MEMORIAL OF SAINT ELISHA, THE PROPHET; SAINT METHODIUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND SAINT JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER, PRIEST ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 14 Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Elisha, The Prophet; Saint Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Saint Joseph, the Hymnographer, Priest. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We also pray for the poor and the needy, for peace, love, and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏🏽

SAINT ELISHA, THE PROPHET: Saint Elisha, The Prophet (c 790 BC),  the successor of Elias also called Eliseus, whose name in Hebrew means “God is Salvation,” was an Old Testament Saint with many amazing miracles. St. Elisha was the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah, and you shall anoint as prophet in your place. (1 Kings 19:16). Elisha was to be anointed as prophet because he was Elijah’s God-appointed successor. Elisha was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel in the 800s BC. His moment of calling was rather mystical: Elisha was plowing his father’s field with twelve yoke of oxen when his predecessor, Elijah, came along and cast his mantle upon him, placing his mantle over Elisha’s shoulders―a symbol of a call to share in prophetic work, indicating thereby that Elisha was to succeed him. Elisha requested time to say farewell to his parents and then slew the oxen, gave the meat to the people, and joined Elijah.

Prophet Elisha was the messenger of God during the reigns of Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Jehoash in Israel. Before Elijah was taken up in a fiery chariot and into the whirlwind, Elisha asked to “inherit a double-portion” of Elijah’s spirit. After Elijah was taken up to Heaven, Elisha received a “double portion” of his spirit (2 Kings 2:9). This led to Elisha performing twice as many miracles as Elijah. Throughout the whole course of his life, the prophet, Elisha, accomplished a significant number of miracles. One of his first miracles was taking the mantle of Elijah and striking the water, making it part in two (2 Kings 2:14). Many of his miracles were similar to what Elijah performed, including the miraculous multiplication of a widow’s jar of oil. To relieve the widow importuned by a hard creditor, Elisha so multiplied a little oil as to enable her, not only to pay her indebtedness, but to provide for her family needs (2 Kgs 4:1-7). When he died, a man was cast into his grave and was miraculously revived after touching the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:21). Prophet Elisha won the gratitude of the people of Jericho for healing its barren ground by adding salt to its waters. When the armies of Judah, Israel, and Edom, then allied against Mesa, the Moabite king, were being tortured by drought in the Idumæan desert, Elisha consented to intervene. His double prediction regarding relief from drought and victory over the Moabites was fulfilled on the following morning (2 Kgs 3:4-24). To reward the rich lady of Shunam for her hospitality, he restored to life her son (2 Kgs 4:18-37). To nourish the sons of the prophets pressed by famine, Elisha changed into wholesome food the pottage made from poisonous gourds (2 Kgs 4:38-41).

During the military incursions of Syria into Israel, Elisha cured Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy by simply sending him word that he was to bathe in the Jordan seven times. At first reluctant, Naaman obeyed the Prophet, and after washed seven times in the Jordan, he was healed. Jesus referred to this when he said: “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:27). Elisha’s life and activities are found in 1 and 2 Kings, and he is commemorated on this date in the 2004 Roman Martyrology. His feast day is observed by the Carmelites who claim descent from Elias and Elisha, who lived on Mount Carmel.

PRAYER: O God, protector and redeemer of the human family, whose wonders have been proclaimed through the wonders accomplished by your chosen prophets, you have bestowed the spirit of Elijah on your prophet Elisha: in your kindness grant us too an increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that, living as prophets, we will bear constant witness to your abiding presence and providence. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen🙏🏽

SAINT METHODIUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE: Saint Methodius worked for unity and reconciliation in the Eastern Church and served as the Patriarch of Constantinople the last five years of his life. St. Methodius was born in Syracuse into a rich family. The son of rich and distinguished Sicilian, St. Methodius received an excellent education in his native Syracuse. Having a vocation to serve God, he went while still in his youth off to Constantinople to obtain a position at court, but instead decided to enter the religious life. He first felt the call to enter religious life while in Constantinople, where he had gone to seek a position at court. He left for the island of Chios, where he built a monastery and started a monastic community on the island of Chios with his means. However, his time at the monastery was short-lived since he was summoned by the Patriarch of Constantinople, St. Nicephorus to help govern the diocese and create unity after a debate broke out on the use of icons in worship. When the second Iconoclastic persecution erupted, under Leo the Armenian. St. Methodius fearlessly defended the cult of sacred images. After the deposition and exile of St. Nicephorus, however, St. Methodius was commanded to bring Pope paschal I an account of the state of things in the Near East. So he made his way to Rome and remained there until Leo’s death. In 821, he returned under the new Emperor Michael the Stammerer but was flogged, deported, and confined on the island of Antigoni in the Propontus for seven years. He returned as patriarch in 842 and continued to work for unity.

Upon the death of the Emperor in 842, his widow Theodora became Regent for her infant son Michael III, and she appointed St. Methodius Patriarch of Constantinople. The holy man—rendered a scarecrow of his former self by his suffering and provations—immediately convoked a Council, which reaffirmed the lawfulness of venerating sacred images. To stress this fact, an annual Feast of Orthodoxy was instituted, and it continues to be observed on the First Sunday of Lent in all Byzantine Churches. This heroic Patriarch, who went to his heavenly reward on June 14, 847, was a prolofoc writer but we possess only fragments of his many poetical, theological, and controversial works, and a complete Life of St. Theophanes.

PRAYER: God, Light and Shepherd of souls, You established St. Methodius as Bishop in Your Church to feed Your flock by his word and form it by his example. Help us through his intercession to keep the faith he taught by his word and follow the way he showed by his example. Amen🙏🏽

SAINT JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER, PRIEST: St. Joseph the Hymnographer (816-883 A.D.), “the sweet-voiced nightingale of the Church,” was a tireless servant of the Lord, glorifying Him in life, in works, and through writing countless hymns and canons to the saints. Despite a lifetime of struggle, suffering, and imprisonment, Saint Joseph produced a catalog of writings which remain today, as well as over 1,000 hymns, many of which are still sung by modern congregations. Through his legacy of writings and song, Saint Joseph preserved a priceless record of the history of our faith—a faith which continues, unchanged and unabated, today.

St. Joseph of Hymnographer was born in 816 at Sicily to a pious Christian family around the turn of the 9th century into a pious Christian family. When Muslims invaded the island, his parents, Plotinos and Agatha, moved to the Peloponnesos, Greece to escape persecution and save themselves from barbarian invasions. When he was fifteen, Saint Joseph went to Thessalonica and entered the monastery of Latomos and grew in holiness and virtue. He was distinguished by his piety, his love for work, and his meekness; and he gained the good will of all the brethren of the monastery. He was later ordained as a priest. St. Gregory the Dekapolite took Joseph with him to Constantinople to defend the traditional reverence of icons in opposition to the iconoclast heresy. St. Joseph was then chosen by the local clergy to be a messenger to Pope Leo III to obtain the Holy Father’s assistance in battling the iconoclast heretics, who were gaining power and influence. On his way to Rome, St. Joseph was captured by Muslims who delivered him into the hands of the iconoclast heretics. While held a prisoner, St. Nicholas appeared to Joseph and asked him to sing in the name of God. After six years St. Joseph was freed from prison and returned to Constantinople, where he founded a monastery dedicated to his friend St. Gregory. He also dedicated a church in the name of St. Bartholomew, to whom he had a devotion. St. Bartholomew then appeared to Joseph in a dream and encouraged him to write hymns for the Church. After writing his first hymn in honor of St. Bartholomew, St. Joseph dedicated other hymns to St. Nicholas, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and other saints. During his life he composed nearly 1,000 hymns. When another wave of iconoclasm arose, he again stood steadfast against it and was exiled for eleven years as a result; he was later exiled a second time for defending orthodox Christian doctrine. He finally died on April 3, 886 A.D.in Constantinople. The following is a selection of Hymns by St. Joseph: Let Us Now Our Voices Raise; Stars of the Morning; And Wilt Thou Pardon, Lord; O Happy Band of Pilgrims (by John M. Neale, based on words by Joseph the Hymnographer). His feast day is June 14.

Saint Joseph the Hymnographer, Priest ~ Pray for us🙏🏽