Great Lent, day 36 · 13 days until Pascha
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
St Theodore the Sykeote
Theodore the Sykeote (†22 April 613) was the greatest of the holy men of Galatia: born in the village of Sykeon, the son of an innkeeper, he was given from childhood to the martyr George, at whose hill-shrine above the village he became first a boy-ascetic, then a hidden cave-dweller, then the founder of a monastery whose fame filled Asia Minor. He was ordained priest at eighteen, tonsured a monk at Choziba in the Judaean desert, and was at last dragged from his cave to be made Bishop of Anastasiopolis, a burden he bore for some years before obtaining release from the Patriarch to return to his cell. He stood in an iron cage through the winter fast, weighed down with irons; he stopped plagues, locusts, hail and rivers; he cast out demons across the Galatian countryside; he foretold the throne to Maurice and the coming of ruin upon the empire, and blessed Heraclius on his march east. His Life, written by his disciple George of Sykeon, is one of the richest documents of provincial Byzantine society that survives.
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Holy Martyr Leonidas (202)
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Our Holy Father, the monk Vitalis
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Apelles, Lucius and Clement of the Seventy
Apelles, Lucius and Clement (1st century) are three of the Seventy Apostles, commemorated together on September 10. All three are greeted by name in the letters of Paul: Apelles, "approved in Christ" (Romans 16:10), became bishop of Heraclea; Lucius (Romans 16:21) — whom the Slavic tradition identifies with the Evangelist Luke, while the Greek synaxaria keep him distinct — became bishop of Laodicea in Syria; and Clement, whose name Paul says is "in the book of life" (Philippians 4:3), became bishop of Sardis. Each finished his course as a preacher of the Gospel; no acts of martyrdom are transmitted. They share the day's synaxis listing with no individual propers, and are commemorated again with all the Seventy on January 4.
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Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist (first century, reposed in Boeotia at the age of 84 by the most ancient account) is the "beloved physician" of Colossians 4:14, the faithful travelling-companion of the Apostle Paul — "only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11) — and the author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, the largest single contribution to the New Testament and the Church's first written history. The tradition, from Eusebius onward, makes him a native of Antioch in Syria, numbers him among the Seventy Apostles and as one of the two disciples of the road to Emmaus, and — from the sixth century — remembers him as the first painter of icons of the Theotokos. His relics were translated from Thebes to the church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople in 357 and lie today in Padua, from which a rib was returned to his ancient tomb at Thebes in 1998. His feast is October 18.
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Nathanael the Apostle
Nathanael — "Nathanael of Cana in Galilee," the man of whom Christ said "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile" — is known from the Fourth Gospel alone, where Philip brings him to Jesus under the fig tree (John 1:45–51) and where he stands among the seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias after the Resurrection (John 21:2). April 22 in the Byzantine calendar keeps not his death but "the remembrance of his coming to know Christ" — the day of his calling. Who he was under his other name the Church has never settled: the printed Greek Menaion says outright that Nathanael "is Simon the Zealot"; the Slavonic and Russian books gloss the same commemoration "Apostle Bartholomew (Nathanael)"; Western tradition since the twelfth century, and almost all modern commentary, identifies him with Bartholomew; and Augustine doubted that he was one of the Twelve at all. This entry keeps the name the calendar keeps, and sets out the identifications without adopting one.
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Nearchus
Nearchus is a martyr of the third century whom the Byzantine synaxarion commemorates on April 22 in a single line — "the holy martyr Nearchus is perfected by fire" — with one verse of epigram and nothing more. The Greek synaxaristes and the modern hagiographers identify him, with reserve, as the Nearchus of the Passion of St Polyeuctus: the Christian soldier of the Twelfth Legion at Melitene in Armenia whose grief at the thought of being parted from his unbaptised friend brought Polyeuctus to Christ and to martyrdom, and who gathered up his friend's body afterwards. If the identification holds, Nearchus is the instrument of one of the most beloved conversions in the martyrologies, and himself died in the flames some time after the man he had won.
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Vitalis of Gaza
Vitalis (†c. 620) was a monk of the great coenobium of Abba Seridos near Gaza who, at the age of sixty, went to Alexandria and there undertook the strangest and most deliberately scandalous ascetic labour recorded of any Orthodox saint: he wrote down the names of all the prostitutes of the city, hired himself out as a day-labourer, and every evening carried his wage to one of them, paying her not to sin that night, and passing the night himself in prayer in the corner of her room while she slept — binding each to secrecy, and bearing the contempt of the whole city as a fornicating monk. Many of the women were converted. He was struck down at last by a young man who thought he was defending Christ's honour, and died in his hut on his knees, holding a scroll that read "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come." Only then did the women he had saved come out and tell the truth, and the Patriarch John the Almsgiver, who had refused all along to condemn him on hearsay, buried him with honour.
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Vsevolod-Gabriel of Pskov
Vsevolod-Gabriel (†1138) was a prince of the house of Kiev — son of Mstislav the Great and grandson of Vladimir Monomakh — who ruled Novgorod and became the first beloved prince of Pskov. Born at Novgorod and given in baptism the name Gabriel, he governed Novgorod for many years as a builder of churches and a protector of the poor, founding the stone Church of Saint John the Forerunner at Opoki and beginning the great works of the city. After a disputed campaign and a falling-out with the turbulent Novgorodians, who expelled him, he was received in Pskov, which took him gladly as its prince; there, in the brief months left to him, he laid the foundation of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the mother-church of Pskov, and reposed on 11 February 1138. His relics, uncovered incorrupt in 1192 and enshrined in the cathedral he had founded, made Pskov's Trinity Cathedral a place of wonders, and Vsevolod-Gabriel its heavenly patron; his sword, inscribed Honorem meum nemini dabo — "I will yield my honour to no one" — was long kept above his tomb.
Troparia & kontakia
Apolytikion — Tone 3
O holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, intercede with the merciful God, that He grant unto our souls the forgiveness of offences.
Apolytikion — Tone 4
A rule of faith and an image of meekness, a teacher of temperance, hath the truth of thy deeds revealed thee to be unto thy flock: therefore hast thou attained the heights by humility, and riches by poverty. O Father and Hierarch Theodore, intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Let us praise the divine Luke, the herald of true piety, the orator of ineffable mysteries, the star of the Church: for the Word, who alone knoweth the hearts of men, chose him, together with the wise Paul, to be a teacher of the nations.
Kontakion — Tone 4
Having become a disciple of God the Word, with Paul thou didst enlighten all the earth and drive away the gloom, having written the divine Gospel of Christ.
Kontakion — Tone 3
Mounted upon the virtues as upon a chariot of fire, O God-bearer, thou didst run up to the dwellings of heaven: an angel keeping company with men, a man dancing in the choir of the angels. Therefore wast thou shown forth a divine vessel of wonders, O Theodore.
Magnification
We magnify thee, O Apostle of Christ and Evangelist Luke, and we honour the pains and labours whereby thou didst toil in the good tidings of Christ.
Stichera — Tone 1
Become an initiate of the mysteries of the Word, O father, and shining with the virtues in the radiance of the Spirit, thrice-blessed Theodore, thou bestowest the gifts of healings upon us who draw near on this thy sacred memorial and honour thee.
Troparion — Tone 3
Holy Apostles Apelles, Lucius and Clement, intercede with the merciful God, that he grant to our souls the forgiveness of offences.
Troparion — Tone 5
With sacred songs let us praise the holy apostle Luke, the recounter of the Acts of the Apostles and radiant writer of the Gospel of Christ, glorious in the Church of Christ, the all-praised one: for he is a physician, healing the infirmities of men, the diseases of nature and the wounds of souls, and he prayeth without ceasing for our souls.
Troparion — Tone 3
Holy Apostle Nathanael, intercede with the merciful God, that he grant to our souls the forgiveness of offences.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy martyr Nearchus, O Lord, in his contest received an incorruptible crown from thee, our God; for possessing thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons. By his intercessions save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O father, was preserved unimpaired that which is according to the image: for taking up the cross, thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passeth away, but to care for the soul, which is a thing immortal. Wherefore thy spirit, O venerable Vitalis, rejoiceth with the angels.
Readings
6th Hour
Isaiah 48.17-49.4
17Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. 18O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: 19Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me. 20Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob. 21And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out. 22There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked. 1Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. 2And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; 3And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
Vespers
Genesis 27.1-41
1And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: 3Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die. 5And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. 8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. 9Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: 10And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. 11And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 12My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. 13And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. 14And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. 15And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: 16And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: 17And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 18And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son? 19And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. 20And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me. 21And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. 22And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. 24And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. 25And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. 27And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed: 28Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: 29Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. 30And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me. 32And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. 33And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed. 34And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. 35And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing. 36And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? 37And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? 38And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. 39And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; 40And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. 41And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
Proverbs 19.16-25
16He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die. 17He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again. 18Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. 19A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again. 20Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. 21There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. 22The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar. 23The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil. 24A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. 25Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.
Isaiah 43.9-14 (St George)
9Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. 10Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. 12I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. 13Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? 14Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9 (St George)
1But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. 2In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, 3And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. 4For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. 5And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. 6As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering. 7And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. 8They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. 9They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect.
Wisdom of Solomon 4.7-15 (St George)
7But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. 8For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. 9But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. 10He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated. 11Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. 12For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind. 13He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: 14For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked. 15This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.