11 April 2025 (MIA)

Macedonian Orthodox Church Calendar

St. Mark the Confessor, Bishop of Arethusa in Syria

St. Gregory the Theologian and Blessed Theodoretus have given us an account of his sufferings. According to these accounts, Mark destroyed some pagan temples and brought many to the Christian faith during the reign of the Emperor Constantine. But when the Emperor Julian came to the throne and quickly became an apostate from the Faith, some of the inhabitants of Arethusa renounced Christ and lapsed into paganism. They rose up against Mark because he had demolished the temple and demanded he either rebuild it or pay them a very large sum of money.

As Mark refused to do either, he was flogged and flayed and dragged through the streets. They then cut off his ears with strong, fine threads, stripped him naked, smeared him with honey and left him bound to a tree in the summer heat for the wasps, mosquitoes and hornets to eat. The martyr of Christ endured all this without complaint. He was quite old, and his face shone like an angel of the Lord.

The pagans lowered the price of their temple again and again, finally demanding a quite insignificant amount, which Mark could easily have given. But he refused to give even a single coin for that purpose. His endurance made a great impression on the citizens, and they began to admire him for it and to feel sorry for him, and gradually reduced the price of their temple to nothing just to allow him to remain alive. Finally, they let him go free and, one by one, all came to him to receive instruction and become Christians again.

Catholic Calendar

St. Stanislaus

Stanislaus was born of noble parents on July 26 in Szczepanow near Krakow, Poland. He was educated at Gnesen and was ordained there. Bishop Lampert Zula of Krakow, who made him his preacher, gave him a canonry and soon he became noted for his preaching.

He was successful in his reforming efforts, and in 1072 was named Bishop of Krakow. He incurred the enmity of King Boleslaus the Bold when he denounced the King’s cruelties and injustices and especially his kidnapping of the beautiful wife of a nobleman. When Stanislaus excommunicated the King and stopped services at the Cathedral when Boleslaus entered, Boleslaus himself killed Stanislaus while the Bishop was saying Mass in a chapel outside the city on April 11.

Stanislaus has long been the symbol of Polish nationhood. He was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253 and is the principle patron of Krakow. His feast day is April 11.