Greatmartyr Jacob of Persia

Saints commemorated

• Saint of the day

  Greatmartyr Jacob of Persia

• Repose of Archimandrite Lazarus (Moore) (1992) (Nov. 14 OC)

• James the Persian

  James the Persian (died c. 421), surnamed Intercisus — "the sawn-asunder" or "cut to pieces" — is among the most venerated of the Persian martyrs. A Christian of noble and wealthy family, he rose to high favour at the court of the Sassanid kings Yazdegerd I and Bahram V; and when Yazdegerd turned to persecuting the Church, James, to keep the royal friendship, joined the king in the worship of the sun and fire. His mother and his wife, both Christians, wrote to rebuke him and to break off communion with him, and their letter recalled him to repentance. Confessing Christ before Bahram V, he was condemned to be dismembered joint by joint — fingers, toes, hands, feet, arms and legs cut away one by one, some twenty-eight pieces — and at last beheaded. Throughout the long torture he gave thanks that God had granted him to redeem his denial by such a death. His graphic martyrdom passed into the Menologia and into the iconography of the Church.

• Palladius of Thessalonica

  Palladius of Thessalonica was a monastic saint of the late sixth and early seventh centuries. Born at Thessalonica, he pursued the ascetic life in Egypt, in the region of Alexandria, and reposed in peace. Little of his history survives beyond his name, his origin, and the memory of his ascetic labours; his service is appointed to be sung at Compline. He is commemorated on November 27, and is to be distinguished from the fourth-century Palladius of Galatia, the author of the Lausiac History.

• Romanos of Cilicia

  Romanos of Cilicia was a hermit of the fifth century who, though a native of Rhoson in Cilicia, passed his ascetic life in a cave near Antioch. In strict fasting, wearing heavy chains beneath a hair shirt and keeping no fire in his cell for many years, he was granted by God the gift of wonderworking: he healed grave illnesses and obtained children for the barren through his prayers, so that he is invoked especially by the childless. He wore his gifts with humility, teaching that it is no great thing to work miracles but to keep God's commandments, and reposed in peace. He is commemorated on November 27 and again on February 9.

• Seventeen Monastic Martyrs of India

  The Seventeen Monastic Martyrs of India are a company of monks commemorated on November 27, known from the celebrated story of Barlaam and Josaphat. In that narrative — transmitted in Greek under the name of Saint John of Damascus — they suffered in the fourth century under King Abenner of India, who persecuted the Christians because his people, and even members of his own court, were turning to Christ. Seized by the king's officer and questioned about the whereabouts of the hermit Barlaam, they refused to betray him; they were tortured, brought before Abenner, and at last had their eyes put out and their limbs cut off, exhorting one another to accept death for Christ. Saint John of Damascus likens them to the seven holy Maccabees of the Old Covenant.

• Vsevolod-Gabriel of Pskov

  Vsevolod-Gabriel (†1138) was a prince of the house of Kiev — son of Mstislav the Great and grandson of Vladimir Monomakh — who ruled Novgorod and became the first beloved prince of Pskov. Born at Novgorod and given in baptism the name Gabriel, he governed Novgorod for many years as a builder of churches and a protector of the poor, founding the stone Church of Saint John the Forerunner at Opoki and beginning the great works of the city. After a disputed campaign and a falling-out with the turbulent Novgorodians, who expelled him, he was received in Pskov, which took him gladly as its prince; there, in the brief months left to him, he laid the foundation of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the mother-church of Pskov, and reposed on 11 February 1138. His relics, uncovered incorrupt in 1192 and enshrined in the cathedral he had founded, made Pskov's Trinity Cathedral a place of wonders, and Vsevolod-Gabriel its heavenly patron; his sword, inscribed Honorem meum nemini dabo — "I will yield my honour to no one" — was long kept above his tomb.

British Isles and Ireland

• St. Virgilius (Fergal), bishop of Salzburg (784)
• St. Seachnall, bishop of Dunsaughlin (457)
• St. Congar, abbot of Congresbury (6th C)
• St. Gallgo of Llanallgo (6th C)
• St. Fergus, missionary to the Picts (c.721)

Troparia & kontakia

Readings