Pre-Lenten Triodion, day 22 · 49 days until Pascha
Forgiveness Sunday
Saints commemorated
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Ven. Benedict of Nursia
Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – c. 547) is honoured as the father of Western monasticism and one of the great ascetic fathers of the undivided Church. Born of a well-born Umbrian family and sent to study at Rome, he fled the corruption of the city while still young and became a hermit in a cave at Subiaco, where he was fed by the monk Romanus and slowly gathered disciples. From twelve small communities at Subiaco he passed to the mountain of Monte Cassino, where he destroyed the last shrine of Apollo, built his great monastery, and composed the Rule that bears his name — a "little rule for beginners," drawn from Scripture and from the Eastern fathers (Basil, Cassian, the anonymous Rule of the Master), which became the charter of monastic life throughout the Latin West. His life is known almost wholly from the second book of the Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great (the Dialogist), which tells of his miracles, his gift of prophecy, his yearly meetings with his sister Scholastica, and his death standing in prayer before the altar. The Byzantine calendar keeps him on March 14.
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St Theognostus, Metropolitan of Kiev (1353)
Theognostus (died 1353) was a Greek of Constantinople who served for twenty-five years as Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, the chief hierarch of the Rus' Church, in the age when its centre was passing from Kiev to Moscow. Consecrated at Constantinople and sent north in 1328, he made Moscow his residence, confirmed the union of the metropolitan's see with the rising city, and upheld the Church's unity and its liberties against both the fragmentation of the princes and the demands of the Golden Horde, from whose khan he obtained the confirmation of the Church's ancient privileges — enduring, the tradition says, imprisonment and ill-usage rather than surrender them. He glorified his predecessor Peter as a saint and named Alexis his successor. He reposed in 1353 and is venerated among the holy hierarchs of Russia, kept on March 14.
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Alexander of Pydna
Alexander (died c. 305) was a priest of Pydna, a town on the coast of Macedonia south of Thessalonica, and a hieromartyr of the last great persecution. Zealous in preaching Christ and in turning the people from the worship of idols, he was seized in the persecution under the emperor Maximian (Galerius), subjected to cruel tortures which he bore unmoved, and at the last beheaded for his confession. His memory was cherished in Macedonia and on the Holy Mountain, where his skull is venerated among the treasures of the Great Lavra of Athos. The Greek synaxaria, which sometimes style him "of Thessalonica" from the region of his labours, keep him on March 14.
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Euschemon of Lampsacus
Euschemon (ninth century) was bishop of Lampsacus on the Hellespont and a confessor of the holy icons in the second iconoclast persecution. Formed from his youth in a virtuous and ascetic life, and honoured in his own day as a wonderworker, he was raised to the see of Lampsacus and, when the emperor Theophilus (829–842) renewed the war on the images, stood firm in their veneration; for this he was seized, ill-treated, and driven into banishment, in which he ended his life, a confessor who suffered for the faith without dying by the sword. He is kept on March 14.
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Rostislav-Michael of Kiev
Rostislav Mstislavich (c. 1110 – 1167), called Michael in holy baptism, was Prince of Smolensk and thrice Grand Prince of Kiev, a grandson of Vladimir Monomakh and one of the most respected rulers of the divided Rus' of the twelfth century. Founder of the enduring line of the princes of Smolensk, he raised that city to greatness, established its bishopric, and adorned it with churches; as Grand Prince he laboured to keep peace among the quarrelling princes and to uphold the order of the Church, defending the rights of the metropolitan see of Kiev. Devout from his youth and longing in his last years for the monastic life, he died on his way home from Novgorod, receiving the news of his end with joy and prayer. He is venerated among the right-believing princes of Rus' and kept on March 14.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Kyrin, bishop of Ross (660)
- St. Talmach, disciple of Saint Finbar (7th C)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 2
Enriched with the grace of God from thy youth, thou didst flee the tumult of the world for the wilderness, and there, having planted the monastic way and raised up a fair company of ascetics, thou wast shown to be a rule of the venerable and a father of monks. Wherefore we cry to thee: Rejoice, O God-blessed Benedict.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy martyr Alexander, O Lord, in his contest received the crown incorruptible from thee our God; for possessed of thy might, he cast down the tyrants and broke the feeble insolence of the demons. By his intercessions save thou our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O Father, was the divine image faithfully preserved; for taking up thy cross thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passeth away, but to care for the soul as a thing immortal. Wherefore doth thy spirit, O venerable Benedict, rejoice together with the Angels.
Troparion — Tone 4
O God of our fathers, who dealest ever with us according to thy gentleness, take not thy mercy from us, but by the prayers of thy holy hierarch and confessor Euschemon guide our life in peace.
Troparion — Tone 4
Having lived devoutly in thy royal state, and preserved unshaken the true faith of Christ, thou didst rule thy people in justice and mercy, O right-believing prince Rostislav; and setting thy heart upon the monastic calm, thou didst pass in prayer to thy Lord. Entreat him that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4
O God of our fathers, who dealest ever with us according to thy gentleness, take not thy mercy from us, but by the prayers of thy holy hierarch Theognostus guide our life in peace.
Readings
8th Matins Gospel
John 20.11-18
11But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 12And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. 18Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
Epistle
Romans 13.11-14.4
11And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. 1Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. 2For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 3Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. 4Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
Gospel
Matthew 6.14-21
14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.