- Our Holy Father Gregory of Decapolis (842)
- He was born in Irenopolis, one of the "Ten Cities" of Asia Minor.
Though his parents wanted him to marry, he entered monastic life as a
young man, and struggled for many years, living in reclusion under the
guidance of a wise spiritual father. One day, while in prayer, he was
carried away to Paradise and experienced the blessedness that the
redeemed will know at the general Resurrection. The vision seemed to
him only to last for an hour, but he learned from his disciple that he
had been in ecstasy for four days.
-
Aware that the Enemy can appear as an angel of light, and that we
should be suspicious of
seeming revelations, he sought the counsel of his Abbot, who reassured
him, and told him to give thanks to God by continuing in his ascetic
labors.
-
Soon, he was told by revelation that he was to go forth into the
world, living without an
earthly home, to uphold the Orthodox faith, which was then under attack
by the Iconoclasts. He
traveled through Ephesus, Constantinople, Corinth, Rome, Sicily,
Thessalonica, and Constantinople again, laboring in defense of the Faith
and working many miracles. Usually he
would stay with poor people who welcomed him into their houses, though
it was forbidden by law
to receive an Orthodox monk (that is, one who defended the Icons). In
his last few years,
afflicted by illness, he settled in Constantinople, where he reposed in
peace in 832, just before the end of iconoclasm and the restoration of
Orthodoxy. Since 1490, his incorrupt relics have dwelt at the Monastery
of Bistritsa in Romania, where they continue to be a source of miracles
for the many pilgrims who come to venerate them.
- Our Holy Father Proclus, Archbishop of Constantinople (447)
- He was a disciple and scribe
of St John Chrysostom. About the year 426 he was ordained Bishop of Cyzicus, but was unable
to take up his see because another had been unlawfully elected in his place, so he remained in
Constantinople. Around 428, Nestorius was made Patriarch of Constantinople, and almost
immediately began teaching his blasphemous doctrine that the holy Virgin could not be called
Theotokos, "God-bearer," but only Christotokos, "Christ-bearer." Proclus resisted this teaching
forcefully, once giving a sermon in the presence of the heretical Patriarch, defending the
Orthodox teaching concerning the Theotokos. Proclus was elevated to the throne of Patriarch of
Constantinople in 434, after Nestorius had been deposed and the Orthodox teaching clearly
proclaimed in an Ecumenical Council. It was Proclus who persuaded the Emperor Theodosius
the Younger to have the holy relics of his teacher St John Chrysostom returned to
Constantinople, and who received them on their triumphal return to the city. He reposed in
peace in 447.
source: http://www.abbamoses.com |
