March 4, 2017

The Heretic

In the third and fourth centuries a certain Christian presbyter named Arius (250-336) lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He was the founder of a heretical sect, which believed that Jesus was not part of the Trinity as that is understood today. Instead, the adherents of this group maintained that, as the Son of God, He was separate and distinct from God.

A few generations after Arius lived, his beliefs were still current with some in the eastern Mediterranean. A woman who was married to a disciple of St. John Chrysostom (349-407), Archbishop of Constantinople, was one of these. One day, she went with her husband to St. John Chrysostom’s church. She received a consecrated Host in her hand, but kept it until she arrived home.

There she attempted to eat it, without reverence, as simply a bit of food. She found, however, that it the short interval of time since she had taken possession of it, it had become petrified, as hard as stone.

She then took it to the Saint and implored forgiveness.

Source: Cruz, Caroll, Eucharistic Miracles (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p. 203-04.

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