Hieromartyr Phocas, Bishop of Sinope

Saints commemorated

Saint of the day

Hieromartyr Phocas, Bishop of Sinope

Phocas was bishop of Sinope, the great harbour city of the southern Black Sea coast, and died a martyr there in the year 117, in the persecution at the end of Trajan's reign: refusing to renounce Christ, he was tortured and shut into a bath-house heated to fury, where he gave up his spirit. Styled "the Wonderworker" in the synaxaria, he became one of the most beloved saints of the Black Sea world — the patron of seafarers, invoked daily by those in peril on the waters, and a defender against fire and drowning. His relics were translated to Constantinople in 404, and his feast is kept on September 22.
Venerable Cosmas, desert-dweller of Zographou, Mt Athos (1323)

The Twenty-six Martyrs of Zographou — twenty-two monks of the Bulgarian monastery of Zographou on Mount Athos, led by their abbot Thomas, together with four laymen — were burned alive in the monastery's tower in 1276, in the persecution that followed the Union of Lyons. Refusing the command of the emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the unionist patriarch John Bekkos to accept the union with Rome, they shut themselves in the tower, denounced the Latinizers from its height as lawless men and heretics, and were given to the flames. They are commemorated on September 22, and at Zographou and in the Bulgarian Church on October 10, the anniversary of the burning.
Isaac and Martin

Isaac and Martin were martyrs known only from the brief notice of the Greek synaxarion for September 22, which transmits their names and their martyrdom and nothing more: neither place, nor year, nor persecutor. The verses appointed over them witness that Martin died by the sword: "With Christ breathing courage into him from on high, Martin hastened to breathe out his life against the blade." Their memory is kept on September 22, the day of the hieromartyr Phocas.
Peter the Tax-Collector

Peter the Tax-Collector was the chief collector of taxes of the province of Africa under the emperor Justinian (527–565), a hard and merciless man whom God converted through a morsel of bread: a loaf flung in irritation at a beggar was shown him in a vision as the one deed weighed in his favour at the judgement. He gave away his wealth, saw Christ in a dream wearing the garment he had given a poor man, had himself sold into slavery for the poor's sake, and served humbly for years until he was recognised — when he fled, healing a deaf-mute doorkeeper by his word as he went, and remained hidden until his death. The Slavic calendars and the OCA commemorate him on September 22; the Greek books keep January 20.

Troparia & kontakia

Kontakion — Tone 6

As a hierarch offering sacrifices, O father, at the end thou didst offer thyself a living sacrifice; having borne witness lawfully to Christ God, strengthened by angels and choosing death, thou art with them that cry to thee: Come, O Phocas, be with us, and none shall be against us.

Stichera

From infancy thou becamest a lover of the Lord, O all-blessed Phocas, hieromartyr of Christ; taking up the weapon of the Cross upon thy shoulders, thou didst walk unswervingly the way of salvation; wherefore thou becamest a companion of the angels, an adversary of the demons, and wast shown a fervent intercessor for the world.

Troparion — Tone 4

As a sharer of the ways of the Apostles and a successor to their throne, thou didst find thy practice, O God-inspired one, to be a passage unto contemplation; wherefore, rightly dividing the word of truth, thou didst suffer for the faith even unto blood, O Hieromartyr Phocas: intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Troparion — Tone 4

Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their sufferings received incorruptible crowns from thee, our God; for possessing thy strength they cast down the tyrants and broke the feeble insolence of the demons. By their prayers save our souls.

Readings

Epistle

Ephesians 2.19-3.7

¹⁹Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; ²⁰And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; ²¹In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: ²²In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. ¹For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, ²If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: ³How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, ⁴Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) ⁵Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; ⁶That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: ⁷Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

Gospel

Luke 3.23-4.1

²³And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, ²⁴Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, ²⁵Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge, ²⁶Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, ²⁷Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri, ²⁸Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er, ²⁹Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, ³⁰Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim, ³¹Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David, ³²Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson, ³³Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda, ³⁴Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor, ³⁵Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala, ³⁶Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, ³⁷Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, ³⁸Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. ¹And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Saints commemorated