THE HOLY GREAT FEMALE MARTYR EUPHEMIA
The amazing events following the life of a martyred woman of Christendom have led church historians to subordinate her life story to what was wrought by her spirit one and a half centuries later. The net result is that the revered Euphemia was cloaked in virtual anonymity until she gave her life for Christ in A.D. 308, prior to which it has been ascertained that her life was devoted to the Saviour and that she laid down her life for Him. So many truly miraculous incidents followed her death that although they have illumined humanity they have blotted out her temporal life, with the emphasis shifted by her fellow Christians, so preoccupied with her postmortem deeds, they lost sight of what transpired in her lifetime. It is enough to know that Euphemia was born in Chalcedon, and after a brief life of Christian service was burned at the stake for refusing to deny Jesus Christ. The lethal flames could not completely destroy her mortal remains which were entombed within the walls of a chapel in Chalcedon named in her memory. The chapel grew into a shrine when it was discovered that earnest prayer involving her name near these walls resulted in cures for the afflicted and though many were to leave disappointed, religious pilgrims came from all over the Byzantine Empire to pray in this small chapel. Enough miraculous cures were affected to assure a steady stream of Christians, each of whom spread the word of the wonders of the chapel in Chalcedon on returning to his respective community. The magnetism of Euphemia may not in itself have caused Chalcedon to be selected as the scene of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod [1]but as events were to prove, it was very much a factor in assembling hierarchs from all over the empire, gathered where pilgrims from all walks of life had been visiting over a period of years. This momentous meeting is known as the Synod of Chalcedon, convened for the final settlement of a dispute that had been spreading unrest and uncertainty within the Church. It stemmed from the heretical doctrine that the Messiah had but one nature, the divine, which contradicted the concept long accepted that there was a dual nature in Jesus, the human with which man could identify and the divine which set him apart. Several well-meaning clerics, as well as those always on the lookout for a cause, came to accept the single and narrow view of the Saviour, and undiscerning Christians in considerable numbers joined in embracing this heresy. Nearly 150 years had passed since the death of Euphemia when the Synod convened in the city of her resting place in A.D. 451. The assembled church dignitaries took sides in debate which resolved nothing, since neither side could offer concrete evidence that their viewpoint was the right one, despite the fact that tradition dating from the early days of the Church dictated that the dual nature of Christ was the only logical concept. The proceedings were orderly, but an impasse had been reached and every one looked to the patriarch for a final solution which would bring the now wearying Council to an end so that they could return to their respective parishes with a definitive conclusion. Since any form of compromise offered nothing in the way of settlement, the patriarch pondered the issue and then made the startling proposal that a spirit not of this world that had been performing miracles could be called upon to decide once and for all where the truth lay. He proposed that a book of each doctrine be placed in a casket of the renowned St. Euphemia, wherein it may by some divine manifestation be determined which was in God’s favour. The casket of Euphemia was opened and the two books placed in her hands, after which all concerned retired to pray for a divine intervention that would guide them in the direction. When the casket was once again opened, the book espousing the single nature of Jesus Christ was at her feet and in her hands was clutched the age old book that spoke of the two natures of the Saviour. Not even the most adamant of the opponents of the truth that lay in the hand of St. Euphemia could doubt this divine manifestation and the issue was put to rest with the miracle-working saint. The casket of St. Euphemia rests today in the patriarchal Church of St. George which has sheltered it with those of St. Theophan and St. Salome since A.D. 750.
SAINT HELENA [OLGA]
Helena, was a great Russian princess who, before her baptism, was called Olga. Olga was the wife of Prince Igor. Patriarch Polyeuctus baptized her in Constantinople. She was very zealous for the Orthodox Faith in Russia. She entered into eternal rest in the year 969 A.D.
THE VENERABLE MARTYR NICODEMUS
Nicodemus was born in Elbasan, Albania. He was married and had children. Deceived by the Turks, he embraced Islam and forced his children to embrace Islam also, except for one son, who fled to the Holy Mt. Athos where he was tonsured a monk. Nicodemus traveled to Mt. Athos to bring his son back but Mt. Athos made such an impression on him that he repented and returned to the Faith of Christ and was tonsured a monk. Because of his apostasy he wept for three years and finally decided to return to Albania to repent of his sin where he previously committed it. Upon returning he declared before the Turks that he is a Christian and was beheaded on July 11, 1722. His miraculous working relics, even today, repose intact and uncorrupt.
THE VENERABLE MARTYR NECTARIUS
Nectarius was born in Vryoulla in Asia Minor. At age seventeen he was forced to embrace Islam. He had a similar fate as did St. Nicodemus. When, as a Muslim, he appeared before his mother, she cried out: “Depart from me, I know you not. I bore you as a Christian, not as a Muslim.” He repented bitterly and departed for Mt. Athos and there in the Scete of Saint Anne was tonsured a monk. Deciding to suffer for Christ and, thereby to wash away his sin, he again returned to Vryoulla where he suffered martyrdom. He was beheaded for Christ by the Turks in his place of birth on July 11, 1820, at the age of twenty-one.
[1] This Council was convened at Chalcedon, on the Asian side of Constantinople, by Emperor Marcian and his wife Poulcheria in 451. It had to deal with another contro-versy about the Person of Christ. Eutyches, an Archimandrite in Constantinople, held that the human (less perfect) nature of Christ had been completely absorbed by His divine nature and thus the two had been confounded into one. Thus, after this union, Eutyches held, there was only one nature in Christ. Hence his heresy was called ‘monophysitisim’ (of one nature). The Council condemned this teaching and affirmed that there were two perfect natures in the one Person of Christ unified unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, and inseparably’. The Council was attended by 650 bishops. The dogmatic decisions of this Council were expressed by a statement of faith since then called the Chalcedonian Definition. Among other important enactments there was one that the Western Church did not accept: canon 28 by which the Archbishop of Constantinople was given the title of Patriarch thus reiterating the decision of the Second Ecumenical Council by which the Bishop of Constantinople was given honourary precedence over all other Churches, save that of Rome. Canon 28 of this Council further recognised to the Archbishop of Constantinople extensive administrative rights over a number of provinces around Constantinople and thus made him a Patriarch. This was rejected in the West on the excuse ‘that the interests of the older Eastern Patriarchates should be protected’.