St. Basil (Vasile) the starets of Poiana Mărului Hermitage (+ 1767)

St. Hieromonk Basil was the spiritual father of St. Paisius the starets from Neamţ and one of the most famous teachers and followers of the prayer of Jesus in the 18th century. He is known also for the fact that he was one of those who revived the Orthodox monastic life in his time.

The life of the Saint

Basil was born near Poltava (Ukraine) in 1692 and is a representative of the Russian-Ukrainian monastic migration that occurred in the 18-19th centuries because of the reforms of Peter the Great in Russia and the persecution of the Orthodox believers in Ukraine which was under Polish rule. He lived as youth in different hermitages in Russia, in Moshenski Mountains near Kiev. He came in Wallachia together with his disciple, the monk Michael, and other monks in 1706, during the Reign of St. Constantine Brâncoveanu (…), in a period of religious and cultural flourishing. He settled in Dălhăuţi Hermitage near Focsani, where he lived as a hermit about 20 years. Here he deepened the biblical text and read many writings of the Fathers. Through prayer and theological knowledge he became shortly a good spiritual advisor of the brothers who lived together with him. Basil was ordained priest in 1715 and was appointed abbot of the monastery Dălhăuţi and quickly he was famous throughout Wallachia, even to the new ruler, Constantine Mavrocordat.

St. Basil was about 20 years the abbot in Dălhăuţi, where he gathered around him a community of 40 hermit monks. During this time there is supposed that he became aware of the hesychastic tradition initiated by St. Pachomius the Bishop of Roman (+ 1726) at the Pocrov Scete, and Basil implemented it among his disciples. Hesychasm is an Eastern spiritual movement.

The hesychia is a Greek word meaning “peace” or “silence” and refers to a tradition of hermit prayer, whose practice is called hesychazo, “keeping the silence.” The movement, known also as the Palamism, was developed at Mount Athos, while St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica (1347-1359). According to this doctrine, the Christian layman or monk must live in peace and silence, reconciling his body with his soul, remaining in a state of contemplation. The central practice is the so-called permanent prayer of the heart or mind ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner"), a formula designed to keep awake the conscience of God’s goodness and of the sinful status of the creature. This tradition is supposed to be first formulated by Gregory Palamas, but there is evidence that the origins of the practice of prayer are much earlier by the hermits of Egypt in the first Christian centuries.

The community of Basil valued the virtues of obedience, humility, silence and especially the practice of Jesus’ prayer. The internal rule stated by the abbot consisted into the living in perfect harmony, daily reading of Scripture and the Fathers, practicing Jesus’ prayer, keeping the mind pure, only one meal daily and the weekly communion.

The monastery at Dălhăuţi became a school of spiritual hesychast experience famous in all the Romanian principates. The disciples came from Wallachia, Moldova, Transylvania and Russians, living in perfect love and good order. From Dălhăuţi the community spread to the hermitages around:  Trestieni, Ciolanu, Carnu, Ratesti, Rogoz, Bonţăşti, and Black Valley.

About in 1730-1733, St. Basil moved to the hermitage of Poiana Mărului (Apple’s Glade) together with 12 disciples, and from here he led spiritually all the hermitages from Buzău Mountains, which he visited regularly. One of his disciples was the St. Paisius of Neamţ, which stayed at Hermitage of Trestieni for several years. From here he went later to Mount Athos in 1750 and after his returning, he established the community at Neamţ, which became the focus of the East Hesychast communities in the 18th century.

Being very old, St. Basil gave his soul to the Lord on April 25, 1767, leaving many disciples. He was buried in the yard of Poiana Mărului  hermitage, probably somewhere near the Church dedicated to the “Sunday of All Saints”, founded in 1730 by him. So far his holy relics were not found.

His Work

Elder Basil wrote a few “Words” on mind guarding, on prayer and spiritual growth, which are short introductions to some ascetic writings. of the famous Nil Sorski Philotheos Kokkinos (1300 – 1379), Hesychius (7th century) and Gregory of Sinai

Monastery from Poiana Mărului

The name of his writings are:

-          Questioning answers gathered from the Holy Scripture for running away from the forbidden food of the monk’s votes (printed in Neamţ Monastery in 1816);

-          Foreword and Afterword to the book of the blessed Nile Sorski (1433–1508)

-          Foreword or Pre-travel into the Book of the  blessed Philotheos from Sinai;

-          Foreword and Afterword to the book and of Gregory of Sinai (1260s –1346);

-           Imagine of how we, the passionate and the command-breakers, should repent and learn to work the mental through living in obedience.

The quotations below reflect the teaching of the saint.

About reading the Scripture: “take care on reading the Scriptures, and if you aren’t human, you will make from yourself a human, because reading the Scripture is a healing well and saving craft. However, it is very important not to understand wrongly the Scripture and misunderstanding the Scriptures is like a deep chasm. Therefore we need to know the writings of the Fathers and other ascetics who help us to the way of salvation”.

On outer and inner prayer: “Many, by reading the book of St. Gregory of Sinai (1255-1346) and still not having the work of the mind, go wrong in the understanding of it, believing that this work was given only to the holy and passionless men. Therefore, they are taking the usual habit, that is only the reading and singing psalms, canons and hymns, and so they are working only the outside prayer. They do not understand this kind of sung prayer was given to us by the parents only for a while, for our weakness and infancy of our minds. This is because, being familiar with the reading and singing, we should climb to the stage of the work of mind, and not to spend until the end in this (inferior stage). Because, reading and playing the outer prayer only with the lips, we remain to a happy opinion of ourselves, thinking that we make a big deal […] It isn’t possible to the one who fights in this way, only with the outer prayer, to gain the spiritual peace or the earn the victory crown. For this is like the one fighting during the night, who hears voices from the enemies and receives their injuries, but cannot see clearly who they are, from where they come or how (and why) do they hit, because the darkness blinds the mind. The one, who struggle like that, only with the outer prayer, cannot escape without being crushed by the foreigners. He bears the hard work, but he loses his payment”

  

About the monastic life: St. Basil of Poiana Mărului said to disciples that the monasticism has three ways: the community life, the living in small groups of two or three, called “the middle” or “royal”, having all together, and the third is the wilderness, which is the highest, done only by the holy and perfect ones, after they went through the first two ways. “But some monks choose another way, in outer any obedience and blessing. They make their cell wherever they want and live alone, caring more for the body”.

About the high asceticism he said that: “a too early asceticism is cause for pride and self-love, while living with others discover your weaknesses and protects you from temptation. It can clean you daily by the grace of Christ, working out of love for the Lord”.

Veneration of Saint Basil of Poiana Mărului

The holy life of St. Basil was well known in his time and until today. That is why the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, on its meeting on 4-5 March 2003, decided that the Abbot of Poiana Mărului shall be venerated together with the venerable and God-bearing Fathers, having his special feast day on April 25, when he went to the Lord.

Hymn of the Saint (Troparion)

“Teacher of good honoring, advisor of the monks, preacher of grace, professor of the watchfulness prayer, pious father Basil, pray always Christ our God to save our souls!”

A.P. (in memoriam)


Am văzut cum cade azi
Mare-nflăcărat spre zori
Cel ce-adesea de la cozi
Aduna pe muritori

Foamea-i era poezia
Versu-i potolea şi setea
Martoră-i era hârtia
Club roial îi era plebea.

Şi-i plângea pe toiul iernii
Pe-amorţiţii roşii sorţi
Din suspinurile vremii
Scotea sânge viu din cărţi.

Şi în inimi îl avântă
Şi în mâini revigorate
Grele utilaje cântă
Poeme de calitate.

Urare de la mulţi ani!
Pe a colindului cântare
Din buzunarul de palton
Am glob de sticlă cu ninsoare
Pe-un veşted, ingnorabil, dom.

În dom este o mică scenă
Ce se pare a ne spune
Că din fiinţa postmodernă
Ies conştiinţele nebune.

Risipitorii lui Marin
Poate-au văzut că sub ăst-dom
S-ar fi născut un oarecare:
Confuzie - fiu de patron?

E veche scena şi actuală
Cu îngeri ce în frig măresc
Veseli coborând pe scară
Dinspre subtil înspre trupesc.

Săptămâna Mare. Ziua Sâmbetei celei Mari

Slujbele din Sâmbăta Mare sunt slujbe în aşteptarea Învierii

Triodul 11 Sambata Mare a

Vinerea Mare. Denia Prohodului Domnului

Slujba Deniei Prohodului, numită Denia Sâmbetei celei Mari, are loc Vineri seara. În timpul ei se cântă Prohodul Domnului, o cântare în trei "stări", în care se evocă tristeţea momentului Punerii în Mormânt a Domnului, dar se vorbeşte de nădejdea Învierii celei aşteptate.

Triodul 11 Sambata Mare (Denia de Vineri - Prohodul)

Săptămâna Mare. Vinerea Mare

Slujba Vecerniei Sâmbetei Mari, numită şi "a scoaterii Sfântului Epitaf" are loc în Vinerea Mare. Simbolizează punerea în Mormânt a Domnului.

Triodul 11 Vinerea Mare

Săptămâna Mare. Denia celor 12 Evanghelii

Denia Sfintei şi Marii Vineri se desfăşoară la biserici joi seara. Motivul pentru care se întâmplă o asemenea "mutare" este aceea că timpul nu mai aşteaptă în această Săptămână Mare. Totul se află în aşteptarea Învierii Domnului.

Slujba Deniei conţine citirea a 12 texte din cele patru Evanghelii, acoperind informaţiile Scripturistice pe care le avem despre timpul în care Mântuitorul a stat în Ierusalim, a participat la marea Cină a Paştilor evreieşti, numită la noi "cina cea de Taină", rugăciunea din Ghetsimani, prinderea Domnului, judecata Sa şi până la Răstignirea Sa pe Cruce.

Slujba "Înmormântării Domnului" are loc a doua zi, în Vinerea Mare

Triodul 11 Vinerea Mare (Denia de Joi - A Celor 12 Evanghelii

Holy martyr Sabbas the Goth (12 April 372)

St. Sabbas the Goth suffered the martyrdom for Christ in the east Carpathian Dacia, being drowned in Buzău river on 12 April 372, from the order of Atharid, a leader of the non-christianized Goths.

Information about his life and passion on theactual homeland of the Romanians were kept in his act of martyrdom, composed as a letter of the Gothic Church from north-Danubian Dacia to the church in Cappadocia, as an answer to the request of  St. Basil (379) made to Iunius Soranus, the “most brilliant governor (dux) of Scythia Minor”, a relative of Basil who was a Christian, for sending these relics in Caesarea.

Adăugaţi o legendă

The relics of St. Sabbas the Goth were accompanied by the text of his holy martyrdom, probably composed in Greek by St. Bretanion, the bishop of Tomis. This letter is also a document about the spread of the Christianity in the Carpathian Dacia among the Dacians, Romans and Goths, in the second half of the fourth century, bearing the long title: “The Church of God who lives in Gothia to the Church of God from Cappadocia and to all the communities of the Holy Universal Church”. St. Basil the Great also thanks in two letters to his fellow friend, Archbishop of Thessalonica Ascholius because he took care of sending the relics of St. Sabbas the GothtoCaesarea (Epistolae no. 164 and 165 in Migne, PG vol 32, cols. 633-641).

The Martyrical Acts of St. Sabbas the Goth are important to confirm the existence of the Christianity northern from Danube since the fourth century. This speaks not only about the existence of sporadic Christian missionaries, but also about an organized Church in villages and cities, with bishops, priests and simple believers, who led its life in connection with the Churches in the Roman provinces from the southern Danubian Region and the Church in Asia Minor.

The life and martyrdom of Saint Sabbas

St. Sabbas apparently was born in 334. The Martyrical Act shows that he was “got by birth and lived in Gothia”, being a Christian, living in virtue since his childhood, reaching the adut age in purity. ,

Already child, he used to sing psalms in the village church, where served as priest Sansalas. Sabbas was a peaceful and modest young man living in virginity and loving the prayer.

At one point the Goths have started a persecution against the Christians, forcing them to eat from the meats offered to the idols. Some non-Christians wanted to escape their Christian relatives from death and gave them to eat publically un-sacrificed meat, thus tricking the persecutors. St. Sabbas opposed this action, and because of that his fellow villagers chased him from the village. After a while he came back.

Adăugaţi o legendă

During the second persecution, some villagers wanted to swear that there’s no Christian in their village. But St. Sabbas opposed, saying: “For me swear no one, because I am Christian”. Then he stood voluntarily in front of the persecutor, who saw him and his poor clothes, and because of that he said: “Such a man can neither be useful nor hurt”. During this persecution, Sansalas the priest fled from Gothia in Romania, (that was at that time the name of the Roman Empire).

Later ith has been started a third persecution, in 372. St. Sabbas wanted at that time to celebrate the Easter into the city, together with the Gothian priest Guththicas. But on the way Sabbas had a vision and saw a tall and light-faced man, who ordered him to return to Sansalas, who in the meantime returned to celebrate the Easter together with his community.

Thus St. Sabbas turned back and found Sansalas in the village, so they celebrated Easter together. But the third night after the Easter, it came in their village Atharid, the son of a local governor called Rothesteu, with a band of robbers and arrested them. Sansalas was put in a cart, but St. Sabbas, naked, was carried by feet through the recently burned valleys, being strongly whipped. The next day the persecuted laid him on the ground and bound his hands on an axle, and his legs on another one. They beat him and nearly all night. After the servants went to sleep, a host-woman who had woke up to prepare food for the “guests” untied him, but he, instead to escape, helped the woman with her work.

Finding out what happened, Atharid commanded to hang the saint of a beam of the house, which shows that people here were certainly Dacians or Romans, because the Goths were living in tents. After this, the servants of Atharid brought food from the gods’ sacrifices and forced Sabbas and Sansalas to eat from these, but they refused. Atharid full of anger ordered the execution of Saint Sabbas. Letting Sansala bound Sthere, the servants took Sabbas to the Mousaios river (today Buzău) in order to drown him there. At one point, the wanted to release him, but St. Sabbas told: “Why do not accomplish what you were commanded to do? Here are those who came to receive me, in front of us, standing in glory” (the angels).

Then they immersed him in water, put a timber over his neck and pushed him into deeper. St. Sabbas died as a martyr being 38 years old, in the Saturday after Easter, the day before the Ides of April, i.e. on  April 12, 372, during the reign of the emperors Valentinianus (372-392, in the West)  and Valens ( 364-378, in the East).

His unharmed body was taken and buried by the faithful Christians. Then, after the persistence of Iunius Soranus, governor of Scythia Minor, (the actual region of Dobrogea, situated between Danube and Black sea), the holy relics were taken and sent to Cappadocia, and were deposited in a church in Caesarea, where St. Basil the Great (+ 379) was bishop.

The Martyrdom of Saint Sabbas tells nothing about what happened further with Sansalas the priest.

Veneration of St. Sabbas

Basil asked for his relics in 374, just 12 years after his death, which shows the saint’s high worship, which spread very quickly. The Synaxarion of the Church from Constantinople mentions the martyrdom of St. Sabbas the Goth on 17 April. In this version, Saint Sabbas was burned on the roof of a house, during the persecution of Athanaric, the chief the Goths and he was not drowned in the river Buzău, as shows his Martyrical Act. Bibliotheca graeca hagiographica mentions St. Sabbas the Goth on April 12, 15 and 17. The Greek synaxaries from the Minologion (The liturgical book consisting in the daily services) celebrate St. Sabbas on April 18, and this date appears also in the Romanian Minologion, while the Slavic Churches celebrate him on April 15. On June 20, 1992, the Romanian Orthodox Church officially stated in the national calendar “the saints from other nations who have preached and were martyred in our country”, among which is also the Holy Martyr Sabbas from Buzău, called “the Goth”, celebrated since then on April 12.

 In the West, the Roman Catholic Calendar commemorates St. Sabbas on April 28.

The hymn of the saint

Today the Church of the right-believer Romanians spiritually celebrates and joyfully sings: Come ye, the martyr-lovers, and celebrate the yearly Feast of St. Martyr Sabbas’ struggles! Because these aroused by God’s will among us and wonderfully flourished, and he brought a rich crop to his Master, through his martyrdom. And now he is incessantly praying in the Heavens, for our souls to be saved!

St. Sava Cathedral in Buzău

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!”