Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, WA

St Mark of Arethusa suffered for his faith in Christ under the emperor the apostate emperor Julian (361-363 AD). By order of the St Constantine the Great, St Mark had once destroyed a pagan temple and built a Christian Church.

When Julian came to the throne, he persecuted Christians and tried to restore paganism. Some citizens of Arethusa renounced Christianity and became pagans. Then St Mark's enemies decided to take revenge on him. The old bishop hid himself from the persecutors at first, but then gave himself up when he learned that the pagans had tortured many people in their search for him.

The holy Elder was led through the city and given over to torture. They tore out his hair, slashed his body, dragged him along the street, dumped him in a swamp, tied him up, and cut him with knives.

The pagans demanded that the holy Bishop pay them a large sum of money to rebuild the pagan temple, and he refused to do so. The persecutors continued to torture him by squeezing his foot in a press, they cut off his ears with linen cords, and finally they smeared his body with honey and grease, then hung him up in a basket in the hot mid-day sun to be eaten by bees, wasps, and hornets. St Mark did not seem to notice the pain, and this irritated the tormentor all the more.

The pagans kept lowering the price he had to pay for their temple, but St Mark refused to give them a single coin. Admiring him for his courage and endurance, the pagans stopped asking him for money and set him free. Many of them returned to Christ after hearing his talks.

Holy Martyr Cyril the Deacon and his Companions were put to death for this during the reign of Julian the Apostate for destroying many idols and pagan temples in Heliopolis, Phoenicia during the reign of St Constantine the Great. Pagans cut open his stomach and, like wild beasts, they ate his liver and intestines, for which the Lord punished them with blindness, boils and other terrible afflictions.

During this time, the pagans killed many Christians in the Palestinian cities of Ascalon and Gaza, including Priests, women and children who had dedicated themselves to God. The torturers cut up their bodies, covered them with barley and fed them to pigs.

The holy martyrs received crowns of victory in the Kingdom of Heaven, and the torturers also received their just recompense: eternal torment in Hell.

St John the Anchorite was hid by the pious widow Juliania of Armenia together with Juliania's children and Themisteaher during a persecution against Christians. Juliania taught her children to pray and to read the Holy Scriptures.

From time to time John secretly visited a nearby monastery, thereby placing himself in danger. Once, a pious old man advised him to find a more secluded place for prayer. Returning home, the Saint told his mother that he was going to visit the Elder. Thinking that her son would soon return, she let him go. John went to the desert-dweller Pharmutios and received his blessing to live alone in the wilderness. The young ascetic found an abandoned well, which was filled with snakes, scorpions and other vile creatures. He lowered himself into the well and lived there for ten years in fasting, vigil, and prayer.

The Angel who brought food to the hermit Pharmutios also brought bread for St John. The angel did not bring the bread directly to John, however, lest the young ascetic become filled with pride. Food was sent to him through his spiritual Father, Pharmutios.

St John had many temptations from the devil to test him. Demons assumed the appearance of his mother, his sister, his relatives and acquaintances in order to sadden the ascetic and compel him to give up his ascetic struggles. With tears, they approached the well one after the other, begging St John to leave with them. All this time the Saint did not cease to pray. Finally, he said, "Be gone from me", and the demons vanished.

St John lived in the well until the time of his blessed repose. Through God's providence St Chrysikhios, who had struggled in the desert for 30 years, came to bury him. On the eve of his repose, St John told Chrysikhios of his life and struggles for salvation. After his death, numerous miracles took place at his ascetic deeds.

St Eustathios the Confessor and Bishop of Bithynia was already at the beginning of his spiritual struggle a pious monk, meek and wise, filled with great faith and love for his neighbour. For his virtuous life, he was made Bishop of the city of Bithynia in the Roman province of northwest Asia Minor, and for many years he guided his flock, giving them an example of virtuous life and perfection.

During the Iconoclast heresy, St Eustathios boldly came out against the heretics and defended the veneration of holy icons. Iconoclasts denounced him to the emperor, and the Saint suffered imprisonment and fierce beatings. Finally, they deprived St Eustathios of his See and sent him to prison.

The holy confessor died in exile during the ninth century, after suffering insults, deprivation, hunger, and want for three years.

Sts Mark, Jonah and Bassa are venerated as the founders of the Russian Pskov Caves Monastery.

It is not known exactly when the first hermit monks settled by the Kamenets stream in the natural caves of the hill, which the local inhabitants called "the holy hill". The monastery Chronicle presents an account of eyewitnesses, hunter-trappers from Izborsk nicknamed Selishi, "We came with our father to the outlying hill where the church of the Mother of God is now, and heard what seemed to be church singing. They sang harmoniously and reverently, but the singers could not be seen, and the air was filled with the fragrance of incense".

Of the first Elders of the Pskov Caves Monastery only Mark is known by name. The Chronicle says of him, "In the beginning, a certain Elder was living at the Kamenets near the cave. Some fishermen saw him by the three rocks above the cave of the Most Holy Theotokos church, but they were unable to discover who he was, his lineage, how and from whence he came to this place, how long he dwelt there, or how he died".

The second Igumen (Abbot) of the Caves monastery is identified as Elder Mark in the Monastery Synodikon. St Cornelios (commemorated February 20) doubted the veracity of this inscription and ordered that the name be removed from the Synodikon. Suddenly he became grievously ill and it was revealed to him that this was his punishment for ordering the name of St. Mark to be stricken from the monastery diptychs.

After begging forgiveness at the grave of the Elder Mark, Igumen Cornelios restored his name. When the cave church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos was dug out and the burial caves expanded, the Igumen Dorotheos found the grave of St Mark in a state of neglect, but his relics and clothing were preserved.

In the year 1472 AD, the peasant Ivan Dementiev cut down the forest on the hill. One of the felled trees rolled down the hill, uprooting another tree from the ground. The slide opened up the entrance to a cave, over which was the inscription, "The cave built by God" (There is a tradition that St Varlaam, a fool-for-Christ, frequently came to the cave and wiped out this inscription, but it miraculously reappeared every time).

The priest John (nicknamed "Shestnik") came to this holy spot, where the first ascetics prayed. He was a native of "the Moscow lands", served as priest at Iuriev (now Tartu) in "a right-believing church, established by people from Pskov", and dedicated to St Nicholas and the Great Martyr George. He and the Priest Isidore spiritually nourished the Russians living there.

In 1470 AD, Fr John was compelled to flee to Pskov with his family because of persecution by the German Catholics. When he learned of the martyric death of St Isidore (commemorated January 8), Fr John decided to settle in the newly-appeared "cave built by God", so that there, on the very boundary with the Livonians, he might found a monastery as an outpost of Orthodoxy.

Soon his wife fell ill and died after receiving monastic tonsure with the name Bassa. Her righteousness was evidenced immediately after her death. Her husband and her spiritual Father buried St Bassa (commemorated March 19) in the wall of "the cave built by God", but at night her coffin was "taken from the ground by an invisible power of God".

Fr John and St Bassa's Father Confessor were upset, thinking that this had happened because they had not done the complete Service for the Departed. Therefore, they sang the funeral service a second time, and they buried the body again. In the morning, however, it was found above ground. Then it was clear that this was a sign from God, so they dug St Bassa's grave on the left side of the cave. Shaken by the miracle, John became a monk with the name Jonah and devoted himself even more fervently to spiritual struggles.

He dug out the cave church and built two cells on pillars, then petitioned the clergy of the Pskov Trinity Cathedral to consecrate it, but they decided not to do so at the time, "because of its unusual location". Then St Jonah sought the blessing of Archbishop Theophilos of Novgorod.

On August 15, 1473 AD the cave church was consecrated in honour of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. During the consecration there was a miracle from an icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. A blind woman "sent by the merciful God, beginning His great gifts to His All-Pure Mother" received her sight. The icon, which they call the "old" to distinguish it from another wonderworking icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos with scenes of Her life around the borders, was painted around 1421 AD by the Pskov iconographer Alexei Maly, and is now kept in the altar of the Dormition church. The icon with scenes around the border is the Cave church's patronal icon.

The date of the consecration of the cave church is regarded as the official date of the founding of the Pskov Caves monastery. St Jonah laboured at the Cave monastery until 1480, and then peacefully fell asleep in the Lord. Upon his death, they discovered a chain mail coat on his body. This was hung over his grave as a sign of his secret asceticism, but it was stolen during a German invasion.

The relics of St Jonah rest in the Caves beside the relics of the Elder Mark and St Bassa. Once, when the monastery was besieged, the Livonian knights wanted to open the lid of St Bassa's coffin with a sword, but fire spurted forth from the coffin. Traces of this punishing fire may still be seen on the coffin of St Bassa.



	Hieromartyr Mark the Bishop of Arethusa, Holy Martyr Cyril the Deacon and his Companions, St John the Anchorite, St Eustathios the Confessor and Bishop of Bithynia, and Sts Mark, Jonah and Bassa Commemorated March 29 St Mark of Arethusa suffered for his faith in Christ under the emperor the apostate emperor Julian (361-363 AD). By order of the St Constantine the Great, St Mark had once destroyed a pagan temple and built a Christian Church. When Julian came to the throne, he persecuted Christians and tried to restore paganism. Some citizens of Arethusa renounced Christianity and became pagans. Then St Mark's enemies decided to take revenge on him. The old bishop hid himself from the persecutors at first, but then gave himself up when he learned that the pagans had tortured many people in their search for him. The holy Elder was led through the city and given over to torture. They tore out his hair, slashed his body, dragged him along the street, dumped him in a swamp, tied him up, and cut him with knives. The pagans demanded that the holy Bishop pay them a large sum of money to rebuild the pagan temple, and he refused to do so. The persecutors continued to torture him by squeezing his foot in a press, they cut off his ears with linen cords, and finally they smeared his body with honey and grease, then hung him up in a basket in the hot mid-day sun to be eaten by bees, wasps, and hornets. St Mark did not seem to notice the pain, and this irritated the tormentor all the more. The pagans kept lowering the price he had to pay for their temple, but St Mark refused to give them a single coin. Admiring him for his courage and endurance, the pagans stopped asking him for money and set him free. Many of them returned to Christ after hearing his talks. Holy Martyr Cyril the Deacon and his Companions were put to death for this during the reign of Julian the Apostate for destroying many idols and pagan temples in Heliopolis, Phoenicia during the reign of St Constantine the Great. Pagans cut open his stomach and, like wild beasts, they ate his liver and intestines, for which the Lord punished them with blindness, boils and other terrible afflictions. During this time, the pagans killed many Christians in the Palestinian cities of Ascalon and Gaza, including Priests, women and children who had dedicated themselves to God. The torturers cut up their bodies, covered them with barley and fed them to pigs. The holy martyrs received crowns of victory in the Kingdom of Heaven, and the torturers also received their just recompense: eternal torment in Hell. St John the Anchorite was hid by the pious widow Juliania of Armenia together with Juliania's children and Themisteaher during a persecution against Christians. Juliania taught her children to pray and to read the Holy Scriptures. From time to time John secretly visited a nearby monastery, thereby placing himself in danger. Once, a pious old man advised him to find a more secluded place for prayer. Returning home, the Saint told his mother that he was going to visit the Elder. Thinking that her son would soon return, she let him go. John went to the desert-dweller Pharmutios and received his blessing to live alone in the wilderness. The young ascetic found an abandoned well, which was filled with snakes, scorpions and other vile creatures. He lowered himself into the well and lived there for ten years in fasting, vigil, and prayer. The Angel who brought food to the hermit Pharmutios also brought bread for St John. The angel did not bring the bread directly to John, however, lest the young ascetic become filled with pride. Food was sent to him through his spiritual Father, Pharmutios. St John had many temptations from the devil to test him. Demons assumed the appearance of his mother, his sister, his relatives and acquaintances in order to sadden the ascetic and compel him to give up his ascetic struggles. With tears, they approached the well one after the other, begging St John to leave with them. All this time the Saint did not cease to pray. Finally, he said, "Be gone from me", and the demons vanished. St John lived in the well until the time of his blessed repose. Through God's providence St Chrysikhios, who had struggled in the desert for 30 years, came to bury him. On the eve of his repose, St John told Chrysikhios of his life and struggles for salvation. After his death, numerous miracles took place at his ascetic deeds. St Eustathios the Confessor and Bishop of Bithynia was already at the beginning of his spiritual struggle a pious monk, meek and wise, filled with great faith and love for his neighbour. For his virtuous life, he was made Bishop of the city of Bithynia in the Roman province of northwest Asia Minor, and for many years he guided his flock, giving them an example of virtuous life and perfection. During the Iconoclast heresy, St Eustathios boldly came out against the heretics and defended the veneration of holy icons. Iconoclasts denounced him to the emperor, and the Saint suffered imprisonment and fierce beatings. Finally, they deprived St Eustathios of his See and sent him to prison. The holy confessor died in exile during the ninth century, after suffering insults, deprivation, hunger, and want for three years. Sts Mark, Jonah and Bassa are venerated as the founders of the Russian Pskov Caves Monastery. It is not known exactly when the first hermit monks settled by the Kamenets stream in the natural caves of the hill, which the local inhabitants called "the holy hill". The monastery Chronicle presents an account of eyewitnesses, hunter-trappers from Izborsk nicknamed Selishi, "We came with our father to the outlying hill where the church of the Mother of God is now, and heard what seemed to be church singing. They sang harmoniously and reverently, but the singers could not be seen, and the air was filled with the fragrance of incense". Of the first Elders of the Pskov Caves Monastery only Mark is known by name. The Chronicle says of him, "In the beginning, a certain Elder was living at the Kamenets near the cave. Some fishermen saw him by the three rocks above the cave of the Most Holy Theotokos church, but they were unable to discover who he was, his lineage, how and from whence he came to this place, how long he dwelt there, or how he died". The second Igumen (Abbot) of the Caves monastery is identified as Elder Mark in the Monastery Synodikon. St Cornelios (commemorated February 20) doubted the veracity of this inscription and ordered that the name be removed from the Synodikon. Suddenly he became grievously ill and it was revealed to him that this was his punishment for ordering the name of St. Mark to be stricken from the monastery diptychs. After begging forgiveness at the grave of the Elder Mark, Igumen Cornelios restored his name. When the cave church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos was dug out and the burial caves expanded, the Igumen Dorotheos found the grave of St Mark in a state of neglect, but his relics and clothing were preserved. In the year 1472 AD, the peasant Ivan Dementiev cut down the forest on the hill. One of the felled trees rolled down the hill, uprooting another tree from the ground. The slide opened up the entrance to a cave, over which was the inscription, "The cave built by God" (There is a tradition that St Varlaam, a fool-for-Christ, frequently came to the cave and wiped out this inscription, but it miraculously reappeared every time). The priest John (nicknamed "Shestnik") came to this holy spot, where the first ascetics prayed. He was a native of "the Moscow lands", served as priest at Iuriev (now Tartu) in "a right-believing church, established by people from Pskov", and dedicated to St Nicholas and the Great Martyr George. He and the Priest Isidore spiritually nourished the Russians living there. In 1470 AD, Fr John was compelled to flee to Pskov with his family because of persecution by the German Catholics. When he learned of the martyric death of St Isidore (commemorated January 8), Fr John decided to settle in the newly-appeared "cave built by God", so that there, on the very boundary with the Livonians, he might found a monastery as an outpost of Orthodoxy. Soon his wife fell ill and died after receiving monastic tonsure with the name Bassa. Her righteousness was evidenced immediately after her death. Her husband and her spiritual Father buried St Bassa (commemorated March 19) in the wall of "the cave built by God", but at night her coffin was "taken from the ground by an invisible power of God". Fr John and St Bassa's Father Confessor were upset, thinking that this had happened because they had not done the complete Service for the Departed. Therefore, they sang the funeral service a second time, and they buried the body again. In the morning, however, it was found above ground. Then it was clear that this was a sign from God, so they dug St Bassa's grave on the left side of the cave. Shaken by the miracle, John became a monk with the name Jonah and devoted himself even more fervently to spiritual struggles. He dug out the cave church and built two cells on pillars, then petitioned the clergy of the Pskov Trinity Cathedral to consecrate it, but they decided not to do so at the time, "because of its unusual location". Then St Jonah sought the blessing of Archbishop Theophilos of Novgorod. On August 15, 1473 AD the cave church was consecrated in honour of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. During the consecration there was a miracle from an icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. A blind woman "sent by the merciful God, beginning His great gifts to His All-Pure Mother" received her sight. The icon, which they call the "old" to distinguish it from another wonderworking icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos with scenes of Her life around the borders, was painted around 1421 AD by the Pskov iconographer Alexei Maly, and is now kept in the altar of the Dormition church. The icon with scenes around the border is the Cave church's patronal icon. The date of the consecration of the cave church is regarded as the official date of the founding of the Pskov Caves monastery. St Jonah laboured at the Cave monastery until 1480, and then peacefully fell asleep in the Lord. Upon his death, they discovered a chain mail coat on his body. This was hung over his grave as a sign of his secret asceticism, but it was stolen during a German invasion. The relics of St Jonah rest in the Caves beside the relics of the Elder Mark and St Bassa. Once, when the monastery was besieged, the Livonian knights wanted to open the lid of St Bassa's coffin with a sword, but fire spurted forth from the coffin. Traces of this punishing fire may still be seen on the coffin of St Bassa. Dismissal Hymn (Third Tone) In preparation for the contest, O glorious Mark, you anointed an assembly of martyrs and strengthened them by your steadfastness. You finished your course with them, and you were all found worthy of the joys of heaven. O righteous Father, Pray to Christ our God to grant us his great mercy! Kontakion (Fourth Tone) Having been illumined by the grace of truth, you radiantly instruct the ends of the earth in piety, O glorious Hieromartyrs. Therefore we bless you in faith.

Hieromartyr Mark the Bishop of Arethusa, Holy Martyr Cyril the Deacon and his Companions, St John the Anchorite, St Eustathios the Confessor and Bishop of Bithynia, and Sts Mark, Jonah and Bassa