Ss Julian and Didymus the Blind.

October 18

From the Prologue

St Julian, called 'the Hermit', was a Persian, an unlettered peasant, and was in the purity of his heart a vessel of the Holy Spirit. He lived in asceticism near the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, and had the gift of insight. At the moment at which Julian the Apostate perished, St Julian saw him in spirit and told his disciples. His contemporary, St Didymus the Blind, living in Alexandria, also saw in his spirit the death of the wicked Emperor. He was at prayer during the night when a voice came to him from heaven: 'Today the Emperor Julian is no more; give these tidings to Patriarch Theophilus.' St Antony the Great valued this wonderful man, the blind Didymus with his gift of insight, very highly, and stayed with him whenever he left the desert for Alexandria, taking the opportunity to pray together with him. Both St Julian and St Didymus, these wonderful servants of God, entered into rest some time after the year 362.

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