Orthodox Calendar, August 8

Saint Emilian, Bishop of Cyzikus

Saint Emilian, Bishop of Cyzikus, lived during the reign of the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He was summoned together with other bishops to the court of the emperor, who insistently urged the bishops to refrain from the veneration of holy icons.

Saint Emilian was the first to tell the emperor firmly that the question of the veneration of holy icons ought to be discussed and decided only within the Church by its spiritual leaders, and not at the imperial court. In the year 815, he was sent to prison for the Orthodox Faith, where he died as a confessor.

Troparion — Tone 3

In confessing the Faith you proclaimed Orthodox doctrine / and were unjustly exiled for rebuking the wicked king. / Righteous and glorious Emilian, / the boast of Cyzicus, / entreat Christ God to grant us His great mercy.

Saint Myron, Bishop of Crete

Saint Myron, Bishop of Crete, a wonderworker, in his youth was a family man and worked as a farmer. He was known for his goodness, and he assisted everyone who turned to him for help. Once, thieves burst in upon his threshing floor, and Saint Myron himself helped them lift a sack of grain upon their shoulders. By his generosity, the saint so shamed the thieves, that in future they began to lead honorable lives.

Out of profound respect for the saint, the Cretan people urged him to accept ordination to the priesthood in his native city of Raucia, and afterwards they chose him Bishop of Crete.

Wisely ruling his flock, Saint Myron received from the Lord the gift of wonderworking. At the time of a flood on the River Triton, the saint stopped its flow and went upon it as upon dry land, and then he sent a man back to the river with his staff to command the river to resume its course. Saint Myron fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 100, around the year 350.

Troparion — Tone 4

In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, / an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence; / your humility exalted you; / your poverty enriched you. / Hierarch Father Myron, / entreat Christ our God / that our souls may be saved.

Holy Priest-Martyr Alexander of Bessarabia

Hieromartyr Alexander Baltaga was born in the blessed land of Bessarabia on April 14, 1861, in the village of Lozova, Lăpușna County. He was part of a devout family that provided many worthy servants to this land. His father, Priest Ștefan Baltaga, served at Saint Nicholas Church in Lozova, assisted by his wife Elena, a woman full of piety and fear of God, who instilled these virtues early on in her son.

As a child, Alexander attended the parish school in Lozova and then the Theological Seminary in Chișinău. After completing his studies, he was entrusted with being an educator at the Spiritual School for Boys in Chișinău.

He married Elena Bivol, a priest’s daughter, and they adopted and raised two children, Vsevolod and Margareta. Shortly after that, in 1886, he was ordained at the church of Saint Nicholas in Călărași-Sat, Lăpușna County, where he served as a priest until the end of his life.

Saint Alexander demonstrated a great work ethic, a penetrating mind, unwavering will, and exceptional pastoral tact. Due to his qualities, he was given several administrative responsibilities within the Archdiocese of Chișinău.

At the same time, he worked hard to cultivate in the hearts of young people a love for God and the Church. Between 1906 and 1917, he made great efforts to reopen the Diocesan Printing House alongside Archimandrite Gurie Grosu, the future Metropolitan of Bessarabia, and Priest Constantin Popovici to better preach the word of God in Romanian in a way that people could understand. Beginning in 1908, he published the magazine “Luminătorul” (The Enlightener) – the diocesan bulletin of the Archdiocese of Chișinău.

In 1918, he was elected as a representative of the Bessarabian clergy in the Council of the Country, and on March 27, 1918, he voted for the Union of Bessarabia with Romania.

A period of peace and prosperity followed. Saint Alexander intensified the preaching of the Gospel of Christ among the faithful, organized pilgrimages and processions with the wonder-working icon of the Mother of God of Kazan, bringing the icon to the church in Călărași, where he served, for the protection and comfort of the faithful.

Thus, until 1940, Bessarabia was spared from the persecution of faith occurring in neighbouring Russia, where, starting with the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, many hierarchs, priests, monks, and believers confessed Christ, receiving a martyr’s death.

However, in 1940, Bessarabia and Bukovina were occupied by the Soviet Union. Seeing the danger of the atheistic dictatorship, the Saint decided to save his wife and children by sending them across the Prut River into the heart of the motherland, Romania. At the same time, he remained in the parish, standing by his faithful and encouraging them to withstand the persecution beginning in Bessarabia.

In addition, Saint Alexander proved to be a pillar of faith, declaring that he would not let his flock be devoured by the “red wolves,” referring to the godless communists. In those times of trial, the Saint found the only refuge in God, especially in the Mother of God, for whom he had great devotion and continually prayed for intercession.

On August 31, 1940, the unbelievers came to arrest him during the Divine Liturgy. The Saint earnestly begged them to allow him to finish the Divine Liturgy, after which he would submit to their will.

He was arrested and taken to Chișinău, accused of being hostile to Soviet Russia and advocating for unification with the motherland, Romania. At that time, blessed Alexander, a man steadfast in faith, was not shaken by the actions of his adversaries but stood firm before them, testifying that everything he did was for the benefit of the faithful, who needed to be united with their brethren of the same nation and faith, to have the right to pray and learn in their native language, and to be protected from the threat of atheism.

Hearing this, the unbelievers tortured him and mockingly said, “Show us your God!” And the Saint, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gave a wise answer, saying, “When you show me your mind, then I will show you my God!” Saint Alexander was imprisoned until June 22, 1941, when the Romanian Army crossed the Prut River to liberate Bessarabia.

Since the elderly confessor had not yet been sentenced, he was urgently deported to the prison in Kazan, in what is now the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation.

On the way to exile, Christ’s martyr was subjected to many torments. He endured ridicule, was beaten, stripped of his clothes, pulled by the beard, and in conditions challenging to bear, but he endured everything, praying to God to strengthen him in his sufferings. Due to the tortures he was subjected to, he entrusted his soul into God’s hands at the age of 80 in the prison in Kazan on August 7, 1941, adorned with a glorious martyr’s crown.

Tr by oca.org