SS. XENOPHON, MARY, ARCADIUS, AND JOHN - 26 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 26th of January

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

SS. XENOPHON, MARY, ARCADIUS, AND JOHN 

Saint Xenophon was a senator in Constantinople and led a pious, virtuous life with his wife Mary. The same is placed in the fifth century and is described by Simeon Metaphrastes. 

HE INSTRUCTED HIS SONS IN THE FEAR OF GOD

He instructed his sons Arcadius and John in the fear of God, and when they had matured into youths, he sent them to Berytus (later Beirut, the port city for Damascus) to have them fully trained in jurisprudence at the world-famous law school there. 

THEY SUFFERED SHIPWRECK

When he fell ill soon after, his sons came to visit him, which restored him to full health. On the return voyage to Beirut, the sons were shipwrecked. Both escaped to shore, albeit in such a way that neither knew that the other was still alive.

THEY EMBRACED THE MONASTIC STATE

John entered a monastery near Tire and his brother Arcadius near Jerusalem. They were reunited at a later stage, when the parents also travelled to the Holy Land. They were overjoyed to see each other again. They, too, lived a godly and mortified life to the end of their lives, which is why the whole family is revered as saints.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858 - 🎨 A map of the Holy Land, where our family of saints got reunited)