Inspired by the holy reputation of Saint Athanius Bishop of Tarsus, Saint Anthusa desired to learn the Christian Faith from him. Saint Basil having appeared to her in a dream while still living, the girl recognized him while on a journey to Cilicia. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, she immediately requested baptism at which point a miraculous spring burst forth from dry land, and it was in these waters that the Holy Bishop baptized Saint Anthusa. Upon coming out of the font-not-made-with-hands, two angels appeared and clothed her with the white robe of the neophyte. After explaining to her mother that she had become a Christian, she was confirmed in her virginity by Saint Athanasius, and blessed to flee to the desert where she spent twenty years in extreme asceticism amongst the wild beasts who gamboled at her pure feet. While Saint Athansisus was put to death during Valerian’s persecution, Saint Anthusa put to death her passions in constant striving against the flesh and the Devil. The Evil One often appeared to her in the guise of a hermit monk asking her to come and pray with Him. But the purity of her nous was such that she could see through his schemes, and she routinely put him to flight with the Name above all Names. As a reward for her contest and her voluntary martyrdom in the desert, an angel appeared to her one day at prayer explaining that she was to receive the martyr’s crown. With that assurance, the athlete of Christ laid down in peace and gave her soul into God’s hands. Her incorrupt body was found in her cave four years later by Christians who were astonished to see that her flesh was still warm as if she were just asleep.
Author: Fr A
Abraham of Smolensk
After giving away all of the possessions he inherited from his wealthy parents, Saint Abraham became a monk and gave himself over the strictest of ascesis. Along with his body, his passions also withered as a result of night-long vigils and constant pleas for the Lord to have mercy on the world. His disciple, Saint Ephrem, described his appearance as that of a living relic. After being made a priest, his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and His insightful sermons brought him fame and renown with the faithful. Stoking the jealousy of his enemies, the demons inspired them to accuse him of heresy to the Bishop. The Bishop was deceived for a time, but the inherent disorder of the sinful decision infected the land and resulted in a drought and an epidemic. Made aware of his error, the Bishop repented and restored Saint Abraham. As a result, God delivered them via a miraculous heavy rain. Thus, the machinations of the Evil One came to nothing.
Martyr Bassa
Caught up in the fervor of persecution associated with Emperor Maximian’s birthday, Saint Bassa and her three sons were ordered to offer sacrifice and pour out libations to the Greek gods. Her husband, a pagan priest and thrall of the idols, turned them in when they refused to do so. Like the mother of the Maccabean martyrs, Saint Bassa encouraged her children to defeat the demons that had overtaken their father by patient endurance and by offering themselves completely to Christ who was waiting to receive them. By obeying their Mother they conquered the foe and received the martyr’s crown. Their mother joining them not too long after, first having dashed the idol of Zeus into a thousand pieces by her prayer.
Hymnography
Possessing an unhesitating mind, thou didst set out to wrestle with the wily adversary, and thou didst destroy him in the deep of thy blood.
(Ode Four, First Troparion of the Martyr; Orthros Canon)
With longing we call Bassa blessed, that dove that was guileless indeed, that turtle-dove that loved God, that swallow which escaped the winter and nets of demons, soared up with her godly younglings, and nested in the Heavens, in the spiritual dominion of God.
(Ode Nine, Fourth Troparion of the Martyr; Orthros Canon)
Arsenius the New of Paros
A member of the Kollyvades party, Saint Arsenius faced both persecution from those monk who opposed the practice of frequent communion as well as from the Turks whose revolution was sweeping across the region. As a result, he and his elder, Daniel of Zagora were often on the move. When they were able to settle in a monastery, he took on ascetic efforts comparable to that of his namesake, Saint Arsenius the Great, eating just enough to live, sleeping only a few hours at night, and spending the rest of his time wrapped in prayer. When Daniel died, Saint Arsenius also displayed his ongoing obedience out of love by remaining in the monastery and teaching the brethren – as much by deed as by word. Never a stranger to opposition even amongst his own brethren, the Saint perfected the evangelic virtue of love for enemies, and because of that as well as the voluntary suffering of asceticism that he took upon himself, God gave him the ability to protect the whole of island of Paros from the attacks of demons by his prayer.
Theodoretus of Kola, the Enlightener of the Lapps
Numbered for a time among the supporters of Saint Nilus of Sora, Saint Theodoretus was always in search of a more perfect hesychia. This search drove him to a region in the far north near the River Kola which was inhabited by the Lapps people. Though he was summoned for a time to Novogorod by the Archbishop Macarius, he never abandoned a desire to illumine the region with the light of the Gospel. So, after spending two years in Novogorod where he was ordained priest and received the grace to heal diseases and to cast out demons, he returned to the north where he established church and monastery dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Having learned their language, he preached to the native population in their own tongue, and the grace of the Holy Spirit shinning in him imbued his message with power. As a result, the Lapps came to him for baptism, even as many as 2,000 people in one day.
Elias the New of Sicily
A new Joseph the All-comely, Saint Elias was initiated into the Divine Council through dreams and visions. As such, he was able to accurately foretell future events, including his being taken as a slave to North Africa. There he was bought by a wealthy Christian merchant whose household was blessed due to the presence of the Saint. The Devil attempted to bring about his downfall by stoking lustful thoughts in his Master’s wife who continually tried to seduce him by her charms. When he firmly resisted all her advances, she was enraged and, like Potiphar’s wife, accused him of defiling her to her husband. Subjected to ill treatment, he endured patiently until the day the woman was caught in adultery. The truth of her character having been revealed, he was set free from slavery as a recompense. In another vision he was granted the grace of healing, and he traveled throughout Africa, Palestine, and the Mediterranean revealing the judgment of God and delivering people from illness. The Lord also granted him the grace to cast out demons, and he freed four men under torment by our invisible foes when he was forced to take refuge in Patras while on a journey to Rome. When asked how best to conquer our enemy, his advice was the same whether he was speaking to the lowest peasant or an Imperial General – sanctify the soul and deliverance will follow. By his answer he reinforced the reality that, except for a particular purpose of God, our physical condition often reflects our spiritual condition.
Nilus of Erikoussa
A member of the royal family of Emperor Theodore I Lascaris, Saint Theodore rejected the political and religious pressure of the Latin interlopers ushered into power by the Crusaders by becoming a monk and retreating into the wilderness. After being formed in the monastic life at the Monastery of the Sleepless Ones (Akoimetoi), he took on the extreme ascesis of the wandering pilgrim, traveling most especially to the Holy Places in Palestine, Mt. Sinai, and throughout Greece. When, along the way, he settled for a time in a particular location, it was always in an inhospitable place infested with demons. There he would wage unceasing battle against the natural conditions, his flesh, and the demons which he drove away by his prayer and patient endurance. He was especially known for restoring the 7th Century Monastery of the Giromerion where he found a miraculous icon of the Theotokos Hodigitria (She who shows the way – pointing to the Christ Child) which had been preserved from the time of the Iconoclast Heresy. As the keeper of this icon of the Champion Leader and her Son, Saint Nilus was all the more terrible to the enemies of mankind who could not bear to remain in his presence.
Hieromartyr Marcellus, Bishop of Apamea
When the Emperor Theodosius ordered the destruction of pagan temples throughout the empire, Saint Marcellus set about the work with divine zeal, pulling down shrines and building churches on their ruins to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. One temple, however, the Temple of Jupiter resisted all such efforts because the demon who dwelt there and accepted the worship of the Romans refused to be driven out. Filled with the spirit and power of the Prophet Elijah, the holy Bishop had three column of the colonnade uncovered, piled wood around the bases of them, had the wood covered with water, and then called on the lord to reveal Himself by fire. Like with the prophet of old, fire descended from heaven and set the bushels alight. Not long after the whole of the temple collapsed under the weight of Divine Judgment. Sometime later, Saint Marcellus, the scourge of demons, was set upon and martyred as he was overseeing the destruction of yet another pagan temple dedicated to idol worship.
Radegunda, Queen of the Franks
A Thuringian princess, Saint Radegunda was given in marriage to the Frankish King, Clotharius, the son of Clovis. The King was a man of loose living, but, nevertheless, The Saint was devoted to him as if to Christ Himself, and thereby she was never parted from the true King of Heaven. Her way of life as Queen was so pious that her husband was chided by his nobles who said that he was married to a nun and not a queen. While initially offended, he eventually came to admire her holy bearing and realized that she was a source of blessings for him and his kingdom. After Clotharius had her brother executed for allegedly seditious behavior, Saint Radegunda was allowed to retire to a monastery where she was tonsured a nun and lived out the rest of her days devoted to asceticism. Because of her voluntary martyrdom she was granted the grace to heal the sick and cast out demons which she frequently did through small gifts such as candles or leaves that she had blessed by her prayers and offered as alms.
Tikhon of Zadonsk, the Wonderworker and the Bishop of Voronezh
A professor of Rhetoric at a seminary in Novgorod, Saint Tikhon was vouchsafed a vision of the uncreated light which ignited in him a desire for the monastic life and heychia. The Lord, however, had need of him in the vineyard of his Church, and so, not long after becoming a monk, he was consecrated as the Bishop of Voronezh. He gave himself so completely to this work that, having completely exhausted himself with his pastoral efforts, he was forced to retire to a monastery after only five years. There he lived like an angel in the flesh – a model of perfect obedience and humility despite his exalted rank. Often he was so caught up in the contemplation of God that he had to be physically jostled to pry away his attention. Once he was tempted to take up again his ministry as Bishop for the good of the Church, but the Theotokos instructed him to remain in the monastery through an appearance to a venerable old monk. If ever he was assailed by dark thoughts suggested by the Evil One, he drove them away by repeating verses from Psalm 118 (LXX). At the end of his life, he withdrew to the complete reclusion of his cell where he prayed without ceasing for the salvation of the whole world.