31 January 2025 (MIA)

Macedonian Orthodox Church Calendar

St. Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria

Born in Alexandria in 296, he had from childhood an inclination to the spiritual life. He was a deacon with Archbishop Alexander and accompanied him to Nicaea, to the First Ecumenical Council in 325. At this Council, Athanasius became famed for his learning, his devotion and his zeal for Orthodoxy, and contributed very greatly to the containing of the Arian heresy and the strengthening of Orthodoxy. After the death of Alexander, Athanasius was chosen as Archbishop of Alexandria. He remained in his archiepiscopal calling for more than forty years, although he was not on the archiepiscopal throne the whole time. Heretics through almost the whole of his life, particularly by the Emperors Constantius, Julian and Valens, by Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia and many others, and by the heretic Arius and his followers persecuted him. He was forced to hide from his persecutors in a well, a grave, private houses and the deserts. Twice he was forced to flee to Rome. Only just before his death did he have a peaceful period as a good shepherd with his flock, which truly loved him. There are few saints who have been so callously slandered and so criminally persecuted as St Anthanasius. But his great soul endured all with patience for the love of Christ and at last emerged victorious from all these terrible and lengthy struggles. He often went to St Anthony for advice and moral support, revering him as his spiritual father. He suffered greatly for the truth, until the Lord gave him rest in His kingdom as His faithful servant, in the year 373.

Catholic Calendar

St. John Bosco

John Melchior Bosco was the son of peasant parents of Piedmont. He was born on August 16th, 1815, just on two months after the battle of Waterloo, into a Europe that was still bleeding from the results of the napoleonic wars and at the same time beginning to feel the consequences of the industrial revolution. These two factors were largely the cause of most of the evils of his period, and his life was devoted to remedying them, particularly in so far as they affected the young. His early days were spent at Becchi, his birthplace, a small hamlet near Chieri and some twelve miles east of Turin, on the small farm run by his mother with the help of her sons, after the death, in 117, of his father, Francis Bosco. John Bosco is one of those saints who seem to disappear behind their immense achievements; we seek the man and find only what he has done. What was his secret? He possessed the common attributes of the saint–the practice of heroic virtue, assiduous prayer and the rest–but the secret of much of his work, in one sense the modality of his holiness, was his love of youth. His penance he found in daily life–the constant interruptions and obstacles to be overcome, the daily discomfort of varicose veins, eczema, failing sight. Not long before his death he stumped France to obtain funds for his good works and soon afterwards went to Spain. He died in Turin in 1888; he was quite worn out. His body rests in the great basilica that he built beside those of St. Dominic Savio, his pupil, and St. Mary Mazzarello, his collaborator.