St. Zacharias Patriarch of Jerusalem

Don't be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they don't sow, they don't reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height? If then you aren't able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? Don't seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek God's Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.

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	St. Zacharias Patriarch of Jerusalem

St. Zacharias served as Patriarch of Jerusalem (609-632AD), succeeding Isaacius (601-609). According to John Zonaras, the great compiler of the Canons, his tenure lasted twenty-three years; but according to St. Nicephorus, it lasted twenty-two years. The holy Zacharias, in turn, was succeeded by St. Modestus. In the life of St. Modestus, the following was written concerning his predecessor,

"History will always remember the imprisoned Patriarch Zacharias, the heroic champion of the Holy Land, with great admiration and respect for refusing to be separated from the most venerable Cross".

Meletius states that at the time of Emperor Heraclius (614), the blessed Zacharias was imprisoned by Chosroes, but he returned to Jerusalem with Heraclius, who had driven out the Persians. Jerusalem, in the meantime, was rebuilt, and the captured Holy Cross was returned and elevated once again by the hands of St. Zacharias on the 27th of September, 629. This latter event is commemorated as the Feast of the Elevation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross, on September 27.

Source: http://www.orthodoxchristian.info

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