ON THE HOLY MARTYRS—OR CONFESSORS?—GREGORY THE BISHOP PRIMATE, DEMETRIUS HIS ARCHDEACON, AND CALOGERUS THE HEGUMEN ABBOT,
IN THE MONASTERY OF FRAGALÀ IN SICILY.
5TH CENTURY
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On their homeland, passage into Sicily, age, and other notices, from the proper Office composed by Sergius the Monk.
Gregory the Bishop, African Confessor, or Martyr? in the monastery of Fragalà in Sicily (Saint) Demetrius the Deacon, African Confessor, or Martyr? in the monastery of Fragalà in Sicily (Saint) Calogerus the Hegumen, African Confessor, or Martyr? in the monastery of Fragalà in Sicily (Saint)
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
That the monastery of Saint Philip of Fragalà is situated on the Western side of Sicily, near the town of San Marco, the site of the place, under the Bishopric of Messina, we know from Gaetani's observations; we would find more about it in the Sicilia Sacra of Rocco Pirri, if he had, just as in the 3rd volume, so also in the 1st and 2nd, where the Notice of the Church of Messina is found, set forth the cities, towns, Monasteries etc. of each diocese. Now we cannot teach the reader anything else about it, except that the town of San Marco, to which it lies adjacent, is distant by an interval of about an equal 34 miles from Milazzo and from Cefalù, on the same Western side of Sicily. That the bodies of the pretitled Saints are kept there, the same Gaetani hands down; but he doubts whether entire; because he does not distinguish the Saint Calogerus there buried from the Hermit of Sciacca, of whom above. Meanwhile, from the Menaea of that Monastery, which is of the Greek Order of Saint Basil, he himself brings forth the Hymns of a certain Sergius the Chronicler [the Greeks call them a Canon, and divide them into several Odes of festive Psalmody to be interspersed at Matins. These Augustinus Floritus of ours made into Latin; but I sought the Greek ones, and at last scarcely obtained them mutilated, such as survive there today, and I will give them joined alternately to the Latin version as far as will be permitted]. In the 5th of these Odes Gregory the Hierarch is named, and Demetrius the great Deacon of the Church, and several other companions are indicated, men distinguished for holiness, among whom our Calogerus, says the Author, probably a Monk of the same monastery of Fragalà.
[2] These, namely, are said to have set out for the Island in an embarked ship, a persecution having been stirred up by the followers of the impious error. carried thither from the West, But where? At Chalcedon: if that reading is true, which City in Ode 2 is also called the homeland of Calogerus. Meanwhile the third of the Similar Verses says that they landed in Sicily from the West. So it had crept into the Greek copy, says Gaetani; but he adds that the rest easily fell here by a slip of the hand. I do not see how anyone's hand could so easily slip as to substitute, for Anatolē "East," dysmēn "West"; for the Greek words do not, as the Latin ones have some similarity at the beginning and end, have it likewise. On the contrary, for the word Karchēdōn, that is Carthage, easily could Chalkēdōn, that is Chalcedon, creep in. and so not from Chalcedon but from Carthage, And so with better right than Gaetani, who from "West" made "East," I will make from Chalcedon Carthage, the capital of Africa, whence countless confessors, Bishops, and Clerics, and Monks, in the time of the Vandal persecution, banished into the island of Sardinia, as being nearest to Africa, or fugitives, then crossed to various provinces of Europe, and are venerated as holy Confessors. carried first into Sardinia, Now Sardinia is situated to the West of Sicily. By this indication, then, which Sergius suggests, I am induced to suppose that Calogerus was born at Carthage, and, with some Primate of that or a neighboring (namely the Byzacene) Province, driven out or a fugitive, landed at Fragalà, by a nearby crossing from Sardinia; and governed a monastery there, either found or founded by himself, for a good many years, and at last died; his two Companions having died long before.
[3] in the time of the Vandal persecution, The Vandals invaded Africa in the year 427, and occupied Carthage in the year 439, when their King Geiseric, as Victor of Vita testifies, ordered the Bishop of the said city, that is of Carthage, manifest to God and men, named Quodvultdeus, and a very great crowd of Clerics, placed on broken ships, naked and despoiled, to be expelled. The year after these things, 15, it was permitted that Saint Deogratias should be ordained there; but he discharged the priesthood for only three years; continued through 84 years in the 5th century, and soon Geiseric ordered the Church of Carthage to be closed, the Presbyters and Ministers being dissipated and dispersed through various places of exile, because there had been no Bishop, and thus the Church remained for 24 years: after which Saint Eugenius was ordained in the year 480. Four years afterward, with the other Bishops, the same Eugenius was sent into exile by King Huneric, and again by King Gunthamund about the year 496. To Gunthamund succeeded Thrasamund, who, full of the Arian madness, like all his predecessors, persecuting the Catholics, closed the churches, and sends to Sardinia in exile, from all the Church of Africa, one hundred and twenty Bishops. And this was the state of the Carthaginian church up to the Pontificate of Saint Hormisdas, in whose times (as you will read in the second Pontifical Catalogue) the Episcopate of Africa is reordained, after seventy-four (nay, eighty-four) years (namely in the year 523) in which it had been exterminated by the heretics in the time of the persecution. throughout all Africa.
[4] When such was the fortune of the Carthaginian Church, of all Principal Africa, such as we shall think the other five Primatial churches to have been, of which those nearest to the Carthaginian were the Byzacene or the Numidian, they could have had as Primate Bishop or Archbishop Gregory; for nothing compels us to make him a Carthaginian Bishop, although Calogerus, carried with him into Sicily, is conceived as born at Carthage. To divine more is of no avail: for I seem to have said enough, so that, replacing Karchēdōn for Chalkēdōn in the text—whether the Greek wrongly transcribed, or the Latin erring—you may find all aptly written by Sergius; and at the same time may understand both the cause and the time of the persecution which drove the pretitled Confessors from Africa, either of their own accord fugitives or exiles at the urging of the Arian King's command. Thus they are said to have set out for the Island; but which? In the first Strophe of the Hymn Sicily is named; but in the third Strophe they are said to have landed here from the West, but Africa lies to the south of Sicily, and to the West Sardinia.
[5] Hither therefore those men first came, and after some fruit reported in preaching among the Sardinian countryfolk, a good part still pagan, Whether two of them were made martyrs in Sicily. as is clear from the letters of Saint Gregory; landing at Lilybaeum, nearest to Sardinia, and proceeding thence along the Northern shore of Sicily toward the East, they halted in that place where now the town of San Marco is, about 40 miles below Mylae, and there found or founded a monastery, where, the companions being settled, the three or two of them, Gregory and Demetrius, made an excursion to the inland regions, to bring to Christ the remnants of Paganism resisting among the mountains, and bore death inflicted by the raging heathen, as in the valleys of Trent it happened to the holy Martyrs Sisinnius and Alexander in the time of Saints Ambrose and Vigilius at the end of the 4th century, as said on the 29th of March. This the aforesaid Hymns, the third and fourth Strophe, seem to suggest; where it is said that Gregory the Archhierarch, detesting the excessive superstition of the Idols, merited to drink the cup for Christ; and then both he and Demetrius are called most unconquered Martyrs of Christ, which the same is also done in the Canon, Ode 8, verse 2: but Saint Calogerus, bearing the bodies to Fragalà, the assistant of Gregory, took care for their burial, himself surviving longer, and governing the monastery, and more celebrated for miracles, living and dead. But because in Ode 4, verse 3, of the same Canon Gregory, Calogerus, and Demetrius are alike and indifferently named most unconquered Martyrs, and yet Calogerus is nowhere venerated as a Martyr, nay, in all the rest of the Canon he is rather understood to have died in peace; I have not dared absolutely to call them Martyrs, except in the way that Confessors too are so called, or in the way that a death hastened by hardships seems to merit that title in the holy Pontiffs Marcellus, Martin, and Silverius. Certainly Saint John the Evangelist did not die a Martyr, and yet Christ promised him that, equally with his brother James, he would drink His cup.
[6] As for the fact that Saint Calogerus is said in Ode 9, verse 1, to have fixed his dwelling in a Sicilian cave; and, in the verses similar after the Canon, to have rendered the cave holy, the demons being exterminated, and to have changed it into a temple of Christ; these things, In the Canon two of the same name seem to be confounded, and others pertaining to the demons conquered, can with right seem to touch the Patron of Sciacca more closely. For whatever there be about the grace of putting demons to flight, which, as it was communicated to Philip of Argyrion, so too could be presumed communicated to Calogerus of Fragalà; I would not wish to feign it proper to that one that he inhabited and sanctified this cave. Rather I would say that the distinction of the two Calogeri (which all the other things, most dissimilar in each, render almost certain) seems obscured by the course of three centuries, and that the Monks of Fragalà wished it persuaded to the people, that the one whose body was with them had inhabited the Sciacca cave for some time, and thence had come to them, and died among them. Meanwhile the images of the two are most diverse: the one of Sciacca, as we saw above in number 6, is painted simply as a hermit furnished with a staff: the one of Fragalà has all things proper to a Greek Abbot, with those insignia which it will be worth the trouble to see expressed here; namely the cambuta or Abbatial staff, from which hang tassels such as the Latins make hang from the hats of Cardinals or Bishops, which merit some special consideration. The border drawn around the epomis or Mozzetta, and above it the words "in the name of Jesus," which also hangs at the breast in the manner of a bulla, I have not yet seen elsewhere, and would gladly learn whether these are common to Sicilian Abbots. The little chest hanging from the right hand without doubt notes the relics of the saints carried by him to Fragalà. Yet I have ordered to be removed hence the archer kneeling at his feet and the doe transfixed with a dart: for these are so proper to the one of Sciacca that they cannot be fitted to the one of Fragalà without confusion of persons.
[7] As for what pertains to Sergius the Author of the Canon: since he had asked in Ode 6 to be freed from harms, wrath, threats, the siege of enemies; and in the immediately following Theotokion had asked the Mother of God to entreat her son that he might vindicate the Sicilians into freedom from the Ishmaelite yoke: by an Author who lived in the 9th century finally in Ode 10 he prays for the Orthodox Kings; whence Gaetani concludes that this Poet flourished under the Empire of Basil
Basil the Macedonian, with his sons Constantine, Leo, and Alexander reigning together, which falls in the year 862; when already some cities had been subdued by the Saracens, and others dreaded an equal lot.
[8] Whether celebrated among the 29 Hymnographers? In that Chain of twenty-nine Greek Hymnographers, which, found at the front of the Triodion, I explained in words on the 30th of May (where concerning Clement the Poet); and which Nicolaus Rayaeus set before the eyes to be examined in the preliminary treatise before the second Volume of June, page 20. The next-to-last place after the Bishops, among the Senatorial men, a certain Sergius obtains. Why should not he, while still secular at Constantinople, have grown famous for composing sacred hymns; and at last in Sicily have put on the Monk? Now let us bring forth his very work, whoever he was, since we cannot do it all in Greek, in Latin, but in an order other than Gaetani's: For what he calls the second Hymn, a Poem consisting of only four Strophes, does not make for the fullness of an ordinary Office, such as Offices of this kind are arranged in the great Menaea. But since it contains very many things that will bring much light to the Office I spoke of, I prefer to put it in the first place, and to set it forth explained with proper Annotations under the title of Hymn, whatever place it had in that feast, perhaps under the sacred Liturgy, or the Hours following it. In the rest, which Gaetani makes the first Hymn, to be distributed by parts, I will follow the paradigm, to be set forth from the Menaea on the following day for the feast of Saint Jude Adelphotheus.
POEM OF SERGIUS THE CHRONICLER,
Composed for the use of the divine Office, from a Greek manuscript of the Monastery itself. Translated by Augustinus Floritus of the Society of Jesus. Edited by Ottavio Gaetani.
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
HYMN.
I. By the virtue of the most holy Cross you slew the serpent, a and uprooted the error of the idols, most holy Calogerus; Calogerus, having landed in Sicily, and, having set out for Sicily, you shone with miracles. Pray for us, who piously and zealously celebrate you.
II. To those who with faith run to your cave, you cause to gush forth the grace of many cures; and, clearly recognizing the b miracle of the sweat, they give immortal thanks to God, holy Calogerus. Meanwhile render me, unworthy, worthy of your gracious and acceptable prayers, sanctified the cave that I may deservedly praise you; for you show yourself a patron, a helper, and a steward of benefits to those who with ardent spirit have judged you to be venerated.
III. From the West c you landed in Sicily, Divine Father, as we have received from many d elders, together with your Gregory the Archhierarch, holy Calogerus, detesting the excessive superstition of the idols; e but he merited to drink the cup for Christ; but you, who dwelt in the cave, intercede for the sons who venerate your memory.
IV. Gregory made a martyr Truly you pour out streams of healings upon these daily, O most Divine Fathers Gregory the Hierarch and Demetrius, most celebrated and most unconquered f Martyrs of Christ: whose minister, most zealous for the peoples, Calogerus, brings present help to the sick.
ANNOTATIONS OF D. P.
AT VESPERS. SIMILAR VERSES.
Greek: God-minded Father Calogerus, by much continence and intense prayer you utterly made to vanish the leapings of the passions, and receiving the grace of passionlessness, you appeared a receptacle of the Holy Spirit; you drive away always the evil spirits, both of those now living and after death, O divinely-blessed one.
I. Most full a Calogerus, by singular temperance and the continual zeal of prayer you so subdued the turbulent motions of the soul, that by the virtue of God you were affected by them in nothing; Calogerus endowed with grace against demons, seen to be a receptacle of the Holy Spirit, from whom you obtained the power to put to flight the tartarean spirits on every side; and both in life, and after death, you were enrolled in the number of the Heavenly ones.
Greek: God-minded Father Calogerus, you proved a true imitator of Abraham, ever healing those who flee to you; you gained the steadfastness of Job in his labors; you truly emulated the meekness of David. You led an angel-like life upon the earth, you attained the utmost of things desired, entreating for us.
II. Most holy Father Calogerus, true imitator of the Patriarch Abraham, to be compared to Abraham and David you cared for as many as fled to you from every side: to this you gained for yourself the fortitude of Job in adversities, and emulated the meekness of David, leading an Angelic life on earth, you came to the term of the desired felicity, about to commend us to God.
III. Holy Father Calogerus, inflamed with the desire of that which is truly life, he is said to have exercised himself in the cave you hid yourself away in the cave, in no way fearing the snares of the enemy and his blows, and his vain noises: since indeed, armed with the force of most holy prayer, you easily trampled them down, magnanimous dweller of the wilderness: whence it comes that we both venerate you, and proclaim you blessed.
ANASTASIMON
Greek: Illumine my mind and understanding, Savior, that I may hymn your ascetic Calogerus; O Christ, being light unsetting, that by his good intercessions I may worthily receive from you the forgiveness of my faults.
IV. Illumine my mind and my understanding, best Savior, to honor with praises Calogerus the cultivator of piety; you, I say, Christ, who are light, knowing no setting, that by his merits you may deign to pardon me all my errors.
THEOTOKION
V. O thing worthy of admiration! how did you bear in your womb the Maker of all things? how did you cherish in your arms, as an infant, the Maker of the whole world? Truly indeed your ineffable childbearing strikes every mind and thought with fear, O most pure, O most undefiled Mother of God: therefore beseech Him, that He may have mercy on us.
ANNOTATIONS OF D. P.
AT MATINS. CANON
ODE I
To be praised with Gregory and Demetrius, I. Calogerus the Faithful we honor with praises with concordant spirit, and together at once Demetrius and Gregory, assiduously winning for us the divinity propitious.
Greek: Being a healer of souls and bodies to those who run faithfully to your temple, O wise God-bearing Calogerus: heal also the passions of my soul, receiving the encomium, Father, of your servants.
II. O wise and divine Calogerus, physician of bodies and souls, to as many as flee with confidence to your temple: heal now also our depraved perturbations of soul, receiving the praises with which your servants adorn you.
Greek: Leaving the paternal land of Carthage, the lawless ones having wrought the dreadful religion, you reached Sicily, Father, and with the prophet Gregory teaching to worship orthodoxly the Trinity, God.
III. You, having left Carthage your homeland, hating the detestable religion of the impious c nation, landed in Sicily: and there, with Gregory (to whom it was given from heaven to foresee far the things to come), you taught the orthodox worship of the one and triune God.
THEOTOKION
IV. You who bore the Word of God beyond all reason of understanding, in the way it seemed good to Him who was begotten from the same God; O Lady knowing no bridal-chamber, cease not to pray, that the whole world may be freed from all evils.
ODE III
whither he came, his homeland Carthage being left The Third, I say, because, as was said in the Preliminary Treatise to volume 2 of June, number 18, the second is omitted in the feasts of the Saints.
With the torrent of your tears you watered the barrenness of the untilled solitude, and with sighs sought from the depth, you brought back the most abundant fruits of your labors. And hence with the splendor of miracles, like the sun, you illustrated the world, Father Calogerus. Nor meanwhile, however, omit to pray Christ God, that we may obtain the salvation of our soul.
II. You were honored as a true friend of God, and your principality was exceedingly strengthened: By the gift of Tears partly by prayers, partly by fastings you eluded the hostile frauds,
O Calogerus, worker of miracles, therefore reconcile God to us.
THEOTOKION
and illustrious for the grace of miracles, III. What mother was ever called a virgin? what virgin was called a mother? Truly indeed, Mother of God, all things are wonderful that are said of you; therefore with great faith we proclaim you great.
KATHISMA
At the first SESSION after the customary Psalms.
IV. Shake off, my soul, the slumber of sloth, and kindle the bright torch of penance, and with great gladness go out from the gloom of this life to the meeting of the immortal Spouse. And say: Receive me, O Word of the Father, and do not repel me, if ever the prayers of your Mother were acceptable to you.
ODE IV
Greek: Let us hasten, brothers, to reach the cave, and let us see wonders, in which the holy one drove away the phalanxes of the demons; and it gushes forth healings of sufferings to those who run to it.
Let us hasten to the cave, Brothers, that we may see the admirable deeds; he is praised as conqueror of demons and follower of the Cross into which, as soon as the Holy man entered, he drove out the ranks of the demons; and to all flowing together there, with a kindly hand he bestowed cures of diseases.
Greek: Into all the earth went forth your sound, all-wondrous Calogerus: for you left the fleeting things and, having lifted upon your shoulders the cross, you brought down the arch-evil serpent, whence we hymn you.
II. Into all the earth went forth your sound, admirable Calogerus: for you forsook the fleeting and perishable things, and, the cross lifted upon your shoulders, you subdued the most foul serpent, the origin of all evils; wherefore we honor you with hymns.
Greek: You pour out streams of healings for us, all-praised Gregory, all-wondrous Demetrius, God-minded Calogerus, and gloriously-victorious Martyrs and holy ones, our patrons from God.
III. together with his companions the Patron of all. You supply us abundantly with streams of cures, you, O Gregory praiseworthy on every side, most divine Calogerus, and admirable Demetrius, most unconquered Martyrs, d and our most holy Patrons before God.
THEOTOKION
IV. A harbor, Mother of God, and the protection of your servants, virgin and at once most pure mother, to you I too as a suppliant run, help me, Lady, and free me from straits.
ODE V
Greek: Having ascended the mountain of contemplation, all-blessed one, and clearly with the lightning-flashes of your miracles and of action you shone forth like the sun in Sicily, all-wondrous one. Whence today, celebrating your light-bearing memory, we hymn you, faithful ones, God-minded Calogerus.
I. Having now ascended the summit of the contemplative and active life, most blessed Father, The crossing of the same ones into Sicily is celebrated. you brightly shine forth like the sun in Sicily with the flashes of your miracles: wherefore today, celebrating your most illustrious commemoration, with great faith we praise you, divine Calogerus.
Greek: A persecution of the godless error having arisen in the land of Carthage, Gregory, among the high-priests, gathered the servants of the Holy Trinity; entering a ship, they fled to the island.
II. A persecution having now been stirred up at Carthage by the followers of the impious error, the Hierarch Gregory, having called together those who had devoted themselves to the worship of the Holy Trinity, ascending a ship, set out for the Island.
Greek: Being a great Hierarch among the Holy ones, Gregory, taking Demetrius, the great Deacon of the church, and very many other Holy ones, among whom was this Calogerus, sailed across with full sail.
III. Since Gregory the hierarch was conspicuous for sanctity, taking with him Demetrius the great Deacon of the Church, and very many other men distinguished for holiness f (among whom was our Calogerus) they sailed with a favorable course.
Greek: Not fleeing the penalties of the torments—far be it—but to proclaim to all the power of the Trinity. So, having come down entirely to Lilybaeum, a withdrawal happened to them because of the preaching.
IV. By no means however fleeing the penalties and torments (far be it that we should say this); but, that they might proclaim to all the force and virtue of the Most Holy Trinity. When therefore they had reached Lilybaeum, g it was necessary for them to hide themselves by flight, on account of the preaching.
THEOTOKION
V. Untouched Virgin, the protection and glory of those who exalt you with praises, save, I beseech, those who full of faith implore your help; and free from all necessities, you who brought forth God incarnate, as was His will.
ODE VI
Greek: A cave became this ascetic, the steadfast and great Calogerus; and the dwelling-place of unclean demons, having prayed by the power of the cross, he drove into the recesses of hell.
But the help of Calogerus especially is sought. I. An unshaken rock was the great ascetic Calogerus: the unclean spirits from their seats, by prayer and the virtue of the Cross, he cast down into the depths of the lower regions.
Greek: Above the sun even now this holy one has shone for all the faithful, gushing forth healings to those who run faithfully to his house and keep his bright and holy festival.
II. In our times too, more illustrious than the sun itself, the Holy man shines forth to all the faithful; in his temple a spring of cures flows for all who with confidence flee to him, and keep his feast day.
Greek: Remember, Holy one, in your prayers all the faithful, Father Calogerus, who keep your renowned memory; and free them from harm and threat and wrath and circumstance.
III. Remember, O most blessed Father Calogerus, all the faithful, who celebrate your venerable memory, and help by your prayers; and free them from harms, wrath, threats, the siege of enemies.
THEOTOKION
IV. Look upon the miseries and straits of us your servants, O one best among all, Mother of God, Virgin; and hasten to entreat your Son, that He may vindicate us into freedom from the yoke of the Ishmaelite servitude. h
ODE VII
Greek: Having mortified the passions of your flesh through continence, Father, having the zeal of the divine Elijah, you steadfastly freed your spiritual Jezebel from error, O stout-souled one.
Inasmuch as he is more illustrious for ascetic virtues I. The depraved motions of your flesh being tamed through temperance, magnanimous Father, as if endowed with the zeal of the divine prophet Elijah against Jezebel, you bravely freed your soul from error.
Greek: The prophet of old sang, David the ancestor of God: Behold, I have gone far off, fleeing; whom you too, Father, having well imitated, you set sail for the island.
II. The prophet David, the father of Christ the Lord, of old sang: Behold, I have gone far off, fleeing: whom you too, rightly imitating, you landed at the Island.
Greek: Incline toward us who keep your glorious memory; and seeing my affliction, God-minded one, by prayers make the compassionate God to deliver me from the harm of enemies.
III. Assent to our prayers, who keep your glorious commemoration: look, I beseech, on our miseries and calamities, divine Father; and pour out prayers before Him who alone is merciful, that He may keep us unharmed from the evils of enemies.
THEOTOKION
IV. O most praised Lady Virgin, who brought forth God, as it seemed good to Him; by prayers strive with the same, that He may impart to us, who honor you with hymns, the remission of sins.
ODE VIII
Greek: Celebrating today the divine memory of Calogerus with songs, let us glorify Christ, who gives to the holy one this grace of miracles, to heal diseases.
I. Celebrating with songs the divine memory of Calogerus on this day's light, All are invited to the praise of the Saints let us praise also Christ, who endowed the holy man with the grace of miracles, for duly curing all diseases.
Greek: You supply us with streams of healings, O God-bearers, truly each day, O Gregory the Hierarch with Demetrius, O all-praised unconquered Martyrs of Christ, and the one fellow-lover of Christ, the servant Calogerus, who gives compassion swiftly to the sick, with you he entreats for our penalty.
II. You supply us daily with streams of healings, Priest Gregory, and Demetrius, most celebrated and most strong Martyrs of Christ, and together with you Calogerus most loving of Christ, who brings present help to those laboring with disease, and at the same time together with you supplicates God for his flock.
Greek: How shall I hymn you, wretched and miserable that I am, all-blessed Calogerus? But receive my hymn, of your unworthy servant, me also in pain.
III. By what reason shall I, miserable and despised, have praised you, you, I say, most blessed Calogerus? especially of Saint Calogerus, But do not disdain the praises which I your servant continually sing to you.
Greek: Bearing as a staff upon your shoulders the cross of Jesus, glorious Calogerus, you put to shame the godless error, by whose power you drive away demons, ever-memorable one.
IV. Bearing on your shoulders the cross of Christ for a staff, you confounded the error of the impious: by whose virtue also you put to flight the troops of demons, Father to be remembered unto all eternity.
Greek: We who faithfully keep your holy, bright, all-praised memory, hymning Christ, cry out: Blessed are you, Lord, who glorified your holy ones.
V. We who faithfully venerate your holy and joyful festivity, and duly commend Christ, all with one voice cry out: Blessed are you, Lord, who increase your Saints with such great glory.
THEOTOKION
VI. You who alone from a Virgin, as you well know, were begotten, Savior, by an ineffable reason; by her most acceptable prayers, keep unharmed those who run to you with great confidence.
ODE IX
Greek: You nobly imitated, Blessed one, Abraham the forefather, Holy one; for you left your homeland and dwelt in a cave of Sicily, blessing unceasingly the Lord.
Incited to imitate Abraham I. Truly how well you imitated the Patriarch Abraham, holy Father, when you forsook your most dear homeland, and fixing your dwelling in a Sicilian cave, you praise and bless the best God.
Greek: You gained all as friends, Blessed one, admonishing them of God, illumining the faithful with the light of faith, and teaching to sing: All you works, bless, hymn the Lord.
II. You won all into your friendship, most blessed man of God, illustrating them with admonitions and the light of faith, and instructing them to sing: All you works, bless, and praise the Lord.
Greek: In your patience, Calogerus, you gained your reward, all-wondrous one; for into the hands of God you delivered your spirit, singing unceasingly: Bless, hymn the Lord.
III. In your patience, Calogerus, you gained for yourself your reward, for into the hands of God you delivered your spirit, continually singing that: Bless, and praise God.
THEOTOKION
IV. The prophecies of the Prophets, O Mother at once of God and of man, have been fulfilled: for you indeed are the Mountain, and the Throne, and the Gate is our God alone.
ODE X
Greek: By the might of the all-ruling God of all things, you cast down the strength of the warrior, wise Father; a diadem, Glorious one, receiving upon your head, whence you have rested.
by whose merits God too is prayed I. You, by the virtue of Almighty God, struck down the strength of the tartarean enemy, most wise Father; receiving upon your head the diadem of glory, from which you rest in peace.
Greek: Look down, Master, from heaven, and see the lowliness of us your servants, casting down the arrogance of the foes; grant us peace more swiftly by the intercessions of your holy one.
for the faithful to run to him II. Look down, Lord, from heaven, and see the humility of us your servants; press down the haughtiness of the enemies, and bestow peace upon us by the prayers of your Saint.
Greek: Ask, Holy one, that there be given to your hymn-singer unconquered strength ever, Calogerus, against the passions, and to all who in faith frequent your shrine, and to the orthodox Sovereigns.
III. Obtain, I beseech, unconquered fortitude for your praiser, to crush the depraved lusts of the soul; both to all who full of confidence celebrate your temple, and also to the orthodox Sovereigns. k
Triadicon.
V. O sweetness and gentleness ever to be sought by all those, Father, Word, and Holy Spirit, who are venerated in the unity of the Deity, deign to save us all.
ODE XI
Greek: O light-radiant festival, that of the holy one today, the memory illuminating the minds of the faithful. Come, faithful ones, in songs let us brightly keep festival, and to the Savior himself let us send up praises.
I. O illustrious sun! O festive day and illustrious commemoration of the most holy man, on the day of so great a solemnity. for illustrating the minds of the faithful! Come, Christian assemblies, with festive songs and joyful spirit, let us celebrate this day, and all together send up voices to him who by his assiduous prayers reconciles the Savior to us.
Greek: Calogerus, faithful ones, let us harmoniously hymn, together with Demetrius and the divine Gregory, who intercede for us.
II. Calogerus, Demetrius, and Gregory let us the faithful lift up to heaven with concordant voice, inasmuch as they entreat God for us.
Greek: What other one upon earth of the holy Fathers, like you, all-blessed one, appeared, entreating the Divine by the sweat of asceticism. By the intercessions, O God, of the divine Calogerus, keep this flock together with its devout shepherd.
III. No one else of the holy Fathers was equally pleasing and acceptable to God as you; exercising yourself with assiduous labors. By the prayers of Blessed Calogerus, O God, keep safe the Shepherd l and his flock.
THEOTOKION
Your mystery, O most holy Virgin, not even the heavenly mind, not to say the mortal and earthly one, can ever comprehend; for as it is ineffable, so it is incomprehensible. For He willed to be enclosed in your womb, who can be contained by no bounds.
ODE XII
I. Honoring, as is fitting, the contests of the wise m Monks, and the labors of Christ's soldiers, and in the commemoration of such Saints of Gregory, I say, of Calogerus, and of Demetrius, let us lift our voices up to heaven; that God may be willing to save us from all evils by their prayers.
II. You have obtained from God a plainly notable peace, most generous Fathers, having now measured out the waves of evils and calamities, most holy men, most strong soldiers; and intercessors before God for those who praise you.
III. You contended lawfully, wise indeed, but truly rendered by God far wiser, and you appeared to the world as receptacles of all good things, divine luminaries of the church, Martyrs, and ornaments of the Saints.
THEOTOKION
IV. O sole Queen of the world, sole Mother of God, sole salvation of men, by the merits of the Blessed Martyrs defend us on every side. n
SIMILAR VERSES
Greek: Today the multitudes of the Monks are gathered eagerly. Today they glorify the sacred Shepherd. The people of the holy ones rejoices, and the phalanx of the demons has been darkened, and their dwelling has been destroyed, and we have been raised up to the heavens; therefore hymning we cry out and say: Glory to God in the highest.
I. Today the assemblies of the Monks are gathered with willing spirit, today they render praises and hymns to the sacred Shepherd. The people of the Saints rejoices, the tartarean phalanxes tremble: their habitation now being dissipated, we too have been raised up to heaven; and therefore praising together we cry out: Glory to God in the highest.
II. As a true ascetic of Christ, most blessed Father, of the true Ascetic, you were crowned; for you so purged the eye of the soul, that you merited to see God, with whose love you burned; as we have received that you once saw, when from Him you received the grace of miracles, by which we your praisers come to your knowledge.
to be dreaded by the demons III. Come now, all you faithful, who have assembled to celebrate his feast, let us behold the miracles of the great Calogerus: for he renders the cave Holy, the Demons being exterminated far away from it, and changed it into the most holy temple of Christ; where all those are freed from all evils, whoever celebrate his festivity.
IV. You were plainly worthy, Father Calogerus, of the charisms of the Holy Spirit: and full of grace. and you bestow upon the faithful, who venerate your memory, peace and mercy; and lead us, kept safe and unharmed from all peril, to the light knowing no setting, by your most precious merits, Father most happy on every side.