Hedar 5

THE THIRD MONTH
HEDAR 05
(November 14)

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT,
ONE GOD. AMEN.

On this day appeared the head of Saint Longinus, master of the spear, who pierced the side of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was hanging on the wood of the Cross. Now the Emperor Tiberius Caesar sent [soldiers] to the country of Cappadocia, and they cut off the head of Saint Longinus on the twenty-third day of the month Hamle (July-Aug.). And the head of the holy man and his body were cast out on the ground, and the soldier who had come from the emperor to cut off his head took it and carried the head away with him to Jerusalem and gave it to Pilate the Pontinian. And Pilate the governor showed the head to the Jews, who rejoiced and were glad at his death. And Pilate commanded his soldiers to bury the head of the holy man in a certain hill, which was outside the city of Jerusalem, and they went and buried the head there. And after many days there [came] a certain woman from the country of Cappadocia, and she had become a believer through Saint Longinus when he preached in the country of Cappadocia; and when they cut off his head with a sword she was standing by looking on and weeping. Now by the Will of God the eyes of the woman became blind, and she took her son and departed to Jerusalem so that she might be blessed [through visiting] the holy places, and to pray and prostrate herself to the ground in them and at the tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ, that peradventure her eyes might be opened. When she came to Jerusalem her son died, and her sorrow was increased by the death of her son, and by her blindness, and by the impossibility of her returning to her native country. And she wept bitterly, and as she was weeping she fell asleep in her sorrow, and in her sleep she saw Saint Longinus, and with him was her son who was dead, and he said unto her, “Go to such and such a place and take my head from there.” When she awoke from her sleep she enquired concerning that place, and certain men brought her to it, and when she dug there a sweet odor, which was exceedingly fragrant, rose up to her. When she came to the place where the head of the saint was a great light was revealed to her, and straightway her eyes were opened and she saw clearly, and she praised God. And she removed the head of the saint, and laid scented unguent upon it, and she placed it by the body of her son. And she departed to her own country glorifying God and praising Saint Longinus. Salutation to Longinus who was crowned in Rome.

And on this day also are commemorated Timothy the martyr; and the translation of the body of Saint Theodore the martyr, a captain of soldiers of the city of Setb, in the province of Asyut in Upper Egypt; and the dedication of a church to him wherein great signs and wonders took place through his body; and Abba Yohanni. Salutation to Timothy the martyr. Salutation to Yohanni, who was a companion of those who traveled to the country of the healthy ones. Salutation to the translation of thy body, O Theodore, who when God wished to destroy the earth with a flood, didst command the sea, and its waters withdrew.

Glory be to God Who is glorified in His Saints. Amen.