Saints commemorated
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Apostles of the 70 Erastus, Olympas, Herodion, Sosipater, Quartus, Tertius
These six apostles of the Seventy are all named by the Apostle Paul in the sixteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and the Byzantine calendar gathers them into a single commemoration on November 10. Olympas and Rodion (Herodion), companions of the Apostle Peter, were beheaded at Rome on the very day of Peter's crucifixion; Sosipater was bishop of Iconium and Erastus a steward of the Church and later bishop of Paneas; Quartus, bishop of Beirut, converted many pagans and reposed in peace; and Tertius, the scribe to whom Paul dictated the Epistle to the Romans, became the second bishop of Iconium and died a martyr. All lived in the first century, and all are commemorated again with the whole company at the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles on January 4.
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Our Venerable Father Arsenios of Cappadocia, the Wonderworker (1924)
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George the Great Martyr
George the Trophy-bearer (†303) is the most universally venerated of the martyrs of the East, honoured from Ethiopia to England as Μεγαλομάρτυς and Τροπαιοφόρος — "great-martyr" and "trophy-bearer," the soldier who carried off the prize. Born in Cappadocia of a martyred father and a Palestinian mother from Lydda, he rose young to the rank of comes in the guard of Diocletian, and when the persecuting edict was published at Nicomedia in 303 he gave away his goods, freed his slaves, and denounced the emperor's decree to his face before the council. There followed the long cycle of tortures for which his passion is famous — the spiked wheel, the pit of quicklime, the red-hot iron shoes, the poison of the magician Athanasius — through which the martyr was preserved, so that the sorcerer himself, and the Empress Alexandra, and many of the court confessed Christ. He was beheaded on 23 April 303 and buried at Lydda (Diospolis) in Palestine, where his shrine became one of the great pilgrimage places of Christendom. To him the later tradition attached the celebrated miracle of the dragon, and he is the patron of Georgia, England, Greece, Ethiopia, Portugal and Catalonia, of the city of Beirut and of Christian soldiers everywhere.
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Milos of Persia
Milos (†c. 341) was a Persian nobleman and soldier who became bishop of Susa (the Shushan of the Prophet Daniel), a hierarch graced with the gifts of prophecy and healing whom the Church styles the Wonderworker. Driven from his see by its pagan people, he journeyed to Jerusalem and to Alexandria, where he met Anthony the Great, before returning to Persia. There, in the great persecution of the Christians under Shapur II, he was arrested with his disciples and put to the sword, while his two disciples — a presbyter and a deacon — were killed with clubs and stones, around the year 341. He is commemorated on November 10.
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Orestes of Cappadocia
Orestes (†c. 304) was a physician and soldier of Tyana in Cappadocia who suffered martyrdom for Christ in the persecution of Diocletian. Brought before the imperial officer Maximinus, sent to root out the faith from Cappadocia, he refused every inducement to sacrifice to the idols; at his prayer the pagan temple and its images collapsed. After long tortures he was pierced with nails, bound to a wild horse, and dragged to his death over the stones, and his relics were cast into the sea. His memory is kept on November 10, and the Greek Menaion gives him the day's proper service. He is not to be confused with the Orestes numbered among the Five Martyrs of Sebaste (December 13).
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Justus, 4th archbishop of Canterbury (627)
- St. Aedh MacBrice, bishop of Killare (588)
- St. Eleath the Poet (6th C)
Readings
9th Matins Gospel
John 20.19-31
19Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. 24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. 30And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
Epistle
Galatians 1.11-19
11But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. 13For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. 15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, 16To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 17Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. 18Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. 19But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.
Gospel
Luke 10.25-37
25And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 30And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Troparia & kontakia
Apolytikion — Tone 4
As the deliverer of captives and defender of the poor, physician of the sick and champion of kings, O Trophy-bearer and Great-martyr George, intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion — Tone 4
Tilled by God, thou wast shown forth as the most honoured husbandman of true religion, gathering for thyself the sheaves of the virtues; for having sown in tears, thou reapest with rejoicing, and having contended even unto blood, thou hast won Christ. By thine intercessions, O holy one, thou grantest to all forgiveness of their offences.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Having illumined your minds with the divine light, O glorious apostles, you wisely undid the tangled snares of the orators, and drawing in all the nations as with a net you led them to the Master, teaching them to glorify the divine Trinity.
Troparion — Tone 3
Holy apostles, intercede with the merciful God, that he may grant our souls forgiveness of offences.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thou didst endure the severing of thy limbs and the fierce torment of fire, O martyr, and having contended, O all-glorious one, thou wast truly crowned with the crown incorruptible, O most blessed; now thou standest before the throne of the Holy Trinity — entreat him that he save us who sing to thee with faith, O martyr Orestes.