SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ FEBRUARY 14TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT VALENTINE, PRIEST AND MARTYR AND SAINTS CYRIL, MONK AND METHODIUS, BISHOP: FEAST DAY ~ FEBRUARY 14TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Valentine, Priest and Martyr (Patron Saint of Love, Young People, Happy Marriages, Greetings, Affianced couples, against fainting, beekeepers, love, plague, epilepsy, Lesvos) and Saints Cyril, Monk and Methodius, Bishop (brothers who spread Christianity throughout Eastern Europe).

SAINT VALENTINE, PRIEST AND MARTYR: St. Valentine was a Roman priest, born in c. 226 Terni, Italia, Roman Empire and lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. The feast of St. Valentine of February 14 was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among all those “… whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God.” St. Valentine, together with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs who suffered during the reign of Emperor Claudius II in the 3rd century. According to legend, he ministered to Christians who were persecuted and imprisoned for their faith, and died a martyr. In addition to his other edicts against helping Christians, one account has it that Emperor Claudius II banned all marriages and engagements in Rome, he issued a decree forbidding marriage, believing this was the reason Roman men were unwilling to serve in the army. In order to increase troops for his army, he forbade young men to marry, believing that single men made better soldiers than married men. St. Valentine defied this decree and urged young lovers to come to him in secret so that he could join them in the sacrament of matrimony. Eventually he was discovered by the Emperor, who promptly had St. Valentine arrested and brought before him. Because he was so impressed with the young priest, Emperor Claudius attempted to convert St. Valentine to Roman paganism rather than execute him. However, St. Valentine held steadfast and in turn attempted to convert Emperor Claudius to Christianity, at which point the Emperor condemned him to death. While in prison, Valentine was tended by the jailer, Asterius, and his blind daughter. St. Valentine miraculously restored sight to his jailer’s blind daughter, causing the jailer and his entire extended household, forty-six people in total, to immediately convert to Christianity. Upon hearing this, Emperor Claudius ordered St. Valentine’s execution. Asterius’ daughter was very kind to Valentine and brought him food and messages. They developed a friendship. 

The night before his execution, St. Valentine wrote a farewell message to the jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and signed it affectionately “From Your Valentine,” a phrase that lives on even to today. He was executed on February 14th,  269 AD (aged 42–43) in Rome, Roman Empire. The Martyrology says, “At Rome, on the Flaminian Way, the heavenly birthday of the blessed martyr Valentine, a priest. After performing many miraculous cures and giving much wise counsel he was beaten and beheaded under Claudius Caesar.” The church in which he is buried existed already in the fourth century and was the first sanctuary Roman pilgrims visited upon entering the Eternal City. Valentine has become the universal symbol of friendship and affection shared each anniversary of the priest’s execution — St. Valentine’s Day. Valentine has also become the patron of engaged couples. The custom of sending valentines on this day is the revival of an ancient pagan practice, which consisted in boys drawing the names of girls in honor of their goodness, Februata Juno, on February 15. To abolish this practice names of Saints were substituted on billets drawn upon this day. He’s pictured with birds because birds start pairing in February around his feast day. He’s the Patron Saint of: Affianced couples; betrothed couples; engaged couples; happy marriages; love; lovers; youths; epilepsy; greeting card manufacturers; greetings; plague; travelers; young people; against fainting; bee keepers.

“Three things will last forever: Faith, Hope and Love. But the greatest of these is Love.” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13

PRAYER: “O St. Valentine, lover of Christ and of the Church, we ask your intercession that we may learn how to love God above all things, and to selflessly love one another. O glorious St. Valentine, pray for us, that we too may have the steadfast faith of the martyrs.”

“God of power and mercy, through Your help St. Valentine has overcome the tortures of his passion. Help us who celebrate his triumph to remain victorious over the wiles of our enemies.” … Amen🙏

SAINTS CYRIL, MONK AND METHODIUS, BISHOP: The two brothers, Sts. Cyril (originally Constantine) and Methodius,  Apostles of the Slavs, were born into a noble family in Thessalonika, a district in northeastern Greece. Constantine was the younger, born in about 827, and his brother Methodius in about 815. Born into a prestigious senatorial family, both Sts. Cyril and Methodius renounced their wealth and status, they chose instead to become priests. Constantine undertook a mission to the Arabs, and then became a professor of philosophy at the imperial school in Constantinople and librarian at the cathedral of Santa Sophia. Methodius became governor of a district that had been settled by Slavs. Both brothers then retired to monastic life. In about 861, the Eastern Emperor Michael III sent them to work with the Khazars northeast of the Black Sea in the Dnieper-Volga region of what was later Russia. They learned the Khazar language and made many converts, and discovered what were believed to be relics of Clement, an early Bishop of Rome. In about 863, Prince Rastislav, the ruler of Great Moravia (an area including much of what was later Czechoslovakia), asked the emperor for missionaries, specifying that he wanted someone who would teach his people in their own language. The emperor and the Patriarch Photius sent Methodius and his brother Constantine, who translated the Liturgy and much of the Scriptures into Slavonic and perfected a Slavonic alphabet which is now known as the “Cyrillic” alphabet and devised a kind of writing, called glagolitic, which even to the present day is used in the liturgical services of some Eastern rites. The two labored in Moravia for four years until 867, achieving greater success than the German missionaries who had labored among the people for some time with little success. Through great effort and in spite of tremendous difficulties they converted the Slavonic nations. In 867,  the Saintly brothers were summoned to Rome to render an account of their mission, they were met by Pope Hadrian II (867-872) and the whole papal court. They gave a report of their labors but encountered opposition on the part of jealous clergy who took offense, it was said, because of their liturgical innovations. St. Cyril and Methodius explained their methods and the Pope warmly approved of their methods, from the Pope himself received episcopal consecration (868). Constantine entered a monastery there, taking the name Cyril. However, he died only a few weeks thereafter, on February 14, 869 at Rome, only forty-two years old, and was buried in St. Peter’s; later his body was transferred to San Clemente, where his remains still rest. His funeral resembled a triumphal procession.

After St. Cyril’s death, St. Methodius was left to continue the apostolate alone. St. Methodius was consecrated Bishop by Pope Hadrian II and sent him back. St. Methodius returned to Moravia and did the apostolate and labored as a missionary with success in Moravia, Slovakia, Bohemia, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Dalmatians, and the inhabitants of Carinthia and the neighboring countries. Falling again under suspicion, he returned to Rome and defended the use of the Slavonic language in the liturgy. In order to further St. Methodius’ work in Moravia, Pope Adrian II, bestowed upon him the dignity of archbishop. He was appointed archbishop of a new archdiocese in the territory, independent from the German church. Unfortunately this had the effect of angering his German critics, who had him deposed and imprisoned for a period of three years. Pope Adrian’s successor, John VIII, managed to have St. Methodius freed and had him reinstated as archbishop, after which he expanded his work to incorporate the region of modern day Poland. He converted the duke of Bohemia and his wife, spread the light of faith in Bohemia and Poland, is said to have gone to Moscow (after the erection of the See of Lemberg), and to have established the diocese of Kiev. The new pope, Pope John VIII continued to support Methodius’ use of the Slavic languages in worship and his translations of the Bible, despite continuing controversy with some elements of the German church. Eventually, with the assistance of several Greek priests, he translated the whole Bible into the language that is known today as Church Slavonic. St. Methodius chose his successor from among the native Moravian Slavs whom he had evangelized, and he died on April 6, 885 in Velehrad, the old capitol of Moravia, worn out by his heroic labors and long struggles with enemies that never ceased to antagonized him. He was buried in the Church of St. Mary at Velehrad, the services being conducted in Greek, Slavonic, and Latin. Sts. Cyril and Methodius’ missionary work among the Slavs laid the essential foundation for the later Christianization of Ukraine and Russia in 988, when the Russian Prince Vladimir accepted Baptism. They are Patron Saint of: Slavic Peoples; Bohemia; Bulgaria; Bosnia; Croatia; Czech Republic; Czechoslovakia; ecumenism; Europe; Moravia; Russia; unity of the Eastern and Western Churches; Yugoslavia; ecumenism;  Republic of Macedonia; Transnistria;  Archdiocese of Ljubljana; Slovak Eparchy of Toronto; Eparchy of Košice and against storms.

PRAYER: Merciful God, You have enlightened the Slavonic nations by the teaching of the brothers Cyril and Methodius. Help us to assimilate the teachings of Your doctrine and perfect us as a people united in the true Faith and its expansion. Amen🙏