Saint Drosida, daughter of Emperor Trajan

Saint Drosida is one of the very many Roman noble virgins who didn’t enjoy their title and social position and chose the love of Jesus Christ until their death. Without being so tormented as her sisters in Christ Santa Lucia, Saint Catherine, Caecilia and many other, because she was the daughter of the Emperor Trajan (98-117), she still choose to die as a martyr for her Lord.

Historical context

Emperor Trajan was one of the emperors whose origins were not exactly noble; at least he didn’t come from Rome. Born in Spain, he served as a soldier and then general in the army from Hispania Tarraconensis. There is to be mentioned that his Father was between 76/77 the Governor of Syria, and that’s why Drosida, Trajan’s daughter lived and died as martyr in Antioch. In 89 Trajan supported the emperor Domitian against a revolt on the Rhine. Later, in 96, Domitian was succeeded as emperor by Marcus Cocceius Nerva, an old and childless senator, quite unpopular with the army. After pressures came from the Praetorian Guard, Nerva adopted Trajan as his heir and successor. Nerva died on 27 January 98, and was succeeded by Trajan, who reigned for about 19 years. During his years as Emperor, the Roman Empire set the maximal borders, by conquering Dacia (106), Nabataea (107) and Mesopotamia (114).

In the meantime, Trajan was one of the persecutors against the Christians. In the year 99 he re-activated an earlier existing law which forbade secret gatherings and was indirectly aimed against Christians, and in the year 104 he issued a special law against Christians. The application of these laws was not so strictly observed. Between 109 and 111 AD, Pliny the Younger, sent in Bithynia as governor, reports to Trajan about the Christians in his region. The governor indicated that he had ordered the execution of several Christians, "for I held no question that whatever it was they admitted, in any case obstinacy and unbending perversity deserve to be punished." (Letters 10,96). He was unsure what to do about those who said they were no longer Christians, and asked Trajan, who decided that Christians should not be sought out, anonymous tips should be rejected as “unworthy of our times”. But those who being discover, still persisted to testify their faith for Christ should be punished.

Some regional persecutions still happened. So is with Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, also known as “The God-Bearer” or the “Theophore”, who was sent to Rome died in the Roman Circus, during the festivities happened after the victory against Dacia (107).

Martyrium of Drosida and the 5 Virgins

Trajan had a daughter with a Greek name, Drosida (meaning “dew”), who lived as mentioned, in Antioch. More about her there’s not known.

Holy Martyress Drosida was friend with five canonical virgins who lived in a house, keeping the Commandments of God. At their moment the monasticism still wasn’t institutionalized, but already practiced in some houses from Rome, Antioch or other cities, still not yet in the deserts of Egypt or Asia Minor. The “nuns” were called Aglaida, Apollinaria, Daria, Mamthusa and Taisia and their mission was to pick up the relics of the martyrized saints, anointing them with oil and putting in special coffins destined to the relics. Drosida came sometimes secretly to the maiden house in the night and helped them sometimes with money or other stuff they needed, in order to be able to take the bodies of the saints.

At that time, Hadrian, Drosida’s fiancé (maybe the next emperor Hadrian?) was adviser to the governor, and he asked to put soldiers as guarders for the dead bodies of Christians, in order to know who those who raise their bodies are. In this way, the guards seized five women, and with them was also Drosida. Drosida was locked into her house, but the other five virgins were killed and burnt, and their ashes were spread into the melted bronze used to build a public bath.

At the day of celebration lots of people ran to the bath, but many of them died at the doors, apparently because of the crowd. Anyway, the emperor, being there, believed that this happened because of a spell made by the Christians, but the builders told him that the copper vessels of the bath contained the women's burnt bodies. Then the emperor commanded the melting of those vessels, in order to make from then idols with the faces of the five virgins and to put them in the bathroom, for their dishonesty.

After the commands were accomplished, the emperor had a dream about five lambs that were grazing in a clean garden and an awesome shepherd, who told him that the five lambs are the virgins who are now in Paradise, and also told that the emperor’s daughter, Drosida, is waited there to come. The emperor woke up and was very angry. He ordered to build and ignite a big furnace of fire in the main square and put a note, telling to the Christians to escape themselves from the further persecution by throwing themselves in the fire.

Drosida, still locked in the house, prayed to God in order to escape and to join her friends in martyrium. In the night she disguised herself and managed to escape. But on the way to the furnace, she asked herself, how she could go to the Lord without the wedding dress, because she was still not baptized. Then she prayed to Jesus Christ and said: “O King of kings Lord Jesus Christ, on account of you I forsake my imperial position, so that you might vouchsafe me to be the very least door-maid in your kingdom. Please baptize me with your Holy Spirit”. With this word, she anointed herself with the myrrh she had taken along with her, and submerged herself in a river for three times, saying: “the servant of God Drosida is baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. In the next seven days she hid herself, fasted and prayed. And on the eighth day the holy Drosida went to the Lord. The Russian Synaxarion explains that she cast herself into the fire of the red-hot ovens, though that is unclear. That happened on March 22, 104 AD.

The Destiny of an Emperor

I found very interesting to note also what happened with emperor Trajan. Early in 117, being in Cillicia he grew ill and set out to sail back to Italy. His health declined throughout the spring and summer of 117 and died from edema on August 9 in Selinus, a town in Cilicia which was afterwards called Trajanopolis. His successor was Hadrian, who apparently was adopted by Trajan sometimes before.

The Romanian Prologues, copied after the Prologues of Ochrid tell some interesting informations about the destiny of the emperor even after his death. St. John from Damascus noted in his Word for the ones fallen asleep that: "Gregory the Dialogos, bishop of the old Rome (590-604), as all know, was famous by his holiness and wisdom. When serving he had with him as a fellow-minister an angel from heaven. Once, traveling on the stone bridge and standing more time there purposely, made a prayer to the Lord for the forgiveness of the sins of Emperor Trajan. Then, he heard the voice of God, saying: "I heard your prayer and I gave forgiveness of Trajan, and you shall not do prayers for pagans anymore".

This history is also mentioned in an English vita of Gregory Magnus from the 8^th century: “One day, while passing through the Forum, to the Saint have been revealed a great deed who is said that he did Trajan, and looking at it carefully, reasoned that although Trajan was a pagan, had an act as good, that it seemed rather to be the act of a Christian than a pagan. For there is said that when being with his army in pursuit of the enemy, he was full of pity at the words of a widow and he stopped the army to listen to her. She said: “Lord Trajan, behold the men who killed my son and they do not want to give me pay for it.” He replied: “Tell me about it when I get back and I will compel them to make your payment”. But she said:”Lord, if you not ever come back, there will be nobody to help me”. 'Then, as he was armed, he forced the guilty to pay immediately what they supposed to do in front of him. When Gregory discovered this story, he realized that this was just what we read in the scripture: “take care of the parentless children and support widows. Come to ponder together, said the Lord”. Because Gregory did not know what to do to ease the soul of this man who remembered the words of Christ, went to the Church of St. Peter and shed seas of tears, as his custom, until, finally, the revelation learned that his prayers were answered, because he never asked that to any other pagan “ (The First Life of Gregory The Great, written by an unknown monk from Whitby, transl. Bertram Colgrave, The University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas, 1968, pp. 127-129).

Hymn of the Saint

Usually I put here seome information about the saint relics or the hymn of the saint, but I haven’t found any about these. That’s why I just say: “Saint Drosida, Martyr for Christ, pray for us!”

Saint Alexius “The Man of God”

Saint Alexius “The Man of God”, also known as “Alexius from Rome” or “Alexius of Edessa” is one of the mysterious saints of the Church. He can be put together with some other saints, called “fools for Christ’s sake”, being one of the first saints having a controversial life, maybe even scandalous not only for a contemporary reader, but also in his century. The classic vita of this saint is to be found in Legenda Aurea of Jacob de Voragine, Bishop of Genova, and according to it, he may lived in Rome and Edessa and later back in Rome, in his father’s house, during the reign of the western Emperor Honorius (395-423) son of Theodosius the Great and during the prelacy of the Saint Pope Innocent I (401-417). First I will make a résumé of his life, as it is read today in the Orthodox Synaxarion of the Saints (almost the same story like in the Legenda Aurea), being the most complete text, and after that I will analyze the authenticity of such an interesting, scandalizing and maybe incredible story of a Saint.

The life of the saint

The Synaxarion begins the story placing it during the righteous Emperors Arcadius of the East (395-408) And Honorius of the West (395-423), in the house of a rich nobleman called Euphemianus, who had 3000 servants, but was unhappy because his wife Aglaida couldn’t have any children. Even being righteous and merciful to the poor, pilgrims, strangers and sick, he remained a long time without children, but after some times of prayer, God gave them a miraculous child. He proved to learn very early all the teaching of his time, but being still very young, he had a hidden ascetic life: he worn under his clothes a rough coat.

Being at the age of marriage, he was somehow “married” by his parents with a young noble girl. The synaxarion omits to say something about his willing to be married; maybe in that time it was a custom not to marry by love, such as is usually today. After the marriage in the Church of St. Bonifatius (important, because in this very church he will be buried) and the usual ceremonies, Alexius and his wife were alone in the nuptial room. Alexius gave to his wife his golden ring and the belt he had, and told her: “Keep them and may God be with us until his gift will make something new”. Then he left the house, took a boat and left Rome to Eastern Province, establishing himself in Edessa. Here he spent all his money and started a life as a vagabond on the streets, finally being himself a beggar at the entrance of the churches in the city. In the meantime, his father sent many servants to find him and some of them came even in Edessa, but they didn’t recognize him. Instead, they gave him alms such as to a regular poor. His mother and his wife started to wear black clothes and to mourn his unexpected leaving.

Alexius stayed near the Church of the Virgin in Edessa about 17 years, and after that the protopresbyter of the church had a vision, in which God discovered his saint, calling him “Man of God”. Being praised for his holy life, Alexius left in the night the town, with the intention to go in Cillicia, in the town of St. Paul. But there was a storm on the sea, and the ship arrived in Rome (which is too far away for any credibility). Being in this situation, Alexius saw his trip as a sign from God and decided to go into the very house of his father. Nobody recognized him, neither the father, nor the mother or even one of the servants, but he became a hut near the house of them and they gave him every day food such as to a usual beggar.

During the nights Alexius was always in prayer and many days took nothing from the food sent to him by his father. Instead, the servants mocked him, sometimes he was beaten, or even they thrown on him the rests of the food, but he beard everything without any protest. Every Sunday he went to the Church, took the Holy Communion, and gave further to the poor the food he used to receive. Maybe sadistically to our times, he lived even near the window of his wife and watched her how he was still mourning for him, but he didn’t say nothing, only that the love for God is bigger than the love for the mother, wife or father.

After another 17 years he took a piece of paper and wrote his life, and with this in his hands he died, knowing before that his end will come. In the letter he noted some small secrets known only by his father, mother or wife, in order to be recognized that he is the very Alexius, their son and husband. Finally, he begged them for forgiving, but he thought that he made the good thing, because his choice was a calling from God.

In that day the Pope Innocent was celebrating the Holy Mass at the Church of the Apostles and had a vision, in which God asked him to search the saint “man of God”: in the house of Euphemianus. The pope together with the Emperor himself and the Court went to the house of the nobleman and finally they found Alexius dead in his hut, having tight into his hand the letter. Only after a prayer they could have taken the letter and read it in front of the people. The shocking news that he was the very son of Euphemianus was very terrible for both his father and his mother, but also for his wife. All of them didn’t know if they must be happy for his holiness or sad, maybe nervous because such of a behavior. The story ends so that the saint is carried on a bed by the very Emperor and Pope, who couldn’t go because of the big crowd. Even throwing them money, the people didn’t want to make place to the cortege. In the end, after many stories about miraculous healings, the Saint was buried in the Church of St. Boniface.

The synaxarion notes that Alexius died on 17^th March of the 5919^th year after the Creation, that is 411 A.D.

Between story and fact

There are some special remarks about such a strange saint. First of all, there must be said that this kind of behavior is specially a eastern Syrian type. The first “classical” fool for Christ’s sake is St. Symeon from Emessa, his life being recorded by Leontius, bishop of Neapolis (Cyprus) at the beginning of the 7^th century. But even before, the ascetical writings note some special cases of saints who ran from the honor of the men, such as the sister Isidora who pretended to be fool and who was mocked by the other nuns. Being discovered to be saint, she left in the night and nobody found her ever after, as Palladius wrote in his Historia Lausiaca. Some other saints such as Ammonas from Sketis (Egypt, 4^th century) laughed continuously until his visitors left him, in order not to be bothered anymore (Apophthegmata Patrum, Ammonas 9). In this context, a life such the one of Alexius is not completely new.

The new researches about Alexius the Man of God state that the saint was first venerated in the East and only later in Rome. The Latin versions of his life are relatively late and no real historical proof associate him with the Pope Innocent I or Emperor Honorius.

A quite similar story, written in the same Syrian environment, speak about a saint calling him the "Man of God" from Edessa, without indicating his real name. It relates that he lived in Edessa during the episcopate of Bishop Rabula (412-435) as a poor beggar, and solicited alms at the church door. These he gave further to the rest of the poor, after reserving barely enough for the absolute necessities of life. He died in the hospital and was buried in the common grave of the poor. Before his death, however, he revealed to one of the church servants that he was the only son of distinguished Roman parents. After the Saint's death, the servant told this to the Bishop. Thereupon the grave was opened, but only his pauper's rags were now found therein. The inexistence of his relics is almost a common rule for the saints fools for Christ, such as Symeon of Emesa (6^th century), Andrew of Constantinople (10^th century) or even the mysterious Isidora, whose life is finally remained unknown.

The legend about Alexius appears about in the same manner in a hymn (canon) of the Greek hymnographer Josephus (d. 883). There is possible the Greek author of the later biography known the events related in the life of St. John Calybata, a young Roman patrician, concerning whom a similar story is told. Anyway the West Christianity gives no early information about the name Alexius in any martyrologium before the end of the 10^th century. He first appears in connection with St. Boniface as the protector saint of a church on the Aventine Hill at Rome. On the site occupied today by the church of Sant' Alessio there was at one time a “diakonia”, a monastical establishment for the care of the poor of the Roman Church. There is almost sure that in this context, the cult of St. Alexius was brought in Rome by an exiled Greek metropolitan, Sergius of Damascus, who came here in 972, at the invitation of Pope Benedict VII, and transformed the Church of St. Boniface into an establishment for the poor.

At the beginning of the 11^th century Alexius became a very popular saint in Rome and there are a lot of frescoes with him in the churches of the whole West. Today it is believed that the church of Alexius was elevated in the place of the Euphemianus’ house, even the supposed rests of the stairs where Alexius used to sit, are visible today. The most popular Roman version of his life appears, as I have already told, in Legenda Aurea (composed about 1260 AD).

There is also to be mentioned that the tale of St Alexius has some visible parallels with the Parable of The Prodigal Son, from the Luke’s Gospel, but interestingly, it is almost identical with a tale supposed to be told by Buddha himself, in 4^th Chapter of the Lotus Sutra.

The Veneration of the Saint

According to a Russian extended version of the saint’s life, the relics were uncovered until the year 1216, being kept in the Church of St. Boniface. Later, some parts of his relics, containing the skull of St. Alexius are to be mentioned that they were given by the Byzantine emperor Emanuel Paleologos in 1398 to the Great Lavra monastery in Mount Athos. A big pilgrimage in honor of him happened in 2005, when the reliquary left Greece for the first time and travelled to Moscow, being placed at the Novospasskiy monastery for public veneration.

The feast of St. Alexius is observed on the 17th of July, in the West. In the Roman Catholic Church he is still recognized as a saint, but his feast was removed from the Calendar of Saints in 1969, and the reason given for that was the legendary character of the written life of the saint. The Catholic Encyclopedia regards also his story as more legendary than real.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church St Alexius is venerated on 17 March and his cult is very popular until today, especially in the Slavic countries. Among the many bearers of his name are 5 Byzantine Emperors, 4 Emperors of Trebizond and a Russian one, and also many monks, laymen, bishops or patriarchs. There are also churches built in his names and special services as the Akathist (similar to the catholic Rosarium) was composed to honor his name.

Hymn (troparion of the Saint)

“You budded from a famous and glorious root, you blossomed from a royal and illustrious city, O supremely wise Alexis; You disdained everything on earth as corruptible and fleeting, and you hastened to Christ the Master. Always entreat Him to save our souls!”

St. Sophronius of Jerusalem

St. Sophronius (550-638) was patriarch of Jerusalem between 634-638 and a great theologian of the Church, fighting against the Monothelites. During his patriarchate, the Arabs took over the city of Jerusalem, but grace to the saint, the Christians won a relative freedom for worship at the Holy Places.

His life

Saint Sophronius was born in Damascus in 550 (or 560), having an Arabic ancestry. His pious parents were Plinthas and Mira. As a young boy he was very attracted to learning, so that before being a monk, he taught rhetoric. That’s why he was also called the "Scholasticus" or “the sophist”.

He entered as monk in the monastery of St. Theodosius, near Jerusalem. After a while, he left to Alexandria, where he met St. John Moshu, who is the author of the ascetic writing “ Leimon ho leimonon” or the “Leimonarion" (“ The spiritual Meadow” or “The garden of the lemon trees”), considered to be the following history of the Egyptian Patericon (Apophthegmata Patrum). Shortly Sophronius and became his disciple and together they peregrinated through Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Rome. After his mentor's death in Rome, Sophronius returned to Jerusalem, bringing with him the body of John Moshu, which he buried in the cemetery of Saint Theodosius monastery.

The fight for the Orthodoxy of the faith

Along with Saint Maximus the Confessor, Sophronius began to fight the Monothelites, and he is the first to notice the danger of the teaching politically commanded by the byzantine emperor Heraclius I (610-641), in order to force the reunification between the miaphysite (coptic, oriental) Church with the Church from Constantinople, and together with it to strengthen the eastern borders of the empire.

In 633, while Sophronius was still in Egypt, he had a dispute with the Monothelite patriarch Cyrus of Alexandria, and then also with Sergius, the patriarch of Constantinople, which he failed to convince for the righteousness of his faith.

Sophronius was elected patriarch of Jerusalem shortly after 634. In the speech in front of the Election Council, he strongly rejected the monotheletic teaching, and this speech was later sent as an encyclical letter to the Pope Honorius and to all the other Patriarchs, enclosing numerous quotations from patristic sources, supporting the existence of two works in Christ.

The fall of Jerusalem

Patriarch Sophronius participated actively in the fight for the defense of Jerusalem, but he is the one who was forced to mediate with the Arab conquerors the surrender of the Holy Town, taken by Omar, in 637. There is said that, being in front of the door of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, he invited Omar to enter, but the Caliph refused, saying that if he does this, his followers will later claim rights to the church. Things happened exactly so: later all the churches where Omar entered were transformed into mosques, but not the Calvary Church, which remained until today a Christian sanctuary.

St. Sophronius succeeded in obtaining various civil and religious rights for Christians, in exchange of an annual tribute. One year after this sad event, on March 11, 638 he passed away.

The Written Works St. Sophronius of Jerusalem

The work of Sophronius includes dogmatic, pastoral and hagiographic topics, but also hymnography. Even if is not a very rich work, it reveals a good theologian and a fine thinker, whose insight and doctrinal accuracy underlie the doctrinal formula promulgated by the Sixth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople (680-681).

Dogmatic works:

• -The dogmatic letter from his enthronement, which focuses on the Christological teaching. After presenting the teaching about the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation, he addresses the fundamental principles of the Christology: in Christ there is a hypostasis or person and two natures or essences. Committing work is done by distinct principles because natures have preserved intact their working powers. In Christ There is always two papers, two energies. He doesn’t talk about the two wills, but because talking about the two works, that is default.
• - The patristic dogmatic Florilegium in two books, including 600 testimonies of the early Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, proving the existence of two works in Christ.

Hagiographical works:

• - The Life of St. John the Merciful, patriarch of Alexandria (in collaboration with John Moshu)
• - The life of the holy martyrs Cyrus and John, silverless doctors of the Church
• - The life of St. Mary of Egypt (there are opinions that this work does not belong to him).

Pastoral works:

• - 9 sermons from the times of his patriarchate, some being kept only in Latin translation. The Sermon on the Annunciation contains interesting Christological ideas
• - 2 disciplinary writings about the secret of the confession and the baptism of the Apostles, of which there are only a few fragments
• - While still a hieromonk, St. Sophronius reviewed and made corrections to the monastical Rule of the monastery of St. Sabbas of Jerusalem

Hymnography:

• - A collection of 23 anacreotical Odes, poems in anacreotic meter. The 14th Ode describes the destruction of Jerusalem by the Arabs
• - About 950 troparia and stikheras (groups of hymns) from Pascha to the Ascension.
• 

Veneration of St. Sophronius

St. Sophronius is celebrated both in the East and West on March 11, and together with him is celebrated also his spiritual father and friend, st. John Moshu.

In the early twentieth century some of his relics (his skull) were brought to the monastery of the Virgin “Panagia Faneromeni Hiliomodiou”, near Corinth, in Greece.

Kontakion (Hymn of the Saint)

“O, Sophronius of Jerusalem, most wise among patriarchs, who struggled with divine zeal the Commandments, and spread the truth with your lips, you set the foundations of the Church in good order, and transmitted the faitn to those in the monastic ranks. You have brought to light most wise Discourses and, thereby instructed, we cry out to you: Rejoice, O splendid boast of the right faith!”

Sf. Polycarp of Smyrna

St. Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna is regarded together with Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, as one of the apostolic Fathers. The sole surviving work attributed to his authorship is his letter to the Philippians, recorded also by Irenaeus of Lyons. The name Polycarp means „the one who bears much fruit”.

He suffered the martyrical death for Christ on February 23 in the year 155, 159, 166 or even 180, during the persecution of the emperor Antoninus Pius (138—161), or according to Jerome, during Marcus Aurelius (168-180), by being burnt in the arena of the capital city of Asia, being burned in the capital city of the province Asia, at the instigation of the bloodthirsty people. His martyrical acta, preserved in a letter, presents an exceptional historical interest because it is the first act of martyrdom that has been preserved in Greek, in its original form, after which it has been created the genre of the christian martyrical acts.

His life until the martyrdom

Until the moment of his martyrdom, there are some metions about his life as Christian in Smyrna. The Synaxarion of Ohrid indicates that Polycarp was born and lived in Smyrna, in the first christan century. As an orphan, he was raised by a faithful widow, called Calista. She named him after his father Pankratios, but God revealed her in a prayer to call him Polycarp, because he will help the people by filling back the emptied barns and he will do charity to the poor. When the saint reached the age of 20 years, he heard the Apostle John preaching the Gospel and followed him. When St. John was banished to Patmos island, he ordained St. Bucolus as bishop of Smyrna, and Polycarp helped him. Later, after the death of St. Bucolus, Polycarp was elected in his place, about in 106, as shown in the Epistle to Ephesians of St. Ignatius of Antioch (XXI, 1), ho was in his way to Rome, where he suffered martyrdom in 107. St. Ignatius even wrote a pastoral letter to Polycarp, in which he says: "These times require you to find God, as the pilots need wind and the sailors are looking for a port in the storm."

St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (202), born in Smyrna at 115, knew Polycarp from his childhood. In his Letter to Florinus (186), he mentions that St. Polycarp knew Saint John the Evangelist and other persons who had seen Christ: “I can even describe the place where the blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse-his going out, too, and his coming in-his general mode of life and personal appearance, together with the discourses which he delivered to the people; also how he would speak of his familiar intercourse with John, and with the rest of those who had seen the Lord; and how he would call their words to remembrance. Whatsoever things he had heard from them respecting the Lord, both with regard to His miracles and His teaching, Polycarp having thus received [information] from the eye-witnesses of the Word of life, would recount them all in harmony with the Scriptures…” (St Irenaeus, Letter to Florinus, kept in the Hist. Ecclesiastica of Eusebius, V, 20).

Irenaeus mentions Polycarp also in his Adversus Haereses III.3.4: „But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true.”

In 154, or 155, St. Polycarp visited Rome and met Pope Anicetus (154-166) in order to fiind a sollution about the celebration date of the Easter. The christians in Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Cilicia and Asia Minor, and Polycarp himself, followed the tradition of John the Evangelist, celebrating "The Easter of the Cross" - "Pascha staurosimon" on 14 Nisan (April), with the Jews, for which they were appointed as "quartodecimans". The christians in Rome, Alexandria and western provinces of the Roman Empire celebrated the Easter according to the current calculations, calling it "The Easter of the Resurrection" - "Pascha anastasimon". That makes us to understand that there were theological differences regarding the meaning of the holidays.The understanding could not be achieved, but the two leaders of the Church parted in peace, as Eusebius of Caesarea in his Hist. Ecclesiastica 23,24,4-6 has shown.

Jerome provides in his De viris illustribus 17 an extra information about his trip to Rome: „He, on account of certain questions concerning the day of the Passover, went to Rome in the time of the emperor Antoninus Pins while Anicetus ruled the church in that city. There he led back to the faith many of the believers who had been deceived through the persuasion of Marcion and Valentinus, and when Marcion met him by chance and said "Do you know us" he replied, "I know the firstborn of the devil." Afterwards during the reign of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus in the fourth persecution after Nero, in the presence of the proconsul holding court at Smyrna and all the people crying out against him in the Amphitheater, he was burned. He wrote a very valuable Epistle to the Philippians which is read to the present day in the meetings in Asia”.

The mention of Jerome attests three more things, important to know: first, Polycarp met in Rome some important leaders of the gnostic groups, second, he wrote an epistle to the Philippians, which was red in the Church probably in the same manner as the Apostles Epistles today. This means that the biblical canon was larger than today, including the epistles of the Apostolic Fathers. Third, Polycarp may have not died as traditionally said, in 155, but later, during the reign of Macus Antonius (161-180) and Commodus (180-192). There is known that these two rulers were co-emperors between 177 and 180, so that St. Polycarp might have died in this period.

The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp

Shortly after his arrival in Rome, St. Polycarp suffered the martyrdom, being burned onthe stake in the circus in Smyrna, on the big Saturday (this name is unclear in its meaning) on 23 February, traditionally in 155, but maybe later, when the asiarch Philipus (governor of Asia) organized some celebrations. The martyrdom of St. Polycarp is described into a letter sent by the Church of Smyrna to the community of Philomaelium, a city of Phrygia, and to other communities of the "Universal Church", and it was written by Irenaeus (maybe Irenaeus of Lyons), a disciple of the saint, being after copied more several times.

The letter describes in its 3rd chapter, that the sentenced to death were eleven Philadelphians, among which are mentioned as examples Germanicus, who was killed by an animal in the arena, and the Phrygian Quintus, who abjured the faith before the proconsul. The death of Germanicus stormed those present in the arena, who cried: „the wicked should perish: let Polycarp be sought!” The saint was at that time the city and did not want to hide, but eventually was persuaded to refuge in a cottage not far away from the city. Here he had a vision, three days before the martyrdom, knowing that he was supposed to die burnt alive (chapter V).

Being discovered, he was taken by the head of police, named Herod, and brought to the stadium, where he was tempted to deny Christ. On the road, an unseen voice from heaven, reassured him, saying „Be strong and of dare, Polycarp”. The crowd in the stadium asked him to curse Christ, but the saint answered: „eighty-six years I served Him and he didn’t harmed me. How can I curse my King Who saved me?” (chapter IX, 3). After a discussion with the proconsul, he was finally condemned to be burned alive, because the games with the beasts were over (chapter XII). In the preparation of the execution, the soldiers wanted to beat him in nails, but he required to be only bound.

Before being burned, the Saint made a prayer, which is one of the first prayers of the Church: „O Lord God Almighty, Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received our knowledge concerning thee, the God of angels and powers, and of the whole creation, and of all the race of the just who lived before thee, I thank thee that thou hast deemed me worthy of this day and hour, that I should have my portion in the number of the martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ, unto the resurrection of eternal life, both of the soul and body, in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. Among these may I be received before thee this day as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, even as thou hast prepared and made manifest beforehand, and hast fulfilled, thou who art the unerring and true God. On this account, and concerning all things, I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify thee, together with the eternal and heavenly Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, with whom to thee and the Holy Spirit be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (XIV).

After the prayer, he was surrounded by fires, but he didn’t burned. For this, a lancer he stuck him with a dagger in the chest and the blood stopped the fire. Some pagans asked not to give the body of Polycarp to the Christians, because they „will abandon the crucified and begin to worship this man” (XVII, 2). The authors of the epistle emphasize the difference in meaning between the worship of Christ and the veneration of saints, saying, „not knowing that we shall never be able to abandon Christ, who suffered for the salvation of the whole world of those who are saved, the blameless on behalf of sinners, nor to worship any one else. Him we adore as the Son of God; but the martyrs, as the disciples and imitators of the Lord, we love according to their deserts, on account of their incomparable love for their King and Teacher, with whom may it be our lot to be partners and fellow-disciples” (XVII,2).

Finally, the saint's body was cremated, and the Christians have gathered the remains of bones: „having afterwards taken up his bones, more valuable than precious stones, laid them where it was suitable. There, so far as is allowed us, when we are gathered together in exultation and joy, the Lord will enable us to celebrate the birthday of the martyrs, both for the memory of those who have contended, and for the exercise and preparation of those to come”(XVIII, 1-2).

In the epilogue of the epistle, there is mentioned that „the blessed Polycarp was martyred on the second day of the month Xanthicus, seven days before the calendae of March, on the great Sabbath, at the eighth hour”.

The Legenda Aurea mentions that the Martyrdom was in 162. The date of February 23, 155 is mentioned in Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitaniae, Martyrologium Hieronymianum, Bibliotheca hagiographica Graeca şi Latina, which contradicts the mentions of Jerome in his De viris illustribus, already mentioned.

The martyrdom of Polycarp is very important for the actual apologetics, stating the difference between the adoration of Christ and the veneration of the saints, thing that was strongly attacked by the protestant groups in the modern times. Also the Catholic and Orthodox teaching about the veneration of the holy relics finds its support here.

The Feast Day of Saint Polycarp is in the West on January 26, and in the East is on February 23.

The Relics of the Saint

The wonderworking relic of the saint was brought from Smyrna a few decades after the Fall of Constantinople in 1479 by the monks Arsenios and Samuel, being kept until today in the monastery of Panagia Ambelakiotissa, in Nafpaktos, now in Geece. The relic before that time had been in the possession of a certain widow as part of her inheritance. It was only after much labor and expense that the monks were able to acquire this valuable relic, consisting in the elbow down to the fingers, with the hand in a position of blessing.

There are also some legends about the fact that the Templars posessed the Relic of the Head of the saint, which was taken by them in France, when they left Jerusalem. This mention is made in their trial, made in 1560.

Some small relics are to be fiind in different churches in the whole world, such in the church of Radu Voda monastery from Bucharest, in the church of the Zografou monastery at the Mount Athos, but also in the in the St. Anthony Chapel from Pittsburgh, USA.

The Hermeneia of the byzantine painting, written by Dionisius of Furna (15th century) states that St. Polycarp should be represented in the icons as an old bishop, with a rond beard, split in two parts.

The Hymn (Troparion) of the Saint:

„By sharing in the ways of the Apostles, you became a successor to their throne. Through the practice of virtue, you found the way to divine contemplation, O inspired one of God; by teaching the word of truth without error, you defended the Faith, even to the shedding of your blood. Hieromartyr Polycarp, entreat Christ God to save our souls!”

Părintele Stăniloae - zicere tulburătoare

"Totdeauna în relaţia dintre părinte şi copil, în relaţia dintre generaţia înaintaşă şi cea următoare, se joacă tot destinul neamului. Această relaţie trebuie să poarte de aceea accentul unei nesfârşite seriozităţi. Aici se asigură sau se primejduieşte existenţa neamului, după cum se produce sau nu legarea noii generaţii de tradiţia ce vine din negură de veacuri"  

( Pr.Prof.Dr.Dumitru Stăniloae, Creştinism şi tradiţie în viaţa naţională, în Luceafărul, nr.2, 1941, p.43)

PR.PROF.DR.ILIE MOLDOVAN (1928-2012), NEOSTENITUL SECERĂTOR AL HOLDELOR DUHOVNICEȘTI

(FALS NECROLOG)

"De acum într-adevăr e cu noi. El e din stirpea celor ce nu se duc: intrat în veşnicie, se-ntoarce cu ea-n Potir; preoţie lucrătoare şi dincolo de veac". (Bartolomeu Valeriu Anania, Arhiepiscopul Clujului, Apa cea vie a Ortodoxiei, Ed. Renaşterea, Cluj Napoca, 2002, p.33) ACEST TEXT DE PIOASĂ RECUNOȘTINȚĂ REPREZINTĂ UN EXTRAS DIN DEDICAȚIA ULTIMEI TEZE DE DOCTORAT COORDONATĂ DE PĂRINTELE PROFESOR DR. ILIE MOLDOVAN: Conștiința că rugăciunea nu poate fi suplinită de nici o investigație intelectuală (Mircea Vulcănescu, Bunul Dumnezeu cotidian. Studii despre religie, Ed.Humanitas, București, 2004, p.61), oricât de mult s-ar afirma aceasta din urmă, amprentează întreaga lucrare. „Dacă eşti teolog (dacă te ocupi cu contemplarea lui Dumnezeu), roagă-te cu adevărat; şi, dacă te rogi cu adevărat, eşti teolog” (Evagrie Ponticul, Cuvânt despre rugăciune împărţit în 153 de capete, în Filocalia, vol. 1, trad. Pr. Prof. Dr. Dumitru Stăniloae, Ed. Harisma, Bucureşti, 1992, p. 99). Este un deficit real al autorului lucrării de față, o lipsă care nu a putut fi rezolvată, din nefericire, până acum și care poate pune în pericol desfășurarea în bune condiții a subiectului teologic ce trebuie dezbătut. Tocmai de aceea, noviciatul meu în teologia adevărată s-a sprijinit, ca un prunc tocmai învățat a păși, de puterea minții rugătoare și pururi răbdătoare a Părintelui Profesor Ilie Moldovan, neostenitul secerător al holdelor duhovnicești. De-abia în prezența Sfinției Sale am putut desluși o parte din taina luminoasă a reunificării pan-cosmice în Hristos - Dumnezeiasca Euharistie. Preot mai înainte de orice (Aceeași concepție a primatului sacerdoțiului față de rangurile academice și în general față de orice activitate și funcție omenească, administrativă sau de onoare, o întâlnim și la Părintele Stăniloae, care, urcat deja pe înălțimile copleșitoare ale înțelepciunii, dovedea cea mai adâncă smerenie, cu adevărat filocalică, atunci când își făcea cunoscut gândul că ar fi fost mai de folos Bisericii dacă ar fi rămas preot de parohie decât să îmbrace roba academică: ”Fiți tot timpul cu gândul la Hristos și căutați să-I slujiți Lui, câștigându-i pe oameni pentru credința în El și pentru mântuirea lor, prin toate faptele voastre. Așa veți putea câștiga fericita viață veșnică pentru voi și pentru cei față de care aveți o mare răspundere. Aceasta este concluzia la care am ajuns la vârsta mea, aproape de sfârșit. Eu am căutat să slujesc pe Hristos prin osteneala scrisului. Căutând să atrag la credința în El pe cei ispitiți de scrisul străin de credință, atât de răspândit în timpul pe când tiparul a făcut cu putință înmulțirea lui, mai ales în ultimele două-trei sute de ani și mai ales la noi, în era comunistă. Dar mă gândesc uneori că mai mult folos aș fi putut aduce dacă aș fi fost preot de parohie pentru a trece în practică ceea ce am scris”. Pr. Prof. Dr. Dumitru Stăniloae, Cuvântul rostit în ziua de 22 iunie 1992 în Aula Magna a Facultății de Drept, cu prilejul decernării titlului de Doctor Honoris Causa al Universității București, apud Ignatie Monahul, Cuvinte spre zidire. Din spiritualitatea filocalică a Părintelui Stăniloae, Ed.Sfânta Mănăstire Frăsinei, 1995, pp.119-120), Sfinția Sa mi-a întins duhovnicescul braț ori de câte ori m-am poticnit pe parcursul demersului de cercetare, orientând cu blândețea dar și cu fermitatea-i cunoscută neputincioasele mele încercări spre lupta cea bună.

Patriarhala vârstă i-a sporit puterile adăugând peste ele duh înmiresmat de Paște. Este ceva în persoana și cuvântul Sfinției Sale care într-un mod anume reușește să te ducă la cunoașterea artei de a transcende timpul și să-ți arate tinerețea fără bătrânețe și viața fără de moarte. Trecutul, prezentul și viitorul devin una pentru cel ce primește rugăciunea și călăuzirea Părintelui Profesor pe drumul sensului liturgic al vieții și al dimensiunii sacerdotale cu care am fost înzestrați iar contradicția dintre timp și veșnicie dispare odată cu înțelegerea faptului că fără Trupul și Sângele Domnului viața omului și a universului însuși se dezintegrează. ”Timpul liturgic e timpul actualizării. Nu este numai unul al memoriei; e o intrare în însuși prezentul evenimentului, în însăși realitatea comuniunii care este viața veșnică. Când Hristos vine în Liturghie, vine cu tot ceea ce a făcut El. Poartă în El tot ceea ce a făcut pentru noi. Devine cu Crucea Sa, cu Învierea Sa, contemporanul nostru. Și vine cu tot ceea ce ne va dărui în veșnicie. Dar nu desființează temporalitatea noastră. O umple și ne ajută să trăim în ea veșnicia” (Pr. Prof. Dr. Dumitru Stăniloae, Marc-Antoine Costa de Beauregard, Mică Dogmatică vorbită – dialoguri la Cernica, Ed.Deisis, Sibiu, 2007, trad. Maria-Cornelia Ică Jr., p.184). Cei trei ani de învățătură petrecuți sub ocrotirea Sfinției Sale mi-au adâncit în suflet mărgăritarele Scripturii dar mai ales ideea evidențiată de Sfinții Părinți: „A vorbi despre Dumnezeu este lucru mare, dar este un lucru şi mai mare a te curăţi pentru Dumnezeu” (Sf.Grigorie Teologul citat de Vladimir Lossky, Teologia mistică a Bisericii de Răsărit, Ed. Anastasia, 1992, trad.Pr.Vasile Răducă, p. 67). Tălmăcire vie și plină de har a cuvântului Domnului: ”Dar vine ceasul şi acum este, când adevăraţii închinători se vor închina Tatălui în duh şi în adevăr, că şi Tatăl astfel de închinători îşi doreşte” (In.4, 23), propovăduirea Părintelui Profesor Ilie Moldovan a revărsat din belșug lumină și proaspătă însuflețire peste textele pe care i le înfățișam de fiecare dată cu oarecare emoție. Îndemnurile și corecturile pe care lucrarea le-a primit de-a lungul timpului s-au dovedit de cel mai mare folos în așa fel încât deșertul cel sterp de odinioară s-a umplut de florile bine mirositoare ale cugetului rugător ce mie îmi lipsește. Marcat de aceste sentimente față de Părintele meu Profesor, pot să încerc, parafrazându-l pe Correggio (După câteva ore petrecute în fața tabloului Sfintei Cecilia, al lui Rafael, Correggio a rostit cu admirație: ”Și eu sunt pictor!”), să declar cu smerenie admirativă: ”Și eu sunt preot!” 

(Le multumesc celor care au dovedit eleganța de a cita sursa fotografiei și a textului publicat de mine în data de 9 februarie 2012)

Pr. Ic. Dr. Mircea Cristian Pricop

ASTĂZI, 9 FEBRUARIE 2012, A TRECUT LA DOMNUL PR.PROF.DR. ILIE MOLDOVAN

Astăzi, 9 februarie 2012, a trecut la Domnul ilustrul teolog si parinte al neamului romanesc, Preotul Prof.Dr.Ilie Moldovan. Fiind ultimul său doctorand, dar mai ales pentru că de acest mare preot și profesor mă leagă o profundă recunoștință,
redau textul unui editorial publicat de mine în ”Dreapta Credință”, nr.1, 2011.

REGENERAREA NEAMULUI NU SE POATE FACE DECÂT EUHARISTIC

Aceasta este antiteza pe care o oferă Părintele Profesor Ilie Moldovan (conducător de doctorat la Secţia Teologie Morală de la Universitatea din Sibiu și Doctor Honoris Causa al Universităților din Alba Iulia și Baia Mare) față de obsesia materialistă, imoralitatea, delăsarea și dezorientarea generalizată a unui neam ce purta odinioară cu cinste numele de creștin.
Intenţionat lent în exprimare, simplu în gesturi, dar de o inconfundabilă prospeţime a ideilor, acest om"din vecinătatea" lui Blaga, dar mai ales "din familia" unui Stăniloae, cu care a fost prieten, sau a unui Arsenie Boca, al cărui fiu duhovnicesc a fost, Părintele Profesor dă duh din duhul său ucenicilor din întreaga ţară, ascunzând în spatele zâmbetului o cercetare atentă a interlocutorului, o privire neîncovoiată, copiată poate de la vulturii de deasupra Făgăraşilor. Nu credeam ca un astfel de om să existe decât în imaginaţie, ba încă într- una uşor exaltată. Blândeţea generică a acestui nobil creştin mă transpune în lumea pe care eu nu am de unde să o ştiu dar care există real în el. Când vorbeşte doctoranzilor despre credință, neam, patrie, se încălzeşte ceva în auditori, acel ceva care depăşeşte orice filetism, orice patriotism ieftin, sau exaltare denaturată.
"Domnilor (niciodată nu ne tutuia), neamul este realitatea vieţii veşnice. În Creştinism, naţiunea dobândeşte noi dimensiuni; Ortodoxia surclasează cu mult orientarea organicistă a naziştilor, care au identificat naţiunea cu rasa, sau naţionalismul fals al comuniştilor. În Creştinism, naţiunea este înţeleasă ca natură rezidită în Hristos. Hristos, prin Înviere, a schimbat condiţiile ontologice ale lumii. Astfel, pentru creştini, neamul este comoara cea mai de preţ care poartă în sine două începuturi: crearea omului şi naşterea din nou prin Botez. Neamul este o realitate a vieţii veşnice, iar el se fundamentează pe trei forţe: îngerii, sfinţii neamului şi drepţii...Drepţii sunt strămoşii noştri, toţi care s-au mântuit. De aceea, ce-i leagă pe fiii unui neam nu e instinctul şi adaptarea la mediu,ci spiritul...(privind în jos, oarecum mâhnit). Neamul poate fi pierdut pe pământ dar nu şi în cer. Ca să descriem starea actuală a neamului nostru ar trebui să-l citez pe Shakespeare:"E atât de întunecat cerul încât numai o furtună l-ar mai putea limpezi." Această furtună despre care vă vorbesc, nu poate fi altceva decât asumarea la modul maxim a trăirii creştine. Furtuna este spărtura conştiinţei. Trăirea creştină autentică, gravitează în jurul Miracolului Euharistic. Îndumnezeirea omului prin Euharistie (Împărtăşanie) este arma supremă în lupta pentru regenerarea neamului. Am fost întrebat: Ce este mai corect, să ne împărtăşim des sau rar?Eu am răspuns: Nici des, nici rar, ci continuu! Bineînţeles, dacă omul este pregătit prin Spovedanie şi canon de primirea continuă a Sfintei Euharistii. Noi suntem chemaţi să ne împărtăşim, adică să ne îndumnezeim MEREU, dar CU PREGĂTIRE. Voi, ca preoţi şi viitori preoţi, la asta trebuie să-i aduceţi, cu timpul, pe credincioşi: La Euharistia continuă. Numai aşa vă veţi împlini datoria. Altfel nu se poate,domnilor! V-am spus-o, ca să nu vă înşelaţi singuri. ŞTIŢI UNDE E DUMNEZEU? (Părintele zâmbea. La această întrebare, ne uitam miraţi, neştiind dacă să încercăm vreo definiţie din şcoală sau să tăcem. Am ales varianta a doua.) DUMNEZEU E ÎN CER....ȘI CERUL E ÎN NOI."
Pr.Ic.Dr. Mircea Cristian Pricop

Sts. Symeon and Anna the prophets from the Temple

The Eastern praxis in the Liturgical year has some particularities, about celebrating the saints. In the case of some big feasts, the very first day after the celebrating is dedicated to the persons implied in the event itself. As an example, the second day after Christmas is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the ones who came in the stable from Bethlehem. The name of this secondary feast, on the 26^th of December is The Group (Sobor) of the God’s Mother. Only the next day, 27th, is dedicated to St. Stephen. The other case I mention here is the one after the Feast of the Theophany, when the next day is dedicated to the Sobor (group) of St. John the Baptist.

In the same manner, the Saints Symeon and Anna, the Prophets, are celebrated in in the day after the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple, which practically closes the Christmas-periods in the Calendar.

The history of St. Symeon and St. Anna, the old prophets from the temple is in the Christian thought a mixture between Scripture and tradition. According to the Holy Gospel of Luke, the earthly Parents of Our Lord went to the Temple, about 40 days after the birth, in order to accomplish a traditional Jewish ritual, consisting in “re-buying” the first male offspring through a sacrifice, consisting in a holocaust of a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons.

Outer of the Bible itself, the historian Joseph Flavius is the main author who also describes the activity at the temple in Jerusalem, speaking about the auxiliary personal near the temple, including the prophets and prophetesses, the virgins etc., who supposed to help the priests and the levites not to the prescribed rituals, but with the administrative things. Of course, the prophets have totally another mission, which cannot be clearly designed.

In the moment that the Holy Parents came to the temple in order to make the ritual sacrifice, St. Symeon was nearby. The Gospel says that he was a just and devout man waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him (Luke 2,25). God promised him that he would not die until the promised Messiah, Christ the Lord, came into the world.

Saint Symeon

The mention of Luke let the tradition to make some special remarks about this saint. The eastern stories, following the Letter of Aristeas (about 130 B.C.), mention that St. Symeon was one of the 72 scholars, who were supposed to complete the first translation of the Scripture from old Hebrew to ancient Greek. The Hebrew community in Alexandria, from which belongs also Philo, built after the Babylonian exile their own temple on the Elephantine Island, in Egypt, and tried to establish its own cult. There was a problem: almost all the Jews here knew only Greek, so that they couldn’t understand the Torah. From this reason, with the participation of the Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.), who wanted to include the Law of the Jews into his big Library of Alexandria, they tried to translate the text of the Torah into Greek. The legend mentions that there were invited scholars from Jerusalem, and from now on the story doesn’t follow Aristeas anymore. The number of 72 was modified into 70, in order to coincide with the 70 holy men who helped Moses by the implementing of the Law (Num. 11,24 sq.). With this it has been strongly underlined the theory of the verbal inspiration of the Bible, a still very spread idea in the Eastern Church.

St. Symeon is supposed to be one of the 70/72 scholars to translate the text. According to the Prologue from Ochrid (containing the lives of the saints, written in the Middle Ages) St. Symeon had to translate the book of Jesaias and it seems that he has been stocked at the text from 7,14: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a Son”. Being thinking that “virgin” was inaccurate, he wanted to correct the text to read “a young woman”. At that moment an angel appeared to him and held back his hand saying, “you shall see these words fulfilled. You shall not die until you behold Christ the Lord born of a pure and spotless Virgin”. From this day, St Simeon lived in expectation of the Promised Messiah. One day, he received a revelation from the Holy Spirit to come to the Temple, and from here on the tradition meets again the Scripture (Luke 2,27). It was on the very day when the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph had come to the Temple in order to perform the ritual prescribed by the Jewish Law.

If we follow the legend, there’s clear that Symeon was, in the day he met Jesus, more than 300 years old (according to the legend, about 360), a quite unbelievable age. But if we put that together with the describing of the lives of the first ancestors off the humanity, Adam lived 930 years, Seth 912, Jared 962, Matusalem 969, Lamech, the father of Noah, 953 - venerable ages. Many churchfathers understand that literally, so I don’t know I should doubt, only because in our century it would be laughable. I would rather incline to believe the text of the Bible.

After seeing the Holy Child, Symeon took him into his arms and said a prayer to the Lord, which is read in all the Vesperal services of the Byzantine rite: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2,29-32). This prayer, read into the context described, it passes very well. The time for waiting would have been very long and difficult to him. Even a text from the Psalms says that the age of a man is 70 or 80, but what is more than that, is only sorrow and pain (Psalm 90, 10).That Symeon lived long beyond the normal life expectancy is mentioned by George Kedrinos in his Synopsis and by Euthymios Zygabenos in the Commentary on Luke 2, who means that the Elder Symeon was at least two hundred and seventy years old when he received the Christ Child in his arms.

But there’s not all about him. Symeon is the first one to prophesize to the Holy Mary her “way” of feeling the pain. A marianic Golgotha means to prophesize to a mother the passion of her son. The mother’s pain reporting to the crucifixion is “sword through the heart” (Luke 2,23-24), which appears mostly in the western iconography. (add image).

Saint Symeon has been connected with different other legends, according to whom he was a rabbi, the son of Hillel and the father of Gamaliel mentioned in Acts 5,34, but that contrasts with the simple reference of Luke to Simeon as “a man in Jerusalem”. The apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus (17,1-3) mentions about two sons of Simeon, Charinus, and Leucius, who were resurrected, when Our Lord descended into the Hell (according to Mat. 27,52). The eastern tradition states that Symeon would have been a priest, that’s why he was at the temple. The Churchfathers who mention that are Athanasius the Great, in About the same nature of the Father and of the Son, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in Homily at the Presentation of the Lord, and St. Epiphanius of Salamis, in Teaching about the Parents of the Old Law. Also saint Joseph the Hymnographer, the composer of the Canon for the celebration of St. Symeon, identifies him as a ministering priest: “O blessed priest, thou didst offer up the sacrifices of the law, the lamb, for ineffable mercy, showing forth beforehand the blood of the Savior; and receiving Him incarnate, O Symeon, thou wast shown to be more glorious than Moses and all the prophets”.

Saint Anna

The Evangelist Luke speaks in the further 3 verses of his story about the Presentation about a mysterious prophetess named Anna, who also prophesized the Messiah. “And there was Anna, a prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, she was much advanced in days, having lived with an husband seven years from her virginity, and she is a widow of about eighty-four years, who did depart not from the temple, with fasts and supplications serving, night and day, and she, at that hour, having come in, was confessing, likewise, to the Lord, and was speaking concerning him, to all those looking for redemption in Jerusalem”. (Luke 2,36-38)

A Jesuit scholar from the 17^th century, Cornelius Lapide pointed out that the name of Phanuel means “the face of God”, while Anna means “Grace”, an interesting combination of names, which symbolically may be connected with a text from Genesis 32,30: “For grace proceeds from the face and from the mouth of God, and is breathed into the faithful”. Also the place where Jacob saw God face to face, was called by him Peniel or “Phanuel”. The mystery about Anna is bigger, because she came from the tribe of Asher, one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel.

Luke describes that Anna was very old, and many Bibles and older commentaries state that she was 84 years old. Anyway, the passage from Luke’s Gospel is ambiguous: it could mean that she was 84 years old, or that she had been a widow for 84 years. Some scholars, abd between them also Ambrosius of Milan, consider the latter to be the more likely option. On this option, she could not have married younger than about age 14, and so she would have been at least 14 + 7 + 84 = 105 years old. The intention of St. Luke is probably to state that she practically was like a virgin, so that the purity of the prophecy seems to be connected with the carnal purity, which is also seen in the eastern Christianity and specially in the monasticism as a “must be”.

Saint Anna, who’s name means symbolically “Grace”, is the Western tradition the protector saint of the widows, virgins and ascete women. The Catholic Church celebrates her on September 1, but in the Eastern Church she is celebrated together with St. Symeon, on February 3.

The Relics of Saint Symeon the God-Receiver

There are two different traditions about the “trip” of the relics of St. Symeon the Prophet. In the West there is the tradition that Charles the Great might have obtained, after an incredible journey in Constantinople, the arm of the saint which had carried the Christ. This relic might have been deposited at Aachen, and from there it was moved to Saint Denis, near Paris, by Charles the Bald. Some other places who are hosting traditionally parts of the Relics are Perigueux, Palermo, and Brussels.

Another tradition, which may not necessary contradict the first, states that the body of Saint Simeon was moved from Syria to Constantinople sometimes between 565 and 578, during the reign of Justin II, who settled them in the Church of Saint James the Brother of the Lord, which was raised by Emperor Justin, near Hagia Sophia, in the sixth century. His grave was seen by the Russian pilgrim St Anthony, the future Archbishop of Novgorod (October 8) in 1200. Maybe from here a part of them were offered to Charles the Great, but there are no mentions in the Byzantine documents. The Relics of the Saint remained here until the Crusaders captured Constantinople in 1203 with the help of the Venetian fleet. The crusaders took the Relics of St. Symeon only in 1203 and let them in Zara (now, Zadar, in Croatia) on the Dalmatian Coast, controlled by the Venetians, in the Church of the Virgin, the pilgrim’s hospice at that time, apparently because of a big storm on the sea, who prevented a further sailing to Venice.

There is a church called San Simeone Grande in Venice, dedicated to the saint, where there is a beautiful monument (cenotaph), in which is kept an old shrine from Zadar, dated in 1317. On it there is mentioned that “here was the body of Symeon for 114 years” (hic stetit corpus Beati Symeonis annis centum et XIIII), but now this monument is empty.

On 17 October 2010, at the insistence of the Abbot Theodoret of the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, the Archbishop Želimir Puljić of Zadar offered a part of these relics to the Church of the Katamon Monastery of St. Simeon, being received by the Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem. In this monastery there was an old grave, traditionally the very grave of St. Symeon

About the relics of St. Anna I couldn’t find any information. So how much her life is a mystery, as much also her earthly remains are unknown.

Troparion (Hymn) of the Saints

“In the Temple thou didst embrace as an infant God the Word Who became flesh. O glorious Elder Symeon, who didst hold God in thine arms. And also as a prophetess the august Anna ascribed praise to Him. We acclaim you as divine servants of Christ!”