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THE SECOND
MONTH IN THE NAME
OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, On this day died the holy Apostle Philip who was one of the
seventy-two disciples. This
holy man was a native of the city of Caesarea of the Philistines, and when
our Lord Jesus Christ passed through the city of Caesarea He taught
therein. And when the holy
man heard His doctrine, he believed in Him, and submitted to His commands,
and followed Him straightway. And
of those who followed Him our Lord chose seventy-two disciples, and sent
them out to preach, and to heal the sick, and this man was among their
number; and He chose [also] Twelve Apostles, [and] of their number were
the seven deacons whom He appointed for them.
And this holy man preached in the cities of Samaria and baptized
[men therein] with Christian baptism.
And he baptized Simon the magician, who perished when he wished to
buy with money the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto this disciple Philip, and
he commanded him to go by the way of the country of Gazu.
And he rose up and went there, and he found the eunuch, the steward
of Hendake (Candace), the Queen of Ethiopia, and he was reading in the
Book of Isaiah the Prophet. And
the words which he was reading said, “Like a sheep he came to his
slaughter, and like a sheep that bleats not before him that will shear
him” (Isaiah, 7 (53:7)); and this disciple Philip explained to him the
meaning of the words which he was reading. And he said unto him, “This is a prophecy concerning our
Lord Jesus Christ, Who suffered of His own free will for the salvation of
man.” And the eunuch
believed through Philip the disciple, and he asked him to baptize him, and
Philip did so. After he had
baptized him the angel of the Lord carried Philip the disciple to the city
of ‘Azdad and he preached therein.
And he departed to Asia, and there he preached the Gospel, and
there were four sons who preached with him.
And having converted many of the Jews and Samaritans, and other
peoples, and brought them into the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, he died
in peace. Salutation to
Philip and to his four sons who prophesied. And on this day also died the holy Father Moses, the man of God.
This holy man was a native of the city of Byzantium; his father’s
name was Euphemianus, and his mother’s name was Aglaias.
And they were exceedingly rich, and their possessions were very
many, and their slaves were more numerous than those of any others of
their family, and they were arrayed in rich apparel, which was embroidered
in gold, and they wore girdles of gold.
And they feared God and performed His commandments, and they fasted
every day until the ninth hour, and they only ate once in the day, and
then it was with the poor and the needy.
And they had no children, and they used to entreat God the Most
High to give them a son, blessed and good, who should do God’s good
pleasure. And God heard their
petition and gave them a son who was very handsome in person, and the
grace of God was upon him. And
they rejoiced in him with a great joy, and they made great festival for
the poor and needy, and they multiplied their well doing.
And they called that son Moses, which being interpreted is “man
of God”; for God heard their petition for him.
And they brought him up very piously, and they taught him all kinds
of learning and spiritual wisdom. When
the child had grown up, his father Euphemianus said unto his wife Aglaias,
“Behold our son Moses hath arrived at man’s estate, and it is meet
that we should give him in marriage to a wife.”
And his mother rejoiced at these words, and they betrothed him to a
daughter of one of the nobles of the city of Byzantium, whose person was
exceedingly beautiful. And
they made a great feast to celebrate his marriage, and they decorated the
church of God, that is to say Hagia Sofia in the city of Byzantium.
And they made Moses to stand with his wife before the Tabernacle,
and they crowned him with the holy crown of matrimony, and they received
the Holy Mysteries and they came to their house in peace. And Euphemianus said unto his friend, “Tell the bridegroom
to come into the marriage-chamber to his bride, and let him rejoice in her
after the manner of men.” When
Moses the man of God heard this word, he came into the marriage-chamber,
and he saw the maiden, and he marveled at her person exceedingly, and he
praised God, and blessed Him, and he thought within himself, saying,
“Will not all this beauty of person pass away and decay and become
dust?” And he entreated God to guide him into the path of the
kingdom of the heavens. And
he said unto the maiden, “Peace be unto thee, O my sister, thou noble
maiden!” And he stripped
himself of his glorious apparel and gave it unto her, and said unto her,
“Have me in remembrance, O my noble sister, until we meet again before
our Lord Jesus Christ.” And
having said this unto her he went forth from her and he departed by road
until he came to a city, which is on the seashore.
And he went into the city, and sold all his raiment, and gave the
price thereof to the poor and needy, and he dressed himself in rags like
the beggars and he went from one place to another begging bread and eating
it, until he came to the city of Roha (Edessa).
And he went into the church in the city wherein is the picture of
our Lord Jesus Christ which our Lord sent unto Eugyanos, the King of Roha
(Edessa), and he prayed before the picture of our Lady Mariyam and was
blessed by her. And he gave
thanks unto God, the Most High, and he went out of the church and sat down
with the poor and needy, and he lived upon the bread of charity.
He fasted always until the evening, and he prayed by day and by
night, and wept without ceasing. When
his father and his mother came into the marriage-chamber, and did not find
their son Moses, their joy was changed to sorrow.
Then Euphemianus called his servants, and gave them much gold, and
he said unto them, “Go ye into every city and country, two of you into
each city, and give alms to the poor from that gold for the sake of my son
Moses.” And two of his
father’s servants came to Moses, and gave him alms with the [other]
beggars. Now Saint Moses knew
these servants, but they did not know him, and he said, “I give thanks
unto Thee, O my Lord God, that Thou hast esteemed me fit for this great
honor, that is for me to receive alms from the hands of my father’s
servants for the love of Thy Name.”
Now his father’s servants continued to go round about through
many cities for many days [seeking him].
After they had returned to Euphemianus their lord, the father of
Saint Moses, the man of God, they said unto him, “We have come into
every city and we have not found thy son.”
And Saint Moses, the man of God, was fasting two days at a time,
and then three days at a time, until at length he did not eat at all
except on the First Day of the week.
After this our Lady Mariyam appeared unto one of the righteous
elders among the priests of that church, and she said unto him, “Go
outside the church, and say unto that man who is standing by the pillar,
‘Come, O man of God,’ and bring him into the sanctuary for his
fasting, and his prayer, and his righteousness have ascended like the
sweet-smelling incense into heaven.”
And on the following day that priest came to him at the moment when
they were offering up the Offering upon the altar, and asked him to come
into the sanctuary. And Moses
wept and entreated him, saying, “Forgive me, O my father!
I am a sinner, and I am not worthy to stand in the holy place.”
And the priest said unto him, “O man of God, come into the
sanctuary, for I am sent unto thee”; and he told him how our Holy Lady
the Virgin Mariyam had appeared unto him, and how she had spoken unto him
concerning him. And Moses
said unto him, “I am a sinful man, and the greatest sinner in all the
world.” After this he rose
up to go to the city of Tarses, which is the city of Paul the Apostle, and
he said, “I will dwell herein until the day of my death.”
Then he thought in his heart and said, “Verily this is the Will
of our Lord Jesus Christ; the Name of the Lord is living.
I will not hide myself from any man, and I will not separate myself
from the gates of my father’s house, for who is there among the people
here who will know me?” So he went to his father’s house. And as he was going along he saw his father and very many men
following him, and Moses, the man of God, went and laid hold of the bridle
of his father’s horse as he was sitting on it, and he said unto him,
“O good and blessed man, may God forgive thee thy sins, and grant thee
the petition of thy heart. Know
now that I am a pilgrim and a stranger, if thou wishest to feed me with
the broken meats of thy table, God the Merciful will magnify thy reward,
if thou wilt have mercy upon my poverty and my wandering.”
When Euphemianus heard these words he thought of the wandering of
his son Moses, the man of God, and tears burst from his eyes and he
groaned within himself. And
he took Moses with him into the house, and he commanded his servants to
give him a seat before the door of the house, and they did for him even as
he had commanded, and he commanded one of his slaves to serve him.
And Moses, the man of God, said unto that slave, “I entreat thee,
O my brother, to bring me food and drink only on the First Day of the
week, and then only bring me a part of a loaf of bread and a cup of water,
after I have received the Holy Mysteries.”
And he continued to lead this life of self-abnegation and strife
for a period of twelve years, sitting at the door of his father’s house.
And God wished to remove him from the toil of this world, and our
Lord Jesus Christ appeared unto him, and said unto him, “Blessed art
thou, O Moses, My chosen one, for thou hast done My good pleasure, and
thou hast loved sorrow far more than joy, and thou hast forsaken riches
and sought after poverty. I, even I, say unto thee, that everyone who hath called upon
thy name, or hath celebrated thy commemoration, or hath fed the hungry on
the day of thy commemoration, or hath given the thirsty to drink, or hath
clothed the naked, or hath written the book of thy strife, I will reward
them with a splendid reward in the kingdom of the heavens; and in this
world I will protect them from all evil, and I will not permit them to
lack any good thing. And now,
O my beloved Moses, thou man of God, after four days I will take thy soul
from thy body, and I will set thee with the souls of the righteous, and of
the prophets, and apostles, and martyrs.”
And having said these words He gave him “peace,” and went up
into heaven. When the holy
man saw this vision he rejoiced and was exceedingly glad.
And he said unto that slave who ministered unto him, “Bring
hither to me paper and ink, and henceforward thou wilt have rest from
labor for me”; and the slave marveled at his words and brought him the
paper and ink. And Moses, the
man of God, wrote the full history of his strife, from the beginning even
unto the end thereof. On the
fourth day he took the paper, which he had written in his hand, and he
died on the First Day of the week, and his soul went up into the heavens,
and the angels and the righteous, and the martyrs, and the prophets, and
the apostles welcomed it, saying, “Hallelujah! Redeemer our God”, and
they came into the heavens. And
all the people were gathered together in the church at the time of the
consecration [of the Offering], and they heard a voice above the altar
crying out, and saying, “Blessed are the good servants who have
performed the commandments and the ordinances of their Lord, for they are
in joy for ever.” When the
archbishops, and priests, and deacons, and bishops, and all the people
heard this voice, great fear, and severe quaking fell upon them until the
end of the consecration; and they received the Holy Mysteries.
And afterwards the archbishops, and all the priests, and the people
entreated our Lord Jesus Christ to reveal unto them this mystery.
And straightway a voice was heard which said, “Rejoice with
Moses, the man of God, in the house of Euphemianus, for behold, he hath
delivered up his soul into the hand of God.”
And when the archbishop heard this, he called Euphemianus and said
unto him, “This great joy which dwelt in thy house; Why didst thou not
inform me about him so that we might have visited him during his life and
been blessed by him.” And
Euphemianus answered and said unto him, “Thy holy prayer is certain.
Thou must know, O holy father, that I did not know that the like of
this man existed in my house.” And
straightway the archbishops, and the priests, and all the people went to
the house of Euphemianus, and they found Moses, the man of God, where he
died with the paper in his hand. And
the archbishop took the paper out of his hand, and he read it before all
the people until he came to his name, which was Moses, the man of God, the
son of Euphemianus and his mother Aglaias.
When his father and his mother heard this they wept bitterly.
Then the archbishop wrapped him in silk cloths, and they took him
and carried him into the church and laid him in the sanctuary until all
the people and the priests had been blessed by him.
And immediately very many sick people came, the deaf and the blind,
and they all received a blessing from his holy body, and they were all
healed of their sicknesses. When
the people became very many his father was afraid that they would overturn
the body of the saint from his bier, and he commanded his servants to
scatter money among the people. And
the servants scattered much gold in order that they might leave the body
of the saint, but they would not go after the gold, and no man ever
returned afterwards to the gold. After
this they laid the body of the saint in the great church of the Apostles
Peter and Paul. And many miracles took place through his body, the blind were
made to see, and the dumb became able to speak, and the sick were healed,
and the lame walked, and the deaf heard, and the lepers were cleansed, and
from those who were possessed of devils the devils went out.
[Salutation to] Moses, whose name is written on a pillar of gold in
the Jerusalem of the heavens. And on this day also died Saint Gabra Krestos, the son of
Theodosius, Emperor of Constantine. Now
Theodosius was a God-loving man and one who feared God, and his wife was a
good and God-fearing woman, and her name was Markiza; and they were
sorrowful because they had no son. And
they went to Jerusalem, and they made vows, and they made supplication to
God, and He heard them and gave them a son, and they called his name
‘Abd Almasih, that is to say, Gabra Krestos.
And they taught him every kind of learning on the earth, and there
was nothing, which he did not learn.
Afterwards they married him to a princess of Rome, and they brought
to him the bride, and they performed for him all the ceremonies, which are
wont to be performed for the bridegroom and bride.
And at midnight Gabra Krestos took the bride by the hand, and they
made a covenant together, and then they recited the prayer of
belief--”We believe in one God”--to the end thereof.
Then he stripped off himself the marriage-garments, and dressed
himself in coarse apparel, and he went to the bride and kissed her head,
and he bade her farewell, saying unto her, “God be with thee, and
deliver thee from every evil work of Satan.”
And she wept and said unto him, “Whither goest thou?
And to whom wilt thou leave me?”
And he said unto her, “I have thee to God, and I am going to
follow Christ, for my father’s kingdom is a transitory thing.
Remember thou thine oath”; and straightway she was silent and
remembered her oath. And he went forth by night whilst those who belonged to the
marriage-chamber were sleeping, and he came to the sea-shore where he
found certain men who were about to sail, and they took him with them.
And when his father and his mother went into the marriage-chamber,
and found only the bride and not the bridegroom, they said unto her,
“Where is our son?” And
she said unto them, “He came in to me in the night, and made me swear an
oath, and made a covenant with me, and he kissed my head, and went away
from me, and I have passed the night weeping.”
When they heard her words, they fell down upon the ground, on their
faces, and they groaned, and uttered loud cries of grief and lamentation.
And the Emperor Theodosius sent out five hundred of his servants to
seek his son, and he gave them much gold to distribute among the poor in
alms. Now Gabra Krestos
arrived in the country of Armenia after a journey of one year.
And there was a church built in the name of our Lady Mariyam, and
he lived there for five years fasting and keeping vigil.
And two envoys, servants of his father, arrived there, and they
searched for him but were unable to hear any news of him; and they gave
alms to the poor, and Gabra Krestos himself received some of them.
After he had dwelt there for five and twenty years, our holy Lady
the Virgin Mariyam appeared unto certain priest, and she said unto him,
“Take the man of God with thee, and let his habitation be inside [the
church]”; and he did as she had commanded him.
And Gabra Krestos said, “My Lady, why dost thou reveal my
secret?” And he bade
farewell to her picture (or image) and he departed by night and came to
the seashore, where he found a ship in which he embarked.
Now he wished to depart to another country, but by the Will of God
he arrived at his father’s city, and he dwelt there of fifteen years and
no man recognized him. And
his father’s servants used to make sport of him; but Saint Gabra Krestos
said, “[O God] punish not my father’s servants for their offence, but
take me to Thyself”; and thus saying he died, and they buried him with
honor. As they were burying
him they found a paper grasped tightly in his hand and they were unable to
remove it, and they prayed together to the God of heaven; and when they
had prayed the paper was released from his hand, and they read it, and
they knew that he was their son. Then
they wept bitterly, and they buried him, and his tomb became a place where
the sick were healed, and where the blind [were made to see], and where
many miracles were wrought, and where countless acts of grace were
performed. Salutation to
Gabra Krestos, whose sores the dogs licked in the courtyard of his
father’s house. And on this day also is commemorated our holy Father Aragawi, who
is surnamed Za-Mikael. This
holy man became a guide to the servants of God on the road.
And he went up to the holy Dabra Damo holding the tail of a
serpent, and there he fought countless noble fights.
And God graciously made a covenant with him concerning the man who
should call upon his name, and the man who should celebrate his
commemoration, and then he was hidden from the face of death by the grace
of God. He established among
his children the Rules for the Monastic Life, which he had learned in the
house of his father Pachomius. Salutation
to Za-Mikael who was surnamed “’Aragawi.” And on this day also are commemorated Tarakwa the martyr, and
those who were with him, and Damatius, and Emraya the martyr, and the four
hundred and thirty-one martyrs who were with her.
Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen.
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