Trans. Rel. Nicephorus, Patr. Constantinopole

Saints commemorated

Saint of the day

Trans. Rel. Nicephorus, Patr. Constantinopole

Nicephorus the Confessor (c. 758 – 828) was Patriarch of Constantinople from 806 to 815 and, after Tarasius, the second of the great iconodule patriarchs to lead the Church. Born of a confessing family — his father had suffered exile for the holy icons — he served as imperial secretary, took part in the Seventh Ecumenical Council as a lay commissioner, and was raised from the lay state to the patriarchal throne. When the emperor Leo V the Armenian revived iconoclasm, Nicephorus resisted to his own ruin: refusing to surrender the images, he was deposed in 815 and exiled across the Bosphorus, where for thirteen years he wrote the great refutations of the heresy — and where, with his Breviarium and chronological tables, he left works of history besides. He reposed in exile in 828. After the Triumph of Orthodoxy (843), the Empress Theodora and Patriarch Methodius brought his relics home to the capital on 13 March 846, incorrupt, and laid them among the patriarchs in the Church of the Holy Apostles. He is kept on June 2 (repose) and March 13 (the translation of his relics).
Africanus, Pompeius and Terence

Africanus, Pompeius (also called Publius) and Terence, with a company of fellow-Christians, were martyrs of Africa who suffered in the third century at a place called Petrium, near Carthage, in one of the persecutions that swept the Roman province. Seized for their confession of Christ and refusing to sacrifice to the idols, they endured torments and were put to death together. The Church keeps their memory on March 13; a larger company of the same African martyrs, including Terence and Africanus with many others, is commemorated again on April 10.
Christina of Persia

Christina (fourth century) was a martyr of Persia, a young woman who was scourged to death for confessing her faith in Christ during one of the great persecutions of the Church of Persia under the Sasanian kings. Of her life almost nothing is transmitted beyond the manner and the constancy of her death; the Church keeps her honoured memory on March 13.
Publius of Athens

Publius (second century) was Bishop of Athens and a hieromartyr — the shepherd of the Athenian church who was put to death for the confession of Christ, and after whose martyrdom the flock he left, scattered and dispirited, was gathered again by his successor Quadratus. His memory is preserved by the earliest historians of the Church: Dionysius of Corinth, writing about the year 170, records in a letter that the Christians of Athens had all but fallen away after "the martyrdom of Publius their leader," until Quadratus, made bishop in his place, rekindled their faith; and Eusebius hands the notice down. The later synaxaria honour him as a successor of Dionysius the Areopagite on the throne of Athens and number him among the disciples of the apostolic age. He is commemorated on March 13.
Sabinus of Egypt

Sabinus (†c. 287) was a martyr of Hermopolis in Egypt — a leading citizen, and by some accounts the governor of the city, who in the persecution laid aside his rank and hid himself with a company of fellow-Christians in a house outside the town. Betrayed for two pieces of gold by a beggar whom he had fed in his need, he was seized, brought before the persecutors, tortured for his confession of Christ, and at the last drowned in the waters of the Nile. His memory is a parable of the treachery repaid for kindness and the crown won through it, and the Church keeps him on March 13.

British Isles and Ireland

St. Mochoemoc, abbot (656)
St. Kevoca of Kyle (7th C)
St. Gerald of Mayo, abbot (732)

Troparia & kontakia

Kontakion — Tone 1

O initiate of heaven's mysteries and unshaken herald of Orthodoxy, thou didst shine upon the Church as her radiant star, and for the icon of Christ didst gladly bear thine exile; and now thy sacred relics, returning in glory to thy city, pour forth sanctification on them that cry: Rejoice, O Father Nicephorus, boast of the faithful.

Troparion — Tone 4

Thy holy martyrs Africanus, Pompeius and Terence, O Lord, through their contests have received incorruptible crowns from thee our God; for having thy strength, they laid low their persecutors and shattered the powerless boldness of the demons. By their intercessions save our souls.

Troparion — Tone 4

Thy ewe-lamb Christina cries out to thee, O Jesus, with a great voice: I love thee, O my Bridegroom, and in 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. Accept me as a spotless sacrifice, offered to thee with love. By her intercessions save our souls, O merciful One.

Troparion — Tone 3

Thou didst bear in very deed the victory thy name foretells, O all-blessed Nicephorus: a teacher of the Orthodox faith, a defender of the sacred images, and a pillar unshaken of the Church of Christ. For the honour of the icon of the Lord thou didst endure deposition and long exile; wherefore, crowned as a confessor, intercede that our souls may be saved.

Troparion — Tone 4

As one who shared in the ways of the Apostles and succeeded to their thrones, thou didst find in thy labours, O God-inspired one, an ascent to divine vision; wherefore, rightly dividing the word of truth, thou didst contend for the faith even unto blood, O Hieromartyr Publius. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.

Troparion — Tone 3

Thy holy martyr Sabinus, O Lord, through his contest has received an incorruptible crown from thee our God; for having thy strength, he laid low his persecutors and shattered the powerless boldness of the demons. By his intercessions save our souls.

Readings

6th Hour

Isaiah 13.2-13

²Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. ³I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. ⁴The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. ⁵They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. ⁶Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. ⁷Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: ⁸And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. ⁹Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. ¹⁰For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. ¹¹And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. ¹²I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. ¹³Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Vespers

Genesis 8.4-21

⁴And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. ⁵And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. ⁶And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: ⁷And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. ⁸Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; ⁹But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. ¹⁰And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; ¹¹And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. ¹²And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. ¹³And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. ¹⁴And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. ¹⁵And God spake unto Noah, saying, ¹⁶Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. ¹⁷Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. ¹⁸And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: ¹⁹Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. ²⁰And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

Proverbs 10.31-11.12

³¹The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out. ³²The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness. ¹A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight. ²When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. ³The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. ⁴Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. ⁵The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. ⁶The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. ⁷When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth. ⁸The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. ⁹An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. ¹⁰When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. ¹¹By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. ¹²He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.

Saints commemorated