Fun Fact - July 2015

Last month, we talked about the busy start to our summer, with the Feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost coming late in May, followed by the Sunday of All Saints and the Apostles’ Fast in June. While there are no Great Feasts or extended fasts in July – we do keep the traditional fasts on Wednesday and Friday throughout the month – there are a number of especially noteworthy feast days gracing our calendars.

July 1 marks the feast of the Holy Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian of Rome, so called because they “treated the infirm by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and took no payment for rendering aid to the sick,” and we continue with celebrations for St. John of San Francisco (July 2), St. Andrew of Crete (July 4), St. Vladimir of Kiev (July 15), the New Martyr Elizabeth of Russia (July 18), St. Seraphim of Sarov (July 19), the Prophets Elias (July 20) and Ezekiel (July 21), St. Mary Magdalene (July 22), St. Anna (July 25), St. Panteleimon (July 27) and St. Joseph of Arimathea (July 31), among many others. Let’s talk about one “hometown hero” you may be less familiar with.

St. Joseph of Damascus (July 10) was the priest of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (al-Mariamiyeh) in Damascus. On July 9th, 1860 the brutal massacre of Christians, which began in the mountains of Lebanon, spread to Damascus. Some Damascenes (including Michael Hawaweeny and his wife Mariam, who was pregnant with their son, the future St. Raphael of Brooklyn) fled Damascus for the city of Beirut. Most, however, took refuge in al Mariamiyeh. St. Joseph took up his communion kit and began to make his way to the Cathedral by jumping from rooftop to rooftop across the narrow streets of the Old City. As he went, he stopped to confess and commune the aged and infirm who could not flee their homes, encouraging them with stories from the Lives of the Great Martyrs. On the morning of July 10th, the Cathedral was surrounded and burned by a fanatical crowd. Those inside perished in the flames; of those who escaped and fled into the streets, most were shot or caught and forced back into the burning building, while only a few, including St. Joseph, survived. As he roamed the narrow streets searching for survivors, he was apprehended and brutally killed. St. Joseph's sacred relics were then pitched into the city dump along with those of the other New Martyrs, numbering 2,500 men plus women and children. St. Joseph and his companions were glorified by the Holy Synod of Antioch in 1993. (Adapted from antiochian.org)

Through their intercessions, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy upon us! Amen.