From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
December 27th - Saints Theodore and Theophanes
Two brothers who endured persecution because of their resistance to
the Iconoclasts of the Byzantine Empire. Both were monks in the
monastery of St. Sabas in Jerusalem at the time when Byzantine
officials demanded that the icons be destroyed. When the brothers
opposed the action, they were beaten and had their faces cruelly
disfigured by having verses carved into them.
Theodore died in prison. Theophanes may have survived him long enough
to become bishop of Nicaea.
Saint Theodore the Confessor, and his brother Theophanes (October 11)
were born in Jerusalem of Christian parents. From early childhood
Theodore shunned childish amusements and loved to attend church
services. With his younger brother Theophanes, he was sent to the
Laura of St. Sava to be educated by a pious priest. Both brothers
became monks, and St. Theodore was ordained to the holy priesthood.
The iconoclast emperor Leo V the Armenian (813-820) expelled and
replaced the pious ruler Michael I Rhangabe (811-813). In the
beginning, Leo concealed his heretical views, but later declared
himself an iconoclast. The Patriarch of Jerusalem sent the two
brothers to Constantinople to defend the holy icons. Theodore refuted
Leo's arguments, proving the falseness of his beliefs. Leo ordered
that both brothers be beaten mercilessly, and then had them sent into
exile, forbidding anyone to help them in any way.
Under the subsequent emperors, Michael II (820-829), and particularly
under the iconoclast Theophilus (829-842), both brothers returned from
exile. Again they were urged to accept iconoclasm, but they bravely
endured all the tortures. They were sent into exile once more, but
later returned. This time they were subjected to fierce torture, and
finally, their faces were branded with the verses of a poem which
mocked the holy confessors. Therefore, the brothers were called "the
Branded."
The city prefect asked St. Theodore to take communion with the
iconoclasts just once, promising him freedom if he did. But the holy
martyr replied, "Your proposal is the same as saying: 'Let me cut off
your head once, and then you may go wherever you wish.'"
After torture the holy brothers were banished to Apamea in Bithynia,
where St. Theodore died around the year 840. St. Theophanes survived
until the end of the iconoclast heresy, and died as Bishop of Nicea.
St. Theophanes was author of many writings in defense of Orthodoxy.
The relics of St. Theodore were transferred to Chalcedon, where they
worked many healings.
Saint Quote:
"One of the most excellent allotments of the gift of faith, is for a
man to be certain of the petition of his prayer through his trust in
God. Certainty of faith in God is not the soundness of a man's
confession (although this is the mother of faith), but a soul that
beholds the truth of God by the power of her disciplines."
--St. Isaac the Syrian
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27=C2 The Holy Mother
By the side of the manger where the Infant lies. His Mother is
watching. Who is she?
A poor and humble maiden, but nevertheless the Mother of God, The
Mother of God! How can this be? How can the Eternal, Infinite God have
a human Mother? Yet so it is; Mary has a privilege which raises her immeasurably above the highest of the Seraphim. It makes her more
perfect in her likeness to God than is possible to any other creature.
If, then, we honor the Saints and Angels, how much more should we
honor God's own Mother!
Yet Mary has a still greater claim to our homage, a more fruitful
source of blessedness even than the Divine Maternity. Her unswerving
obedience to the inspirations of God is declared by our Lord Himself
to be a still higher privilege --"Yea, rather, blessed are they who
hear the Word of God and keep it." If only we realized the blessedness
of unswerving obedience, how different our lots would be!
What are Mary's thoughts, as she sits watching there? She has no
thought save of God. She is absorbed in Him. The hours pass like
minutes, they are a sort of anticipation of Paradise. She sees her God
face to face, and though His glory is veiled under the robe of flesh,
yet Mary can pierce through it as none else ever could, and can bask
in the Divine which it conceals. O God, help me to realize now Thy
presence, when Thou art veiled under the Sacramental species.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)