The Shepherd, July 2004
THE COMING MONTH
JULY falls neatly between the two fasts of the Apostles and of the Dormition, and it is one of only two months in the Church Year which never has any Great Feasts. But it is undoubtedly a “Russian month.” In it we celebrate a host of the greatest of the Saints and Icons of Russia. St Philip of Moscow (3rd / 16th), the New Royal Martyrs (4th / 17th), the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh and the Venerable New Martyr Elizabeth the Grand Duchess and those with her (5th / 18th), the Kazan Icon (8th / 21st), St Antony of Kiev, the founder of monasticism in Russia (10th / 23rd), Blessed Olga (11th / 24th), Holy Peer of the Apostles, Prince Vladimir (15th / 28th), Venerable Seraphim of Sarov the Wonderworker (19th July / 1st August), the holy Passion-bearers Boris and Gleb (24th July / 6th August), and the Smolensk Icon of the Directress (28th July / 10th August). In addition to these we have several saints, who though not Russian were particularly loved among the Russian Orthodox peoples: the Holy Glorious Prophet Elias (Elijah) (20th July / 2nd August), the holy Peer of the Apostles Mary Magdalene, to whom the Russian Convent Church in the Garden of Gethsemane is dedicated, and the holy Great Martyr and Unmercenary Healer Panteleimon (27th July / 9th August) to whom the Russian monastery on the Holy Mountain Athos is dedicated. So in July, we have a galaxy of saints particularly beloved of the Russians, just as in May and June we had a host of English saints, from an earlier period in Church history.
Let us look at some of these and of the other saints we have in July.
The Venerable Theophilus the Myron-Streaming of Athos (8th / 21st): The feast of this righteous father is somewhat overshadowed because on his day we celebrate the Appearance of the Wonder-working Kazan Icon (1579 A.D.) and the Great Martyr Procopius. St Theophilus was born in the Macedonian village of Ziki. He was an extremely learned but humble man, and was ordained priest. He comes to notice during the time that St Niphon was Patriarch of Constantinople. Then it was heard that the Patriarch Joachim of Alexandria had literally moved a mountain. Rumours of this wonder had spread and had caused confusion, and St Niphon decided to investigate the matter and sent Fr Theophilus to look into it. It transpired that the Moslems had tempted Patriarch Joachim, telling him that the Christian Faith was not true because the Saviour had said that we would be able to move mountains and it was never done. They did not, of course, understand that the mountains that we are urged to move are the mountains of our sins. However, so that the Faith should not be mocked, Patriarch Joachim humbly prayed and besought the Lord to move a mountain. Which thing happened, confounding those who were mocking our Faith. When he had investigated this matter, Father Theophilus reported back to the Patriarch of Constantinople, St Niphon. Then, fulfiling his heart’s desire and perhaps moved by the things he had witnessed in Egypt, he retired to the Holy Mountain Athos, living first at Vatopedi Monastery and later at the cell of St Basil near Karyes. At that time the see of Thessalonica fell vacant and the faithful there urged the then Patriarch, Theoleptus, to consecrate Theophilus as their archpastor. Patriarch Theoleptus was from the same region as St Theophilus and knew him well and urged him to accept the Archbishopric. Fr Theophilus had no such thought, however, and instead took the Great Schema, simply writing back to the Patriarch: “If God wills, we shall meet again in the heavenly Kingdom.” He continued his ascetical life on the Holy Mountain and achieved dispassion, becoming a vessel of God’s graces. When his end approached he instructed his disciple, Isaac, that he was not to be buried reverently, for he considered himself a great sinner, but that Isaac was to tie a cord round his ankles and drag him out and cast him into a ravine. When the time came, in obedience, Isaac did this, but a city set on a hill cannot be hid, and later his sacred relics were retrieved incorrupt and taken to his cell. Then a miracle was manifest for they were found to be myron-streaming, a healing ointment flowing from them. St Theophilus ended his earthly course on 8th July, 1548 A.D.
The Holy Martyrs Theodore and John (12th / 25th): In the introductory paragraph above we listed some of the most well-beloved saints of Russia, whose feastdays fall in July, but among those saints we may also number these two, who were the Protomartyrs of Russia. They lived during the reign of the Great Prince Vladimir, but before his conversion to Orthodox Christianity. Sts Theodore and John were father and son, and living in Kiev. They converted to the Christian Faith from their ancestral paganism and were baptised. On one of the pagan celebrations, urged on by the demons whom they worshipped, the people decided that they would offer John as a human sacrifice, and they demanded that Theodore hand him over to them. Theodore resisted their impiety and attempted to convince them of their folly. This only enraged the pagans and they slew the two neophytes and destroyed their home, leaving their dead bodies within its ruins. After his conversion to Christ, St Vladimir erected a beautiful church, dedicated to the Mother of God, on the site of that house and of the saints’ martyrdom. Barren women and those who are prone to miscarry pray to these martyrs for help.
Saint Hedda, Bishop of Winchester (17th / 30th) was an East Saxon by birth, i.e. from Essex. He took up the monastic life in the monastery of the famed St Hilda of Whitby, which was double house. In 676 A.D, he was consecrated as the Bishop of Wessex by St Theodore of Tarsus, the Archbishop of Canterbury. At that time the episcopal seat of the Wessex diocese was at Dorchester-on-Thames, but presumably because of demographic changes, St Hedda moved it to Winchester. As Bishop he helped the King Ina of Wessex to draw up a code of laws for his people. St Bede reports of him that “he was a good and just man, and exercised his episcopal duties rather through an innate love of virtue than through the learning he had acquired.” St Hedda reposed in the year 705, having served as a Bishop for twenty-nine years.
The Venerable Moses the Hungarian (26th July / 8th August) is yet another Saint of Russia, although as his title indicates he was not a Russian by birth. He was an extremely handsome and strong man and served at the court of the Prince, St Boris the Passion-bearer. When his master was slain, Moses was taken as a captive to Poland. There he was sold to the widow of one of the King Boleslaw’s generals. This woman paid a thousand gold pieces for Moses, because she was enamoured of his comeliness. She attempted in various ways to entice him into living with her in sexual depravity, but the Saint always resisted her and resorted to prayer. She later offered to marry him, such was her desire for him, but Moses had set his heart upon taking up the monastic yoke and so refused her. An Athonite father visited those parts, and Moses was able to tell him of his plight and received the monastic tonsure from him. When she learned of this, his mistress was enraged and had him bound, flogged and castrated. For five more years, she kept him as a slave, treating him despitefully because he had frustrated her desires. Then King Boleslaw perished in a coup, and Moses’ mistress was among his favourites who were also slain. This change of regime gave Moses an opportunity to escape, and he made his way to Kiev, where he joined the Caves Monastery of St Antony. He lived there for another ten years, dying on 26th July, 1043 A.D. With St John the Much-Suffering of the Kievan Caves, he is invoked in prayer by those who suffer from carnal temptations.
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