• December 27th - Saint Theodorus of Apamea

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Thu Dec 26 09:11:33 2019
    From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

    December 27th - Saint Theodorus of Apamea
    Also known as, one of the Grapti from the Greek graptoi
    =E2=80=9Cwritte=
    n
    upon=E2=80=9D, Theodorus the Branded, Theodorus the Lettered-Upon, Theodore= =E2=80=A6.

    Born c.775 at Kerak, Moab (Trans-Jordan) Died c.841 at Apamea,
    Bithynia from the privations of prison life

    THIS saint was of the country of the Moabites; but his parents, who
    were rich and virtuous, went and settled at Jerusalem, in order to
    procure him the advantages of a holy education. He was placed by them,
    when he was very young, in the monastery of Sabas, and by his progress
    in learning, the extraordinary purity of his manners, and the habitual mortification of his senses, attained in a short time to an eminent
    degree of virtue, and acquired a high reputation in the world. The
    patriarch of Jerusalem obliged him to receive priestly orders, and
    when Leo, the Armenian, waged a cruel war against holy images, sent
    the saint to that emperor to exhort him not to disturb the peace of
    the church. The tyrant, instead of relenting, caused St. Theodorus to
    be scourged, and banished him, with his brother Theophanes, a monk of
    the same monastery, and his companion, into an island in the mouth of
    the Euxine sea, where they suffered much by hunger and cold. But they
    had not staid long there before the emperor died, in 882, when they
    returned to Constantinople, and St. Theodorus published some writings
    in defence of the truth.

    Michael the Stutterer, who succeeded in the imperial throne, and is
    thought either to have had no religion, or to have leaned most to that
    of the Manichees or Paulicians, was for steering a middle course
    between the Catholics and the Iconoclasts. He cast St. Theodorus into
    prison, and afterwards sent him into exile. His son and successor
    Theophilus, a violent Iconoclast, and barbarous persecutor, who
    ascended the throne in 829, caused the two brothers to be whipped;
    then banished them into the island of Aphusia. Two years after, they
    were brought back to Constantinople, buffeted in presence of the
    emperor till they fell down quite stunned at his feet, then stripped
    and publicly scourged. When they had lain some days in prison, and
    still persisted in their refusal to communicate with the Iconoclasts,
    the emperor commanded 12 Iambic verses, composed for that purpose by
    an Iconoclast courtier, to be inscribed on their foreheads. The sense
    of the verses was as follows: =E2=80=9CThese men have appeared at Jerusalem=
    as
    vessels of iniquity, full of superstitious error, and were driven
    thence for their crimes; and having fled to Constantinople they
    forsook not their impiety. Wherefore they have been again banished
    from thence, and are stigmatized on their faces.=E2=80=9D Though the wounds which they had received by their stripes were yet much inflamed and
    very painful, they were laid upon benches, whilst the letters which
    composed those verses were cut or pricked upon their faces. The
    operation was long and tedious, and interrupted by the coming on of
    the night; and the confessors were sent back to prison, their faces
    being still bloody.

    They were soon after banished to Apamea, in Syria, where St. Theodorus
    died of his sufferings. From the inscription cut in his forehead he is
    surnamed Grapt, which signifies in Greek, marked or engraved.
    Theophilus died about the same time, and the Empress Theodora, a
    zealous Catholic, becoming regent for her son Michael, St. Methodius
    was made patriarch, and restored holy images in 842. Theophanes was
    then honoured for his glorious confession of the faith, and
    constituted bishop of Nice, that he might more effectually concur in overthrowing a heresy, over which he had already triumphed.

    St. Theodorus Grapt is named in the Roman Martyrology with his brother Theophanes on this day. The Greeks honour the former on the 27th of
    December, and St. Theophanes, whom, on account of sacred hymns which
    he composed, they style the poet, on the 11th of October.

    See the authentic life of St. Theodorus Grapt, in Metaphrastes,
    Baronius, and Fleury, l. 47, &c. The twelve iambic verses, which were
    written on their foreheads, with a red-hot steel pencil, are recited
    in the Greek Synaxary on this day.


    Bible Quote:
    No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and
    His love is perfected in us.=C2 (1 John 4-12)


    <><><><>
    Novena in Honor of Jesus as True King
    Over a period of 9 consecutive days:

    Pray one Our Father
    Pray one Hail Mary
    Pray one Glory Be

    O Lord our God, You alone are the Most Holy King and
    Ruler of All Nations. We pray to You, Lord, in the great
    expectation of receiving from You, O Divine King, mercy,
    peace, justice and all good things.

    Protect, O Lord our King, our families and the land of our
    birth. Guard us, we pray, Most Faithful One! Protect us from
    our enemies and from Your Just Judgement.

    Forgive us, O Sovereign King, our sins against You. Jesus,
    You are a King of Mercy. We have deserved Your Just
    Judgement. Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us. We
    trust in Your Great Mercy.

    O Most Awe-inspiring King, we bow before You and pray;
    may Your reign, Your kingdom, be recognized on earth!
    Amen.

    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)