Pre-Lenten Triodion, day 15 · 56 days until Pascha
Sunday of the Last Judgment
Saints commemorated
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Martyr Quadratus and Companions
Quadratus of Corinth (third century) was a physician and confessor of Christ whose life began with a wonder: his mother Rufina, fleeing the persecution while great with child, gave birth to him on a lonely mountain and died there, and the infant — the tradition holds — was preserved and nourished by the providence of God, sheltered by a cloud and fed with a sweet dew, until Christians found and raised him. Grown to be a physician who healed body and soul, he gathered about him a company of the faithful — chief among them Cyprian, Dionysius, Anectus, Paul, Crescens and Victorinus — and led them in the confession of Christ when the persecution under Decius and Valerian came upon Corinth. Seized by the governor Jason and cruelly tortured, they were at the last beheaded together, about the middle of the third century. The Church keeps them on March 10.
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Our Holy Mother Anastasia (563)
Anastasia the Patrician (c. 510 – c. 567) was a noblewoman of Constantinople, of patrician rank and great beauty, esteemed at the court of the emperor Justinian. When the emperor's marked favour toward her stirred the jealousy of the empress Theodora, Anastasia — desiring neither the court nor its perils to her soul — secretly left the capital, sailed to Alexandria, and founded a monastery outside the city, where she lived in ascesis. After Theodora's death, learning that Justinian was again seeking her, she fled to the desert of Scetis and cast herself on the great elder Abba Daniel, who clothed her in a monk's habit, gave her the name Anastasius the eunuch, and enclosed her in a distant cave. There, unknown to all as a woman, she lived twenty-eight years in silence and prayer, a disciple leaving water at her door once a week, until her death revealed her secret to none but Daniel. She is commemorated on March 10.
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Quadratus of Nicomedia and Companions
Quadratus of Nicomedia (third century) was a Christian of an illustrious and wealthy family of Bithynia who, during the persecutions under the emperors Decius and Valerian, used his freedom and his means to sustain the confessors in prison — bringing them food and comfort and encouraging them to stand firm. When his own faith was discovered he confessed Christ openly, and was carried by his persecutors through a succession of the cities of Asia Minor to be displayed and tortured, that his sufferings might frighten others from the faith; but he endured all and, with his companions Saturninus and Rufinus and others, was at the last beheaded. The Church keeps them on March 10, the same day as the martyrs of Corinth of the same name, from whom they are to be distinguished.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Kessog the Wonderworker (560)
- St. Emilian, abbot of Lagny (675)
- St. Failbhe the Little, abbot of Iona (754)
- St. Sedna, bishop of Ossory (c.570)
- St. Silvester, companion of St. Palladius (c.420)
- St. Himelin of Vissenaeken (c.750)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 3
As bright stars did ye enlighten all creation, O athletes who cannot be vanquished; ye brought the deceit of the idols to nothing and, contending lawfully, ye were crowned. Wherefore, unceasingly intercede with Christ for us all.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O Mother, was the image faithfully preserved; for taking up thy cross thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, which passes away, and to care for the soul, a thing immortal. Therefore doth thy spirit, O venerable Anastasia, rejoice together with the angels.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received from Thee our God crowns of incorruption; for armed with Thy might, they cast down the tyrants and broke the powerless insolence of demons. By their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received from Thee our God crowns of incorruption; for armed with Thy might, they cast down the tyrants and broke the powerless insolence of demons. By their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Readings
7th Matins Gospel
John 20.1-10
1The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. 8Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
Epistle
1 Corinthians 8.8-9.2
8But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. 9But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. 10For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; 11And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 12But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. 13Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. 1Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? 2If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
Gospel
Matthew 25.31-46
31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.