Pre-Lenten Triodion, day 22 · 49 days until Pascha
Forgiveness Sunday
About Finding of the Relics of the Holy Martyrs at the Gate of Eugenius →
Saints commemorated
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Unc. Rel. Holy Martyrs at Gate of Eugenius
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Andronicus and Junia
Andronicus and Junia are the two Christians of the first generation whom the Apostle Paul greets at Romans 16:7 as "my kinsmen and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me" — the only persons in the New Testament of whom that last phrase is said. The Byzantine tradition numbers Andronicus among the Seventy and makes him bishop of Pannonia, and honours Junia with him as his synergos, his fellow-labourer in the Gospel; both are remembered as having suffered for Christ. Their relics, hidden in the persecutions and long anonymous, were brought to light outside Constantinople at the Gate of Eugenius, and identified there by revelation. They are kept on May 17, and again on February 22 with the finding of those relics, and Andronicus a third time on July 30 with his fellow-apostles of the Seventy.
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Athanasius the Confessor of Paulopetrion
Athanasius the Confessor (died 821) was a monk and abbot of the Paulopetrion monastery — the house "of Paul and Peter," near Nicomedia in Bithynia — who suffered for the veneration of the holy icons in the second iconoclast persecution. Born at Constantinople of wealthy and pious parents and drawn from childhood to the service of God, he became renowned for his ascetic life, so that his fame reached the imperial court. In the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo V the Armenian (813–820) he was seized, tortured, and sent into exile for his defence of the sacred images; and having confessed the Orthodox faith to the end, he reposed in peace in the year 821. He is kept on February 22 as a venerable confessor.
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Maurice of Apamea and his Companions
Maurice (died c. 305) was the commander of the garrison of Apamea on the Orontes in Syria, martyred under the emperor Galerius Maximian together with his son Photinus and the seventy soldiers of his command — of whom only two names, Theodore and Philip, are remembered. Denounced as Christians and refusing to sacrifice, they were subjected to a torture of studied cruelty: led to a marshy place swarming with mosquitoes, wasps and gadflies, stripped, smeared with honey, and bound to stakes, they were left for ten days to be stung and consumed by the insects under the sun, tormented by thirst and hunger, while they prayed and glorified God. The commander was made to watch his son die before him. At the last the martyrs were beheaded. They are a company of Antiochian Syria, kept on February 22.
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Thalassius, Limnaeus and Baradates
Thalassius, Limnaeus and Baradates were three Syrian solitaries of the fifth century, ascetics of the hill-country around Cyrrhus and Antioch whose lives are recorded at first hand by Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, in his Religious History. Thalassius passed thirty-eight years on a bare hill near the village of Targala, without roof or cell, in a simplicity, gentleness and humility that drew the gift of healing. His disciple Limnaeus learned that same simplicity, joined the great Maron, and settled in a roofless stone enclosure, where — though a solitary — he gathered the blind and the crippled about him and cared for them. Baradates shut himself in a stone cell too cramped to stand upright in, and later stood exposed to sun and rain wrapped head to foot in leather, until Theodoret himself persuaded him to relent. The three are kept together on February 22.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Elwin (Elwyn) the Martyr, Missionary to Cornwall (5th C)
Troparia & kontakia
Apolytikion — Tone 3
Holy apostles Andronicus and Junia, intercede with the merciful God, that he may grant to our souls the forgiveness of transgressions.
Kontakion
As stars that the Church has found shining in the earth, the treasure of your holy relics, O martyrs of Christ, enlightens the faithful who keep your memory; for by your hidden struggles you were made manifest, and you pour out healings on them that draw near.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Kinsmen of Paul and sharers of his bonds, who were in Christ before him and laboured with him in the Gospel: Andronicus, adornment of the hierarchs, and Junia, of note among the apostles — intercede unceasingly for those who honour your memory.
Troparion
Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received crowns of incorruption from Thee our God; for possessed of Thy might, they cast down the tyrants and shattered the powerless insolence of demons. By their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Troparion
In thee, O Father, was the divine image kept secure; for taking up the Cross thou didst follow after Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passes away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal. Therefore, O venerable Athanasius, thy spirit rejoices with the Angels.
Troparion
Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received crowns of incorruption from Thee our God; for possessed of Thy might, they cast down the tyrants and shattered the powerless insolence of demons. By their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Troparion
In thee, O Father, was the divine image kept secure; for taking up the Cross thou didst follow after Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passes away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal. Therefore, O venerable one, thy spirit rejoices with the Angels.
Readings
4th Matins Gospel
Luke 24.1-12
1Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8And they remembered his words, 9And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. 10It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. 11And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. 12Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
Epistle
Romans 13.11-14.4
11And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. 1Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. 2For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 3Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. 4Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
Gospel
Matthew 6.14-21
14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.