Hieromartyr John Kochurov

Saints commemorated

• Saint of the day

  John Kochurov

  John Kochurov (1871–1917), archpriest, was a missionary of the American land before he was the first priest-martyr of the Russian revolution. For twelve years he served Saint Vladimir's parish in Chicago, where he raised the Holy Trinity Cathedral that still stands, laboured beside the future patriarch Tikhon, and brought hundreds of Uniates into Orthodoxy. Returned to Russia in 1907, he taught a decade in the schools of Narva and came in 1916 to Saint Catherine's cathedral at Tsarskoye Selo. There, on 31 October 1917 — days after the October coup, and the day after he had led a procession praying for the ceasing of the fratricide — he was seized by Red Guards, dragged to the airfield, and shot and beaten to death. The Church of Russia glorified him in 1994; his memory binds the Church of America, which he helped build, to the New Martyrs of the Church that sent him.

• Holy Apostles Stachys, Apelles, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus and Aristobolus.

  Stachys, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, Apelles and Aristobulus (1st century) are six of the Seventy Apostles, all greeted by name in the sixteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans and commemorated together on October 31. Stachys was ordained first bishop of Byzantium by the Apostle Andrew and shepherded his flock at Argyropolis for sixteen years before reposing in peace; Amplias (bishop of Diospolis) and Urban (bishop of Macedonia), also consecrated by Andrew, and Narcissus (bishop of Athens) died as martyrs for destroying idols; Apelles governed a church in Asia Minor; and Aristobulus, brother of the Apostle Barnabas, carried the Gospel to Britain, where he reposed in peace. The Church keeps their joint memory and numbers them again among the Seventy on January 4.

• New Martyr Nicholas of Chios (1754)

• Aristobulus of Britain

  Aristobulus (1st century) was one of the Seventy Apostles and, by the tradition of the East, the brother — or kinsman — of the Apostle Barnabas of Cyprus. Paul greets "those of the household of Aristobulus" (Romans 16:10), and the Church numbers him among the fellow-labourers of the Apostle, ordained bishop and sent to preach the Gospel in the far West. He is honoured as the first apostle of Britain, carrying Christ to the islands at the edge of the world, where — among a fierce and unbelieving people who beat and mocked him — he founded the Church, made many converts, and, in the received Eastern account, reposed in peace among those he had won. He is commemorated in his own right on March 15 (Greek usage; the Slavic and American calendars keep him on March 16), and again with a company of his fellow apostles of the Seventy on October 31, and among them all in the Synaxis of the Seventy on January 4.

• Epimachus of Pelusium

  Epimachus of Pelusium (†c. 250) was an Egyptian martyr of the Decian persecution. A native of Egypt, he lived for a long time as a solitary on Mount Pelusium; hearing that Christians were being persecuted at Alexandria, he came down to the city, publicly smashed a number of pagan idols, and confessed himself a Christian. Brought before the eparch, he refused to sacrifice and was subjected to prolonged and savage torture — during which a drop of his blood, falling into the blind eye of a watching woman, restored her sight and brought her to faith — before being beheaded. He is distinguished in the calendars as Epimachus "the New," and is commemorated on October 31, with a further commemoration of the transfer of his relics on March 11.

• Spyridon and Nicodemus the Prosphora-Bakers of the Kiev Caves

  Spyridon and Nicodemus (12th century) were two monks of the Kiev Caves Monastery who together kept the obedience of baking the prosphora — the bread offered at the Divine Liturgy — for thirty years. Spyridon entered the monastery already advanced in age during the abbacy of Igumen Pimen (1132–1141); unlettered, he had nonetheless learned the whole Psalter by heart and recited it daily as he worked. He was glorified by miracles in his lifetime, most famously when his burning mantle, catching fire from the oven, was quenched without being consumed. Nicodemus shared his labour and his strict ascetic life. Their incorrupt relics rest in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony, where the fingers of Spyridon's right hand are still joined for the sign of the Cross. They are commemorated on October 31.

British Isles and Ireland

• St. Erth (Herygh), brother of St. Euny (514)
• St. Begu, nun of Hackness (660)
• St. Foillan, missionary monk in East Anglia (655)

Troparia & kontakia

Readings