Great Lent, day 7 · 42 days until Pascha
Sunday of Orthodoxy
Saints commemorated
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Martyr Conon of Isauria
Conon of Isauria (first–second century) was an apostolic-age wonderworker of the village of Bidana near Isauria in Asia Minor, a region evangelised by the Apostle Paul. Guarded from childhood, the tradition holds, by the Archangel Michael, he was married against his will and persuaded his bride Anna to keep virginity with him; he then converted his household and, after their deaths, gave himself wholly to prayer and asceticism. God granted him such authority over demons that he is said to have compelled them to labour and sealed them beneath his house, and he converted much of his region by his preaching and miracles. In old age he was seized and tortured in a persecution, but the people of his country rose in arms and rescued him; he lived some two years more and reposed in peace. The Church keeps him on March 5, styling him martyr — indeed hosiomartyr — for the confession and sufferings he endured.
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St Mark of Athens (4th c.)
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St Mark the Ascetic (5th c.)
Mark the Ascetic — also called Mark the Faster and Mark the Monk (fourth– fifth century) — was one of the great spiritual teachers of the desert and, in the witness of the tradition, a disciple of John Chrysostom. He is remembered above all as a writer on the ascetic life: his short treatises On the Spiritual Law and On Those Who Think They Are Made Righteous by Works are foundational texts of the Philokalia, weighing with rare balance the roles of grace and of human effort in salvation. Tradition holds that he knew the whole of Scripture by heart, was gentle and pure of soul, and lived to a very great age as a solitary. So highly were his writings valued that a Byzantine proverb ran, "Sell all, and buy Mark." He is commemorated on March 5.
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Adrian of Poshekhonye
Adrian of Poshekhonye (†1550) was a Russian monk, iconographer, and monastic founder, and a venerable-martyr. A disciple of Cornelius of Komel — under whom he was tonsured and learned the painting of icons — he was led, after his master's death, by a mysterious elder to a remote place in the forests of Poshekhonye near Yaroslavl, where in 1540 he and the elder Leonid settled and founded a monastery dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God. Ordained priest and made abbot by Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, he governed the house in strict observance and continued to paint icons, keeping a hermitage for solitude a little way off. On 5 March 1550, during Great Lent, armed robbers broke into the monastery seeking its money, beat him, and killed him. His relics were found incorrupt in 1626, and many miracles were worked at his grave; the monastery he founded bore his name thereafter.
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Conon the Gardener
Conon the Gardener (martyred about the year 251) was a simple and guileless labourer of the town of Mandon in Pamphylia — a native of Nazareth of Galilee who tended a garden and lived, the synaxarion says, "God-fearing, sincere in heart, and without malice." When the persecution of the emperor Decius reached his country he was denounced as a Christian and refused to sacrifice to the idols; the tortures inflicted on him were fitted to his humble calling and his humble constancy — nails were driven through his feet, and he was made to run before the governor's chariot until he fell exhausted, and, praying, gave up his soul. He is one of the most beloved of the calendar's plain, unlettered martyrs, kept on March 5 together with the wonderworker Conon of Isauria, from whom he must be carefully distinguished.
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Luke of Simferopol
Luke of Simferopol — in the world Valentin Felixovich Voino-Yasenetsky (1877–1961) — was one of the foremost surgeons of the Russian twentieth century and, at the same time, a bishop who spent eleven years in Soviet prisons and exile for refusing to be silent. He pioneered regional anaesthesia, wrote the Essays on the Surgery of Purulent Infections that trained generations of Russian surgeons, operated in a cassock with an icon in the theatre, was tonsured and consecrated in secret in 1923, was arrested three times, ran the military hospitals of Krasnoyarsk as an exile through the Second World War, was given the Stalin Prize in 1946 and gave most of it away, governed the see of Simferopol and Crimea from 1946, went blind in his last years and went on preaching, and died on 29 May (civil 11 June) 1961. His relics were uncovered in 1996 and he is venerated with extraordinary warmth in Russia, Ukraine and above all in Greece, where he is invoked before surgery as the physician-hierarch of the modern world.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Ladoca of Cornwall, virgin and missionary (5th C)
- St. Ciaran of Saighir (Ossory) (c.530)
- St. Caron of Tregaron
- St. Carthage the Elder, bishop of Ossory (c.540)
- St. Piran, hermit of Cornwall (c.480)
- St. Colman of Armagh (5th C)
Troparia & kontakia
Apolytikion — Tone 4 (common of a hierarch)
The truth of things hath shown thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, an image of meekness and a teacher of temperance; therefore thou hast attained the heights by humility and riches by poverty. O father and hierarch Luke, intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Thou didst take the knife to heal and the cross to preach, and neither prison nor the northern ice could part thee from either; blind at the last, thou didst see more than thy persecutors. O holy hierarch and physician Luke, stretch out thy hand over those who lie under the surgeon's knife, and pray for our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8 (from the common of a venerable one)
With the streams of thy tears thou didst till the barrenness of the desert, and by thy sighing from the depths thou didst make thy labours bear fruit a hundredfold; and thou becamest a luminary to the whole world, shining forth with miracles, O Adrian our venerable father. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4
Counted worthy of an angelic vision, thou wast led into the faith of Christ and didst receive the power of wonders, O wise one; wherefore thou didst humble the arrogance of the demons and, contending, didst quench the flame of error. O Venerable-Martyr Conon, O champion, make the Friend of mankind gracious unto us.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a martyr)
Thy Martyr Conon, O Lord, in his contest received from Thee our God the crown of incorruption; for, having Thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons. By his intercessions, O Christ God, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8 (from the common of a venerable one)
In thee, O Father, was the divine image kept secure; for, taking up thy cross, thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passes away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal. Therefore, O venerable Mark, thy spirit rejoices together with the Angels.
Readings
5th Matins Gospel
Luke 24.12-35
12Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. 13And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 17And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 22Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. 25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 28And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. 29But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. 30And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? 33And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. 35And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Epistle
Hebrews 11.24-26, 32-12.2
24By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 32And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Gospel
John 1.43-51
43The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. 44Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 50Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 51And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.