this year. The first is All Saints Day itself, which is always celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost, on the day immediately before our beginning the Apostles’ Fast. The second Sunday is dedicated to All the Saints of Athos and, by the Russian Church, to All the Saints of Russia, a feast instituted in 1918. And the third Sunday is that of the New Martyrs who suffered under the Turkish Yoke.
The Apostles’ Fast itself begins this year on Monday, 6th / 19th June and ends after we receive Holy Communion or the antidoron on the festival of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on 29th June / 12th July, although, as that day falls this year on a Wednesday, it remains a fast day, and we only begin to eat meat or dairy products on the next day. On account of the solemnity of the the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, though, we do have fish, wine and oil on their day.
Among the saints we celebrate in June, we have:
The Venerable Pior (17th /30th June) was one of the Desert Fathers of Egypt and a disciple of the great St Antony. He lived to the age of a hundred and died in the fourth century. It was said of him that he never sat down to eat, but always did so standing up, explaining that he did not wish to make eating an occupation. When once asked by the other fathers to come and judge a case against a monk who had sinned in some way, he arrived bearing a huge bag of sand on his back with a small pouch of sand in his hand. Asked what all this meant, he explained: “The huge bag on sand on my back is my sins, which I do not see; and the small pouch of sand before in my hand is my brother’s sins whom you have called me to judge.” The fathers were edified by this teaching, exclaiming: “This is the way of salvation.”
The Venerable Martyr Goban (20th June / 3rd July) was a disciple of Saint Fursey and most probably came with him from Ireland, when the saint settled in East Anglia. Having established a monastic house there and later entrusted it to the care of of his brother St Foillan, St Fursey crossed over to the continent and settled at Lagny. Saint Goban appears to have left England later, probably driven out by the incursions of the pagan King Penda, and he settled at Corbenny, later retreating into the forest region of Coucy. Such was his spiritual repute, that he came to the notice of the Frankish king Clothair III, who granted him a tract of land that he might build a church and a cell. This he dedicated to St Peter. There he lived a life of prayer and quiet until during an incursion of barbarians from the north of Germany, he was set upon and killed, receiving a martyr’s crown because he was found enduring to the end. He lived in the seventh century.
The Venerable Virgin Martyr Febronia (25th June / 8th July): Febronia, who lived in the third century, was the daughter of a Roman senator, and her hand was sought in marriage by a young nobleman Lysimachus. Desiring to devote her life to Christ, the saint left her home and joined a community of virgins in Assyria, where her aunt, Bryene, was their eldress. Providentially it happened that Lysimachus was sent into the same region. Diocletian suspected him of being too sympathetic to the Christians and therefore sent him to serve under a kinsman of his, Silenus, who was a merciless persecutor of the Christians and who was active in the East. In the community in which Febronia settled, they kept a rule, according to which every Friday was devoted solely to prayer, the reading of the sacred books and spiritual instruction. Such was Febronia’s spiritual purity that she was granted a special gift of instruction and people came from far and wide to hear her on Fridays. However, because she was in the bloom of youth and exceedingly beautiful, Bryene had her stand behind a curtain while she read or taught in church - much like our own Fr Thomas having to find refuge behind his beam! News of the extraordinarily beautiful sister with such a gift spread, and came to the ears of the persecutor Silenus. He ordered that she be brought before him. Having first tried to coax her with promises, Silenus eventually resorted to the cruellest of tortures in trying to persuade Febronia to renounce her Saviour. She was subjected to the most degrading torments, but remained steadfast and was, at the last, slain with the sword. Her tormentor was seized by a demon and dashed out his brains against a marble pillar. Lysimachus took up the body of the maiden he had earlier wished to marry and ensured that it was given reverent burial. He and many of his soldiers were converted through her steadfast witness and were baptised. Among the many miracles which the Martyr worked in the convent where she had struggled was one which was repeated each year on the day of her feast - she would appear among the other sisters, standing among them in their choir as she had in her lifetime.
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