Our father Paul the Confessor, archbishop of Constantinople, was frequently exiled by the Arians because of his adherence to the Nicene faith, and was as often restored to dignity. Finally, he was sent by Constantius the emperor to Cucusum, a small village in Cappadocia. There, it is said, he was strangled in a conspiracy of the Arians in the year 351. St. Athanasius the Great, a contemporary of St. Paul, writes briefly about his exiles, “St. Paul the first time was sent by Constantine to Pontus, the second time he was fettered with chains by Constantius, and then he was locked up in Mesopotamian Syngara and from there moved to Emesus, and the fourth time to Cappadocian Cucusus in the Taurian wilderness.”
The Church sees you among her priests as another Paul because of your confession of the divine faith. The blood of Abel and Zechariah calls for you to the Lord. O venerable father, pray to Christ our God to grant great mercy to our souls.
You shone over the earth like a heavenly star, and now you enlighten the universal Church. For her sake, you suffered, shed your blood and made a gift of your soul, O Paul. And like the blood of Abel and Zechariah, your blood cried out to the Lord with might.
Colossians 3:17 – 4:1
Brothers and sisters: Whatever you do, whether in speech or in action, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through him.
You who are wives, be submissive to your husbands. Avoid any bitterness toward them. You children, obey your parents in everything as the acceptable way in the Lord. And fathers, do not nag your children lest they lose heart.
To slaves I say, obey your human masters perfectly, not with the purpose of attracting attention and pleasing men but in all sincerity and out of reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being. Do it for the Lord rather than for men, since you know full well you will receive an Inheritance from him as your reward. Be slaves of Christ the Lord. Whoever acts unjustly will be repaid for the wrong he has done. No favoritism will be shown. You slaveowners, deal justly and fairly with your slaves, realizing that you too have a master in heaven.
Luke 11: 47-54
The Lord said to the lawyers: “Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets, but it was your fathers who murdered them. You show that you stand behind the deeds of your fathers: they committed the murders and you erect the tombs. That is why the wisdom of God has said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of these they will persecute and kill’; so that this generation will have to account for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world. Their guilt stretches from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who met his death between the altar and the sanctuary! Yes, I tell you, this generation will have to account for it. Woe to you lawyers! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not gained access, yet you have stopped those who wished to enter!” After he had left this gathering, the scribes and Pharisees began to manifest fierce hostility to him and to make him speak on a multitude of questions, setting traps to catch him in his speech.
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Wednesday, November 5 –
