St. Serenus - February 23rd
St. Serenus was a Greek who left all his belongings and went to Yugoslavia to live a holy life. He lived alone and grew just enough fruit and vegetables to live on.
One night he awoke to hear someone in his garden. Getting up to find out who it was, he saw a women and asked her what she was doing. She answered that she liked to walk in his garden.
But St. Serenus knew that she was a bad women and he told her to leave. The lady was very angry when she left. She went to her husband, who was one of the Emperor Maximian’s guards. She told him that Serenus had insulted her.
Her husband believed the lie and wrote to the governor of the land to punish Serenus.
When the governor called Serenus, he found out that it was really the women who was evil. Not Serenus. Just as the Saint was about to be freed, someone said to the governor that such a holy man might be a Christian. At that time, the Christians were being persecuted. The governor asked Serenus if he were a Christian. Serenus was happy to declare his faith in Jesus and to have the privilege of dying a martyr.
If we have any friends who are not good, we will not go with them any more. It is better to be alone than to be with bad companions.
