Great Lent, day 7 · 42 days until Pascha
Sunday of Orthodoxy
Saints commemorated
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Martyr Eudoxia of Heliopolis
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Agapius of Vatopedi
Agapius of Vatopedi (13th century) was a young monk of the Holy Mountain, a novice at the Trinity cell of Kolitsou, a dependency of the great monastery of Vatopedi. Carried off by Turkish raiders and sold into slavery at Magnesia, he spent many years in chains, praying continually to the Mother of God, until she appeared to him and set him free, his fetters falling away and the doors of his prison opening of themselves. Yet when he returned to the Holy Mountain, his elder, holding that a debt of obedience was owed even to an earthly master, sent him back to his captor. His unresisting obedience so astonished and moved the Turk that he came to Athos with his two sons and received holy Baptism, and all three ended their days as monks — a story the Athonite tradition treasures as a parable of obedience and of the power of the Theotokos.
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Antonina of Nicaea
Antonina of Nicaea (†c. 302) was a Christian woman of Nicaea in Bithynia who suffered martyrdom in the persecutions of the late third and early fourth centuries. Arrested for her confession of Christ and brought before the governor, she refused every inducement and threat to sacrifice to the idols; she was subjected to a succession of savage tortures — the rack, fire, and imprisonment — which she endured with unshaken constancy, and at last was put to death. The Church honours her among the martyrs of Nicaea and keeps her memory on March 1.
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Domnina the Younger of Syria
Domnina the Younger (†c. 450–460) was a Syrian ascetic of the region of Cyrrhus, one of the enclosed holy women whose lives Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, set down from his own knowledge in his Religious History. Born of pious and well-to-do parents, she forsook the world for a life of extreme austerity, dwelling in a little hut of reeds built in the garden of her mother's house, clothed in haircloth, eating only lentils moistened with water, and going out only to the village church for the morning and evening services. Above all she was known for her ceaseless weeping — her veil and her cheeks perpetually wet with the tears of compunction — and for a boundless charity, giving away to the poor and to passing strangers all that her mother's estate produced. She reposed in peace in the mid-fifth century, and the Church honours her among the venerable ascetics of Syria, of particular note in the Antiochian tradition to which she belongs.
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Eudocia of Heliopolis
Eudocia of Heliopolis (†c. 152–170) was a wealthy Samaritan woman of Heliopolis in Phoenicia — the great sun-city the Romans called Baalbek — who lived by her beauty as a famed and dissolute courtesan, and amassed a fortune from her many lovers. Overhearing through a wall the monk Germanus reading aloud of the Last Judgement and the torments and rewards to come, she was pierced to the heart, sought him out, and was converted; baptised by the bishop Theodotus, she gave her whole fortune to the poor, entered a convent, and gave herself to so severe a repentance that she was counted worthy of the gift of wonders, raising the dead and turning her former companions and their persecutors to Christ. After many years as a nun and at length abbess, she was seized in a renewed persecution and beheaded for the faith. The Church honours her as a venerable-martyr — a monastic who sealed her repentance with her blood — and keeps her as one of its great models of conversion, that the deepest sinner may become the purest saint.
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Marcellus and Anthony
Marcellus and Anthony were two early martyrs commemorated on March 1, of whom the synaxarion preserves only that, having confessed Christ, they were cast into the fire and perished in the flames — shining, in the words of the notice, brighter than gold tried in the furnace. Nothing further of their place or age is securely transmitted; the Church keeps their memory among the martyrs of the day.
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Martyrius of Zelenets
Martyrius of Zelenets (†1603) was a Russian monastic saint, the founder and first abbot of the Trinity monastery of Zelenets — the "Green Island" in the marshes east of the river Volkhov, in the Novgorod land. Born Menas in the town of Velikiye Luki and orphaned in childhood, he was raised in piety by a priest, was tonsured under his own spiritual father, and after years of shared cell-life withdrew into the deep forest, guided (the tradition holds) by visions of the Mother of God and of a radiant cross of stars. On the wooded island he found there he raised a church of the Life-giving Trinity and gathered a brotherhood, becoming their abbot; he was granted the gift of wonders, and reposed in great old age in 1603, having dug his own grave and taken leave of his monks with a final charge to trust in the Holy Trinity and the Mother of God.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. David of Wales (6th C)
- St. Marnock of Kilmarnock (625)
- St. Swithbert the Elder of Northumbria, bishop of the Frisians (713)
- Holy Martyr Monan of St. Andrew’s (874)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 4
In thy contest thou didst nobly struggle, and after death thou dost sanctify us by the outpouring of thy wonders, O all-praised one; therefore, honouring thy holy memory, we glorify Christ who is glorified in thee, O venerable Eudocia.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy ewe-lamb, O Jesus, crieth out with a loud voice: "Thee, my Bridegroom, do I long for, and seeking Thee I contend; I am crucified and buried with Thee, and I suffer for Thy sake, that I may reign with Thee; I die for Thee, that I may live in Thee: receive me as an unblemished sacrifice offered to Thee with love." At her intercessions, O Merciful One, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O mother, the divine image was preserved unto perfection; for taking up the cross, thou didst follow after Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach the despising of the flesh, which passeth away, and the care of the soul, a thing immortal. Wherefore, O venerable Domnina, thy spirit rejoiceth with the angels.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy ewe-lamb, O Jesus, crieth out with a loud voice: "Thee, my Bridegroom, do I long for, and seeking Thee I contend; I am crucified and buried with Thee in Thy baptism, and I suffer for Thy sake, that I may reign with Thee; I die for Thee, that I may live in Thee: receive me, then, as an unblemished sacrifice offered to Thee with love." At her intercessions, O Merciful One, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received crowns of incorruption from Thee our God; for possessing Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and shattered the powerless boldness of the demons. At their supplications, O Christ God, save our souls.
Readings
5th Matins Gospel
Luke 24.12-35
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. 13And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 17And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 22Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. 25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 28And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. 29But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. 30And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? 33And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. 35And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Epistle
Hebrews 11.24-26, 32-12.2
24By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 32And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Gospel
John 1.43-51
43The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. 44Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 50Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 51And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.