The holy martyr Hierotheus was a friend of St. Dionysius (Denis) the Areopagite. Hierotheus was converted by the Apostle Paul shortly after his friend. Paul later made him bishop of Athens. Tradition tells us that Hierotheus assembled in Jerusalem with the Apostles for the Dormition of the Theotokos. He was martyred in Athens.
Our venerable father Francis of Assisi was a deacon and founder of the Three Orders. He was converted after an unfettered youth in Assisi in Umbria. He chose an evangelical life, serving Jesus Christ found among the poorest and most neglected. Having made himself a poor man, he gathered himself little brothers (i.e., the Friars Minor) in a community. He preached the love of God to everyone, in a journey that reached as far as the Holy Land. Seeking to be a perfect follower of Christ in words and deeds, he wished to travel the needy earth carrying the good news.
You learned goodness and practiced temperance. You robed yourself in the priesthood and girded yourself with good conscience. Therefore, you came to draw ineffable things from the chosen vessel, Paul. You have completed the race, you have kept the faith. O father Hierotheus, beg Christ our God to save our souls.
We honor you, O bishop of Athens, for we have learned marvelous and ineffable mysteries from you. You are an author of divine hymns. Intercede that we may be delivered from our sins; O most venerable Hierotheus, we cry out: Rejoice, O holy and most wise father.
2 Corinthians 11:31 – 12:9
Brothers and sisters: The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows – blessed be he forever – that I do not lie. In Damascus the ethnarch of King Aretas was keeping a close watch on the city in order to arrest me, but I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
I must go on boasting, however useless it may be, and speak of the visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, whether he was in or outside his body I cannot say, only God can say – a man who was snatched up to the third heaven. I know that this man – whether in or outside his body I do not know, God knows – was snatched up to Paradise to hear words which cannot be uttered, words which no man may speak. About this man I will boast; but I will do no boasting about myself unless it be about my weaknesses. And even if I were to boast it would not be folly in me because I would only be telling the truth.
But I refrain, lest anyone think more of me than what he sees in me or hears from my lips. As to the extraordinary revelations, in order that I might not become conceited I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and keep me from getting proud. Three times I begged the Lord that this might leave me. He said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for in weakness power reaches perfection.” And so I willingly boast of my weakness instead, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Luke 6: 31-36
The Lord said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, how can you claim any credit? Sinners do as much. If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what merit is there in it for you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.
“Love your enemy and do good; lend without expecting repayment. Then will your recompense be great. You will rightly be called sons of the Most High, since he himself is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be compassionate, as your Father is compassionate.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Saturday, October 3 –
