The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič for Old Calendar date March 13, and New Calendar date March 26.
1. SAINT NICEPHORUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Nicephorus governed the Holy Church wisely and zealously as one of the greatest Arch-pastors of Constantinople. When Leo the Armenian rose up against icons, Nicephorus alone defied the emperor. He first counseled the emperor and then later unmasked him. That is why the depraved emperor banished him to the island of Prokenesis. On this island there was a monastery which Nicephorous had built in honor of Saint Theodore. This confessor of the Orthodox Faith remained in this monastery for thirteen years and afterwards presented himself to the Lord in the year 827 A.D. Since all the iconoclastic emperors had perished, and Michael, with his mother Theodora, sat on the Imperial Throne, Patriarch Methodius then was restored to the Patriarchal Throne. The relics of St. Nicephorous were translated from Prokenesis to Constantinople in 846 A.D. and were reposed, first in the Church of the Divine Wisdom of God [St. Sophia], from which he was banished during his life, and later reposed in the Church of the Twelve Apostles. The principal feast of this great hierarch is commemorated on June 2 and again on March 13 when the discovery and translation of his incorruptible relics is commemorated. On March 13, St. Nicephorous was banished from Constantinople and then, again, on March 13, nineteen years later, his relics were returned to the Capitol.
2. SAINT CHRISTINA THE PERSIAN
For her unwavering confession of faith in Christ, she was cruelly tortured in Persia in the fourth century. So much did they torture her, flogging her with a whip, that she became weak and died. Her soul then departed from her tortured body and entered into the joy of Christ, the King and Lord.
3. THE PRIESTLY-MARTYR, PUBLIUS
This priestly-martyr was successor to the episcopal throne of the glorious Dionysius the Areopagite in Athens. As a bishop, he was tortured by the pagans and beheaded in the second century. After a brief period of torture, he inherited life eternal.
HYMN OF PRAISE
THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Constantinople, wondrous city near the Bosphorus blue,
With your glory, whose glory can be measured?
You were an awesome battleground of spiritual warriors,
Blasphemous heretics and saints of God.
As through a sieve you sifted throughout the centuries long
And declared apostates and servants of God.
By many sins you are soiled, and by filth of sinners,
You are consecrated with the abundance of the blood of martyrs.
Who could enumerate the spiritual heroes,
And all heavenly visions and your mysteries, all?
The angels of God often swooped down upon you,
And men, as angels, to heaven were raised.
The Mother of God, many times, within you appeared,
To deliver those in danger, the sick to heal.
The flock of wonderful saints, over you, hover
And the prayers of your children, to the Most High, bear.
O, how many saints were your children!
As many as there are lilies next to lilies and saints next to saints!
History and calendar, in red, you wrote,
By your effort even the great Symbol [The Creed] was written.
And about you, in such a way, this could be said:
Among the many cities, a red letter you are.
With Holy Faith, you enlightened the universe
From paganism and heresies, the world you healed.
Tortured much, but not slain, you have not yet passed.
That is why we all celebrate you! Confessor, that you are!
Throughout the earth and in the heavens, your glory echoes;
Everyone baptized, a great gratitude owes you.
REFLECTION
Great are those Christians who have a great love for Christ. O, in truth, how great were those Christians; those God-bearing fathers and martyrs! For so many in our time, this is impossible even to imagine. This is what one of them, St. Simeon, the New Theologian, confessed before all the monks in his monastery: Speaking from his own personal experience about how the words of the Lord, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (St. Matthew 11:30), were realized in him. Simeon said, "Believe me, when I fled to God, my Savior, I did not encounter anything sorrowful, difficult or unbearable. The only great and unbearable sorrow I had was that I could not find enough satisfactory reasons to die for the sake of the love for Christ." Are not such souls as a burning flame enclosed in eathern vessels? Burning flames are always upright, directed toward heaven. Only remove the covering and the flame will shoot upward.
CONTEMPLATION
To contemplate the Lord Jesus at the judgment before Herod:
1. How Herod at first was very kind because he saw Jesus not out of any spiritual need, but out of curiosity;
2. How Herod had hoped to see a miracle from Jesus, but he was fooled for the Lord remained silent to all of his questions;
3. How Herod ridiculed the Lord and how he clothed Him in a white garment.
HOMILY
About the reconciliation of the wicked for the sake of evil
"Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, even though they had been enemies formerly" (St. Luke 23:12).
In His shame and humiliation, the Just Man does good to His enemies. He reconciles them. It is true, in this case, that their reconciliation did not imply mutual cooperation for some good deed but mutual persecution of the Just One. At least the flame of hatred between them was extinguished and died out. That was the reward of the Just One. Pilate and Herod were enemies. On that day, when the Savior was brought for judgment, before the one and the other, they [Pilate and Herod]were reconciled. The Prince of Peace brought peace between the quarreling parties; peace which helped to hew out a cross for Him. But He also comes to be a willing sacrifice for the sins of many.
Even today common enemies make peace among themselves when they find it necessary to attack and condemn the Lord. There are many who kill one another until you mention the Name of the Lord to them. As soon as they hear that Name, they gradually make peace among themselves for the sake of attacking that Holy Name. It is easier for the unjust to tolerate the unjust than it is for them to tolerate the just. It is easier for the unjust to come to an understanding and reconciliation with the unjust than with the just.
Even in some countries, the most quarrelsome parties seek reconciliation among themselves when it is deemed necessary to decide what place should be given to the Lord Jesus Christ in the State, either to render Him the first place, which is befitting to Him, or the last place? To these questions sworn enemies reconcile among themselves in order that our Lord will be given the last place only. So, also, it was with the quarreling parties of Pharisees and Saducees who were reconciled and entered into a partnership against Christ.
Why is it that the Most Pure and the Most Needed had to be awarded the last place? Because, according to their thinking, the first place would then be reserved for them. The same incentive was there between sworn enemies, the Pharisees and Saducees, when it was deemed necessary to seek to put Christ to death. The same incentive was the occasion that caused the reconciliation between Pilate and Herod when it was deemed necessary to judge that Christ had to be put to death.
O my brethren, let us not ever seek peace with injustice against justice. Rather, let us always seek peace with God, and that with a clear conscience.
O God, help us so that we may always possess such peace.
To You be glory and praise forever. Amen.
1. SAINT NICEPHORUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Nicephorus governed the Holy Church wisely and zealously as one of the greatest Arch-pastors of Constantinople. When Leo the Armenian rose up against icons, Nicephorus alone defied the emperor. He first counseled the emperor and then later unmasked him. That is why the depraved emperor banished him to the island of Prokenesis. On this island there was a monastery which Nicephorous had built in honor of Saint Theodore. This confessor of the Orthodox Faith remained in this monastery for thirteen years and afterwards presented himself to the Lord in the year 827 A.D. Since all the iconoclastic emperors had perished, and Michael, with his mother Theodora, sat on the Imperial Throne, Patriarch Methodius then was restored to the Patriarchal Throne. The relics of St. Nicephorous were translated from Prokenesis to Constantinople in 846 A.D. and were reposed, first in the Church of the Divine Wisdom of God [St. Sophia], from which he was banished during his life, and later reposed in the Church of the Twelve Apostles. The principal feast of this great hierarch is commemorated on June 2 and again on March 13 when the discovery and translation of his incorruptible relics is commemorated. On March 13, St. Nicephorous was banished from Constantinople and then, again, on March 13, nineteen years later, his relics were returned to the Capitol.
2. SAINT CHRISTINA THE PERSIAN
For her unwavering confession of faith in Christ, she was cruelly tortured in Persia in the fourth century. So much did they torture her, flogging her with a whip, that she became weak and died. Her soul then departed from her tortured body and entered into the joy of Christ, the King and Lord.
3. THE PRIESTLY-MARTYR, PUBLIUS
This priestly-martyr was successor to the episcopal throne of the glorious Dionysius the Areopagite in Athens. As a bishop, he was tortured by the pagans and beheaded in the second century. After a brief period of torture, he inherited life eternal.
HYMN OF PRAISE
THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Constantinople, wondrous city near the Bosphorus blue,
With your glory, whose glory can be measured?
You were an awesome battleground of spiritual warriors,
Blasphemous heretics and saints of God.
As through a sieve you sifted throughout the centuries long
And declared apostates and servants of God.
By many sins you are soiled, and by filth of sinners,
You are consecrated with the abundance of the blood of martyrs.
Who could enumerate the spiritual heroes,
And all heavenly visions and your mysteries, all?
The angels of God often swooped down upon you,
And men, as angels, to heaven were raised.
The Mother of God, many times, within you appeared,
To deliver those in danger, the sick to heal.
The flock of wonderful saints, over you, hover
And the prayers of your children, to the Most High, bear.
O, how many saints were your children!
As many as there are lilies next to lilies and saints next to saints!
History and calendar, in red, you wrote,
By your effort even the great Symbol [The Creed] was written.
And about you, in such a way, this could be said:
Among the many cities, a red letter you are.
With Holy Faith, you enlightened the universe
From paganism and heresies, the world you healed.
Tortured much, but not slain, you have not yet passed.
That is why we all celebrate you! Confessor, that you are!
Throughout the earth and in the heavens, your glory echoes;
Everyone baptized, a great gratitude owes you.
REFLECTION
Great are those Christians who have a great love for Christ. O, in truth, how great were those Christians; those God-bearing fathers and martyrs! For so many in our time, this is impossible even to imagine. This is what one of them, St. Simeon, the New Theologian, confessed before all the monks in his monastery: Speaking from his own personal experience about how the words of the Lord, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (St. Matthew 11:30), were realized in him. Simeon said, "Believe me, when I fled to God, my Savior, I did not encounter anything sorrowful, difficult or unbearable. The only great and unbearable sorrow I had was that I could not find enough satisfactory reasons to die for the sake of the love for Christ." Are not such souls as a burning flame enclosed in eathern vessels? Burning flames are always upright, directed toward heaven. Only remove the covering and the flame will shoot upward.
CONTEMPLATION
To contemplate the Lord Jesus at the judgment before Herod:
1. How Herod at first was very kind because he saw Jesus not out of any spiritual need, but out of curiosity;
2. How Herod had hoped to see a miracle from Jesus, but he was fooled for the Lord remained silent to all of his questions;
3. How Herod ridiculed the Lord and how he clothed Him in a white garment.
HOMILY
About the reconciliation of the wicked for the sake of evil
"Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, even though they had been enemies formerly" (St. Luke 23:12).
In His shame and humiliation, the Just Man does good to His enemies. He reconciles them. It is true, in this case, that their reconciliation did not imply mutual cooperation for some good deed but mutual persecution of the Just One. At least the flame of hatred between them was extinguished and died out. That was the reward of the Just One. Pilate and Herod were enemies. On that day, when the Savior was brought for judgment, before the one and the other, they [Pilate and Herod]were reconciled. The Prince of Peace brought peace between the quarreling parties; peace which helped to hew out a cross for Him. But He also comes to be a willing sacrifice for the sins of many.
Even today common enemies make peace among themselves when they find it necessary to attack and condemn the Lord. There are many who kill one another until you mention the Name of the Lord to them. As soon as they hear that Name, they gradually make peace among themselves for the sake of attacking that Holy Name. It is easier for the unjust to tolerate the unjust than it is for them to tolerate the just. It is easier for the unjust to come to an understanding and reconciliation with the unjust than with the just.
Even in some countries, the most quarrelsome parties seek reconciliation among themselves when it is deemed necessary to decide what place should be given to the Lord Jesus Christ in the State, either to render Him the first place, which is befitting to Him, or the last place? To these questions sworn enemies reconcile among themselves in order that our Lord will be given the last place only. So, also, it was with the quarreling parties of Pharisees and Saducees who were reconciled and entered into a partnership against Christ.
Why is it that the Most Pure and the Most Needed had to be awarded the last place? Because, according to their thinking, the first place would then be reserved for them. The same incentive was there between sworn enemies, the Pharisees and Saducees, when it was deemed necessary to seek to put Christ to death. The same incentive was the occasion that caused the reconciliation between Pilate and Herod when it was deemed necessary to judge that Christ had to be put to death.
O my brethren, let us not ever seek peace with injustice against justice. Rather, let us always seek peace with God, and that with a clear conscience.
O God, help us so that we may always possess such peace.
To You be glory and praise forever. Amen.
+ + +
Охридски пролог
Свети Николај Велимировић Жички.
Охридски пролог
Свети Николај Велимировић Жички.
13. МАРТ (стари) или 26. МАРТ (нови календар)
1. Свети Никифор, патријарх цариградски. Управљаше мудро и ревносно црквом светом као и највећи архипастир Цариградски. Када Лав Јерменин уста против икона, он се успротиви цару, и најпре цара саветоваше а по том изобличаваше. Зато га нечестиви цар прогна на острво Проконис. На том острву беше манастир, кога сам Никифор беше саградио у част светог Теодора. И ту проведе овај исповедник вере православне 13 година, а потом представи се и оде ка Господу 827. године. Пошто изгибоше сви цареви иконоборци, и на царски престо седе Михаил с мајком Теодором, а на партријаршијски би повраћен патријарх Методије, тада (846. године) пренесоше се мошти светог Никифора са Прокониса у Цариград, и беху положене прво у цркву свете Софије, из које је за живота и изгнан био, а после у цркву Светих Апостола. Главно празновање овога великог јерарха бива 2. јуна, а 13. марта празнује се откриће и пренос његових нетљених моштију. 13. марта беше свети Никифор изгнан из Цариграда, и опет 13. марта, после 19 година, мошти му пренете у престоницу.
2. Свети мученик Христина Персијанка. За непоколебљиво исповедање вере Христове била љуто мучена у Персији у ИВ столећу. Толико су је мучитељи шибали бичевима, да је изнемогла и скончала. Душа њена растави се од измученог тела и усели у вечну радост Христа Цара и Господа.
3. Свештеномученик Публије. Овај свештеномученик беше прејемник у епископству славнога Дионисија Ареопагита у Атини. Као епископ мучен од неверника и посечен у ИИ столећу. За кратко време муке наследи живот вечни.
Цариграде, чудни граде крај Босфора плава,
С твојом славом чија може да се мери слава?
Ти си мегдан страшни био духовних бораца,
Јеретика богохулних и Божјих светаца.
Ко на сито решето си кроз векове дуге
И јављао отпаднике, и Божије слуге.
Окаљан си многим грехом и грешничком стрвљу,
Освећен си преобилном мученичком крвљу.
Ко би мог'о избројати духовне хероје,
И визије све небесне и све тајне твоје?
Ангели су Божји често на тебе слетали,
А људи се ко ангели к небу уздизали.
Божја Мајка много пута у теби се јави,
Да избави угрожене, болне да оздрави.
Светитељска јата дивна над тобом се носе
И молитве твоје деце Свевишњем узносе.
О колико светитеља беху твоја деца!
Кол'ко има крин до крина — и светац до свеца!
Историју и календар ти црвено писа,
Твојим трудом и Символ се велики написа.
И о теби тако може казати се ово:
Међу многим градовима — црвено си слово.
Васељену вером светом ти си просветио
Од паганства и јереси свет си исцелио.
Многомучен, неубијен, ти још прошо ниси,
За то сви те прослављамо: исповедник ти си!
И земљом ти и небом ти слава одјекује;
Сваки крштен захвалност ти велику дугује.
РАСУЂИВАЊЕ
Велики хришћани су они који имају велику љубав према Христу. О како су у истини велики хришћани били богоносни оци и мученици! У наше време многима је то немогуће себи и представити. Ево шта један од њих, свети Симеон Нови Богослов, исповеди у свом манастиру пред свима монасима. Говорећи из свога искуства о томе како су се на њему обистиниле речи Господње: иго мое благо и бремя мое легко есть, он вели: „Верујте ми, кад сам прибегавао к Богу Спаситељу моме нисам сретао ништа жалосно, тешко и неподношљиво ... Велику и неподношљиву жалост имао сам ја сам због тога, што нисам могао наћи довољног повода да умрем ради љубави Христове.” Нису ли овакве душе као пламенови затворени у земљаним судовима? Пламенови вазда усправљени и к небу устремљени! Само скине ли се заклопац, пламен излеће навише.
СОЗЕРЦАЊЕ
Да созерцавам Господа Исуса на суду пред Иродом, и то:
1. како Ироду најпре би врло мило што виде Исуса не из неке потребе душевне него из радозналости;
2. како се Ирод надаше да види неко чудо од Исуса, но превари се у том, јер Господ ћуташе на сва његова запиткивања;
3. како се Ирод са својима наруга Господу, и како га обуче у белу хаљину.
БЕСЕДА
о измирењу злих ради зла
И у тај се дан помирише Пилат и Ирод међу собом; јер прије бијаху у завади (По Луки 23, 12).
И у срамоти и понижењу своме праведник чини добро непријатељима својим. Он их измирује. Истина, у овом случају, њихово измирење није значило заједнички рад на неком добру делу него заједничко гоњење праведника. Али бар пламен њихове међусобне мржње утуљавао се и гасио. И то је праведнику плата. Пилат и Ирод беху непријатељи. Но онога дана, када Спаситељ би изведен на суд и код једног и код другог, они се измирише. Кнез Мира донесе мир међу завађене, мир који поможе отесати крст за Њега. Но Он и дође да буде драговољна жртва за грехе многих.
И данас се међусобни противници мире кад треба напасти и осудити Господа. Пуно их је који се кољу међу собом док им не поменете име Господње. А чим чују то име, постепено се мире међу собом ради напада на то свето име. Лакше неправедник подноси неправедника него праведника. Лакше се неправедник с неправедником разуме и мири него ли с праведником.
Чак и партије у неким државама, најзавађеније међусобно, мире се кад треба пресудити, какво место да се да Господу Исусу Христу у држави, да ли прво (какво Њему и доликује) или последње? На таквом питању крвни непријатељи мире се међу собом, да би само Господу доделили последње место. Тако исто се у време оно измирише завађене партије фарисеја и садукеја, измирише и удружише против Христа.
А зашто Најчистији и Најпотребнији да буде на последњем месту? Зато — по њиховој памети — да би за њих остала прва места. Иста побуда измирења била је и код фарисеја и садукеја, крвних противника, кад требаше тражити да се Христос убије. Иста та побуда проузроковала је измирење између Пилата и Ирода, када је требало пресудити да се Христос убије.
О браћо моја, не тражимо никад мир с неправдом против правде. Него увек тражимо мир с Богом, и са савешћу. Боже, помози нам да такав мир увек имамо. Теби слава и хвала вавек. Амин.
Свети Николај ВелимировићSaint Nikolai Velimirovič
