- Our Fathers among the Saints Epiphanios, bishop of Cyprus (403) and Germanos, Archbishop of Constantinople (740)
- Saint Epiphanios was born a Jew in
Palestine, but he and his sister came to faith in Christ and were
baptized together. Epiphanios gave all his possessions to the poor and
became a monk. He knew St Hilarion the great (October 31), and raveled
among the monks of Egypt to learn their ways and wisdom. The fame of his
virtue spread so widely that several attempts were made to make him
bishop, first in Egypt, then in Cyprus. Whenever Epiphanios heard of
these plans, he fled the area. He was finally made bishop by means of a
storm: told to go to Cyprus, he took ship instead for Gaza, but a
contrary wind blew his ship directly to Cyprus, where "Epiphanios fell
into the hands of bishops who had come together to elect a successor to
the newly-departed Bishop of Constantia, and the venerable Epiphanios
was at last constrained to be consecrated, about the year 367." (Great Horologion).
He guarded his flock faithfully for the remainder of his life, working
many miracles, defending the Church against the Arian heresy, and
composing several books, of which the best-loved is the Panarion
(from the Latin for 'bread-box'), an exposition of the Faith and an
examination of eighty heresies. He was sometimes called the
'Five-tongued' because he was fluent in Hebrew, Egyptian, Syriac, Greek,
and Latin.
-
Saint Germanos was the son of a prominent
family, in Constantinople. He became Metropolitan of Cyzicus, then was
elevated to the throne at Constantinople in 715. It was he who baptized
the infant Constantine, who for his whole life was nicknamed
"Copronymos" because he defecated in the baptismal font (though he was
neither the first nor the last infant to do so). At this incident,
Patriarch Germanos is said to have prophesied that the child would one
day bring some foul heresy upon the Church, which he did, becoming a
notorious iconoclast as emperor. Germanos openly opposed the decree of
the Emperor Leo the Isaurian which began the persecution of the holy
icons. For this he was deposed and driven into exile in 730. He lived
the rest of his life in peace. Saint Germanos is the composer of many of
the Church's hymns, notably those for the Feast of the Meeting in the
Temple.
-
These two Saints are always commemorated together.
source: http://www.abbamoses.com
|
