The Death-Bed Wager Between Saint Basil the Great and a Jewish Physician

A Jew named Joseph lived in Caesarea. He was such an experienced doctor that he knew for three or five days by the veins that someone was going to die, and told the patient the hour of their death. And our God-bearing father Basil, foreseeing by the Spirit that Joseph would turn to Christ, loved him very much. He often invited him to his place to talk, and advised him to leave the Jewish law and receive holy baptism. But Joseph refused, saying: "In what faith I was born, in that I will also die." And the Saint said to him: "Believe me, neither I nor you will die, until you are born of water and the Spirit. Because without this grace it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God. Were not your fathers also baptized in the cloud and the sea, and it is written drank from the rock that was the prototype of the spiritual rock, Christ (1 Cor. 10:2-4), who was born of the Virgin for our salvation, whom your fathers crucified, and who, being buried, rose again on the third day and, ascending into heaven, sat down at the right hand of the Father, whence shall He come to judge the living and the dead?" And many other useful words were spoken to him by the Saint, but the Jew remained in his unbelief.

Miracles of Saint Marina After Her Martyrdom in Her Church in Antioch

The first six miracles are recorded in the account of Saint Theotimos, the biographer of Saint Marina and eyewitness to her martyrdom, while the next two were recorded in another account of her life and miracles.

Saint Marina Asks Her Nursemaid and Theotimos To Build Her a Church

1) One day the nursemaid of the elect Saint Marina came to me and said that while she was praying at midnight, a dazzling light shone on her, and an angel, crowned with precious stones, and accompanied by a group of angels, appeared to her and said, "I am the Archangel Michael, who is assigned to serve Saint Marina. I came to instruct you with what you should do: Harry up and take the body of Saint Marina from the marble casket, and put it in a hidden tomb, because she is suffering from the continuous honoring of her body." The nanny said that she did not notice any crosses on him or on any one of his followers. So, she said to that angel that she was aware that the devil can appear in the form of an angel, but without a cross on him. She asked him if he could be a devil. Then I, poor Theotimos, answered her, "I saw the angels of heaven taking the soul of the great Saint Marina and ascending to heaven while they were chanting with joy. The devil surely envies the believers who are cured every day when they visit her body and gain her blessing." Suddenly, the blessed martyr Marina, came to us in a white robe with golden crosses over it. She greeted us and said to her nanny, "Blessed be the Lord who fulfilled to me all what I asked Him. He promised me that my spirit would be in Paradise, while my body will be all over the world. That way the Lord would protect all those who touch a part of my body. You should know that the one who appeared to you in the form of an illustrious angel was my enemy, the devil. Cast him away with the sign of the cross. The Archangel Michael will give those who pray to God in any place where a part of my body is kept, all what they ask for. This year all idol worshiping will cease. I ask you to build a church in my name, in the place where the marble casket is kept."

Saints Anastasios I and Anastasios II, Patriarchs of Antioch

St. Anastasios of Antioch (Feast Day - April 20)

Verses

What shall I write on your behalf Anastasios,
You who hastened to die by the sword on behalf of Christ?

There is some confusion concerning which Saint Anastasios we commemorate today. Though the Synaxaria and the Menaia tell us that on April 20 we are to commemorate an Anastasios who was Patriarch of Antioch and died by being martyred with a sword, we are not given any other details. However, the only two Patriarchs of Antioch with the name Anastasios were Anastasios I, who served twice as Patriarch from 559-570 and 593-599, and he was succeeded by Anastasios II who served from 599-609. Neither of these Patriarchs are recorded as having been martyred with a sword.

Holy New Hieromartyr Gabriel II, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 1659)

St. Gabriel the Hieromartyr, Patriarch of Constantinople (Feast Day - December 3)

Verses

Gabriel the New received a double crown,
As a hierarch and athlete of the Lord.

Gabriel was elected Metropolitan of Ganos and Chora on 23 March 1648 for a first term which lasted until 26 November 1651, and again in 1654. After the execution of Parthenios III he was appointed as the new Ecumenical Patriarch on 23 April 1657 with the support of the Greek Orthodox nobility. However the Holy Synod considered him uneducated and unsuitable for the throne, and deposed him seven days later, on 30 April 1657.

Philoumenos of Jacob’s Well: The Birth of a Contemporary Ritual Murder Myth

“Philoumenos of Jacob’s Well: The Birth of a Contemporary Ritual Murder Myth”

By David Gurevich and Yisca Harani

Israel Studies

Volume 22, Number 2, Summer 2017

pp. 26-54

Abstract

In 1979, the Orthodox monk Philoumenos Hasapis was violently murdered in Jacob’s Well Church in Nablus. His death was described as a ritual murder performed by a fanatical Jewish-Israeli group. Philoumenos was later sanctified by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The story gained publicity among Orthodox Christian communities around the world and was accredited by various NGOs and scholars. However, the factual basis of the event dismissed any ritualistic motives or collective accusations for the murder. The development patterns of the popular narrative are assessed against the backdrop of similar accusations levied against medieval Jewish communities in Europe, as well as contemporary framing of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in the media. The conclusions suggest reasons for the wide publicity that the narrative received, based on the cultural context of its target audience, the interests of the Orthodox Church, and the role of political actors involved.

Saint Elias Fondaminsky of Paris (+ 1942)

St. Elias Fondaminsky (Feast Day - November 6)

Elias (Ilya) Isidorovich Fondaminsky was born in Moscow on February 17, 1880. He was a Jewish Russian author (writing under the pseudonym Bunakov) and political activist. From 1900 he studied philosophy at Berlin and Heidelberg Universities and in the spring of 1902 was arrested for two months at the Russian border for transporting illegal literature into Russia. Elias wed his childhood friend, Emily Gavronskiy (1882-1935), in 1903, whose inclinations toward Orthodox Christianity almost certainly influenced him later in his life. In 1905 he became a member of the Moscow Committee of the S.R. (Socialist-Revolutionary Party). In 1906 he fled to Paris, where he became good friends with Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, and B. Savinkov. In the 1910s Elias was one of the leaders of the ultra left Esers party, and in 1917 a senior member of the Alexander Kerensky's Provisional Government.

Commemoration of the Miracle of the Icon of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Beirut

At the fourth session of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod in 787, Saint Peter, Bishop of Nicomedia, in defending the necessity of icon veneration, presented an account attributed to Saint Athanasius the Great about a miracle which occurred in the city of Beirut (Berytus) of Phoenicia.

In this city, near the Jewish synagogue, lived a certain Christian. When he moved to another place, he left behind an icon of our Lord Jesus Christ. A Jew, who moved into the house, paid no attention to the icon. Once, his friend noticed the image of Jesus Christ on the wall, and said to the homeowner, “Why do you, a Jew, have an icon in your house?” He then went to the synagogue and reported this transgression of Jewish law.

Synaxis of Saint Maria Skobtsova of Paris and Her Companions (+ 1945)

Saint Maria Skobtsova of Paris (Feast Day - July 20)

Elizaveta Pilenko, the future Mother Maria, was born in 1891 in Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire, and grew up in the south of Russia on the shore of the Black Sea. Her father was mayor of the town of Anapa, while on her mother's side, she was descended from the last governor of the Bastille, the Parisian prison destroyed during the French Revolution.

Her parents were devout Orthodox Christians whose faith helped shape their daughter's values, sensitivities and goals. As a child she once emptied her piggy bank in order to contribute to the painting of an icon that would be part of a new church in Anapa. At seven she asked her mother if she was old enough to become a nun, while a year later she sought permission to become a pilgrim who spends her life walking from shrine to shrine.

Holy Martyrs Paul, Thea and Valentina at Caesarea in Palestine (+ 308)

Sts. Paul, Valentina and Thea at Caesarea (Feast Day - Slav. July 16; Gr. July 18)

Verses

To Paul.

You are an Egyptian Paul by tongue and race,
But not by faith, therefore you were beheaded by the sword.

To Valentina and Thea.

Make ready Valentina and Thea,
For enemies of God thrash you, out of the enmity of their error.

The History of the Martyrs in Palestine

By Eusebius of Caesarea

The Confession of Paul, Thea and Valentina

In the Sixth Year of the Persecution of our Days (A.D. 308).

Up to the sixth year of the persecution which was in our days, the storm which had been raised against us was still raging; and great multitudes of confessors were in the mines which are called Porphyrites, in the country of Thebais, which is on one side of Egypt; and on account of the purple marble which is in that land, the name of Porphyrites has also been given to those who were employed in cutting it. This name, therefore, was also extended to those great multitudes of confessors who were under sentence of condemnation in the whole of the land of Egypt, for there were a hundred martyrs there all but three. And these confessors were sent, the men together with the women and children, to the governor in Palestine, whose name was Firmillianus. For he had superseded the governor Urbanus in his office, and he was a man by no means of a peaceful turn; indeed he even surpassed his predecessor in ferocity, having been a soldier that had been engaged in war, and had had much experience in blood and fighting.

Synaxarion of Saint Epiphanios the Bishop of Cyprus

St. Epiphanios, Bishop of Constantia (Feast Day - May 12)

Verses

You appeared Epiphanios as great in Cyprus,
Your fame there and death being great.
On the twelfth Epiphanios was seized by death.

The great and wonderworking Epiphanios lived during the reign of Emperors Arcadius (383-408) and Honorius (393-423). He was from the land of Phoenicia, near Eleutheropolis, the son of parents who occupied themselves with their own hands, working as farmers. Having been raised in a small home, which belonged to his poor and farming parents, he by his own labors shined in the world. For by his virtue according to God, the renowned one was raised to the extreme heights of piety and divinely-pleasing conduct.

Synaxarion of Saint Constantine the Jew

St. Constantine, the Former Jew (Feast Day - December 26)

Verses

As a rose from the thorn of the Jews,

The divine Constantine blossoms and dies.

This Saint was from Synnada (which was a great and glorious city in Phrygia, honored with the throne of a Metropolitan, who had under him twenty Bishops), and was from the Jewish race.* When he was very young, he was following his mother and saw a Christian who made the sign of the honorable Cross over his mouth when he yawned. From that time he also would do the same, in imitation of the Christian. Not only this, but he would do other Christian acts with fervent faith. For this reason his face shined with a divine radiance. He was taught about God along with Christian doctrines, and he spent a period of some days fasting. Once a Jewish girl leaped on him in the manner of a harlot. The Saint made the sign of the honorable Cross, which brought death to her, but he raised her from the dead.

Saint Gregentios, Bishop of Ethiopia (+ 552)

St. Gregentios of Ethiopia (Feast Day - December 19)

Verses

Union with the flesh you left behind O Gregentios,
Departing to that place where there is no flesh.

Saint Gregentios lived in the sixth century and came from Mediolanum (Milan) in Italy. His parents were called Agapios and Theodotia, and were very devout. From a very early age Gregentios was distinguished for his eloquence and for his great virtues, and the Providence of God led him to hierarchical service.

While still a Deacon at Mediolanum, he heard the foretelling of his destiny from a hermit, and then he received confirmation of these words from another spirit-bearing Elder, who lived an ascetic life in the mountains.

Saint Eudocia the Empress, Wife of Emperor Theodosius the Younger

St. Eudocia the Empress (Feast Day - August 13)

Verses

Now Savior as before is suitable to your Father,

When of old you said: "In your good pleasure Father."

Eudocia was born around 400 AD in Athens into a family of Greek descent. Her father, a Greek philosopher named Leontius, taught rhetoric at the Academy of Athens, where people from all over the Mediterranean came to either teach or learn. Eudocia's given name was Athenais, chosen by her parents in honor of the city's protector, the pagan goddess Pallas Athena. Her father was rich and had a magnificent house on the Acropolis with a large courtyard in which young Athenais frequently played as a child.

When Athenais was 12 years old, her mother died and she became her father's comfort, taking on the responsibilities of household chores, raising her siblings and tending to her father. She had two brothers, Gessius and Valerius, who would later receive honors at court from their sister and brother-in-law. In return for her household activities, her father spent time giving her a thorough training in rhetoric, literature and philosophy. He taught her the Socratic virtue of knowledge of moderation, and predicted that she would have a great destiny. She had a gift for memorization, and easily learned the poetry of Homer and Pindar, which her father would recite to her. Both as a teacher and a role model, he had a great impact on her, prepared her for her destiny and influenced the literary work she created after she became Empress.

Synaxarion of Saints Symeon the Fool for Christ and John of Emessa

On the twenty-first of this month [July], we commemorate our Holy Fathers Symeon the Fool for Christ and John.

Verses

To Symeon

In life you played one who was stupid, Father,

Your end utterly escaping the notice of the sensible serpent.

To John

You seized the desert, O John, blessed one,

In solitude laboring the passions of the flesh.

Feigning non-sensibility the sensible Symeon died on the twenty-first.

Saint Eustratius the Faster of the Kiev Caves (+ 1097)

St. Eustratius of the Kiev Caves (Feast Day - March 28)

Venerable Martyr Eustratius of the Kiev Caves was born in the eleventh century in Kiev into a wealthy family. As an adult, he received monastic tonsure at the Kiev Caves Monastery, after giving away all his possesions to the poor. Eustratius humbly underwent obediences at the monastery, strictly fulfilling the rule of prayer and passing his days in fasting and vigilance.

In 1096 the Polovetsians captured Kiev and ravaged the Monastery of the Caves, doing away with many of the monks. Eustratius was taken into captivity, and was sold into slavery with thirty monastic laborers and twenty inhabitants of Kiev to a certain Jew living in Korsun.