Paschaltide, day 17 · 16 days since Pascha
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
Great Martyr Irene of Thessalonica
Irenaeus, Irene and Peregrinus are three martyrs commemorated on May 5 who, according to the Latin martyrologies and the Greek synaxaristic notices that follow them, suffered at Thessalonica in the persecution of Diocletian, refusing to sacrifice to the idols and being cast into the fire. Nothing further is transmitted about them. Their dossier is unusually vexed: the Latin manuscript tradition varies, the localisation at Thessalonica has been questioned, and the presence of an Irene in the company on the very day of the Great-Martyr Irene — and in the very city associated with the other virgin-martyr Irene of Thessalonica of April 16 — makes this small commemoration one of the most easily confused in the calendar.
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Saint of the day
Irene the Great Martyr
Irene is the great-martyr whose long passion — a cycle of tortures survived, deliverances and repeated returns to preaching — made her one of the most widely honoured women saints of the Byzantine world. Born Penelope, the only daughter of a petty pagan king named Licinius, she was shut up from childhood in a tower with thirteen companions, taught the faith in secret by her tutor Apellian, and baptised Irene ("peace") by Timothy, whom the tradition identifies as the disciple of the Apostle Paul. Her father's attempt to kill her ended in his own conversion and that of some three thousand souls; thereafter she passed from city to city under a succession of rulers — Sedekias, Sapor, Numerian, Babdonus — enduring the serpent-pit, the saw, the millwheel and three heated bronze oxen, converting whole populations, and at last reposing near Ephesus, where her sealed tomb was found empty. She is commemorated on May 5.
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Ephraim of Nea Makri
Ephraim is a fifteenth-century Greek monk of Mount Amomon above the modern Nea Makri in Attica, held to have been tortured to death by Turkish raiders on 5 May 1426. Nothing whatever was known of him until 1950, when the nun Makaria Desipri, excavating the ruins of the abandoned Monastery of the Annunciation on the hill, uncovered a burial she took — on the strength of a series of dreams and visions she reported — to be his, and from which the whole of his transmitted biography derives. A very large popular veneration grew up around the shrine within a generation; the Church of Greece entered him in its calendar in 1998 and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2011. His commemoration is therefore canonically established and liturgically kept, while the historical foundation of his life rests on private revelation and not on any document, and the Church's own recognition of him was cautious and late.
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Euthymius of Madytos
Euthymius was a monk of Constantinople who became bishop of Madytos on the European shore of the Hellespont in the last decades of the tenth century, and was famed in his own lifetime as a healer and a seer. He was born at Epivates in Thrace and is remembered chiefly, in the wider Church, as the elder brother of St Parasceva of the Balkans — "Petka" — whose Life records that he went first to the monastic state and drew her after him. He is said to have received the emperor Basil II at Madytos and to have foretold his victory over Bardas Phocas in 989. At his repose, between 989 and 996, myrrh flowed from his tomb, whence he is called the Myrrh-flowing; healings continued there. He is commemorated on May 5.
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Neophytus, Gaius and Gaianus
Neophytus, Gaius and Gaianus are three martyrs of whom the Greek synaxarion for May 5 preserves a single line: that they were perfected by the sword. Nothing is transmitted of their country, their persecutor, their date, or the relation between them. The one further notice attached to their memory is topographical and belongs to Constantinople: their synaxis was kept in the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian "in the quarter of Dareios", which indicates a real and located cult in the imperial city, however completely their story has been lost.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Hydroc of Cornwall (5th C)
- St. Echa of Crayke, hermit (767)
Readings
Epistle
Acts 8.5-17
5Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 6And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. 8And there was great joy in that city. 9But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: 10To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. 11And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. 12But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. 14Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 15Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: 16(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Gospel
John 6.27-33
27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 28Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 30They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 4
Adorned with the beauties of virginity, O maiden, thou wast made yet more comely by thy contest, O Irene, stained crimson with thine own outpoured blood; and thou didst cast down the delusion of godlessness. Wherefore thou hast received the honours of victory from the hand of thy Creator.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a venerable-martyr)
Trained in the discipline of the monks and made perfect in the contest of the martyrs, thou didst offer to Christ a twofold crown, O Ephraim: for having died to the world in the ascetic life, thou didst give thy body to torments for His name, and wast found faithful unto the end. Wherefore intercede with Him that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a hierarch)
The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, an image of meekness and a teacher of continence, O father and hierarch Euthymius; therefore thou hast attained by humility to the heights, and by poverty to riches. Intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of martyrs)
Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received incorruptible crowns from Thee, our God; for possessing Thy strength they cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons. By their intercessions save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a virgin-martyr)
Thy lamb Irene crieth unto Thee with a great voice, O Jesus: Thee, my Bridegroom, do I love, and seeking Thee I endure the contest; I am crucified with Thee and buried with Thee in Thy baptism; I suffer for Thy sake that I may reign with Thee, and I die for Thee that I may live with Thee. Receive me as a spotless sacrifice, offered to Thee in love; and by her prayers, O merciful One, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of martyrs)
Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received incorruptible crowns from Thee, our God; for possessing Thy strength they cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons. By their intercessions save our souls.