THE HOLY APOSTLE AQUILA
Aquila was one of the Seventy Apostles. As a Jew, he first lived in Italy with his wife Priscilla. When Emperor Claudius decreed that all Jews be driven from Rome and Italy, Aquila settled in Cornith, where the Apostle Paul met him for the first time and remained in his home for a year and a half and baptized him and his wife. Burning with zeal for the Faith of Christ, Aquila and Priscilla escorted Paul to Ephesus and assisted him in his apostolic labors. Paul wrote his first Epistle to the Corinthians from Ephesus in which, toward the end, he says: “Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the Church that is their house” (1 Corinthians 16:19). After the death of Emperor Claudius, the Jews were permitted to return to Italy, and so Aquila and Priscilla returned to Rome. After this the Apostle Paul writing the Epistle to the Romans from Cornith, greets his old friends and his co-laborers: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus; who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles” (Romans 16: 3-4). Later on, we see Aquila in Ephesus where he labors together with St. Timothy the Apostle. Chained in Rome, Paul writes to Timothy in Ephesus: “Salute Priscilla and Aquila” (2 Timothy 4:19). As a bishop, Aquila baptized many and illumined them with the Faith, destroyed idols, built churches, ordained priests and spread the glory of the Incarnate Son of God among men. In the end, he was murdered by the wicked heathens and took up habitation in the Kingdom of Christ.
THE VENERABLE HELLIUS
Hellius was an Egyptian monk of the fourth century. From his early youth he dedicated himself to monastic asceticism in the wilderness, that by his life and powerful miracles, he stirred the astonishment of monks and laity alike and even though he fled the glory of men, he was unable to conceal himself. He endured great struggles with the temptations of the devil, especially during the time of prolong fasting. One time, the devil offered him honey and another time delicious apples but Hellius did not allow himself to be deceived. He was able to discern the hearts of men, was able to discern everyone’s passion and thought, not in order to show his inner knowledge, but to correct men.
SAINT CYRIL OF CRETE
St. Cyril led an ascetic life by the end of the third and beginning of the fourth century AD. As Archbishop of Crete, he administered the Church for 25 years. During the Diocletian and Maximian persecutions he suffered torture and was finally executed by sword. Our Church celebrates his memory on July 14 each year.