- † Holy Great Martyr Barbara (290)
- 'Saint Barbara was from Heliopolis of Phoenicia and lived during the
reign of Maximian. She was the daughter of a certain idolater named
Dioscorus. When Barbara came of age, she was enlightened in her pure
heart and secretly believed in the Holy Trinity. About this time
Dioscorus began building a bath-house; before it was finished he was
required to go away to attend to certain matters, and in his absence
Barbara directed the workmen to build a third window in addition to the
two her father had commanded. She also inscribed the sign of the Cross
with her finger upon the marble of the bath-house, leaving the saving
sign cut as deeply into the marble as if it had been done with an iron
tool. When the Synaxarion of Saint Barbara was written, the marble of the bath-house and the cross inscribed by
Saint Barbara were still preserved, and many healings were worked there. When Dioscorus
returned, he asked why the third window had been added; Barbara began to declare to him the
mystery of the Trinity. Because she refused to renounce her faith, Dioscorus tortured Barbara
inhumanly, and after subjecting her to many sufferings he beheaded her with his own hands, in
the year 290.' (Great Horologion)
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- † Our Righteous Father John of Damascus (760)
- This divinely-enlightened Harp of the Spirit was at the same time
one of the Church's greatest hymnographers and one of Her greatest
theologians and defenders of the Faith.
-
The city of Damascus in Syria fell to the Muslims in 635. At the time of the Caliph
Abdul-Malik, responsibility for government of the Christian population was given to Sergius
Mansur, a prominent Christian of the city. This Sergius strove to govern in a godly way under
the many disabilities imposed by the Caliph, and devoted his wealth to almsgiving and to
ransoming Christian prisoners. His son John was born in 675, and along with his adoptive
brother Cosmas (October 14) was brought up to love and serve Christ.
-
John, whose exceptional education included a perfect knowledge of
both Greek and
Arabic, entered the civil administration and eventually succeeded to his
father's position under the Caliph. When the Emperor Leo the Isaurian
began to attack the holy icons, Saint John
undertook a spirited defense of the Faith through letters to
correspondents throughout the
Empire. Normally the Emperor would have killed or exiled the Saint
directly, but since he lived in Muslim lands the Emperor could not touch
him (an interesting example of Islam unwittingly contributing to the
defense of the Christian faith). So the wicked Emperor circulated a
forged letter which made it appear that John was plotting against the
Caliph. When this letter fell (as planned) into the Caliph's hands, he
was furious, and ordered that the Saint's right hand be cut off. That
evening John placed his severed hand before the icon of the Mother of
God and prayed with tears that it might be restored. On awaking he
found that his hand had been miraculously restored to him. The miracle
convinced the Caliph of his counselor's innocence, and John was restored
to favor; but now John wanted nothing more of worldly honor and wished
only to be a monk. Giving up his position, he distributed his fortune
among the poor and left for Jerusalem to become a monk at the Monastery
of St Sabas.
-
The Abbot of the monastery put John under an Elder who ordered him
to have nothing
to do with philosophy, science, poetry, chanting or reading, but to give
himself uncomplainingly to menial tasks so as to advance in humility.
This the Saint did. Some time later, however, a monk grieving over his
brother's death persuaded John to write a funeral hymn for his
consolation. Out of compassion, John wrote the hymn which is used to
this day in the Funeral Service. For his disobedience, John was given
the job of cleaning all the latrines of the monastery by hand, which,
again, he did without complaint. A few days later the Theotokos
appeared to the Elder and told him to allow John to compose hymns and
poems, which, she told, him, would surpass the Psalms of David in beauty
and grace.
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Thus the monk John began to write the large body of inspired hymns which grace the
Church's services. Among these are the Canon chanted at the Pascha Service, as well as most of
the Resurrectional hymns of the Octoechos.
-
Saint John's poetical gifts were matched by his gifts for
expressing the Church's theology: he composed a powerful defense of the
icons (in print under the title On the Holy Images), a complete exposition of the Orthodox Faith (On the Orthodox Faith), and the first written refutation of Islam, which he had come to understand well while serving in the Caliph's court.
-
In old age, John was ordained a priest by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. He reposed in peace
in 760 at the age of eighty-four.
source:http://www.abbamoses.com
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