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Thursday 12 March 2026

Ven. Theophanes the Confessor

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

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Lenten Fast Tone 6

Great Lent, day 18 · 31 days until Pascha

Saints commemorated

  • Saint of the day

    Ven. Theophanes the Confessor

    Theophanes the Confessor (c. 759/760 – 817/818) was a wealthy Byzantine noble of Constantinople who renounced rank and riches to become a monk, and who is remembered on three counts above all: as founder and abbot of the great monastery of the Great Field (Megas Agros) on the peninsula of Sigriane by the Sea of Marmara; as author of the Chronographia, the annalistic chronicle of the years 284–813 that is one of the primary sources for Byzantine, Persian, and early Islamic history; and as a confessor of the holy icons in the second iconoclasm. Married in youth but living with his wife in continence until both took the monastic habit, he distributed his fortune, built monasteries, and signed the decrees of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787). When Leo V the Armenian revived iconoclasm, Theophanes, already broken by a painful illness, refused to condemn the icons, was imprisoned some two years, and was exiled to the island of Samothrace, where he died of his sufferings a few days after arrival, on March 12. His relics were returned to Megas Agros, and he is venerated throughout the Orthodox world.

  • St Gregory the Great (the Dialogist), Pope of Rome (604)

    Gregory the Dialogist (c. 540 – 604), known in the West as Gregory the Great, was Pope of Rome from 590 to 604 and is honoured by East and West alike as a Father of the whole undivided Church and one of the four great Latin Doctors. Born to a Roman senatorial family, he rose to be Prefect of the City, then renounced the world, turned his houses into monasteries, and became a monk; drawn back into service as papal legate at Constantinople and then, against his will, as pope, he governed Rome through plague and Lombard war with wisdom and charity. He is remembered for the Dialogues — from which the East names him "the Dialogist" — for the Pastoral Rule, the classic manual of the shepherd's office, and the Moralia on Job; for sending the mission of Augustine to convert the Anglo-Saxons; for the reform of the Roman chant that bears his name; and, in Orthodox tradition, as the compiler to whom the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts of Great Lent is ascribed. He reposed at Rome on March 12, a day kept in Lent, and is one of the few Western fathers venerated without interruption in the Orthodox East.

  • Repose of St Symeon the New Theologian (1021)

    Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022) is the great mystical theologian of Byzantium: monk of Stoudios, abbot of St. Mamas in Constantinople, spiritual son of Symeon the Pious, and the poet of the Hymns of Divine Love. He taught, against the polite religion of his age, that the conscious experience of God — the vision of the divine light, the felt presence of the Holy Spirit — is not the privilege of a vanished apostolic past but the birthright and calling of every baptised Christian now; for this he was tried, exiled, and finally vindicated. Of all the saints, only he, John the Theologian, and Gregory of Nazianzus bear the title "Theologian."

  • Phineas the High Priest

    Phineas (Hebrew Pinchas) was the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, and the third high priest of Israel, remembered in Scripture for the burning zeal by which he turned away the wrath of God from his people. When Israel, encamped at Shittim, was drawn into the idolatry and licence of Baal-Peor and a plague broke out among them, Phineas rose up and struck through an Israelite man and the Midianite woman with him, and the plague was stayed. For this the Lord granted him and his descendants a covenant of peace and an everlasting priesthood (Numbers 25). He led Israel in later crises, kept the priesthood after Eleazar, and his name became in the tradition of Israel and the Church a byword for righteous zeal for God. The Orthodox Church commemorates him among the holy righteous of the Old Covenant on March 12.

British Isles and Ireland

  • St. Paul Aurelian of Wales, bishop of Ouismor (575)
  • St. Alphege the Elder, bishop of Winchester (951)
  • St. Mura McFerednach of Donegal (645)

Troparia & kontakia

Kontakion — Tone 3

Thou wast likened to the great Shepherd, O Gregory, leading the ranks of monks to the heavenly sheepfold; and from thence thou didst teach to all men the way. Wherefore now thou dost rejoice and art glad together with them in the dwelling-places of heaven.

Kontakion — Tone 3

Enlightened by the light three-sunned, O God-wise one, thou wast shown a theologian of the all-divine Trinity. Enriched from on high with the wisdom of words, thou didst pour forth the divine streams of the wisdom of God; drinking of them, we cry: Rejoice, thrice-blessed Symeon, taught of God.

Kontakion — Tone 2

Having received revelation from on high, thou didst hasten forth from the midst of the world's tumults; and taking up the monastic life, O righteous one, thou wast granted the working of wonders and the gift of foretelling things to come. For having scattered thy riches and thy possessions and thy wedded life, thou wast made a kinsman of Christ, O Theophanes.

Troparion — Tone 4

Receiving divine grace from God on high, O glorious Gregory, and strengthened by its power, thou didst choose to walk according to the Gospel. Wherefore thou hast received from Christ the reward of thy labours, O all-blessed one. Entreat him that our souls may be saved.

Troparion — Tone 3

Having received the divine illumination within thy soul, O father Symeon, thou wast shown to the world a most radiant light, dispelling its deep darkness and persuading all to seek the grace of the Spirit which they had lost. Entreat him fervently, that he grant us great mercy.

Troparion — Tone 8

O guide of Orthodoxy, teacher of piety and holiness, luminary of the world, God-inspired adornment of monastics, O wise Theophanes: by thy teachings thou hast enlightened all, thou lyre of the Spirit. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.

Readings

6th Hour

Isaiah 11.10-12.2

10And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. 11And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 13The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. 15And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. 16And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. 1And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. 2Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

Vespers

Genesis 7.11-8.3

11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. 15And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. 16And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. 17And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 21And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. 1And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; 2The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; 3And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

Proverbs 10.1-22

1The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. 2Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death. 3The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. 4He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. 5He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. 6Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. 7The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot. 8The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall. 9He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known. 10He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall. 11The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. 12Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. 13In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding. 14Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. 15The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty. 16The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin. 17He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth. 18He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool. 19In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. 20The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. 21The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom. 22The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.