Right-believing King Justinian (+565) and Queen Theodora (+548)
The right-believing King Justinian I and Queen Theodora. The holy Byzantine emperor Justinian came originally from Bulgaria, from the village of Berdiana near Sredets (present-day Sofia). The pious ruler laboured diligently to strengthen the Orthodox faith in the land; during his reign (527–565) Byzantium won brilliant military victories in Persia, Africa and Italy, which greatly helped to root out pagan belief among the Vandals and Visigoths. By King Justinian’s order the pagan schools in Athens were closed. To strengthen Christianity in Asia Minor he sent John, bishop of Ephesus, who baptised more than seventy thousand people. The king ordered ninety churches to be built for the new converts, and gave generously to church building throughout the empire. The monastery on Mount Sinai and the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople are regarded as the finest examples of the architecture of his time. The emperor, learned in many fields, laboured diligently for the education of the clergy and monastics, and ordered that they be taught rhetoric, philosophy and theology.
Against false teaching Saint Justinian composed the hymn “Only-begotten Son and Word of God” and made its singing in the churches a rule. From that time to this day the hymn is sung during the Divine Liturgy, before the Little Entrance. By the emperor’s order the Fifth Ecumenical Council was convened in 553; it condemned the false teaching of Origen and confirmed the decrees of the Fourth Council of Chalcedon. Saint Justinian cared for the maintenance of order, justice and lawfulness in the state. Under his direction and supervision a collection of Roman laws was compiled, which has come down to us under the name of the “Code of Justinian”.
In his personal life Justinian was marked by strict Christian piety. He committed his soul to the Lord in 565.
Together with the emperor, the holy Church also numbered among the saints his wife and fellow thinker Theodora. The blessed Theodora reposed in 548.
The beginning of the Nativity Fast. After 14 November the Nativity Fast begins, which was also called Philip’s Fast, since 14 November is the day of the commemoration of the Apostle Philip. This fast, which lasts forty days, was established to prepare the faithful worthily for the feast of the Nativity of Christ. References to the Nativity Fast are found from the fourth century, although its establishment must surely be much earlier. In ancient times the length of the Nativity Fast varied from Church to Church. Unity in this matter was brought about by the Council of Constantinople held in 1166, which, on the basis of the ancient typika, decreed that the fast should begin forty days before the Nativity of Christ.
