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| St. John of Polybotos (Feast Day - December 4) |
Verses
You are no longer at your earthly diocese John,
But you always delight in the vision of He Who oversees all.
But you always delight in the vision of He Who oversees all.
From a young age this Saint hated the delicacies and pleasures of the body. Thus his life was even more adorned with fasting and prudence. For this reason he was ordained Bishop of Polybotos, having beforehand ascended the ecclesiastical degrees, becoming a Reader, Subdeacon, Deacon and Presbyter. Having therefore been entrusted with the protection of the people, the thrice-blessed one set before himself struggles upon the former struggles, and labors upon labors.
Because Leo the Isaurian, when he became emperor in the year 716, endeavored to blaspheme against the holy icons, and rejected their veneration, for this reason this sacred John loudly rebuked his impiety. He therefore taught and helped his flock comprehend the true and Orthodox faith of the Church of Christ. And he verified that both in this life and after death he himself remained in this faith.
He received from God such miraculous power, that he punished with divine punishment those Hagarenes who dwelt around Amorium of Phrygia, and he persuaded them to give him those Christians they had taken as slaves. Thus the divine Father lived a God-pleasing life, and departed to the Lord.
His honorable relic remained incorrupt and whole after his death until today. The Christians who are there lift it upright on the day of Pentecost. And they dress it in his hierarchical vestments, while he leans upright against the Holy Altar in the Holy Bema. They then lift it onto the sacred synthronon, and throughout the Divine Liturgy it is attended by two Priests.
As for the miracles performed by the Saint every day after his death, he liberates the demon possessed from demons, and he heals various sicknesses, of which it is impossible to narrate.
