The life of the holy Martha

She was born in the city of Antioch, and her parents were devout Christians, and they urged her to marry, but she did not consent, because she wanted to live a virgin life; however, a divine vision in the church of the Holy Patriarch forced her to obey her parents and get married.

By the divine gift of which she had been forewarned (as described in detail in the life of Simeon the Wonderworker), by the apparition of St. John the Forerunner, Martha conceived a son, St. Simeon.

After living with her husband for a few years, she became a widow and carefully raised the child, strictly monitoring his upbringing according to the order of the holy Ancestor.

Martha always prayed to God for her son, that He would accept him as Samuel from the prophetess Anna [Samuel <unk> the famous judge and prophet of the people of Israel. <unk> His memory is commemorated by the Church on August 20].

One day, as Martha thought about the boy and what would happen to him when he grew up, she had this vision in a dream: she thought she had wings and was flying high, holding the child in her arms and carrying it as a gift to the Lord, saying:

"This is your ascension, my child, which I have longed to see. May my Creator send me away in peace, for I have been pleased to offer him the fruit of my womb, and have found grace in him".

She was constantly in the temple of God, never abandoning the church rule, for she lived near the church; she was the first to come to the church to hear the singing, and the last to leave.

She had a pious habit of coming to the feast service, wherever it took place, in the holy temples; with great attention and heartbreak she stood behind the all-night prayers, shedding tears and often partaking of the divine Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ.

How dignifiedly she received communion was evidenced by the fact that after receiving divine communion, her face shone with a miraculous light, like the face of Moses [Moses <unk> the famous leader and legislator of the Jewish people and the first sacred writer; lived in the 15th century B.C.E.

Moses miraculously led the Israelites out of Egypt and thus delivered them from a terrible slavery.

All that he received from God, commandments and decrees, as well as the early history of the Jewish people, he laid out in the first five books of the Bible (the Five Books of Moses).

Every night in her house, before midnight, Martha stood up to pray, which she did with the warmth of her soul, drenching her face with tears, while her mind was deeply rooted in God, whom she loved with all the strength of her soul; she was abundant in charity to the poor, fed the thirsty and clothed the naked.

She often visited hospitals, tended the sick with her hands, and gave clothes for the burial of the dying, as well as white garments of her own hand and to the baptized.

She was so gentle, so humble, so unclenched that no one ever saw her angry, or arguing with anyone, or sad, and she kept her mouth shut from talking too much unless it was necessary.

She loved silence very much, for it trained the mind to godly thinking; no idle talk or deceit or ungodliness was heard from her mouth, but out of the good treasure of her heart she spoke good and her mouths.

She was also a peacemaker among the indignant, a warner to the wicked, and an example of chastity, piety, and godliness to all, not only to women but also to men.

The great holiness of her holy son Simeon is a sufficient testimony of her righteous life, for it was to such a woman that such a son should have been born.

She had a vision of St. John the Baptist, the companion and co-worker of St. Paul.

<unk> His memory is celebrated by the Church on 22 January.] , to whom, after God and the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Martha had a special zeal and daily prayed with faith, <unk> and said to her: <unk> I have always interceded for you before God and will never leave you.

Then, awestruck and overjoyed, Martha awoke from the vision, fearfully praising God and telling her son, the reverend Simeon, whom she had often visited.

When she came and saw a great crowd of people with various diseases gathered here in the hope of being healed, and many miracles being performed by the prayers of the saint, Martha did not exalt herself, but looked at this with special fear, lest somehow the enemy of our salvation should dismiss

And she prayed to Jehovah with tears, that he would deliver her son out of the hand of the enemy.

And he said unto him, My son, thou art worthy to be praised in the sight of the Lord; but remember thy infirmity, and keep thy heart.

The monk gladly listened to his mother's admonition and, reassured by her godly life, gave thanks to God.

When the blessed Martha lived in many virtues for many years and finally pleased God, then a year before her death during the warm midnight prayers to God, she came to a state of ecstasy and saw many joyful celestial dignitaries holding candles in their hands and saying to her:

At the end of the year we will take you from the flesh to the place of rest prepared for you by the Lord. This was also revealed to the holy Simeon.

He saw the Blessed Virgin Mary in glory sitting on the throne, while the blessed Martha, with her arms raised to her in the form of a cross, transformed into a golden cross and shining with a light like the rays of the sun, stood before her.

It was a glowing cross, but her face was visible above the cross, and it was given to Father Simeon, who said it was a sign of his mother's impending death.

When the last year of Martha's godly life was over, she came to visit her son, Simeon, and Simeon said to her, "Bless me, my mother, as Abraham blessed Isaac".

And now, behold, three months are left of my life, and I am going to Jehovah my God, who brought thee forth out of my womb; and he will bless thee, and will bless thee, and make thy work prosperous, which thou hast begun, and God will make thee king.

When she had said this, she wept bitterly. So did her brothers, who had been mourning for her for three months.

And if it be not so, then count thy handmaid a liar. And Simeon said to her, Bless us, we pray thee, for we are grieved at thy words. And she said, Blessed art thou of the Lord, blessed are they that bless thee.

And all the congregation worshipped him, and he rose up and went to Antioch. And on the morrow Simeon called the elders together, and said,

It's time for me to leave the land of my master and mother.

Last night I had a vision of a throne placed before me and my mother sitting on it, all of us standing around it, and she was teaching us the opening words of the psalm: "Happy is the man that has not walked in the counsel of the wicked ones".

With many other words she pleaded with us as if we were her own children. Then she got up and went on ahead of us to the church, carrying a marble cross in her hand, while we followed her with hymns of praise.

After this, just a few days before her death, Martha again came to the reverend Simeon for a final farewell.

And she told him of all the revelations that had come to her in her life, and of her labors and her deeds that she had secretly done for the sake of Allah, and she spent that night there.

In a dream vision, she seemed to be admiring the heights of the heavens and seeing a marvelous and luminous chamber, of which no one is able to utter a word of beauty.

And as she walked in that chamber, and marveled at the building, which was not made by hands, she saw the Virgin Mary with two bright angels, who asked her, "What are you marveling at?"

"I'm amazed I've never seen such a beautiful place in all my life. " "Who do you think it's for? " she asked. "I don't know, Lord. " She said.

Didst thou not know that this resting place, which thy Son hath set, and where thou shalt from henceforth dwell for ever, is prepared for thee?

"This is your glory, because you have always been God-fearing. What greater glory do you want to see?"

And when she had ascended to the highest heaven, she showed her the most wonderful and most glorious chamber, full of heavenly glory, the beauty of which cannot be comprehended by the human mind or expressed in words.

"And this chamber", said she, "has been built by your son, and he has already laid the foundation of the third chamber". With these words, she led her to the east of the sun and showed her the villages of Paradise from above and many choirs of men and women rejoicing in them.

"These places", said the Lord, "my Son has given to those who have lived pure and righteous in keeping the commandments of the Lord, who have given abundantly to the poor, so that they themselves have received mercy from the Lord: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy".

This was the vision of St. Martha, which she told her son.

It was Sunday, and Martha was partaking of the Divine Sacraments of the Body and Blood of Christ, and praying with her face for the grace of God and the indescribable spiritual joy with which she was filled at the news of her death and salvation.

Throughout that day and the night that followed, the blessed Martha spent part of it in many God-inspired pleasant conversations and with her holy son, part of it in fervent tearful prayers to God.

On Monday, after giving her son and all his disciples peace, blessing, and final farewell, she parted with them in their bitter tears and went to a village called Tibirinth, three streets from the Wonder Mountain, where the church of St. John the Baptist stood.

And the people of the town said, "O our Lord, forgive us our sins, and forgive us our sins", and she stayed with them the rest of the day, and the rest of the night, and she did not return to her people except to be comforted.

Then, on Tuesday, she was driven in a chariot to Antioch to her home in the city suburb of Daphne, and, praying fervently to God in her heart, with tears welling up in her eyes, and in the sure hope of her salvation, she delivered her holy soul into the hands of God on the fifth day of the month of July [the end of St. Augustine].

When she died, she left a will that her body be buried in the place where pilgrims and beggars are buried.

But her reverend son Simeon, having a revelation from God about his mother's replacement and sending some of his disciples, carried her body to himself on the Wonder Mountain to bury it at his stake.

It is also said of St. Martha, that when her holy soul departed to the Lord, some who stood by her fair body saw her face smile with joy, and from her mouth were heard the words: <unk> I have received great grace from God, and abide in unspeakable light and joy.

Her neighbors were terrified, thinking that the saint had received mercy from God for her son.

But in this reflection, the saint said that she was famous not so much for her son, but for her virtuous life, because for the Lord's sake she showed great patience in abstinence and fasting, zealously walked in the way of His commandments and with all her heart loved the Mother of God who gave birth to the Lord.

The body of St. Martha was carried from the Antioch suburb of Daphne to the Wonder Mountain with great honor on Friday. A multitude of the Antioch people, priests with incense, candles and psalm-singing accompanied her as a great goddess.

Those who carried the ark with her body testified that they felt no weight while carrying it, and while the bodies of the dead have a natural weight, this honest body was somewhat unusually light, and as if it were floating in the air.

And a certain young man of the people, whose name was Sergius, the son of Antony, a man of honour, when he saw the glorious procession, and the multitude that stood by the ark, some bowing their shoulders with zeal to the ark, and others desiring to touch the fair body, laughed within himself, and said,

And he departed from there, and behold, he fell into a sickness, so that his tongue was loosed; and he was in sickness thirty days, and was not healed until the holy sepulchre was found.

When the body was brought to the house of St. Simon, who was seated at his pillar, they began to sing hymns. That night, Martha appeared to two of Simon's brothers, dressed in bright clothes and with a bright face.

Fear not, for the Lord hath not called me to the dead, but to the living. I am come to deliver you from the evil one, that ye may have life.

And when the sabbath was come, a great multitude of people from the villages and villages round about, with priests and clergymen, came to the sepulchre, and saw the face of the saint in the sepulchre not covered with the dead, but as a youth, flowering with beauty and shining with grace.

Her body did not have the usual stench of the dead, although it was the fourth day since her funeral. With the singing of the sacred hymns, her body was buried with honor before the pillar of St. Simeon, at the last's order, so that he could always see the tomb of his mother.

When the Sabbath day was over, and the service was beginning, one of the crowds named John, who was a church reader, fell asleep and saw St. Martha, her face shining, going up the stairs to the pillar to the holy Simeon, and above her tomb a chariot of cherubs, weighed by six wings.

The animals.

And he told the vision to the priest afterwards, and swore, and said, Praise, my son, praise be to God, who hath chosen thee to see the cherubim's chariot.

After this, the father and mother of the aforementioned Sergius, who had laughed at the wires of the body of St. Martha and had suffered a sudden illness, came to the monk Simeon; with weeping and prayer they asked him to cure their son, as he cured many others of their diseases.

"Go", he told them, "and ask your son why he is suffering. He is now able to speak and is feeling better".

This grievous sickness has come to me because I was overwhelmed by the honourable wire of St. Martha's body, turned my gaze away from her and did not want to carry her coffin on my shoulders.

And when they had placed him in a chariot, they took him to the monk, and he said unto them, Seek healing at the tomb of your mother: and behold, when they prayed with tears at her holy sepulchre, the sick man rose up immediately, and was as good as dead.

After the funeral, it was customary to light a lamp over her tomb, so that it would burn day and night in honor of the saint.

Meanwhile, seeing this, the reverend Simeon kept silent, ordering nothing about the lamp, lest his disciples think of him as immensely honoring his mother after death.

And it came to pass in those days, that the steward of the house fell sick, and was at the point of death. And it came to pass at midnight, that Martha, the sick one, came to him, and said unto him, Why do ye not light my lamp?

Be it known that I need not light candles for myself, being pleased with the God of my heavenly eternal light; nevertheless, when you light a lamp at my tomb, you do it for your own salvation, for then you stir me up to intercede for you before the Lord.

And she took in her right hand a piece of Christ's life-giving body, and touched it, and said unto him, Be thou healed of this. And when she had said this, she was made invisible.

And the man rose up at once, and went to the holy sepulchre, and bowed down to it, and watered the ground with tears, partly for his sorrow, and partly for his healing; and he caused a lamp to burn continually before the holy sepulchre.

Many miraculous signs and wonders were done at the tomb of the saint. The blind received their sight, demons were driven out, and people were cured of all kinds of diseases.

It's going to last forever.

Amen. Condak, voice 2: In the prayers of the Lord, the Most Holy Virgin Mary, singing and praising Martha, the faithful one, gave birth to you a holy child, Simeon the firstborn, the lamp of the world; with him pray earnestly for us all.

St. John the Baptist is commemorated on September 23 (his conception), June 24 (Christmas), August 29 (captioning), February 24 (first and second captions), May 25 (third captions) and other days.