October 30 - Holy Martyrs Asterios, Claudios, Neon, and their sister, Neonilla of Cilicia

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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ON OCTOBER 30th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE HOLY MARTYRS ASTERIOs, CLAUDIOS, NEON, AND THEIR SISTER, NEONILLA OF CILICIA (Cilicia is in southern Asia Minor (modern Turkey).

Asterios, Claudios (Klavdios), Neon, and Neonilla, all siblings and martyrs, were Christians who dwelt together and had substantial wealth. They lived during the reign of the pagan Roman emperor Diocletian (384-305 A.D.), when Lysias was governor of Cilicia. After the children's mother reposed, they continued to live with their father and stepmother. At length, their father also reposed, and the stepmother attempted to unjustly retain possession of their parents' possessions. Therefore, in the year 288 A.D. the stepmother betrayed them to the pagan governor, accusing them of being Christians.

When the young Christians were presented to the governor, they said to him, "We now disdain all of our belongings, O governor, moreover, on account of our Faith, we shall endure all that befalls us. Know this, however: our stepmother, chosen unsuccessfully to replace our mother, has not betrayed us to thee because she defends your religion of many gods; nay, but because she aspires to unjustly seize our paternal and maternal inheritance, which is considerable."

Hearing these things, the governor appeared to be in concord with the objective of their stepmother. He, too, wished to put the holy ones to death that he might have a share in their inheritance. Straightway, he ordered that Claudios, be stretched out upon the ground by his arms and legs. Then, wielding rods, they tore to pieces his shoulder blades. Afterward, they hung him up by his fingertips and burned his feet with lit coals. Following this, they scraped his sides with copper goads. Next, they crushed him with bricks and burned him with papyrus strips. The Saint then hear the governor say to him, "Sacrifice unto the gods and be saved!" He answered, "I said unto thee and will repeat one more time that, for the Faith of Christ and for Him, I despise death. Therefore, O judge, do whatever thou dost wish." After they had tortured him considerably, they brought him down from the wooden stake and cast him into prison.

Later, Asterios was made to stand before the judgment set, Lycians asked him, "What is thy name?' Since Asterios remained silent, the governor ordered that his teeth be broken. As they smashed his teeth, the court crier shouted aloud, "Sacrifice unto the gods and save thy life!" Though Asterios was suffering punishment and heard the voice of the crier, he ceased not opposing the governor, and said, "Whatever thou wilt do, O governor, act and tarry not, for I will not deny my Christ and God!" Then, they hung up Asterios and lacerated his sides. Following this, they burned his feet as they spread lit coals under him. Afterward, they beat him with rods and cast him into prison.

After Asterios and Claudios had undergone all these cruel tortures, the third brother, Neon, was presented before the governor's tribunal. After the youth had been asked for his name, Christ's athlete answered, "If thou wilt learn my name, O Governor, know this: I am called Neon. More than this, do not hope to learn, because I am the brother of Cluadios and Asterios, from whom it is impossible that I should be separated. No, but for my confession of Christ, behold, now, I stand before thee! Therefore, delay not in whatever thou wilt do." The executioners then stretched Neon out on the ground and rendered him a vigorous beating. They added to his pains by placing lit coals under his feet. After they had beaten him for many hours, they cast him into prison.

The governor then commanded his ministers to bring in the Christian brothers' sister, Neonilla. He was soon to discover that Neonilla possessed Christian faith as firm as a rock. Lysias then ordered that she be beaten on the face. Afterward, the executioners bound her feet and suspended her on high. Following this, they thrashed her feet with thongs, abruptly broke off the tips of her fingers, and suspended her by the hairs of her head.

At length, to dishonor her, they shaved her head. Thereafter, they stretched out her arms and legs, tied them to stakes, and cut her flesh to pieces with raw thongs. Next, they laid her on her back and placed lit coals upon her breasts and abdomen. Consequently, the blessed Neonilla surrendered her soul into the hands of God.  Her honorable relics were put in a sack and cast into the sea.

The pagan governor then had the holy Martyrs Claudios, Asterios, and Neon beheaded outside the city. Their long-suffering bodies were then cast to the beasts and birds as prey. By this blessed end, the gloriously triumphant Martyrs of Christ received their crowns of the contest. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

On Remembrance of Death, Hell and Judgment (Part II)

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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ON REMEMBRANCE OF DEATH, HELL, AND JUDGMENT (Part II)
[From the Letters and Homilies of Geronda (Elder) Ephraim Philotheitis and Arizona]

The word eternity is frightful! To understand in part what eternity means. I shall give you an example. Imagine that the whole earth is one big piece of granite, and every thousand years a bird comes to sharpen its beak on this rock. When the entire rock is worn away by the bird sharpening its beak, then we have some faint notion of what eternity means--not that we have actually understood eternity, immortality, or life without end! So this life of ours here on earth determines our eternity, like flipping a coin: Paradise or hell! Therefore, how much caution must we have!...

You were patient so many years, and they passed like a dream. But even if we lived a thousand years, they would still pass like a dream. Oh, how vain is everything that belongs to this world here! Every life is followed by death. Death is man's transfer from this world to the other--the one that is immortal and eternal.

It is not important if someone loses his life here. One way or another, we shall all die someday anyway. The important thing is not to lose our immortal life, the life without end. Endless life in hell--oh, what a fearful thing! My God, save us all.

When God brings the new day, let us think that it is our last day and that when the sun sets we shall depart to the judgment seat of Christ. How should we spend our last day? In silence, prayer, obedience, tears, and repentance, begging God to be merciful!

Likewise at night, we should think that it is our last night, and our bed will be our tomb! We should ponder these and many other things every day and night, living them as if they were our last! For we do not know when the telegram will come from God's headquarters, from the Capital, the Jerusalem above.

Be careful, my child; do not let time pass fruitlessly and without improvement in your soul, for death comes like a thief. Woe to us if it finds us in a state of sloth and laziness-then the mountains and hills will need to weep for us; then we shall be found empty of good works (works of compassion), and Hades will shepherd us eternally!

My child, why should we suffer such a lamentable shipwreck when we are able, with God's help, to avoid and be rescued at the saving harbor of the Kingdom of God! I know that we have to wrestle with formidable enemies and that the labor is great. But with God--that is, with the power of God--everything gives way when man's will and strength cooperate with it...

"...We should never lack this contemplation of death or other such meditations. All these contemplations create watchfulness in the soul and purify and cleanse the mind so that it may feel the contemplation better. This contemplation is a barrier for evil thoughts. When this spiritual contemplation is within us, we shut out evil thoughts; there is no room in us for them because that contemplation has occupied the space of the mind. When we do not have godly contemplation, then indeed we are overcome by passionate contemplations. (Source: Orthodox Heritage)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Forerunner - November 1 - Fifth Sunday of Luke

Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damianos

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