Pre-Lenten Triodion, day 17 · 54 days until Pascha
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
Ven. Martinian of Caesarea
Martinian (c. 397 – c. 422) was a hermit of Caesarea in Palestine, one of the best-loved of the ascetic saints for the story of the temptations he fled. From the age of eighteen he lived twenty-five years alone on a mountain near the city, gifted with the healing of the sick and the casting-out of demons. When a courtesan named Zoe, wagering to seduce him, came to his hut feigning a lost and storm-caught traveller, Martinian mastered the temptation by standing barefoot in the fire he had kindled, that the pain of earthly flame might remind him of the eternal — and the sight so pierced Zoe that she repented and became a nun. Fleeing thereafter to a lonely rock in the sea, he was tempted again by a shipwrecked woman, Photina, cast up on his island; he saved her, gave her his provisions, and threw himself into the waves rather than sin, leaving her the rock for her own hermitage. From then he would not settle anywhere, but wandered from city to city "for the love of God," owning nothing and fleeing every occasion of sin, until he reposed at Athens about the year 422. Zoe and Photina, whom his flight turned to God, are commemorated with him on February 13.
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Holy Apostles and Martyrs Priscilla and Aquila
Aquila and Priscilla were a married couple of the apostolic age, Jewish Christians and tentmakers by trade, who became among the closest and most faithful of the co-workers of the Apostle Paul. Aquila, a Jew of Pontus, and his wife Priscilla (Prisca) had been expelled from Rome by the emperor Claudius; they met Paul at Corinth, shared his craft and his household, and travelled with him to Ephesus, where in their own home they instructed the eloquent Apollos "more perfectly in the way of God" (Acts 18:26). Paul names them with singular warmth in his letters — "my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, who laid down their own necks for my life" (Romans 16:3–4) — and greets "the church that is in their house." Aquila is numbered among the Seventy Apostles; the tradition holds that both were martyred for the faith. They are commemorated together on February 13, and Aquila among the Seventy on July 14.
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St Symeon the Myrrh-streamer, founder of the Chilandar Monastery (1200)
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Eulogius of Alexandria
Eulogius (died c. 607/608) was Patriarch of Alexandria for some seven-and-twenty years, one of the learned and vigorous hierarchs of the age of the emperor Maurice. A Syrian by origin, he had been abbot of the monastery of the Mother of God at Antioch before he was raised, about the year 580, to the ancient throne of Saint Mark. He gave his long patriarchate to the defence of the Orthodox faith against the heresies that divided Egypt — above all the Monophysite confusion of the two natures of Christ and the various sects it had spawned — writing many treatises in refutation, of which the learned Patriarch Photius, three centuries later, still read and summarised a great number. He was the close friend and correspondent of Saint Gregory the Great of Rome, whose letters to him survive as a monument of their friendship across the Churches. Honoured as a teacher, an ascetic hierarch, and a pillar of Orthodoxy, he is commemorated on February 13.
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Simeon the Myrrh-gusher of Serbia
Simeon the Myrrh-gusher (c. 1113 – 1199), born Stefan Nemanja, was the Grand Župan (grand prince) who gathered the scattered Serbian lands into a single state, won their independence from Byzantium, rooted out the Bogomil heresy, and founded the Nemanjić dynasty that ruled Serbia for two centuries and gave it a line of saints. A great builder of churches — Đurđevi Stupovi, and above all his burial-church of Studenica — he abdicated his throne in 1196 in favour of his son Stefan, was tonsured a monk under the name Simeon, and went to end his days on Mount Athos beside his youngest son, the monk Sava. There father and son together refounded the ruined monastery of Hilandar as the great Serbian house of the Holy Mountain. Simeon reposed at Hilandar on 13 February 1199; from his relics there flowed a fragrant, healing myrrh, and when Sava translated them home to Studenica they streamed myrrh again and reconciled his warring sons. He is the first-glorified saint of the Nemanjić house — the root of the "holy vine" of Serbian sovereign-saints — and is kept on February 13.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Modomnoc, bishop of Ossory (550)
- St. Huna of Ely, priest and hermit (690)
- St. Dyfnog of Clwyd (7th C)
- St. Ermenhild, abbess of Ely (c.700)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 4
The Church ever possesseth you, O wise Aquila and Priscilla, as luminaries shining upon the world, adorning her with the beams of your teaching; wherefore, holy fellow-workers of Paul, entreat Christ God that his great mercy be granted unto us.
Kontakion — Tone 2
As a divinely-eloquent teacher of the Orthodox faith and a defender of the two natures of Christ, O holy Eulogius, thou didst shepherd the throne of Mark; wherefore, entreat the Lord unceasingly on behalf of us all.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Let us who love the virtues worthily praise in hymns the ever-venerable Martinian, the tried and noble ascetic and willing martyr, the dweller of the wilderness who trampled the serpent beneath his feet; for having conquered the flame of the passions, he now entreateth the Lord that we may be delivered from corruption.
Kontakion — Tone 6
Having embraced the angelic life upon the earth, and put away the cares and sweetness of the world, thou didst follow after Christ in fasting and in prayer, O God-bearing Simeon, and didst guide thy people into the knowledge of God; wherefore Christ hath glorified thee with the gift of myrrh, that we who honour thee may cry: Rejoice, O founder and father of thy land.
Troparion — Tone 3
O holy apostles Aquila and Priscilla, intercede with the merciful God, that he grant to our souls the forgiveness of our transgressions.
Troparion — Tone 4
A rule of faith and an image of meekness, a teacher of temperance, hath the truth of things revealed thee to thy flock, O Father and Hierarch Eulogius; therefore hast thou gained by humility the things on high, and by poverty the things of wealth. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 8
The flame of temptation thou didst quench with the streams of thy tears, O blessed Martinian; and thou didst still the surging of the sea and bridle the assaults of the beasts, crying aloud: Glory to thee, O Almighty, who hast saved me from the fire and from the storm. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 3
Enlightened from on high by the grace of God, O our venerable father Simeon, thou didst forsake an earthly rule and its passing glory, and taking up the yoke of Christ in the monastic life didst shine yet more brightly than before; where- fore, after thy repose, thou pourest forth a sweet-smelling myrrh of healing upon all who draw near with faith to thy holy shrine. Glory to him that gave thee strength; glory to him that crowned thee; glory to him that worketh through thee healings for all.
Readings
Epistle
Jude 1-10
1Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. 3Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 5I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Gospel
Luke 22.39-42, 45-23.1
39And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. 40And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 41And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 45And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, 46And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. 47And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. 48But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? 49When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? 50And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. 51And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him. 52Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? 53When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. 54Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off. 55And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. 56But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him. 57And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not. 58And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. 59And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilæan. 60And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. 61And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 62And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. 63And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. 64And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? 65And many other things blasphemously spake they against him. 66And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, 67Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: 68And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. 69Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. 70Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. 71And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth. 1And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate.