Saints commemorated
-
Saint of the day
Martyr Pamphylius and His Companions
-
Flavian of Constantinople
Flavian (died 449) was Archbishop of Constantinople from 446, a defender of the apostolic faith against the heresy of the archimandrite Eutyches, who taught that in Christ there was but one nature after the Incarnation. At a synod in Constantinople in 448 Flavian condemned and deposed Eutyches; but at the "Robber Council" (Latrocinium) of Ephesus in 449 — dominated by Dioscorus of Alexandria and the emperor's officials — Eutyches was restored and Flavian himself anathematised, deposed, and so brutally handled that he died of his injuries a few days later, on the road into exile. Two years afterward the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451) vindicated his faith, condemned Eutyches, received the Tome of Pope Leo, and acclaimed Flavian a saint and martyr. The Church keeps him as Flavian the Confessor.
-
Maruthas of Martyropolis
Maruthas (died c. 422) was the Syrian bishop of Maiferkat in Mesopotamia — a learned man and, by repute, a physician — who gathered into his episcopal city the relics of the many Christians slain in the great persecution of the Persian king Shapur II, so that his see came to be called Martyropolis, the "city of martyrs." Trusted at the court of the Persian king Yazdegerd I and honoured by the emperors of Constantinople, he served repeatedly as an envoy between Rome and Persia, and used that favour to win peace for the Church of Persia after decades of blood. He presided, with the catholicos Isaac, at the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (410) that gave the Persian Church its ordered structure and received the Nicene faith. He wrote acts of the Persian martyrs and other works, and is venerated in East and West alike.
-
Pamphilus of Caesarea and his Companions
Pamphilus (c. 240 – 309) was the learned priest of Caesarea in Palestine — the keeper and restorer of the great library that Origen had founded there, the teacher and dearest friend of the historian Eusebius (who out of love took the name "Eusebius Pamphili"), and, with him, author of an Apology for Origen composed from prison. Arrested in the persecution of Maximinus and held two years in chains, he was beheaded at Caesarea on February 16 together with a company of eleven: Valens the aged deacon of Jerusalem and Paul of Jamnia, five Egyptian brethren who had taken the names of the prophets — Elias, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel and Daniel — and the youths and confessors Porphyrius, Seleucus, Theodulus and Julian, who were drawn into their crown for honouring the martyrs' bodies. Their acts are told by an eye-witness, Eusebius himself, in his Martyrs of Palestine.
-
Romanos of Karpenisi
Romanos (died 1694) was a new venerable-martyr of the Ottoman period, born at Karpenisi in the mountains of central Greece, who took up the monastic life on Mount Athos and, burning to confess Christ before the Turks, went to Constantinople, openly professed the faith, and after imprisonment and suffering was put to death there in the year 1694. He is honoured among the neomartyrs of the Holy Mountain and is commemorated on February 16.
Readings
Epistle
2 Timothy 2.11-19
11It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 13If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. 14Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 17And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. 19Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Gospel
Luke 18.2-8
2Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 8
As a sacred hierarch and unshaken pillar of the true confession, thou didst shepherd the Church of Christ and, condemning the error of Eutyches, didst seal thy witness with thy blood; wherefore, crowned as a confessor, O Father Flavian, intercede for us all.
Kontakion — Tone 2
As a physician of bodies and a shepherd of souls, thou didst gather the martyrs of Persia into thy city and win peace for the Church, O holy Maruthas; wherefore we honour thee, O adornment of hierarchs and companion of the martyrs.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Having loved the divine will of Christ, thou didst keep his law with a ready heart, and shining in the contest, O all-blessed Pamphilus, thou didst prevail together with thy fellow-athletes; with whom cease not to intercede on behalf of us all.
Troparion — Tone 4
O guide of Orthodoxy, teacher of piety and holiness, luminary of the world, God-inspired adornment of hierarchs: by thy teaching thou hast enlightened all, O harp of the Spirit. O Father Flavian, intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4
O guide of Orthodoxy, teacher of piety and holiness, luminary of the world, God-inspired adornment of hierarchs: by thy teaching thou hast enlightened all, O harp of the Spirit. O Father Maruthas, intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received crowns of incorruption from thee our God; for possessed of thy might, they cast down the tyrants and broke also the feeble insolence of demons. By their prayers, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy Martyr, O Lord, in his contest received the crown of incorruption from thee our God; for possessed of thy might, he cast down the tyrants and broke also the feeble insolence of demons. By his prayers, O Christ our God, save our souls.