Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
Ven. Pelagia the Penitent
Pelagia the Penitent (†c. 457) is the most celebrated of the penitent courtesans of the Orthodox calendar: the foremost actress and courtesan of Antioch, called Margarita — "Pearl" — for the jewels she wore, who was brought to compunction by the preaching and the tears of the holy bishop Nonnus, was baptised by him, gave all her wealth to the poor, and vanished from the city in a man's clothing. As the monk "Pelagius" she lived in a walled cell on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in extreme asceticism, her sex discovered only when her body was prepared for burial. Her feast, on October 8, she shares with a wholly different Antiochene saint of the same name, the virgin-martyr Pelagia.
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Saint Thaïs the Repentant Harlot (4th c.)
Taisia of Egypt — Thaïs, in the Greek and Latin of her Life — was a celebrated courtesan of fourth-century Egypt, famed for a beauty that, the tradition says, ruined many, who was converted by the desert father Paphnutius. Coming to her in the guise of a client, the old ascetic found that she already knew of God and of the judgment, and his words so pierced her that she burned her wealth in the public square and followed him into the desert. Enclosed for three years in a cell, praying only "O Thou who didst fashion me, have mercy on me," she received assurance of forgiveness — Paul the Simple saw in a vision the place prepared for her in Paradise — and died within a fortnight of her release. Her feast is October 8.
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Pelagia the Virgin of Antioch
Pelagia the Virgin of Antioch (†c. 303) was a fifteen-year-old Christian maiden of a noble Antiochene house who, when soldiers of the great persecution surrounded her home to seize her — and, the tradition says, to violate her — asked leave to change her clothing, prayed with hands lifted to heaven, and threw herself from the housetop, dying to preserve her virginity for Christ. Antioch venerated her from the first generation: Ambrose of Milan holds her up twice as a pattern of consecrated virginity, and John Chrysostom preached a surviving festal homily on her. She shares her feast, October 8, with a wholly different Antiochene saint of the same name, Pelagia the Penitent.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Keyne, virgin-recluse
- St. Iwi of Lindisfarne, hermit (c.690)
- St. Triduna of Restalrig (4th C)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 2
Wearing out thy body with fastings and with unsleeping prayers, thou didst implore the Creator concerning thy deeds, that thou mightest receive perfect forgiveness of them; which indeed thou didst receive, O mother, having shown forth the way of repentance.
Kontakion — Tone 2 (from the common)
For the love of the Lord, O venerable one, thou didst hate the desire for rest, enlightening thy spirit with fasting; for mightily didst thou vanquish the beasts: but by thy prayers destroy the insolence of the adversaries.
Sticheron
Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, as the Apostle teacheth; for in prayers and tears, O Pelagia, thou didst dry up the sea of thy many offences, and by repentance didst bring unto the Lord an end well-pleasing to him; and now thou dost intercede with him for our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8 (from the common of a venerable woman)
In thee, O mother, that which is according to the image was preserved with exactness; for taking up the cross, thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to disregard the flesh, for it passeth away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal: wherefore thy spirit, O venerable Pelagia, rejoiceth with the angels.
Troparion — Tone 4 (from the common of a virgin martyr)
Thy lamb Pelagia crieth unto thee with a great voice, O Jesus: Thee, my Bridegroom, do I love, and seeking thee I contend, and am crucified and buried with thee in thy baptism; and I suffer for thy sake, that I may reign with thee, and I die for thee, that I may live in thee. As a spotless sacrifice, then, receive her who with longing was slain for thee. By her intercessions, since thou art merciful, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8 (from the common of a venerable woman)
In thee, O mother, that which is according to the image was preserved with exactness; for taking up the cross, thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to disregard the flesh, for it passeth away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal: wherefore thy spirit, O venerable Taisia, rejoiceth with the angels.
Readings
Epistle
Ephesians 5.25-33
25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Gospel
Luke 6.46-7.1
46And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. 1Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.