Eikon
←

Friday 15 May 2026

Ven. Pachomius the Great; Slain Crown Prince Dimitry of Moscow

Friday of the 5th Sunday of Pascha

→
Fast — Wine and Oil are Allowed Tone 4

Paschaltide, day 34 · 33 days since Pascha

Saints commemorated

  • Saint of the day

    Ven. Pachomius the Great

    Pachomius is the father of cenobitic monasticism — the man who took the solitary ascetic life of the Egyptian desert and gave it a common table, a common wardrobe, a common purse, a written Rule and a structure of obedience, and so invented the coenobium, the monastery as the Church has known it ever since. A pagan conscript of the Thebaid, he was shown unasked-for charity by the Christians of Thebes while under guard with his fellow recruits, vowed to serve their God, was baptised at Šeneset, and spent some seven years under the anchorite Palamon. About 323, at the deserted village of Tabennisi, a voice bade him build a monastery, and — the tradition says — an angel delivered him the Rule inscribed on a bronze tablet. At his death in the plague of 348 the koinonia he had founded comprised some nine monasteries and two convents with thousands of monks and nuns; and through Basil, Cassian and Benedict the whole organised monasticism of East and West descends from what he built beside the Nile.

  • Saint of the day

    Slain Crown Prince Dimitry of Moscow

  • Our Father among the Saints Achillius, Bishop of Larissa (330)

    Achillios, bishop and metropolitan of Larissa in Thessaly, was one of the fathers of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325, where he is remembered for his blunt denunciation of Arius and for the sign by which — the tradition says — he silenced the Arian party, commanding oil to flow from a stone. Returning to his city he threw down the temples of the old gods, built and adorned the first churches of Larissa, and was so abundant in healings, and especially in the deliverance of the possessed, that the calendars call him simply the Wonderworker. He reposed in peace about the year 330. In 978 his relics were carried off by the Bulgarian tsar Samuel to the island in the lake of Prespa, which has borne the saint's name ever since; he remains the patron of Larissa, and his memory is kept on May 15.

  • Barbarus the Myrrh-streamer

    Barbarus was a brigand of Thessaly who for years lived by robbery, extortion and murder, and who, sitting in his cave among his plunder, was struck by the thought of death and judgement and broke. He confessed his crimes to a village priest, was received, and spent twelve years in the woods as a wild beast — naked, on all fours, eating grass — in expiation. There he was shot by merchants who took the shape in the long grass for game; he died blessing them, asking only that his priest be told, and from his grave there flowed a healing myrrh that gave him his epithet. He is commemorated on May 6, and his relics are kept at the monastery of Kellia near Larissa.

  • Demetrius of Uglich

    Demetrius (Dimitry) Ivanovich, youngest son of Ivan IV the Terrible, was born at Moscow in 1582 and died at Uglich on 15 May 1591, aged eight, of a knife-wound in the throat: his mother's family cried murder, the government's commission of inquiry found that he had fallen on his own knife in an epileptic fit, and the question has never been settled. The consequences were enormous — his name was taken up by a succession of impostors who carried the Time of Troubles to the walls of Moscow — and the Church's answer was to glorify him. On 3 June 1606, three weeks after the first false Demetrius was killed, his body was raised at Uglich and carried to the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael in the Kremlin, where it remains. He is honoured not as a martyr for the faith but as a passion-bearer, an innocent child who suffered a violent death without guilt, and as a wonderworker at whose shrine healings were recorded from the day of the translation onward.

  • Isaiah of Rostov

    Isaiah was a monk of the Kiev Caves, tonsured by St Theodosius, who was set over the princely monastery of St Demetrius in Kiev and then, about 1077, sent as bishop of Rostov — a see that then covered an enormous and only half-converted territory in the north-east of Rus'. For thirteen years he travelled it with apostolic persistence, preaching against idolatry and sorcery, burning the idols, building churches, and adorning the cathedral of the Dormition at Rostov; the Paterikon remembers him above all as merciful to the poor and a nourisher of orphans. The Kiev Caves tradition relates that an angel bore him to Kiev for the consecration of the Great Church of the Lavra on 14 August 1089, when there had been no time to summon the bishops. He reposed on 15 May 1090, and his relics were found incorrupt in 1164 when the foundations of the new stone cathedral at Rostov were dug. He is one of the three great hierarchs of Rostov — Leontius, Isaiah and Ignatius — and is called the Wonderworker.

British Isles and Ireland

  • St. Dymphna, martyr of Gheel, near Antwerp (7th C)
  • St. Colman MacValaighse, abbot of Oughaval (6th C)
  • St. Bercthun, abbot of Beverley (733)

Troparia & kontakia

Apolytikion — Tone 4 (common of a hierarch)

O God of our fathers, who dealest with us ever according to Thy gentleness: take not Thy mercy from us, but by the prayers of Achillios direct our life in peace.

Apolytikion — Tone 4 (common of a hierarch)

O God of our fathers, who dealest with us ever according to Thy gentleness: take not Thy mercy from us, but by the prayers of Isaiah direct our life in peace.

Apolytikion — Tone 5 (plagal first — prosomoion *Τὸν συνάναρχον Λόγον*)

Thou wast shown to be a leader of the flocks under the Chief Shepherd, O Father Pachomius, guiding the herds of monks toward the fold that is in heaven; and being thyself initiated from thence into the habit that befits ascetics, thou didst initiate them in it also. And now thou art glad together with them, and dancest with them in the tabernacles of heaven.

Doxastikon

We, the multitudes of monks, honour thee as our teacher, O Pachomius; for through thee we have learned to walk the way that is truly straight. Blessed art thou, who didst serve Christ and didst triumph over the power of the enemy: O companion of angels, sharer with the venerable and the righteous, with them entreat the Lord that our souls may find mercy.

Kathisma — Tone 8 (plagal fourth)

Watering thy soul richly with the showers of thy tears, O wise Father, thou didst reap a manifold harvest of the virtues; and becoming a shepherd of holy sheep, thou didst pasture them on the green grass of ascesis. Therefore, having departed gloriously out of this life, thou art numbered, O Pachomius, with the choirs of the Fathers.

Kontakion — Tone 2 (common of a hierarch)

Thou didst shine forth as a lamp of Orthodoxy at Nicaea, and thou didst cast down the temples of the idols in thy city, O all-wise hierarch; wherefore, having received the grace of healings, thou dost drive out the spirits of wickedness and dost cure the sick, O Achillios our father.

Kontakion

Uglich gave thee to the grave, and Moscow received thee living: for thy holy body was borne from the one city to the other, whole after many years, that the mouths of liars might be stopped and the eyes of unbelievers opened. Rejoicing, we keep the feast of thy coming, and cry unto thee: rejoice, O Demetrius, wonderworker of Moscow.

Kontakion — Tone 2 (common of a hierarch)

Having been nurtured in the caves of Kiev, thou wast set as a lamp upon the mountain of Rostov, and thou didst cast down the idols of the darkened peoples and gather them into the fold of Christ; father of orphans and refuge of the poor, O hierarch Isaiah, intercede that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion

A shining luminary wast thou shown to be unto the ends of the earth, and thou didst make a city of the desert with thy multitudes. Thou didst crucify thyself, taking up thy cross upon thy shoulders, and by ascetic labour didst waste the body away, praying without ceasing for us all.

Synaxarion

Larissa tells aloud thy strange deeds of prowess, keeping thy memory, Father, even after thy death.

Synaxarion

Pachomius, thinning away the thickness of the flesh, was gathering fatness for his soul before he passed over. On the fifteenth they bore Pachomius hence.

Troparion — Tone 4

Thy martyr, O Lord, in his courageous contest received an incorruptible crown from Thee, our God; for possessing Thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and broke the feeble insolence of the demons. By his intercessions, O Christ God, save our souls.

Troparion — Tone 2

The bright star of the Russian land hath risen, the right-believing Tsarevich Demetrius, slain in his childhood without guilt: as a lamb undefiled thou wast offered unto Christ, and He hath glorified thy body with incorruption and thy tomb with healings. Wherefore, O passion-bearer, entreat Him for the children of thy people, and for the peace of the land that honoureth thee.

Readings

Epistle

Acts 15.5-34

5But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. 6And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 7And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. 12Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. 13And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: 14Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 15And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, 16After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: 17That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. 18Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. 19Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: 20But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. 21For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. 22Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: 23And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: 24Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: 25It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. 28For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. 30So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle: 31Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. 32And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them. 33And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles. 34Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.

Gospel

John 10.17-28

17Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. 19There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. 20And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? 21Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? 22And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. 23And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. 24Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. 25Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. 26But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.