The holy Great martyr Theodore the Recruit (Tyro) was a soldier in the city of Alasium of the Pontine district (a northeastern province of Asia Minor along the Black Sea), under command of a certain Brincus. They commanded him to offer sacrifice to idols. St. Theodore firmly confessed his faith in Christ the Savior in a loud voice. The commander gave him several days to think it over, during which time St.Theodore prayed. They charged him with setting the pagan temple on fire, and threw him into prison to starve to death. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him there, comforting and encouraging him. Brought to the governor, St. Theodore boldly and fearlessly confessed his faith, for which he was subjected to new torments and condemned to burning. The martyr Theodore climbed onto the fire without hesitation, and with prayer gave up his holy soul to God in 306.
Marvels of faith! The holy martyr Theodore rejoiced amid the licking flames, just as if he were splashing in cool water. Made a holocaust in the fire, he was offered like sweetbreads to the Trinity. Save our souls through his prayers, O Christ our God.
Believing in Christ with all your might, you struck a mighty blow to the enemy. You received an eternal crown of glory, O long-suffering and victorious Theodore.
The God said: Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate the day from night. Let them mark the seasons, the days, and the years, and serve as lights in the dome of the sky, to illuminate the earth. And so it happened: God made two great lights, the greater to govern the day, the lesser one to govern the night, and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky, to illuminate the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from darkness. God saw that it was good. Evening came, and morning followed– the fourth day.
Then God said: Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky. God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of crawling living creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw that it was good, and God blessed them, saying: Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth. Evening came, and morning followed– the fifth day.
Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the open squares she raises her voice;
Down the crowded ways she calls out, at the city gates she utters her words:
“How long, you naive ones, will you love naivete,
How long will you turn away at my reproof? [The arrogant delight in their arrogance, and fools hate knowledge.] Lo! I will pour out to you my spirit, I will acquaint you with my words:
‘Because I called and you refused, extended my hand and no one took notice;
Because you disdained all my counsel, and my reproof you ignored–
I, in my turn, will laugh at your doom; will mock when terror overtakes you;
When terror comes upon you like a storm, and you doom approaches like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish befall you.’
Then they will call me, but I will not answer; they will seek me, but will not find me,
Because they hated knowledge, and the fear of the Lord they did not choose.
They ignored my counsel, they spurned all my reproof;
Well, then, they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and with their own devices be glutted.
For the straying of the naive kills them, the smugness of fools destroys them.
But whoever obeys me dwells in security, in peace, without fear of harm.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Monday, February 16 –
