Prophet Ahijah the Shilonite (Achias) (960 BC)
Martyrs Anthony, Zevinus, Germanus, Nicephorus and virgin-martyr Maratho, under Diocletian (c. 286-305)(see also: November 13)
Venerable Martin the Merciful (Martin of Tours), Bishop of Tours (397) (see also: October 12, November 11, July 4)
Venerable Nilus the Faster, of Sinai (451)
Venerable Nilus the Myrrh-gusher, of Mount Athos (1651)
Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria (c. 616-620)
Blessed John “the Hairy”, Fool-for-Christ, of Rostov (1580)
New Martyr Sabbas Nigdelis the Samoladan, beheaded at Koutzouk-Karamani, Constantinople, buried in Eğri Kapı (“Crooked Gate”) (1726)
New Martyr Nicholas of Six Marmara, at Constantinople (1732)
New Hieromartyr Alexander Adrianov, priest of the Ekaterinburg Diocese (1918)
Commemoration of the miracle (1718) of Saint Spyridon the Wonderworker (348), when the Latins wanted to place their own altar in his church on Corfu.
Repose of Righteous Cosmas of Birsk (1882)
Commemoration of the righteous monks and laymen buried at Optina Monastery, including
Commemorated November 12th
”Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”Matth.-5, 7
Hymn of Praise
The Lord’s mercy and goodness
by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
Our Lord is mercy and true goodness,
Yet He allows man to suffer for his sin:
Floods, sickness, earthquakes, droughts,
Horror and pains for body and soul.
He who does not see the Father when He offers gifts
Will see Him at the Judgment as the Righteous Judge.
The awesome Judge has many servants,
And employs them all for man’s salvation-
The earth’s thorns; serpents and beasts;
And floods, lightning, thunder from the sky;
And evil winds of illness; the sun, heat and darkness;
And the field, which gives either wheat or empty straw.
As many gifts await the faithful,
So many scourges are woven for the evil.
Adam’s fields are watered with gentle dew,
But Sodom and Gomorrah are mowed with a flaming sword.
Above other created things, God loves man:
Therefore He forgives much; therefore He waits long.
But, when God’s patience exceeds all bounds,
Then fire, not dew, does the work.
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
http://prologue.orthodox.cn/November6.htm
***
Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria
From the Life of John the Almsgiver, our saintly father and Archbishop of Alexandria, written by Leontius, Bishop of Neapolis in the island of Cyprus
When I was in Cyprus and was but a stripling of about fifteen years old, I saw one day in my sleep a certain maiden whose countenance outshone the sun and who was adorned beyond all human imagining, and she came and stood by my bed and touched me on the side. I woke up and saw her really standing there and I perceived that she was no woman. I crossed myself and said to her: ‘Who are you, and how did you dare to come into my room while I was sleeping?’ She had too, a wreath of olive branches on her head. And then with a joyous countenance and a smile on her lips she said to me: ”I am the first of the daughters of the King.” On hearing this I at once did obeisance to her. And then she said to me: ‘‘If you will have me as a friend, I will lead you into the presence of the King. For no one has as free access to Him as I have. For I caused Him to put on man’s nature on earth and bring salvation to men.” With these words she disappeared.
When I came to myself I understood the vision and said, Verily she is either Sympathy or Charity, and for this reason she had a wreath of olive leaves on her head. For it was certainly sympathy with, and pity for mankind that made our Lord become incarnate in our flesh’.* I dressed quickly and without waking anyone in the house I made my way to the church. For it was already dawn. And on my way I met a brother shivering with cold, so I took off my goatskin and gave it to him, saying to myself, ”Now by this I shall know whether my vision was really a true one or sent by a demon”. And truth bore witness, for before I reached the church a man clad in white suddenly met me and handed me a bag with 100 nomismata in it saying, ”Take this, brother, and use it as you like”. In my joy I turned round directly I had taken it, wishing to give him back the bag as I was not in want, but I could not see anybody. Then I said: ‘Certainly it was not my imagination.
From that time on I would often give an alms to a fellow brother and would say to myself, ‘Let me see whether God will repay me a hundredfold as He said’. In this way I tempted God, acting wrongly, and after I was fully satisfied by the facts themselves in various ways, I said: ‘Leave off wretched soul, tempting Him who cannot be tempted.’ To think that when my humble soul has received such ample proofs from God these faithless folk should come to-day hoping to persuade me as well as themselves to shew a want of pity !
***
Whilst this same crowd of people was still in the city, one of the strangers, noticing John’s remarkable sympathy, determined to try the blessed man; so he put on old clothes and approached him as he was on his way to visit the sick in the hospitals (for he did this two or three times a week) and said to him: ‘Have mercy upon me for I am a prisoner of war.’
John said to his purse-bearer: ‘Give him six nomismata.’ After the man had received these he went off, changed his clothes, met John again in another street, and falling at his feet said: ‘Have pity upon me for I am in want.’ The Patriarch again said to his purse-bearer: ‘Give him six nomismata.’ As he went away the purse-bearer whispered in the Patriarch’s ear: ‘By your prayers, master, this same man has had alms from you twice over!’ But the Patriarch pretended not to understand. Soon the man came again for the third time to ask for money and the attendant, carrying the gold, nudged the Patriarch to let him know that it was the same man; whereupon the truly merciful and beloved of God said: ‘Give him twelve nomismata, for perchance it is my Christ and He is making trial of me.’
Source: Three Byzantine Saints: Contemporary Biographies of St. Daniel the Stylite, St. Theodore of Sykeon and St. John the Almsgiver, trans. Elizabeth Dawes, and introductions and notes by Norman H. Baynes, (London: 1948) ,© Paul Halsall July 1997 halsall@murray.fordham.edu
http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/john-almsgiver.asp
***
Saint Vitalius, a monk of the monastery of Saint Seridus, arrived in Alexandria when Saint John the Merciful (November 12) was Patriarch of Alexandria.
When he was sixty years old, undertook an extraordinary task: he wrote down from memory the names of all the prostitutes of Alexandria and he began to pray for them. He worked from morning to evening, earning twelve copper coins each day. In the evening the saint bought a single bean, which he ate after sunset. Then he would give the rest of the money to one of the harlots, whom he visited at night and said, “I beg you, take this money and do not sin with anyone tonight.” Then he stayed with the harlot in her room. While she slept, the Elder spent the whole night at prayer, reading the Psalms, and quietly left in the morning.
He did this each day, visiting all the harlots in turn, and he made them promise to keep the purpose of his visit secret. The people of Alexandria, not knowing the truth, became indignant over the the monk’s behavior, and they reviled him. However, he meekly endured their scorn, and he only asked that they not judge others.
The holy prayers of Saint Vitalius saved many fallen women. Some of them went to a monastery, others got married, and others found respectable work. But they were forbidden to tell anyone the reason why they had changed their life, and thereby stop the abuse heaped upon Saint Vitalius. They were bound by an oath they had made to the saint. When one of the women began to break her oath and stood up to defend the saint, she fell into a demonic frenzy. After this, the people of Alexandria had no doubt concerning the sinfulness of the monk.
Certain of the clergy, scandalized by the behavior of Saint Vitalius, reported him to the holy Patriarch John the Merciful. But the Patriarch did not believe the informers and he said, “Cease to judge, especially monks. Don’t you know what happened at the First Council of Nicea? Some of the bishops and the clergy brought letters of denunciation against each other to the emperor Saint Constantine the Great (May 21). He commanded that a burning candle be brought, and not even reading the letters, he burned them and said, “If I had seen with my own eyes a bishop sinning, or a priest, or a monk, then I would have veiled such with his garb, so that no one might see his sin.” Thus the wise hierarch shamed the calumniators.
Saint Vitalius continued on with his difficult exploit: appearing himself before people under the guise of a sinner and a prodigal, he led the prodigal to repentance.
One time, emerging from an house of ill repute, the monk encountered a young man going there — a prodigal fellow, who with an insult struck him on the cheek and cried out, that the monk was a disgrace to the Name of Christ. The monk answered him: “Believe me, that after me, humble man that I be, thou also shalt receive such a blow on the cheek, that will have all Alexandria thronging to thine cry”.
A certain while afterwards Saint Vitalius settled into a small cell and in it at night he died. At that very hour a terrifying demon appeared before the youth who had struck the saint, and the demon struck the youth on the cheek and cried out: “Here is a knock from Saint Vitalius.” The youth went into a demonic madness. In a frenzy he thrashed about on the ground, tore the clothing from himself and howled so loudly, that a multitude of people gathered.
When the youth finally came to his senses after several hours, he then rushed off to the cell of the monk, calling out: “Have mercy on me, O servant of God, for I have sinned against thee.” At the door of the cell he came fully to his senses and he told those gathered there about his former encounter with Saint Vitalius. Then the youth knocked on the door of the cell, but he received no answer. When they broke in the door, they then saw, that the monk was dead, on his knees before an icon. In his hand was a scroll with the words: “Men of Alexandria, judge not beforehand, til cometh the Lord, the Righteous Judge”.
At this moment there came up the demon-possessed woman, punished by the monk for wanting to violate the secret of his exploit. Having touched the body of the saint, she was healed and told the people about everything that had happened with her.
When the women who had been saved by Saint Vitalius learned about his death, they gathered together and told everyone about the virtues and mercy of the saint.
Saint John the Merciful also rejoiced, in that he had not believed the calumniators, and that a righteous man had not been condemned. And then together with the throng of repentant women, converted by Saint Vitalius, the holy Patriarch solemnly conveyed his remains throughout all the city and gave them reverent burial. And from that time many of the Alexandria people made themselves a promise to judge no one.
Source: https://oca.org/saints/lives/2017/04/22/101183-venerable-vitalius-of-gaza
Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
In patiently enduring, you obtained your reward, O venerable father. You persevered in your prayers without ceasing; and you loved the impoverished and you satisfied them. We entreat you, intercede with Christ God, O blessed John the Merciful, for the salvation of our souls.
stichera for the holy hierarch, in Tone IV: Spec .Mel.: “Thou hast given a sign…”—
Scattering, thou didst distribute thy bread to them that were in need thereof, O wondrous John, emulating in mercy the most merciful Master, O venerable one. Wherefore, thy memory truly abideth forever, O holy one. By thy supplications do thou save them that celebrate it with faith from temptations and tribulations, O hierarch most rich.
Foreseeing thy purity, the rightness of thy mind and thy godly demeanor, He Who seeth things that are hidden elevated thee to a most magnificent throne, anointing and perfecting thee with chrism, O wise one, and manifestly appointing thee the pilot of His flock which thou didst guide to the heaven of divine desire, O divinely eloquent John.
All the requests of thy heart, O right wondrous one, the Lord did grant; for thou didst observe all the laws of salvation. For God and neighbor didst thou unendingly love, O divinely blessed one, as thy very self; and thou didst satisfy them that were in need. Wherefore, we honor thee today, O John.
Kontakion of the hierarch, in Tone II: Spec. Mel.: “Seeking the highest…”—
Thou didst distribute thy wealth to the destitute, and hast now received heavenly riches, O John most wise. Wherefore, celebrating thy memory, we all honor thee, O namesake of almsgiving.
Ikos: Trusting in the mercy of God, O John, enriched with compassions and gifts by Him, thou didst thus show thyself to be merciful, having compassion upon all, like Him. Wherefore, taking pity on my poverty, grant me the riches of thy supplication, and fill thou my starving heart with godly words, O divinely wise one, as of old thou feddest the hungry, O namesake of almsgiving.
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