About Commemoration of the Fifth Ecumenical Council →
Saints commemorated
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Antiochian commemoration
Dormition Righteous Anna, Mother of Theotokos
Joachim and Anna were the parents of the Most Holy Theotokos and the grandparents of Christ according to the flesh, honoured by the Church with the unique title "Ancestors of God" (Theopatores). An aged couple childless through fifty years of marriage, they bore the reproach of barrenness with patience and prayer until an angel announced to each of them the conception of a daughter whose name would be spoken of in all the world; their embrace at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, and the birth of Mary that followed, are the matter of the feast of September 8. They are commemorated together on September 9, the day after the Nativity of the Theotokos, and are invoked by name at the dismissal of every Orthodox service.
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Commemoration of the holy 165 Fathers of the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553)
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St Olympias the Deaconess (408)
Olympias (c. 361–408) was the greatest of the deaconesses of Constantinople: an orphaned heiress of the senatorial aristocracy, widowed within two years of her marriage, who refused the emperor's pressure to marry again, was ordained deaconess of the Great Church by the patriarch Nectarius while still in her twenties, and spent one of the largest private fortunes in the eastern empire on the poor, the churches and the bishops of her age. Beside Hagia Sophia she built a monastery of some two hundred and fifty women whose enclosure adjoined the cathedral itself. She was the closest friend and the most steadfast supporter of John Chrysostom, and when he fell she fell with him: interrogated over the burning of the cathedral, fined, deprived of her community and driven from the city, she died in exile at Nicomedia on 25 July, probably in 408 — the year of Chrysostom's own death. Seventeen of his letters to her survive, the finest of his exile correspondence, and an anonymous contemporary Life preserves her memory. She is the standing type in the Orthodox tradition of the ordained deaconess of the ancient Church.
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Eupraxia of Tabenna
Eupraxia was a child of the senatorial nobility of Constantinople — daughter of Antigonus, a kinsman of the emperor Theodosius the Great — who was taken to Egypt at the age of seven, asked to be left in a women's monastery of the Thebaid near Tabennisi, and never came out again. Betrothed in infancy to a senator's son, she wrote to the emperor at the age of twelve to renounce the match and to ask that her whole inheritance be given to the poor and the churches, saying that she was already the bride of Christ. In the monastery she chose the lowest work of the house — the kitchen, the water, the sweeping — carried her fast from daily food to one meal a week, bore in silence the malice of an envious sister and a series of disfiguring accidents, and received before her death the gift of healing. She died aged about thirty, about the year 410–413, ten days after the abbess had seen her in a vision standing before the throne of God. Her Life is one of the most widely copied of the early Egyptian women's lives, and she is commemorated on July 25 with Olympias the Deaconess.
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Macarius of Unzha
Macarius (1349–1444) was the greatest of the colonising monks of the middle Volga: a boy of Nizhny Novgorod who ran away at twelve to be tonsured by Dionysius of Suzdal in the cave monastery above the city, and who spent ninety-five years pushing the frontier of Russian monasticism eastward into country the Church had not held. At Yellow Waters (Zheltye Vody) on the Volga he founded a Trinity monastery about 1435 and preached to the Mari, Chuvash and Mordvin peoples among whom it stood, baptising them in the lake. In 1439 the Kazan Tatars destroyed the house and carried him off; the khan, impressed by what he heard of him, released him with some four hundred captives on condition that he never rebuild there. He led them west through the forests to Unzha — the march on which the tradition places the story of the elk spared because the Apostles' Fast was not yet out — and founded a second monastery fifteen versts from the town, where he died on 25 July 1444. His relics were found incorrupt in 1671; he is a patron of Kostroma and of the Nizhny Novgorod land, and the great Makaryev fair that grew up at Yellow Waters carried his name until 1817.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Nessan, abbot of Murgret (551)
Troparia & kontakia
Apolytikion
Most glorified art Thou, O Christ our God, who hast set our Fathers as beacons upon the earth, and by them hast guided us all into the true faith: O greatly merciful One, glory to Thee.
Kontakion
The preaching of the Apostles and the definitions of the Fathers have sealed the one faith of the Church; and she, wearing the garment of truth woven from the theology that comes from above, rightly divides and glorifies the great mystery of godliness.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Despising the bridal chamber of earth and the wealth of thy fathers, thou wast betrothed to Christ alone, O all-blessed Eupraxia; and serving thy sisters in the lowest labours thou wast raised on high, and dost intercede unceasingly for us all.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Anna now rejoiceth, loosed from the bonds of barrenness, and nourisheth the all-pure one, calling all together to hymn Him who from her womb hath given to mortals the only Mother who knew not man.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Having left thy father's house while yet a child, thou didst seek the Father who is in heaven; and dwelling in the wilderness of the Volga thou didst enlighten the nations that sat in darkness, and didst lead the captives home. Wherefore we cry to thee: rejoice, O Macarius, adornment of the northern land.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Having poured out thy riches upon the poor as water upon the earth, thou wast found rich toward God, O Olympias; and ministering in the courts of the Great Church thou didst not forsake thy shepherd in his affliction. Wherefore thou hast received in exile the crown of them that endure.
Troparion — Tone 8 (common of a venerable woman)
In thee, O mother, was the divine image preserved unimpaired: for taking up the cross thou didst follow after Christ, and by thy deeds thou hast taught us to despise the flesh, which passeth away, and to care rather for the soul, a thing immortal. Wherefore, O venerable Eupraxia, thy spirit rejoiceth with the angels.
Troparion — Tone 2
Celebrating the memory of Thy righteous Ancestors of God, O Lord, through them we entreat Thee: save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 5 (common of a venerable father)
With the streams of thy tears thou didst make the barren wilderness to bloom, and by thy sighings from the depths thou didst bring thy labours to a hundredfold harvest; and thou wast made a beacon for the world, shining forth with miracles, O Macarius our father. Intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 8 (common of a venerable woman)
In thee, O mother, was the divine image preserved unimpaired: for taking up the cross thou didst follow after Christ, and by thy deeds thou hast taught us to despise the flesh, which passeth away, and to care rather for the soul, a thing immortal. Wherefore, O venerable Olympias, thy spirit rejoiceth with the angels.
Readings
5th Matins Gospel
Luke 24.12-35
12Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. 13And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 17And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 22Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. 25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 28And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. 29But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. 30And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? 33And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. 35And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Epistle
Romans 10.1-10
1Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 5For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. 6But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 7Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Galatians 4.22-31 (St Anna)
22For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
Gospel
Matthew 8.28-9.1
28And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. 34And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. 1And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.
Luke 8.16-21 (St Anna)
16No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. 17For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. 18Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. 19Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. 20And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. 21And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.