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THE
TWELVETH
MONTH IN THE NAME
OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, On this day died the great prophet Malachi. This righteous man was the completion of the Twelve Minor Prophets, and he was one of the Twelve. And he prophesied at the time of the return of the people from captivity in Babylon to Jerusalem. And he rebuked the children of Israel because of their transgression against God and His Law, and also because of their vile offerings, which they offered unto Him, for they did not give the tithe of their goods, nor their first fruits, as God commanded them. And God spoke unto them, by the tongue of this prophet, the reproach of God, and He said unto them, “Do mercy, give alms to the poor, and testify ye to Me by giving tithe and first-fruits. I will open to you the doors of heaven, and will bring down unto you blessings, so that at length ye shall say, ‘It sufficeth us, it sufficeth us,’ . . . [And I will rebuke] the caterpillar, and the worm, and the wire-worm, and the moth, so that they may not devour the fruits of your land.” And he prophesied concerning the coming of John the Baptist, before our Redeemer, and concerning the coming of Elias before him, and also concerning the end of the world. And he prophesied concerning the habit of boasting among the Jews, and revealed to them that there were [other] people on the earth, and priests and righteous men who offered up incense and sacrifices to God, which were accepted. And having pleased God by his strife, and ended the days of his prophecy, he departed to God Whom he loved. And on this day also is celebrated the commemoration of Abba Moses, Bishop of the city of Farma. Salutation to Moses, pillar of the city of Farma. And on this day also Andrew performed a miracle when our Lord appeared unto him in the form of the captain of a ship, and taught him the craft of a spirit ship. And Andrew said unto our Lord, “Take me up into Thy ship, but we have no money [to pay] the ship’s fare. Our Lord commanded us not to carry gold and silver in our wallet.” And our Lord said unto Andrew, “If it be thus, come up into My ship”; and Andrew and his disciples went up into the ship. And the Lord commanded one of the angels to bring three bread-cakes, and he did so, and our Lord Jesus commanded Andrew, saying, “Rise up and eat ye bread so that thou mayest be able to support the journey by sea”; and Andrew marveled. And he said, “God give thee the bread of life in the kingdom of the heavens.” And the disciples of Andrew could neither speak nor eat food through fear of the waves of the sea, and they were not used to travel by sea. And our Lord Jesus Christ said unto Andrew, “Tell thy disciples to go back to the shore, for they appear to be timid, and if thou wilt not [do this], teach them with pleasant words [not] to be afraid--if thou art a disciple of God--for behold, the ship is far from land”; and [then] the Lord Jesus departed, and sailed the ship. And Andrew taught his disciples, and encouraged them, and prayed in his heart, and having prayed they fell into a heavy sleep; and Andrew rejoiced because of this. Then Andrew turned to our Lord, and said unto Him, “Verily thou art a master-sailor! Fourteen [times] have I traveled by sea, and I never saw any man sail a ship as Thou dost.” And our Lord Jesus answered and said unto him, “When we sail on the sea we often suffer tribulation, but since thou art a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, the sea recognizeth thee, and doth not make its waves to rise up against thee.” And Andrew cried out with a loud voice, saying, “I bless Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, that I have spoken to a man who praiseth Thee.” And our Lord Jesus answered and said unto Andrew, “Tell me, O disciple of God, why do the Jews [not] believe that Jesus is the Son of God, for,” He continued, “we have heard that He hath performed many miracles.” And Andrew said unto Him, “Yea, my brother, He revealed unto us that He was God, and He performed miracles innumerable; He opened the eyes of the blind, He made the lame to walk, He made the deaf to hear, He raised the dead, He cleansed the lepers, He turned water into wine, and He took five bread-cakes and two fishes, and having commanded the multitudes to sit down upon the grass, He brake them, and of what was left over they gathered up many baskets full; yet, in spite of this, [the Jews] have not believed.” And our Lord Jesus said unto him, “Doth He do this in public or in private?” And Andrew said unto Him, “Some things He doeth publicly, and some privately; but it seemeth to me that Thou art trying me.” And the Lord Jesus said unto him, “Far be it from Me so to do! Tell Me, O my brother, that My soul may rejoice.” And Andrew said unto Him, “O my son, may God fulfill for Thee every good work. But now hearken to a miracle, which the Lord performed when we, the Twelve Disciples, were with Him, and likewise many of the chief priests, and many of the people. We came unto the synagogue, and our Lord saw two images, one on the right of the house, and one on the left thereof. And our Lord said, ‘Do ye see that there are similitude of the Cherubim and Seraphim in the heavens, which have been made by a man on earth?’ And He turned to one image, and said unto it, ‘Unto thee, I speak, O similitude of heavenly beings which was made by an artificer. . .come down from thy place, and revile the chief priests, and declare whether I be God or man.’ And straightway the image leaped down, and spoke like a man, and said, ‘O ye foolish Jews, whose blindness is not enough for yourselves, but who wish to make others blind, why do you say that He Who is God is a man? This is He Who hath fashioned man in the beginning, and who gave him His own breath to breathe. This is He Who made Abraham and Who brought back Jacob to his native land. This is He who giveth blessing unto those who call upon Him, and Who prepareth punishment for those who do [not] submit to Him. Verily I say unto you that ye have denied God, and have changed the Law. Behold, therefore, your synagogue shall be destroyed, and shall become a church in the Name of the Only Son of God.’ And having said these words and others like unto them the image held its peace. And we answered the chief priests and said unto them, ‘Behold, the image hath spoken unto you and reviled you.’ And the chief priests and the Jews said unto us, ‘this hath been done by magic. The image spoke of Abraham, but where could it have found Abraham, for it is many days since Abraham died.’ And the Lord Jesus turned to the image and said unto it, ‘they do not believe that I have spoken to Abraham. Go and say this to Abraham, “Thus saith He Who formed man at the creation, and Who made thee His friend: Rise up, thou and Isaac and Jacob thy sons, and come forth! Come ye and rebuke the chief priests and make them to know that ye know Me.”’ And when the image heard these words it rose up, now we were all looking on, and it went to the land of Canaan, to the grave of Abraham, and it stood up outside the tomb, and cried out as our Lord had told it [to do]. And straightway the Twelve Fathers came out from the tomb, and said unto the image, ‘Unto which of us wast thou sent?’ And the image answered and said unto them, ‘I was sent to the three fathers of the people; as for you get ye back until the time of the Resurrection’; and when they heard this they re-entered their tombs. And the three fathers went with the image to the chief priests and the Jews, and they chided them, and told them that He was the Son of God. And then the Lord Jesus said unto the fathers, ‘Depart ye to your places and sleep.’ And again He turned to the image and said unto it, ‘Return to thy place,’ and it went back to its place, and became as it was before. And although the chief priests saw this they did not believe. Now there are very many other things which our Lord did, O my brother, and if I were to begin to narrate them to thee I should never come to the end of the telling.” And our Lord Jesus answered and said unto him, “I am able to complete the telling, and every hidden word, and every word of the Faith. For the wise few words suffice, but if I were to tell them to the fool, his soul would not believe [them] until he died.” And then when the ship was approaching the coast and was nigh to arrive they held their peace. Now whilst our Lord Jesus was talking to Andrew, He pretended to be sleepy, and He lay down and slept; and Andrew seeing Him lie down lay down himself and slept. And our Lord Jesus commanded the angels to take up and carry away Andrew and his disciples, and they went and laid them down outside the city where they wished [to be]. And when the day came, and Andrew woke up and opened his eyes, and saw the gates of the city, and knew that he was on land, he was greatly frightened; and he woke up his disciples, and said unto them, “What did our Lord do unto us at sea? We did not recognize Him, for He turned His face into that of a man; it was He Who appeared unto us when He was giving us counsel.” And they said unto him, “Whilst we were asleep we saw our Lord sitting upon the throne of His glory, and all His angels were surrounding Him. And we saw Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the saints, and David playing upon his harp and [other] instruments of music; and we saw the Twelve Apostles standing before our Lord, and there were twelve angels before Him, and many other angels behind Him. And we heard the Lord saying unto the angels, ‘Hearken unto the Apostles in everything which they shall say unto you.’” And when Andrew heard this, he rejoiced greatly that his disciples were held to be worthy to see this wonderful thing. And then he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, I knew that Thou wast not far from Thy servants. Forgive me, O my Lord, because that when I was talking to Thee on the ship it seemed to me that Thou wast a man whom I could instruct.” And our Lord Jesus appeared unto Andrew a second time, and He said unto him, “I am He Who appeared unto thee on the ship in the form of the captain of the ship, and I steered thee over the sea. Fear not, neither be dismayed, for I will be with thee.” And having said these words He went up into heaven in great glory, and Andrew departed on his way. Salutation to Andrew.
Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen. |
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