January 1st - St. Peter of Atroa, Visionary

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January 1st - St. Peter of Atroa, Visionary

Born near Ephesus, Asia Minor, 773; died at Atroa on January 1, 837.
Saint Peter, the eldest of three children, was christened Theophylact.
Not unexpectedly, he became a monk when he was 18. He said that the
Blessed Virgin directed him to join Saint Paul the Hesychast, who
named him Peter at Crypta, Phrygia. On the day he was ordained several
years later at Zygos and at the door of the very church, he cured a
man possessed of an unclean spirit. Almost immediately thereafter,
Peter set out with Paul on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but instead God
directed them in a vision to go to Mount Olympus in Bithynia, where
Paul was to found a monastery at the chapel of Saint Zachary near
Atroa. This they did.

When Paul died in 805, he named the 32-year-old Peter to succeed him
as abbot. The monastery flourished but after ten years Peter decided
to close the monastery because of the iconoclastic persecution under
Emperor Leo the Armenian. Peter went back to Ephesus and on to Crete
(or Cyprus), and when he returned found he was a wanted man. He
escaped the imperial troops seeking him by miraculous means (by making
himself invisible), and wandered with a companion named Brother John
from place to place. He visited his own home where his brother
Christopher and widowed mother received monastic habits from his
hands.

Eventually, Peter settled for several years at Kalonaros near the
Hellespont. Unfortunately, his fame as a wonder-worker and reader of
souls was so great that he was never left in peace for long. He made
several journeys to various points in western Asia Minor and each was
punctuated with a miracle. At one point, he was accused of practicing
magic and using the devil because of the miracles he performed, but he
was completely cleared by Saint Theodore Studites.

Peter again resumed his eremitical life near Atroa, restored Saint
Zachary Monastery, and reorganized several other monasteries, but
there was another outbreak of iconoclasm. Because his own bishop was
an iconoclast, he again dispersed the monks and sent them into hiding,
but stayed nearby for a time. When the persecution became more
violent, Peter retired to Saint Porphyry Monastery on the Hellespont.
But soon Peter decided to return to Olympus to visit his friend Saint
Joannicus at Balea, from where he returned to St. Zachary's.

A few weeks later, Joannicus had a vision. In it he was talking with
Peter of Atroa at the foot of a mountain whose crest reached to the
heavenly courts. As they talked, two shining figures appeared and each
grabbed one of Peter's arms in order to lift him upwards in a halo of
glory. At that same moment, while his monks were singing the night
office, Peter died at Atroa after lovingly addressing his brethren one
last time (Delaney, Walsh).


Saint Quote:
"For, since ye are subject to the bishop as to Jesus Christ, ye appear
to me to live not after the manner of men, but according to Jesus
Christ, who died for us, in order, by believing in His death, ye may
escape from death. It is therefore necessary that, as ye indeed do, so
without the bishop ye should do nothing, but should also be subject to
the presbytery, as to the apostle of Jesus Christ, who is our hope, in
whom, if we live, we shall be found. It is fitting also that the
deacons, as being the ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ,
should in every respect be pleasing to all. For they are not ministers
of meat and drink, but servants of the Church of God. They are bound,
therefore, to avoid all grounds of accusation, as they would do fire."
--Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Trallians,2(A.D. 110)


Bible Quote:
Behold our shield, O God;
look upon the face of thine anointed!
10 For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness. [Psalms 84:9-10] RSVCE


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Salutation to the Holy Angel from the Raccolta

I salute thee, holy Angel who didst comfort my Jesus in His agony, and
with thee I praise the Most Holy Trinity for having chosen thee from
among all the holy Angels to comfort and strengthen Him Who is the
comfort and strength of all that are in affliction. By the honor thou
didst enjoy and by the obedience, humility and love wherewith thou
didst assist the sacred Humanity of Jesus, my Saviour, when He was
fainting for very sorrow at seeing the sins of the world and
especially my sins, I beseech thee to obtain for me perfect sorrow for
my sins; deign to strengthen me in the afflictions that now overwhelm
me, and in all the other trials, to which I shall be exposed
henceforth and, in particular, when I find myself in my final agony.
Amen.