Saturday 3 January 2026
Saturday before Theophany; Forefeast of Theophany
Saturday of the 30th week after Pentecost
Christmastide, day 10
Saturday before Theophany; Forefeast of Theophany
Saints commemorated
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Prophet Malachi
Malachi (fifth century before Christ) is the last of the twelve Minor Prophets, and his short book stands last of all the prophets in the Christian ordering of the Old Testament — the seal of prophecy before the four centuries of silence that ended only with John the Forerunner. His name means "my messenger" or "my angel," and both the Greek tradition and the Lives of the Prophets remember him as a young man of such beauty and such gentleness of life that the people called him an angel; the hymns of his feast play throughout on the name. He prophesied in Judah after the return from Babylon, when the second Temple stood again but its worship had grown careless; against the corrupt priests and the faithless people he set the vision of a "pure offering" to be made among all nations, of the "messenger of the covenant" and the Forerunner who would come "in the spirit and power of Elijah," and of the "Sun of Righteousness" rising "with healing in his wings." He is kept on January 3, within the Forefeast of the Theophany.
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Holy Martyr Gordius of Caesarea (4th c.)
Gordius (†c. 320) was a soldier-martyr of Caesarea in Cappadocia, a centurion of the Roman army who, when the persecution of the Christians broke out, laid down his sword and withdrew into the wilderness to purify himself by fasting and prayer. Judging at last that the hour had come, he came down of his own accord into the crowded amphitheatre of his city on a day of pagan games, and, standing in the midst of the assembled people, cried aloud that he was a Christian and would not deny his Lord. After the questioning of the magistrate and the torments that followed, he was beheaded. His passion is remembered above all because Basil the Great, archbishop of the same Caesarea, preached a celebrated homily in his honour on his feast, before a congregation many of whom still remembered the martyr — one of the great pieces of early Christian martyr-preaching, and the chief source for his life. He is kept on January 3, within the Forefeast of the Theophany.
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Our Holy Mother Genevieve of Paris (ca. 502)
Genevieve (c. 422 – c. 512) is the great ascetic patroness of Paris, a consecrated virgin of the fifth-century Gallo-Roman Church who is venerated among the pre-Schism saints of the West received into Orthodox commemoration. Born at Nanterre and set apart for God in childhood by the passing bishop Germanus of Auxerre, she took the veil in her mid-teens and gave her long life to prayer, fasting, vigil, and unwearied charity. When Attila and the Huns bore down on Paris in 451, she persuaded the terrified citizens not to flee but to fast and pray, and the horde turned aside from the city; during a later blockade she led a convoy up the Seine to bring back grain and saved the people from famine. Revered by the Frankish kings Childeric and Clovis, devoted to the memory of the martyr Denis, and famed for prophecy and healing, she reposed at a great age about the year 512 and was buried on the hill that still bears her name. She is commemorated on January 3, within the Forefeast of the Theophany.
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Ephraim of Nea Makri
Ephraim is a fifteenth-century Greek monk of Mount Amomon above the modern Nea Makri in Attica, held to have been tortured to death by Turkish raiders on 5 May 1426. Nothing whatever was known of him until 1950, when the nun Makaria Desipri, excavating the ruins of the abandoned Monastery of the Annunciation on the hill, uncovered a burial she took — on the strength of a series of dreams and visions she reported — to be his, and from which the whole of his transmitted biography derives. A very large popular veneration grew up around the shrine within a generation; the Church of Greece entered him in its calendar in 1998 and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2011. His commemoration is therefore canonically established and liturgically kept, while the historical foundation of his life rests on private revelation and not on any document, and the Church's own recognition of him was cautious and late.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Hywyn, companion of St. Cadfan in Cornwall (6th C)
- St. Finlugh (Finlag) (6th C)
- St. Fintan (6th C)
- SS Fugatius and Damian (2nd C)
- St. Wenog
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 6
Let us all sing the praises of Gordius, the soldier unconquered in his contest and the crowned victor unvanquished in his torments — the great star that shone forth in very truth out of the East, the divine adornment of the Martyrs of Christ.
Kontakion — Tone 3
Filled full with the wisdom that is above all wisdom and divine, O most great Malachi, being by nature a prophet, thou didst show forth to all men Him who is from on high, the very Wisdom of God, come to dwell here below; wherefore we honour thee, keeping in faith thy sacred memory.
Kontakion — Tone 6
Let us all sing the praises of Gordius, the soldier unconquered in his contest and the crowned victor unvanquished in his torments — the great star that shone forth in very truth out of the East, the divine adornment of the Martyrs of Christ.
Kontakion — Tone 3
Filled full with the wisdom that is above all wisdom and divine, O most great Malachi, being by nature a prophet, thou didst show forth to all men Him who is from on high, the very Wisdom of God, come to dwell here below; wherefore we honour thee, keeping in faith thy sacred memory.
Sticheron
Thy head cut off by the sword, thou didst pass over manifestly from life to life, from the mortal to the immortal, from the corruptible to the incorruptible, not awaiting the death of nature but choosing of thine own will to die. O thy contests, victorious Gordius! by which, O Martyr, thou didst magnify Christ, the only compassionate One.
Sticheron
By thy life that imitated the angels thou wast shown forth on earth to be an angel, and didst fittingly gain for thyself the very name of Angel, O all-blessed Malachi, having harmoniously joined the beauty of thy soul to the beauty of thy body.
Sticheron
Thy head cut off by the sword, thou didst pass over manifestly from life to life, from the mortal to the immortal, from the corruptible to the incorruptible, not awaiting the death of nature but choosing of thine own will to die. O thy contests, victorious Gordius! by which, O Martyr, thou didst magnify Christ, the only compassionate One.
Sticheron
By thy life that imitated the angels thou wast shown forth on earth to be an angel, and didst fittingly gain for thyself the very name of Angel, O all-blessed Malachi, having harmoniously joined the beauty of thy soul to the beauty of thy body.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a venerable-martyr)
Trained in the discipline of the monks and made perfect in the contest of the martyrs, thou didst offer to Christ a twofold crown, O Ephraim: for having died to the world in the ascetic life, thou didst give thy body to torments for His name, and wast found faithful unto the end. Wherefore intercede with Him that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O mother, was the image of God preserved with exactness; for taking up thy cross thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passeth away, but to have care for the soul, a thing immortal. Wherefore, O venerable Genevieve, thy spirit rejoiceth with the angels.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy Martyr Gordius, O Lord, in his contest received the crown of incorruption from thee our God; for possessed of thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble insolence of demons. By his supplications, O Christ God, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 2
As we celebrate the memory of thy prophet Malachi, O Lord, through him we entreat thee: save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a venerable-martyr)
Trained in the discipline of the monks and made perfect in the contest of the martyrs, thou didst offer to Christ a twofold crown, O Ephraim: for having died to the world in the ascetic life, thou didst give thy body to torments for His name, and wast found faithful unto the end. Wherefore intercede with Him that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O mother, was the image of God preserved with exactness; for taking up thy cross thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passeth away, but to have care for the soul, a thing immortal. Wherefore, O venerable Genevieve, thy spirit rejoiceth with the angels.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy Martyr Gordius, O Lord, in his contest received the crown of incorruption from thee our God; for possessed of thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble insolence of demons. By his supplications, O Christ God, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 2
As we celebrate the memory of thy prophet Malachi, O Lord, through him we entreat thee: save our souls.
Readings
Epistle
Ephesians 5.1-8
1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. 3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 8For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
1 Timothy 3.14-4.5 (Saturday before Theophany)
14These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: 15But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 16And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Gospel
Luke 17.3-10
3Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 5And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 6And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. 7But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? 8And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? 9Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. 10So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
Matthew 3.1-11 (Saturday before Theophany)
1In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: