From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How God Alone is our True End:  (II)   
      
   From Myself, as from a living fountain, both small and great, rich and   
   poor alike draw the water of life (John 4:14;Rev.21:6) and they who   
   freely and willingly serve Me, shall receive grace upon grace. But   
   whoever desires to glory in anything outside Me, (I Cor. 1:29) or to   
   delight in some personal good thing, will not be established in true   
   joy, nor uplifted in heart, (Ps. 119:32) but will be hindered and   
   frustrated in countless ways. Therefore, ascribe no good to yourself,   
   nor to any man, but ascribe all to God, without whom man has nothing.   
   I have given all, and it is My will that all return to Me again; I   
   shall require a grateful and exact account.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 9   
      
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   January 9th - St. Peter, Bishop of Sebastea   
      
   d. 391   
   THE family to which St. Peter belonged was ancient and illustrious,   
   but the names of his ancestors are long since buried in oblivion,   
   whilst those of the saints whom his parents gave to the Church are   
   immortal in the records of our Christian faith.   
      
   In this family three brothers were at the same time eminently holy   
   bishops, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Peter of Sebastea;   
   their eldest sister, St. Macrina, was the spiritual mother of many   
   saints and excellent doctors; and their father and mother, St. Basil   
   the Elder and St. Emmelia, were banished for their faith in the reign   
   of the Emperor Galerius Maximian, and fled into the deserts of Pontus.   
      
   Finally, the grandmother was the celebrated St. Macrina the Elder, who   
   was instructed in the science of salvation by St. Gregory   
   Thaumaturgus.   
      
   Peter of Sebastea was the youngest of ten children and lost his father   
   in his cradle, so that his eldest sister, Macrina, took charge of his   
   education. In this duty her only aim was to instruct him in religion:   
   profane studies she thought of little use to one whose thoughts were   
   set upon the world to come. Neither did he resent these restrictions,   
   confining his aspirations to the monastic state.   
      
   His mother had founded two monasteries, one for men, the other for   
   women; the former she put under the direction of her son Basil, the   
   latter under that of Macrina. Peter joined the house governed by his   
   brother, situated on the bank of the River Iris. When St. Basil was   
   obliged to surrender that charge in 362 he appointed St. Peter his   
   successor, who discharged this office for many years with great   
   prudence and virtue.   
      
   When the provinces of Pontus and Cappadocia were visited by severe   
   famine, he gave proof of his charity. Human prudence would have   
   advised him to be frugal in the relief of others till his own   
   community were secured against that calamity; but Peter had studied   
   the principles of Christian charity in another school, and liberally   
   disposed of all that belonged to the monastery to supply with   
   necessaries the destitute people who daily resorted to him in that   
   time of distress.   
      
   When St. Basil was made bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia in 370 he   
   promoted Peter to the priesthood. Basil died on January 1 in 379, and   
   Macrina in November of the same year. Eustathius, Bishop of Sebastea   
   in Armenia, an Arian and a persecutor of St. Basil, seems to have died   
   shortly after them; for Peter was consecrated bishop of Sebastea in   
   380 to root out the Arian heresy in that diocese. The evil had taken   
   such deep roots that the zeal of a saint was necessary to deal with   
   it. A letter which St. Peter wrote, and which is prefixed to St.   
   Gregory of Nyssa’s books against Eunomius, has entitled him to a place   
   among the ecclesiastical writers; and it is a standing proof that   
   though he had confined himself to sacred studies, yet by good   
   conversation and reading, and by his own natural gifts, he was   
   inferior to none but his incomparable brother Basil and his colleague   
   Gregory Nazianzen in solid eloquence. In 381 St. Peter attended the   
   general council held at Constantinople. Not only his brother St.   
   Gregory of Nyssa but also Theodoret, and all antiquity, bear testimony   
   to his sanctity, prudence and zeal. His death occurred in summer about   
   the year 391, and his brother Nyssa mentions that his memory was   
   honoured at Sebastea (probably the very year after his death) by a   
   solemn celebration, together with that of some other martyrs of the   
   same city. His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology on January 9.   
      
   It is a wonderful thing to meet with a whole family of saints. This   
   prodigy of grace, under God, was owing to the example, prayers and   
   exhortations of the elder St. Macrina. From her they learned to imbibe   
   the true spirit of self-denial and humility that all Christians   
   confess to be the fundamental maxim of the gospel. Unfortunately it   
   generally happens that the principle is accepted as a matter of   
   speculation only, whereas it is in the heart that this foundation is   
   to be laid.   
      
   We have little information about St. Peter of Sebastea beyond the   
   casual allusions contained in St. Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Macrina   
   (in Migne, PG., vol. xlvi, pp. 960 seq.). His letter addressed to his   
   brother Gregory of Nyssa, entreating him to complete his treatise   
   against Eunomius, is printed in PG., vol. xlv, pp. 241 seq. See also   
   Acta Sanctorum, January 9 DCB., vol. iv, pp. 345-346 ; and   
   Bardenhewer, Patrology (Eng. trans.), pp. 295-297.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Even though knowledge is true, it is still not firmly established if   
   unaccompanied by works. For everything is established by being put   
   into practice.   
   --Saint Mark the Ascetic   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "I myself have anointed my king on Zion my holy mountain. I will   
   proclaim the decree of Yahweh: He said to me, 'You are my son, today   
   have I fathered you. Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as   
   your birthright, the whole wide world as your possession.  Psalms   
   2:6-8   
      
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    Prayer for the Holy Souls, "Deliver Them from Purgatory":   
      
   My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine agony in the Garden,   
    in Thy scourging and crowning with thorns, on the way to Calvary,   
   in Thy crucifixion and death, have mercy on the souls in purgatory,   
   and especially on those that are most forsaken; do Thou deliver them   
   from the terrible torments they endure;   
   call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in paradise.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)