Holy Monastic Martyr Eudoxia was a Samaritan, a native of the city of Heliopolis in Phoenicia. Eudoxia awoke one night at midnight and heard singing from the house of a Christian woman next to hers. A monk was reading from a book which described the Last Judgment, the punishment of sinners, and the reward of the righteous. The grace of God touched Eudoxia’s heart, and she grieved because of her great wealth and for her sinful life. This was a monk named Germanus, returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Places to his own monastery. Eudoxia listened for a long time to the guidance of the Elder, and her soul was filled with joy and love for Christ. The Elder Germanus told her to give away her wealth and to forget her previous life. Eudoxia received holy Baptism from Bishop Theodotus of Heliopolis. She entered a monastery and took upon herself very strict acts of penitence. She was arrested and beheaded for the Faith under the emperor Trajan in the 2nd century.
You bound your soul to love of Christ by purity of heart, and you spurned perishable things as a disciple of the Word. You brought your senses under control by fasting, and then you shamed the enemy by enduring martyrdom. Because of this, Christ gave you a double crown, O glorious Eudoxia; therefore, beg Him to save our souls, O venerable martyr.
You fought a good fight by your sufferings, and you sanctify us after your death by miracles. We come with joy to your heavenly Church to celebrate. We beg you to deliver us from spiritual afflictions and to grace us with your miracles, O venerable Eudoxia.
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 28 –
