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THE
ELEVENTH
MONTH IN THE NAME
OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, On this day Mercurius and Ephraim, the holy Galileans, became martyrs. These saints were loving brethren in the spirit, and kinsmen in the flesh, and they were of the men of the city of ‘Akmim. They made an agreement together in the spirit, and they became monks in the same monastery in Upper Egypt, and they lived therein fighting the fight with fasting, and prayer, and prostrations and vigils, for a period of twenty years. And Satan, the Enemy, brought tribulation upon the churches, through the followers of Arius, who denied [Christ]; and they came, by the commandment of the Emperor Constantine, to administer the temples of the Orthodox. And these saints rose up and came into the church and cast aside the bread which the wicked Arians, the deniers of Christ, had laid there, and they said unto the people, “He who hath not been baptized in the Name of the Holy Trinity is only fit to offer up an offering on the altar of idols.” And the Arians seized the saints and beat them very severely, and the soldiers threw them down upon the ground and trampled upon them with their feet until their members and their bones were broken. And they delivered their souls into the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ and received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of the heavens. And certain believing men came, and they took the bodies of the saints, and wrapped them up in cloths, and laid them in a fair place. Salutation to Mercurius and Ephraim. And on this day also took place the translation of the body of Abba Timothy, Archbishop of the city of Alexandria, from Mesr (Cairo) to the monastery of Abba Macarius in the desert of Scete. And on this day also died the blessed Paul, the monk. It is related of this renouncer of the world that he enjoyed in this world honor and high rank, and that he had a wife, who was a saint, and blessed children, and that he was exceedingly rich. And he wanted to become a monk. And he called his wife and his children, and said unto them, “Behold, I want to sell you for Christ’s sake”; and they said unto him, “Thou art our god, do what thou wishest.” And he took his wife, and his sons, and his possessions, and distributed all his money among the poor, and he came to a house for women, and he sought out the abbess and said unto her, “I want to sell thee this woman”; and she agreed to what he wanted. And he wrote the bill of the sale, and handed her over to the abbess, together with what was with her; and she became a nun. And he took his sons to another religious house, and he did with them even as he had done with their mother, and he sold them to the archimandrite, and handed them over to him; and then he went to another religious house and sold himself to the abbot. And he said unto him, “I want to go into the church by myself,” and the abbot gave him permission to do so. And he went into the church, and shut the door, and he stood up and stretched out his hands towards heaven, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, “O my Lord, Thou knowest that I have come unto Thee with all my heart.” And a voice came unto him, which said, “Behold, I know this, and I have accepted thee with all My mind.” And then he continued to perform all the hard work which had to be done in the monastery, and he made himself the most menial of all the monks; but God exalted him because of his humility, and many miracles appeared through him, and he died in peace. Salutation to Paul who sold his wife, and his children, and himself for the sake of Christ. And on this day also is commemorated the dedication of the church of Suriel the angel. Salutation to the dedication of thine house, which the believers built in Constantinople. And on this day Andrew the apostle performed many miracles, and some of them took place when he was in the city of the Greeks. And our Lord Jesus Christ appeared unto him, saying, “Rise up and depart to Mathias (Matthew) in the Cannibal City, so that thou mayest bring him out of prison, for the men of that city will in three days bring him out to eat him.” And Andrew said unto our Lord, “If this will happen in three days I cannot get there [in time to save him], therefore send an angel to bring him out of prison.” And our Lord answered and said unto Andrew, “Hearken. If I say unto the city ‘Come to Me,’ it, and all those who dwell therein, shall come [to Me]. And as for thee and thy disciple, when the morrow cometh, rise up, and thou shalt find a ship which is ready to sail; embark in it, and it shall bring thee [thither].” And He gave him the salutation “Peace” and went up into heaven in glory. And Andrew rose up, as He had commanded him, and he came to the seashore. And God prepared for him a beautiful ship, and He stayed with him in the form of the captain, and there were two angels there in the forms of sailors. And Andrew went to the ship and found our Lord, Who was disguised as the captain thereof, and he said unto Him, “Peace be unto thee, O Captain”; and our Lord said unto him, “The peace of God be with thee.” And Andrew said unto Him, “Whither goest thou in this ship?” And our Lord said unto him, “To the Cannibal City.” And Andrew said unto Him, “Every man fleeth there from and do Ye travel thither?” And the Captain said unto him, “It is necessary for us to go thither”; and Andrew said unto Him, “I ask Thee to take me”; and the Captain said unto him, “I agree,” and He made them to embark. And as they were traveling on the ship with our Lord as Captain, He asked Andrew many things, and Andrew told Him of many of the miracles of our Lord, not knowing that He was our Lord. And after this the Captain slept, and Andrew and his disciples slept, and at that moment our Lord commanded His angels to take up Andrew, and his two disciples, and to set them down by the seashore. And when Andrew woke up from his dream, and looked at the seashore, and did not find the ship, he marveled greatly; and he said unto his disciples, “O my sons, we were in the ship with our Lord, and did not know it!” And Andrew rose up and prayed, and our Lord appeared unto him coming out of the city in the form of a young man with a noble countenance (or, goodly person), and He said unto him, “Andrew, My beloved, fear not! I did this because thou didst say, ‘We cannot arrive at the city in three days,’ and because I wished thee to know that I have power over everything, and that there is nothing too hard for Me [to do]. Rise up, come into the city, and bring out Matthew from prison, and all those who are with him.” And having said these words He went up into heaven with [great] glory. And Andrew and his two disciples rose up, and came into the city, and no one saw them. When they came to the door of the prison house wherein was Matthew, as soon as they touched the door it opened, and they went in and found Matthew sitting down singing; and Andrew embraced him. And Andrew said unto Matthew, “Thou sayest that after two days they will take thee out, and slay thee like a beast, and eat thy body; but thou hast forgotten those mysteries which we saw with our Lord, and that when we spoke there, the heavens quaked.” And Matthew said unto him, “Behold, I know this, O my brother, but I say that if it be the Will of our Lord, I shall come to an end in this city. Hast thou not heard in the Holy Gospel the words, which say, ‘I send you forth like sheep among wolves?’ But as for me, when they cast me into the prison house I cried unto God, and He revealed Himself unto me, and He said unto me, ‘Fear not: at the end of three days I will send unto you Andrew, and he shall bring thee out from the prison house, thee and all those who are with thee.’ And behold thou hast come; consider what thou wilt do.” And Andrew looked at the men who were in the prison house and were fettered like beasts, and he began to speak and cursed Satan and all his hosts. And Andrew and Matthew made entreaty to God, and He heard their prayer, and they laid their hands on the men who were in the prison house, and they opened their eyes, and their senses returned to them, and they commanded the apostles to go out from the city. And Andrew and Matthew went out on the city road, and they sat down until they knew what would happen. And the men of the city came to the prison house to roast those who were bound therein, and to devour them according to their custom, and they found the gates of the prison house open, and the prisoners not there. And they said, “Woe be unto us! What hath come upon us?” And Satan took the form of a man and spoke unto the men of the city, and the people ran with eagerness and seized Andrew and Matthew, and dragged them along the road of the city, until their blood ran out of them like water, and then they cast them into prison. And the apostles prayed to God, and when they had finished their prayer they drew nigh unto a pillar on which was an image, and they said unto it, “Be afraid of the sign of the Cross which we make over thee, and pour out from beneath thee water in a vast quantity, like unto a flood, upon this city and upon all those who dwell therein.” And there sprang up from beneath it a vast quantity of water, which was exceedingly bitter and like salt, and it threatened to sweep away the city, and all those who were in it. And the men of the city took up their children, and their parents, and wanted to flee there from, but the pillar poured forth more and more water until it reached the necks of the people, and was about to drown them. And they wept, saying, “Woe be unto us! This wrath hath come upon us because of the two excellent men who are servants of God; we will believe in their God.” And Andrew said unto the pillar, “Hold, enough! Behold, the time of the flood hath passed, and the time for sowing seed in the hearts of the men of this city hath come. It is the truth, which I speak unto thee. When I have built a church in this city, I will set thee in it, and they shall decorate thee”; and the water which was flowing from under the image stood (i.e. ceased). And when the men of the city saw that the water had stopped, they went to the apostles and walked with them, and the water receded before them. And the apostles stretched out their hands, and prayed to God, and the earth opened and swallowed up the men who were in the habit of slaying people; and when the multitude saw this they were afraid. And the apostles said unto them, “Fear not, but believe in God, we will not forsake you until we have given you life.” And the apostles prayed again, and they raised from the dead those who had died in the water, and those whom the earth had swallowed up, and they baptized in that water all the men of the city, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. And they administered unto them the Holy Mysteries, and built them a church, and said unto them, “Observe the commandments which we give you until the end of your days, and teach them unto you children who shall come after you, and entreat God to remove from you the laxity which is caused by eating the flesh of men, and to give you understanding so that ye may eat the food of men.” And the apostles performed many miracles and wonders, and they healed many sick folk, and then departed from that city. And Andrew departed to the country of the Greeks with his two disciples. Salutation to Andrew and Matthew.
Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen. |
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