The Prologue from Ohrid: March 27
1. THE HOLY MARTYR, MATRONA
As an orphan girl Matrona was a servant in the home of a Jew in Thessalonica.
The wife of the Jew continuously mocked Matrona because of her faith in Christ
and tried to persuade her to deny Christ and to attend the synagogue. But the
meek Matrona went about her work conscientiously and did not say anything to her
mistress. But in secret she prayed to Christ the God. On one occasion the Jewess
discovered that Matrona was attending church unbeknown to her and, in anger,
questioned her as to why she did not attend the synagogue rather than the
church? To that, Matrona replied, "Because in the Christian churches, God lives
and He withdraws from the Jewish synagogues." Furious, because of this type of
bold reply, the Jewess beat Matrona, locked her up in a dark room, and, in
addition to that, bound her hands. The next day as she was kneeling in prayer
and glorifying God, her ropes had fallen off by the power of God. Afterwards, on
two occasions, she was locked up again and, in the end, died of starvation. This
evil Jewish woman then took the body of this holy maiden and hurled it to the
ground from the heights of her home. Christians took the body of this martyr and
buried it with honors. Alexander the bishop, learning of the many miraculous
works of this holy martyr, erected a church over her grave. The evil Jewess
received her just punishment when she slipped, fell to the pavement, and was
smashed to death from the same spot at the top of the house from which she
hurled down Matrona's body.
2. VENERABLE JOHN "THE DISCERNER"
John was a woodsman until his twenty-fifth year and then, driven by an
insatiable desire for constant prayer, withdrew into the wilderness where he
lived until his death, during his ninetieth year. He was a corporeal being but
lived as an incorporeal being. He discerned the heart of every person who came
to him and was able to discern their name, their desires, and their thoughts. He
prophesied to Emperor Theodosius the outcome of his battles. He prophesied for
generals, monastics, and for all who found it necessary to know what was hidden
for them in the darkness of future days. A prince once begged John to receive
his wife who especially wanted to meet him. The saint did not allow empty
inquisitiveness but appeared to the wife of the prince in a dream showing her
what he was like. When the woman described her vision in the dream to her
husband, he confirmed that, indeed, this was the likeness of the saint. To every
visitor, he taught humility as the basis of the virtues, always citing examples
from life of how pride has toppled many exalted characters into dust and led
them into serious sins. He endured many assaults of evil spirits. On one
occasion, Satan appeared to him with a myriad of demons under the guise of
shining angels. They pressured him to worship Satan, lying to him, saying that
it [Satan] is Christ. But John answered wisely, "I bow down and worship my King,
Jesus Christ, everyday. If that were He, He would not demand me to do so now,
especially since I already worship Him." Following these words, all the evil
powers vanished as smoke. He died peacefully kneeling in prayer in his ninetieth
year.
3. THE VENERABLE PAPHNUTIUS
Paphnutius was a disciple of St. Anthony the Great. By his sanctity of life,
Paphnutius converted many sinners to the path of repentance, as did St. Thais,
who is commemorated on October 8. Paphnutius resembled an incorporeal angel more
than a corporeal man. He died toward the end of the fourth century.
HYMN OF PRAISE
VENERABLE JOHN THE DISCERNER ON HUMILITY
John the Discerner, teacher of humility,
With tears of joy, about humility he spoke:
O beloved children, right-believing children,
The humbler you are, to God more dear
Asceticism, without humility helps not at all,
His soul to the devil, the arrogant one offers.
Your soul, if you empty of self,
The Living God will then fulfill you.
Than God Himself, Who is more humble?
His priority, nowhere does He indicate.
In secret, without clamor, the world He directs,
Therefore, the insane think that He does not even exist.
If the wind would not blow, nor shriek, nor howl,
About it, the insane would also say that it does not exists!
He who has humility, himself reprimands,
In every virtue, that one easily succeeds.
Than the poor in spirit, humility is nothing more,
That is the Savior's blessed teaching:
In yourself, do not have any hope,
In God place all of your hopes,
That is holy humility. Whoever violates it
The darkest destruction for his soul, that one prepares.
The thoughts of all the saints, in that, they are strict
Without much humility, no one is saved!
Joyous is the humble, because God rules with him.
O, beloved children, Being humble is akin to being saved!
REFLECTION
"There is no cleanness in him who thinks evil," says St. Simeon the New
Theologian; and he further adds, "How can there be a pure heart in him, who
soils it with impure thoughts as a mirror is darkened by dust?" Do you see then,
the inexcessible height of which the religion of Christ stands above all other
faiths and worldly sophistries? He who only thinks about evil, even though he
does not commit any evil, is at fault before God and before his own soul. For he
offends God and loses his soul. To be a Christian, in the proper sense, means to
invest enormous effort on cleansing evil thoughts from one's heart and mind.
What kind of effort is that? There exists a complete study about this, which in
our days became completely locked away even for us Christians, and the one
enormous actual experience of holy men and women who justified that study. To
cleanse oneself from these wicked and impure thoughts, the root of all evil, was
the goal of all the great ascetics, hermits and silentaries.
CONTEMPLATION
To contemplate the Lord Jesus in death:
1. How He Who resurrected from the dead, hangs on the cross, a lifeless
body;
2. How He died for our sake so that we would have more abundant life and more
abundant truth about immortal life.
HOMILY
About Christian as kings and priests
"You made them a kingdom and priests for God" (Revelation
5:10).
The Lord Jesus wants to make all men similar to Himself. As the Son of God,
He wants all men to become the adopted sons of God. As a King, He wants them to
be co-kings with Him. As a Priest, to be co-priests with Him. As Almighty, to
share in His strength. As Eternal, to share in His immortality. As Holy, to
share in His holiness. As the Resurrected One, to all be the children of the
resurrection. This, the Lord desired and that is why He descended to earth: to
separate us from the animals and to elevate us above the life of the animals and
to give us dignity over His visible creation, a dignity which Adam had in
Paradise before the Fall. Because of this, His love for mankind and His
salvatory plan for all people, the Lord was crucified on the cross by the Jewish
elders. And even from us Christians today, He reaped the thorns of ingratitude
and misunderstanding countless times. We show ourselves to be ungrateful and
unreasonable whenever we undermine and trample His commandments. By his sins
every sinner plaits a new wreath of thorns and places it on His Sacred Head.
When did He ever offend us, that we did this to Him? When did He ever think evil
about anyone of us, that we return Him evil? He lowered Himself into our fetid
pit where we have become accustomed to live with snakes and scorpions and pulled
us higher to the heights, to light and purity in the kingdom. He wants to make
us kings and priests, and we drive away His saving hand and return to the pit
with snakes and scorpions.
O brethren, enough and more than enough of this humiliation of Him and
destruction of ourselves. Let us firmly grab the hand of our Savior and follow
Him. He desires good for us. He does good for us. For our good, He suffered. He
is our One and Only Friend Who does not change.
To You be glory and thanks always. Amen