21-е
Machine translation from the original · Show original
St. James the Bishop, Confessor, and St. Cyril Bishop
Jacob was a monk from a young age, labored in a holy life, and for his zeal for the faith was elevated to the episcopal throne of the Catanian Church in Sicily. During the reign of Constantine Copronymus for St. icons suffered exile and imprisonment, in which he died (about 750). – Saint Cyril was the first bishop of the city of Katana; originally from Antioch and a disciple of the Apostle Peter, he was sent by this Apostle around 45 AD. to the west to preach the faith of Christ. Died peacefully.
Saint Cyril, Bishop of Catania
Saint Cyril, Bishop of Catania, who lived in the 1st century. Originally from Antioch, he was a disciple of St. the Supreme Apostle Peter, who appointed him bishop in Sicily, in the city of Catana. He was given the gift of miracles from above. So one day he transformed the bitter water in a spring into sweet, and this miracle especially contributed to his conversion of many pagans to the faith. Died peacefully at a ripe old age.
Saint Serapion, Bishop of Tmuin
Antel of the Church of Tmuin, a man highly respected for the holiness of his life and eloquence 207, St. Serapion was one of the most zealous helpers of St. Athanasius in the fight against Arians. - From the desert (where he retired during the Arian unrest) he was called to the see of Tmuin under the emperor Constantius, and became famous for his confession. He was present and firmly defended the purity of faith at the Council of Sardia (347). In 355 he traveled to Constantinople in order to intercede with Constantius on behalf of the Egyptian bishops for Athanasius, but for this he was imprisoned. – Died around 366.
He was known for his writings, about which Blessed Jerome, counting St. Serapion to the Fathers of the Church, says: “You don’t know what to marvel at more, whether his secular learning or his knowledge of St. Scriptures."
Of the “letters” of Serapion, two letters are currently known: 1) to Bishop Eudoxius, written, as can be seen from the content, during Serapion’s imprisonment. “Do not be faint-hearted in sorrow,” the saint wrote, “but be complacent in faith, do not fall into illness, but be strong and do not sin. Do not consider illness a burden; heavy - one sin. Being sick is common to both the good and the bad; and sin, as we see, is characteristic of the bad. Whoever is sick, his sickness will die with death; and whoever sins, sin will find him there behind the grave. The disease follows us to the grave, but it does not follow the dead beyond the grave; but sin secretly destroys the living, and even more affects the dead, reveals its fire and torments the sinner. This, beloved brother! I wrote so that you would not give in to cowardice, but would preserve yourself in Christ. We must finally look at the fact that God is a protector. He retreats a little and again takes under His cover; leaves for a few and protects again; He never leaves the Church; “The gates of hell will not prevail against you.”
And so, show the strength of your virtue before God the All-Seer, so that in everything you will be pleasing to Him. We don’t dare invite you, so as not to distract you from the city.”
In the second letter, addressing the monks, St. Serapion, exposing the advantages of monastic life, says: “of you is Abba Anthony, who has reached the pinnacle of asceticism, which you have with a life devoted to writing. Of you - Abba Ammun, Abba John, Abba Macarius - shone with virtues: they performed miracles and presented other evidence of their holiness. By driving away demons by the will of God, treating serious illnesses and various sufferings, they showed that medical science is weak. Diseases that doctors could not heal were healed by the prayer of saints and strong faith. But you yourself know this better than me: you lived with them, and so did your fathers.”
St. also writes. Serapion in one essay: “the mind is purified by spiritual knowledge, the movements of anger are healed by love, and the flows of lust are stopped by abstinence”...
This is what Socrates called Serapion. E. 4, 23 and Sozomena N. E. 4, 9.