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THE SECOND
MONTH IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, ONE GOD. AMEN. On this
day died the holy father Abba Simeon, the fifty-first archbishop of the
city of Alexandria. This
father was the son of one of the elders of the city of Alexandria, and his
parents were Orthodox Christians. From
his earliest childhood he sucked the milk of the Orthodox Faith, and he
learned the doctrine of the Church. And
he determined within himself to assume the monastic garb, and he went out
from the city of Alexandria and departed to the desert of Scete, and he
became a monk in the monastery of Abba Jacob, who was archbishop before
him. And he dwelt with him
many days, and he made his body to be emaciated through the strenuousness
of his ascetic exercises, and by his excessive contending.
And when Abba Macarius, the second of the name, was appointed
archbishop, he received from Abba Jacob the story of his bold strife, and
of the strenuousness of his ascetic practices, and he dwelt with him until
Abba Jacob his father died. And
he chose many priests, and the bishops and priests and deacons assembled
together, and all the elders, and Divine Love moved them, and they made
this holy father Abba Simeon archbishop because they saw the excellences
of his natural disposition and character.
When they saw that he had dwelt with the two archbishops who
preceded him, they seized him, and they made him archbishop on the throne
of Saint Mark, apostle and evangelist.
In administering his see he followed the Divine path, and he was
well pleasing unto God, and he protected his people in the keeping of the
Law of the Right Faith. During
the days of his rule the Church was quiet and at peace.
And this father fell sick of a grievous disease in his foot, and he
entreated God to give him rest from the pain thereof; he only remained in
his office for five months and a half, and he died in peace. And on
this day the new Saint George became a martyr.
And on
this day also are commemorated Nineveh and its people and its tribes, and
Macarius, and Theophilus, and Eumara, and Gregory, bishop of Armenia, and
Saint Theodora, the daughter of the Emperor Arcadius, the son of
Theodosius the Great. Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen.
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