Our Holy Father, the Martyr Michael.

Commemorated May 23 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion

From the Prologue

On the death of his parents, this Michael gave all his goods away to orphans and went on pilgrimage to the holy places in Jerusalem. He then entered the monastic community of St Sava the Sanctified and became a monk. Although quite young and ruddy of face, he became withered and pale from much fasting. At that time, the Arabs held sway over Jerusalem. It once happened that Michael's spiritual father sent him to the town to sell some handwork. A eunuch of an Arab princess met him on the street and took him to the princess to display his wares. When the princess beheld the handsome monk, she began to burn with an impure lust, and proposed to the monk a carnal sin such as Potiphar's wife once proposed to chaste Joseph. When. Michael refused her impure suggestion and turned to flee, the enraged princess gave orders that he be beaten with staves and taken to the Sultan with the false accusation of blasphemy against Mahomet. The Sultan urged him to accept Islam, but he refused. They gave him strong poison, hoping to kill him, but he drank it all up with no ill-effect at all. Then the Sultan commanded that he be slain with the sword in the centre of Jerusalem. The monks found his body and carried it to St Sava's monastery, where they gave it burial. St Michael suffered for Christ and was glorified in the 9th century.

From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK