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| St. Martha (Feast Day - July 4) |
Verses
If you neither worry nor become troubled, Martha,
You will have everything else and the end of Martha.
If you neither worry nor become troubled, Martha,
You will have everything else and the end of Martha.
This Venerable Martha practiced every kind of virtue, and while she occupied herself in the churches of God, she bore Saint Symeon from a promise. She possessed a great deal of asceticism and practiced standing; indeed, no one ever saw her sitting on Sunday, nor conversing with anyone at all. She had great love, and mercy, and humility. The feet of all foreigners she would wash and welcomed them. She clothed the naked, fed the hungry, and to those who were baptized and did not have clean shrouds to wear according to custom, she provided these shrouds. Likewise, she gave shrouds to the poor who died and had no means to be buried. She also had great faith and devotion to the Lady Theotokos, from whom she was granted to behold, before her death, the enjoyment of the heavenly good things that she was destined to receive after death.
Thus, having foreseen her death three months prior, she went to bid farewell to her son Symeon. And her son, having also foreseen this, said to his mother: "Bless me, O mother, with your prayers, as you are going to the Lord." The mother replied, "This, my child, I too have learned from the Lord; I have come to receive your prayers." Therefore, after praying and being filled with joy, they separated. Saint Martha was buried in Daphne, near Antioch, and her honorable relics were brought by her son and placed beside the pillar. After the Saint had prayed for his mother, her tomb worked miracles. Having departed to the Lord, she appeared to those who were standing by her tomb and delighted them by saying that she had found great grace from God and was in light and unspeakable joy, not only because of her son's intercession, but also because she had endured for the Lord, bearing various tribulations and temptations for His sake.*
Notes:
* Agapios of Crete and Nikodemos the Hagiorite both mention how some speculate that Saint Symeon of the Wonderful Mountain (May 24) and his mother Martha (July 4) should be identified with the elder Saint Symeon the Stylite and Martha his mother both of whom are celebrated together by the Church on September 1st; others however maintain that they are separate people with the same names. Also, some Synaxaria mistakenly call Saint Martha celebrated on July 4th by the name Mary, but this should be corrected. Her repose is said to have occurred in 551 A.D.
