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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 and righteous woman Hannah, the prophetess - mother
of Samuel the prophet. This
holy woman was of the tribe of Levi, and Elkanah, the son of Tarhem (Jeroham)
married her, now he had another wife whose name was Penana (Peninnah), but
Hannah could not bear children because she was barren.
And Peninnah was always reviling Hannah because of her failure to
have children, and because she was barren.
And Hannah wept and would neither eat nor drink, and Elkanah her
husband tried to comfort her, but she would not receive comfort from him. And she went up into the house of God in the days of Eli the
priest, and prayed and wept before God, and vowed a vow to God, saying,
“O God, if thou wilt give me a son, I will dedicate him to Thee.”
And Eli the priest was watching her as she stood praying, and
making supplication silently, for she was praying in her heart; and Eli
the priest thought that she was drunk with wine, and he was wroth with
her, and he rebuked her and said unto her, “Why dost thou drink wine,
and come hither to the house of God?”
And she said unto him, “I have not been drinking wine at all, I
am suffering, but in my heart, because I have no son.” And Eli the priest comforted her, and blessed her, saying,
“Go in peace; the God of Israel shall grant thee thy petition”; and
she believed his word, and she went to her husband, and she conceived and
brought forth a son, and she called his name “Samuel,” which is, being
interpreted, “God hath heard me.”
And when she had taken him from the breasts, she took him up to the
house of the Lord, even as she had vowed, and she brought him to Eli the
priest, and made him to know that she was the woman who had prayed to God
and entreated Him to give her a son.
And she said, “Behold, God hath heard my petition and hath given
me this son; and behold, I have brought him to God so that he may minister
in His house all the days of his life.”
Then she praised God in that well-known hymn of praise, which is
the third of the hymns that are written at the end of the Psalms of David
the prophet. And she lived
after this and was well pleasing unto God, and she died in peace.
Salutation
to Hannah.
And
on this day died Saint Abba Pantaleon of the cell. This holy man was the son of noble folk, who were among the
great ones of Rome, and who sat on the right hand of the emperor.
When his mother had weaned him she took him to a monastery where he
grew up in wisdom and exhortation, and fasting and prayer.
Then he traveled to the country of Ethiopia with Nine Saints in the
days of ‘Al’ameda the king, the son of Sal’Adab the king, and they
lived in Bet Katin. Then they separated, and Abba Pantaleon went up to the top of
a little mountain, and he made himself a cell which was five cubits long,
and two cubits wide, and three cubits deep; its roof was a single stone,
and it had no door, but only a small opening.
And he stood on his feet for a period of five and forty years,
without sitting down, and without lying down to sleep.
He ate and drank so little that his skin cleaved to his bones, and
his eyelashes were worn away by his tears.
And he continued to work innumerable miracles in healing the sick
and in opening the eyes of the blind.
One day he planted a tree at dawn and by the time the evening came
it had grown very tall, and had dried up, and his disciple had prepared
(?) it and burned it, and tied up the charcoal in his garment and taken it
for the censer. When Caleb was going forth to wage war against another king,
he came to Abba Pantaleon and embraced his cell, and told him his trouble.
And Abba Pantaleon said, “Go in peace, for God is able to do all
things, and He shall give thee victory over thy enemy”; and to return
safely and in peace. When
Caleb the king had come to the country of Saba, he made war on the people
thereof, and he slew them all and conquered them, and there were not left
any who were not scattered like leaves.
And all those who saw Saint Abba Pantaleon testified concerning
him, saying, “We saw Abba Pantaleon standing with us in battle, and he
was overthrowing our enemies.” When
Caleb the king returned, having conquered the King of Judah, he forsook
his kingdom, and became a monk with Abba Pantaleon.
When Saint Abba Pantaleon had finished his strife, our Lord Jesus
Christ came to him and made a covenant with him concerning him that should
call upon his name, and celebrate his commemoration, and write an account
of his contending; and He said unto him, “It is now sufficient for thee;
go to thy rest.” And straightway his bones broke and he died in peace and was
buried in his cell. Salutation
to Abba Pantaleon as the perfect man. Salutation,
twofold, to Abba Pantaleon who caused the death of 5050 warriors in the
battle. Salutation
to Abba Pantaleon in his cell. And
on this day also the saints Rewak and Antonius, Bishop of Bana, became
martyrs. Salutation to the
same. And
on this day also is commemorated Habakkuk the prophet, the interpretation
of which name is “Teacher.” This
holy man was of the tribe of Simeon.
Joseph begat Yosafet. He
saw and prophesied before the Captivity that the King of Babylon and his
soldiers would surround Jerusalem and destroy the Temple; and he wept much
and groaned greatly because thereof.
When Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon came to Jerusalem and
besieged it, this righteous man fled to the country of Mestirakina, and he
departed seeking for the land of Ishmael.
And when the captives returned from the city of the Chaldeans, that
is to say, those who had gone thither from the city of Jerusalem and from
Egypt, this righteous man was living in his own habitation, and was
ministering unto those who were gathering in the harvest from the fields.
When he had taken food to carry to the reapers, he spake unto the
men of his house, saying, “I am obliged to go to a city which is afar,
but I will return speedily. If I tarry, take some food for the reapers and carry it to
them.” And as he was going
along having with him the food which he was to carry to the reapers,
straightway the angel of God seized him by the hair of his head, whilst
the food was still with him, and brought him to the cave of the city of
Babylon wherein Daniel the prophet lived, now he was lying down before the
lions, and Habakkuk brought the food to him and he ate.
Then the angel took him by his hand and brought him back to the
land of Israel, and straightway he stood up by the side of the reapers who
were still eating their meal. And
he never told any man what had happened to him.
He thought that the people would return speedily from the city of
Babylon, but he died and was buried in the tomb of his fathers many years
before the return of the people. This
prophet prophesied to the men of the country of Judah, saying, “Ye will
most certainly see the Gentiles despoiling the sanctuary.” and it came
to pass even as he said. And he also prophesied and said unto them, “Ye shall
afterwards see the glory of God.” And
he also prophesied and said, “The sanctuary shall be rooted up, and
shall be given unto an alien people.”
And he said, “The covenant of the altar shall be rent and shall
be split up into small fragments, and the top of two pillars shall be
carried away, and none shall know whither they have gone.
And the angel must take them into the place wherein is planted the
wood of the Cross of their Lord, so that God may be known in the desert,
and He shall judge those who war against them, the Serpent of olden
time.” And everything has
been fulfilled even as he prophesied. [See Habakkuk 2, 3.] And
on this day also Saint Dionysius, Bishop of the city of Athens, became a
martyr. This holy man was a
native of Athens, and he excelled all the men thereof in honor (or glory),
and in understanding, and in wisdom, and in learning; now he was one of
the counselors in the Council of learned judges in the city of Athens.
Paul the apostle taught him, and baptized him with Christian
baptism, and made him Bishop of the city of Athens.
And he composed many discourses, and among these was one for the
eve of the Sabbath (Friday), which treated of the Crucifixion of our Lord
Jesus Christ. One day this
holy man was sitting in the House of Wisdom of the city of Athens (now it
was the day whereon the learned were to hold a meeting therein), and he
was sitting upon the throne of state, for he was the chief of all the wise
men, and the other wise men were assembling, and at the moment of noon the
sun became dark, and the earth quaked, and all the people were terrified
and feared greatly. And they
asked Saint Dionysius and said unto him, “Master, make us to know what
hath happened in the world.” And
he took up a book about the world of nature, and he looked at the balance
in his mind and understanding, and he enquired concerning the rising of
the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and he found that they were all in a
settled state, and that they had not moved from their courses.
Similarly he looked at the great sea and saw that it was
surrounding all the ends of the world, and he found that it too was in a
state of peace and quietness. Then
he took up an astrolabe and looked into it, and behold God, ‘El-Maknun,
that is to say, the “Hidden,” the Creator of the heavens and the
earth, came down from the heavens upon earth.
And His own people rose up against Him, and crucified Him.
And straightway he rent his garments and sorrowed with a great
sorrow. And the councilors
and the wise and learned noblemen asked him to reveal unto them what had
appeared unto him in respect of the darkness which had taken place at
noon, and concerning the earthquake; and he told them everything which had
taken place; and when they heard this they feared with a great fear.
And he commanded his disciple Josephus to write down everything
that had happened during that hour, and the name of that day, and the name
of that month, and the name of that year; and Josephus wrote down
everything that happened according to the command of Dionysius.
And he also wrote upon all the gates of their idols which were in
their houses, “God ‘El-Maknun, that is to say, the ‘Hidden,’ hath
come down from heaven.” After
fourteen years the Apostle Paul came to the city of Athens, and he
preached therein, by the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Living God - blessed be His Name! [And
he preached how He came down] from heaven, and His Incarnation by our Lady
Saint Mary the Virgin, and His Passion, and His Crucifixion, and His
Resurrection, and His Ascension into heaven, and His second coming to
judge the living and the dead. When
the men of Athens heard the preaching of Saint Paul the Apostle, they
marveled exceedingly and they ran and told Saint Dionysius about it.
And they said unto him, “A certain man came into our city this
day, and preached unto us a new god whom we do not know, and whom our
fathers before us did not know.” And
Dionysius sent a messenger who brought the Apostle Paul to him, and he
said unto him, “Who is this new god whom thou hast preached in our
city?” And the Apostle Paul
answered and said unto him, “Whilst I was passing through the open
spaces of your city I found written upon the doors of the houses of your
idols the words, ‘God ‘El-Maknun,’ that is to say, the ‘Hidden
God,’ hath come down from heaven; this is He of Whom I have preached
unto you.” And straightway
Saint Dionysius commanded his disciple [Josephus] to bring unto him that
document which he had written fourteen years ago; and he brought it to
him. And Dionysius asked the
Apostle Paul, saying, “When was the sign of Him Whom thou preachest
[made known]?’ And Saint
Paul the Apostle answered and said unto him, “On Friday, in the month of
Adar, which is the seventeenth day of the month Megabit, at noon, our Lord
Jesus Christ was crucified, and the sun became dark, and the earth quaked
at that moment.” When they
heard this they all believed on our Lord Jesus Christ, and they bowed down
at the feet of the Apostle Paul, and he baptized them with Christian
baptism, and he made Saint Dionysius bishop over them.
Now this Saint Dionysius is he who translated the Ordinances of the
Church. After this he went to
the borders of the West in the days of the Apostles, and he performed many
signs and wonders. And the
Emperor Domitian, the infidel, seized him and inflicted severe tortures
upon him, and then he cut off his holy head with the sword; and Dionysius
received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of heaven.
After they had cut off his head he walked to stadium holding his
head in his hands. And the
Emperor Domitian also cut off the heads of Josephus and Urianus, the
disciples of Saint Dionysius. Salutation
to Dionysius, the friend of ‘Entona (Antonius), Bishop of the city of
Bana. Salutation
to Josephus and Urianus. On
this day also ‘Entona (Antonius), Bishop of the city of Bana, became a
martyr. And
on this day also is commemorated Enos, the son of Seth, who was the first
to call upon God. He lived
190 years and begat Cainan; and all the days of his life were 620 years,
and he died at the beginning of the Sabbath. Salutation
to Hermolaus the priest, and to his brother Heracletus, and to his
brother, the bishop, and to Pantaleon who, when he prayed whilst the king
was cutting off their heads, caused an earthquake.
Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen.
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