Our Patron (Matronal Feast)
Is the commemoration of the
Miracle of St. Euphemia at the Fourth Holy Council of Chalcedon
The Scriptures show us that God's promises to those who are faithful to him do not just entail salvation but also participation in His ruling & healing authority.
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In Revelation, Jesus proclaims, "He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne" (3:21). Likewise, in the Old Testament Daniel prophesies, "But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come" (7:18).
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In the Gospels, we read, "And Jesus called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction" (Matt 10:1) and he also tells them, "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (18:18). We recognize that these promises were not limited to just the twelve disciples but to all faithful believers when we read, "The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!'" (Lk 10:17).
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In recognition of the authority and gifts God has given his holy ones, Orthodox churches like ours are named after people whom the Holy Spirit has shown to have lived a blessed life and received the promises of God. Through signs and wonders, we know that God has appointed these people to play a special role in His Kingdom.
Just as God guides and supports us in our walk towards salvation through friends and leaders, may he do so through our glorified patron as well.
St. Euphemia at Chalcedon
The Holy and Gloriously Triumphant Martyr Euphemia flourished during the reign of Diocletian (284–305) when Priscus was proconsul of Rome in the year 288. She was from Chalcedon, the daughter of her father whose name was Philophronos, and her mother was Theodosiani. Having been accused for confessing Christ, she was punished with wheels and fire, as well as with other instruments and ways of torture. After this she was given to be devoured by wild beasts, but she remained unharmed by them. When she had been slightly bitten by a bear, and prayed, she delivered her soul into the hands of God within the theater. Her honorable relic was placed in a box. More can be read in her Synaxarion on the sixteenth of September.
Over the course of many years, when piety had spread throughout the world, then the following tremendous incident took place during the reign of Theodosios the Younger (402–450). A Monk and Priest whose name was Eutyches became the leader of a heresy. The deranged one said that our Lord Jesus Christ had only one nature, namely the divine, and only the one energy of His divinity. For this he was deposed by Patriarch Flavian of Constantinople. The unfortunate Eutyches used as his instruments even the unbelieving royal eunuchs, and he did not cease disturbing the Church, and he labored in his works until Emperor Theodosios died.
When Marcian reigned together with Pulcheria, he ordered for an Ecumenical Synod to take place in Chalcedon in the year 451. Thus six-hundred and thirty Bishops gathered together. They wrote down both positions, the Orthodox and the cacodox Monophysite, in two tomes, namely books. And opening the box in which was the honorable relic of Saint Euphemia, they placed both books on her chest and shut it. Then after a determined amount of days they opened it, and what they saw astonished them. They saw the heretical tome cast towards the ground below the feet of the Saint, and the Orthodox tome, which contained the definition and decision of the Holy Synod, they saw the Martyr holding it in her embrace. When this took place, everyone marveled at this tremendous incident. And the Orthodox were made firm in their faith and glorified God, who daily does great and paradoxical things in order to cause the return and correction of many. The heretical Monophysites were put to shame. The Synaxis and Feast of this Saint Euphemia is celebrated in her martyric Temple, which is in the so-called Antiochus [the Hippodrome], near Lauson.
