Sunday of the Blind Man

The Lord Jesus was coming from the Temple on the Sabbath, when, while walking in the way, He saw the blind man mentioned in today's Gospel. This man had been born thus from his mother's womb, that is, he had been born without eyes (see Saint John Chrysostom, Homily LVI on Matthew; Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V:15; and the second Exorcism of Saint Basil the Great). When the disciples saw this, they asked their Teacher, "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" They asked this because when the Lord had healed the paralytic at the Sheep's Pool, He had told him, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (John 5:14); so they wondered, if sickness was caused by sin, what sin could have been the cause of his being born without eyes. But the Lord answered that this was for the glory of God. Then the God-man spat on the ground and made clay with the spittle. He anointed the eyes of the blind man and said to him, "Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam." Siloam (which means "sent") was a well-known spring in Jerusalem used by the inhabitants for its waters, which flowed to the eastern side of the city and collected in a large pool called "the Pool of Siloam."
Therefore, the Saviour sent the blind man to this pool that he might wash his eyes, which had been anointed with the clay-not that the pool's water had such power, but that the faith and obedience of the one sent might be made manifest, and that the miracle might become more remarkable and known to all, and leave no room for doubt. Thus, the blind man believed in Jesus' words, obeyed His command, went and washed himself, and returned, no longer blind, but having eyes and seeing. This was the greatest miracle that our Lord had yet worked; as the man healed of his blindness himself testified, "Since time began, never was it heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind," although the Lord had already healed the blind eyes of many. Because he now had eyes, some even doubted that he was the same person (John 9:8-9); and it was still lively in their remembrance when Christ came to the tomb of Lazarus, for they said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have caused that even this man should not have died?" Saint John Chrysostom gives a thorough and brilliant exposition of our Lord's meeting with the woman of Samaria, the healing of the paralytic, and the miracle of the blind man in his commentaries on the Gospel of Saint John.
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Symeon the Stylite of the Mountain
May 24
Saint Symeon, the "New Stylite," was born in Antioch; John his father was from Edessa, and Martha his mother was from Antioch. From his childhood he was under the special guidance of Saint John the Baptist and adopted an extremely ascetical way of life. He became a monk as a young man, and after living in the monastery for a while he ascended upon a pillar, and abode upon it for eighteen years. Then he came to Wondrous Mountain, and lived in a dry and rocky place, where after ten years he mounted another pillar, upon which he lived in great hardship for forty-five years, working many miracles and being counted worthy of divine revelations. He reposed in 595, at the age of eighty-five years, seventy-nine of which he had passed in asceticism.


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Saint Vincent of Lerins
May 24
Saint Vincent was born in Toul in Gaul; he was the brother of Saint Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, who was a companion of Saint Germanus of Auxerre. Saint Vincent was first a soldier, then left the world to become a monk of the renowned monastery of Lerins, where he was also ordained priest. He is known for his Commonitorium, which he wrote as an aid to distinguish the true teachings of the Church from the confusions of heretics; his most memorable saying is that Christians must follow that Faith which has been believed "everywhere, always, and by all." He wrote the Commonitorium about the year 434, three years after the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus, which he mentions in the Commonitorium, and defends calling the holy Virgin Theotokos, "She who gave birth to God," in opposition to the teachings of Nestorius which were condemned at the Third Council.

Without identifying by name Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Saint Vincent condemns his doctrine of Grace and predestination, calling it heresy to teach of "a certain great and special and altogether personal grace of God [which is given to the predestined elect] without any labour, without any effort, without any industry, even though they neither ask, nor seek, nor knock" (Commonitorium, ch. XXVI). See also Saint John Cassian, February 29; Saint John Cassian wrote his refutations before, and Saint Vincent after, the condemnation of Nestorius at the Third Council in 431, and the death of Augustine in 430. Saint Vincent reposed in peace about the year 445.





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Meletios the Commander & his Companion Martyrs
May 24


Gregory, Archbishop of Novgorod
May 24


Third Finding of the Precious Head of St. John the Baptist
May 25
Because of the vicissitudes of time, the venerable head of the holy Forerunner was lost for a third time and rediscovered in Comana of Cappadocia through a revelation to 'a certain priest, but it was found not, as before, in a clay jar, but in a silver vessel, and "in a sacred place." It was taken from Comana to Constantinople and was met with great solemnity by the Emperor, the Patriarch, and the clergy and people. See also February 24.


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Therapon the Hieromartyr, Bishop of Cyprus
May 25


Carpos & Alphaeus, Apostles of the 70
May 26
This holy Apostle was numbered with the Seventy, and ministered unto the holy Apostle Paul, journeying with him and conveying his epistles unto those to whom they were written. He became Bishop of Beroea in Thrace, where he endured great tribulations while bringing many of the heathen to holy Baptism, and also suffered martyrdom there. Saint Paul mentions him in 11 Timothy 4: 13.


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Alexandros the New Martyr of Thessaloniki
May 26




George the New of Sofia
May 26




Holy Glorious Hieromartyr Alladius
May 27
Concerning Saint Helladius, little is known except that he was a bishop who refused to sacrifice to idols, and that during his martyrdom our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him and healed him of his wounds, after which he was cast into fire and was preserved unharmed, suffered further torments, and finally was beaten to death with the blows of fists.


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John the Russian of Evia
May 27
The Holy New Confessor John, a native of Russia, was captured during the Russian campaign against the Turks in 1711 and was thereafter sold into slavery in Asia Minor. In this condition he struggled to serve God in piety even while he served his earthly master in all that was needful. He remained steadfast in the Christian Faith in the face of the many enticements the Moslems provided to lure him to their error, and was granted the grace to work miracles by his prayers. He reposed in peace in 1730. His relics remained incorrupt and are found at New Procopion of Euboia in Greece.



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Icon Courtesy of St. Isaac Skete



Theodora the Virgin-martyr & Didymos the Martyr
May 27


Eutyches the Martyr, Bishop of Melitene
May 28
All information concerning this Martyr has been lost, except that he presented himself before the tyrants, mocked the idols, suffered many unspeakable torments, and was finally drowned in the sea.

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Nikitas, Bishop of Chalcedon
May 28


Eutechios, Bishop of Mytilene
May 28


Helikonis the Martyr
May 28


Heladios the Hieromartyr of the East
May 28


Zacharias the New Martyr
May 28


Theodosia the Virgin-martyr of Tyre
May 29
The holy Virgin Martyr Theodosia was born in Tyre of Phoenicia. At the age of eighteen she was seized in Caesarea of Palestine during a persecution and was brought before Urban the ruler. Because she refused to offer sacrifice to the idols, her sides and breasts were mercilessly scraped even to the inward parts and bones. She endured this in silence with astonishing courage. When Urban again asked her to sacrifice, she mocked him, and after being tormented even more horribly than before, she was cast into the sea in the year 308.

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St. Theodosia, Virgin-Martyr of Constantinople
May 29
The Righteous Martyr Theodosia, having Constantinople as her homeland, struggled in asceticism in her own convent, which was located in that same imperial city. Filled with zeal for the veneration of the holy icons, she withstood Emperor Leo the Isaurian's impious command that the icons be destroyed. She received the martyr's crown when a soldier of the imperial guard plunged a ram's horn through her throat, about the year 717.

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Icon Courtesy of St. Isaac Skete



Andrew the New Martyr of Argentes
May 29


John of Smyrna the New Martyr
May 29


Isaakios, Founder of the Monastery of Dalmatos
May 30
The righteous Isaacius was from Syria and came to Constantinople in 374, excelled in the monastic life, and departed to the Lord in 396. According to tradition, his monastery was built by Dalmatus the Patrician, a nephew of Saint Constantine the Great. But many say that the monastery was founded by Saint Isaacius, and afterwards took the name of the Abbot Dalmatus who succeeded Saint Isaacius (see Aug. 3 for an account of the life of Saints Isaacius and Dalmatus). Yet others maintain that it received its name from both of these, and that is why its name in Greek is in the plural. According to Zonaras, the Iconoclast Emperor Constantine Copronymus later turned this monastery into a barracks: "And as for the Monastery called Palmatus, which is ancient and the oldest of all those in Constantinople, after he had expelled the monks, [the Emperor] made it a barracks for soldiers" (Chronicle, XV, 8). The Third Ecumenical Council raised its abbot to the rank of archimandrite and exarch of the prominent monasteries of the imperial city. The famous Cathedral of Saint Isaac in Saint Petersburg is dedicated to this Saint.



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Macrina, grandmother of St. Basil the Great
May 30


Barlaam the Monk of Caesarea
May 30


Natalios the Martyr
May 30