Pre-Lenten Triodion, day 22 · 49 days until Pascha
Forgiveness Sunday
Saints commemorated
-
St Leo the Great, Pope of Rome
Leo the Great (c. 400 – 461) was Pope of Rome from 440 to 461, one of the greatest of the Roman pontiffs and a Father of the whole Church. Against the Monophysite teaching of Eutyches he set out, in his Tome — the dogmatic letter to Flavian of Constantinople — the confession of the one Christ in two natures, divine and human, united in one person without confusion or division; and when that letter was read at the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon in 451, the Fathers acclaimed it as the faith of the Apostles: "Peter has spoken through Leo." A tireless pastor and preacher, he defended the Roman flock against Manichaeans and Priscillianists, upheld the order of the Church, and in 452 went out to meet Attila the Hun at the river Mincio and turned him back from Italy; three years later he wrung from the Vandal Genseric the sparing of Rome's people from the sword. He reposed on 10 November 461, the first pope the Church has called "the Great." The Orthodox Church keeps him on February 18 as a pillar of the Chalcedonian faith.
-
Agapitus of Synnada
Agapitus (4th century) was a confessor and wonderworker, bishop of Synnada in Phrygia. Born in Cappadocia of devout parents in the last years of the pagan empire, he entered a monastery in his youth and became renowned for a gift of miracles — the healing of the sick and the casting-out of demons. Conscripted into the army under the emperor Licinius, he confessed Christ openly amid the persecution, was wounded but preserved unhurt, and comforted the martyrs who suffered beside him. After the victory of Constantine the Great, whose ailing servant he healed, he asked only to return to the monastic life; ordained priest and then chosen bishop of Synnada, he shepherded his flock and wrought many wonders, and reposed in peace. He is commemorated on February 18.
-
Cosmas of Yakhroma
Cosmas of Yakhroma (†1492) was a Russian monastic saint, founder and abbot of the Dormition monastery on the river Yakhroma near Vladimir. As a young man, servant to an ailing nobleman, he found by the Yakhroma river an icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God shining in a tree, and at its discovery his master was healed. Bidden by a heavenly voice to become a monk and to build a monastery, he took the icon and entered the Kiev Caves Lavra; and, later directed by an angel, he returned to the place of the vision and there raised a church and gathered a brotherhood, of which he became abbot. He lived in ascetic labour and was granted the gift of wonders, and reposed in old age on February 18, 1492. The image he found is venerated as the Yakhroma Icon of the Mother of God.
-
Flavian of Constantinople
Flavian (died 449) was Archbishop of Constantinople from 446, a defender of the apostolic faith against the heresy of the archimandrite Eutyches, who taught that in Christ there was but one nature after the Incarnation. At a synod in Constantinople in 448 Flavian condemned and deposed Eutyches; but at the "Robber Council" (Latrocinium) of Ephesus in 449 — dominated by Dioscorus of Alexandria and the emperor's officials — Eutyches was restored and Flavian himself anathematised, deposed, and so brutally handled that he died of his injuries a few days later, on the road into exile. Two years afterward the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451) vindicated his faith, condemned Eutyches, received the Tome of Pope Leo, and acclaimed Flavian a saint and martyr. The Church keeps him as Flavian the Confessor.
-
Leo and Paregorius
Leo and Paregorius were two friends and fellow-Christians martyred at Patara in Lycia, most likely in the persecution under Valerian about the year 260. Paregorius suffered first, giving his life for Christ under torture. Leo, who had longed to share his friend's contest, was moved to zeal at a pagan festival: passing the shrine of the city's idols where lamps burned before the images, he cast them down and put them out. Seized and brought before the governor, he refused again and again to sacrifice, endured scourging and interrogation, and was condemned to be dragged over the rough ground to a torrent and there put to death, his body cast into a pit. He thus followed Paregorius to the crown. The two are commemorated together on February 18.
-
Piama
Piama (Piamun) was an Egyptian virgin of the fourth century, known from the Lausiac History of Palladius. She lived quietly with her widowed mother in a Nile village, spinning flax and eating only in the evening, and was granted the gift of foresight and prophecy. When the men of a neighbouring village came in arms to attack her own over the sharing of the Nile flood-waters, she foresaw it, warned her neighbours in vain, and then spent the night in prayer; the attackers were held fast, unable to move, until they sent to beg her village for peace and she prayed for their release. She reposed in peace. Her memory is kept on February 18.
British Isles and Ireland
- Venerable Colman, bishop of Lindisfarne (676)
- St. Ethelina of Gloucestershire
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 2
A confessor unwavering and a wonderworker rich in grace, a shepherd taught of God and a healer of soul and body, thou didst adorn the throne of Synnada, O venerable Agapitus; entreat Christ God without ceasing on behalf of us all.
Kontakion — Tone 8
Tearing out the soul's passions by the root, thou didst settle in the wilderness, O venerable one, and in sickness thou didst receive a life free of pain; and thou dost still the raging of cruel diseases for those who ask of thee in faith. Therefore loose our sicknesses of soul and body, that we may cry to thee: Rejoice, O Cosmas, wise in God.
Kontakion — Tone 8
As a sacred hierarch and unshaken pillar of the true confession, thou didst shepherd the Church of Christ and, condemning the error of Eutyches, didst seal thy witness with thy blood; wherefore, crowned as a confessor, O Father Flavian, intercede for us all.
Kontakion — Tone 4
As a pair of friends united in Christ and in the martyr's contest, Paregorius who suffered first and Leo who followed after, ye cast down the idols and their lamps and were crowned with unfading glory; wherefore we honour your holy memory.
Kontakion — Tone 3
Seated upon the throne of the priesthood, O glorious one, thou didst stop the mouths of the spiritual lions, and with the God-inspired doctrines of the holy Trinity thou didst pour upon thy flock the light of the knowledge of God. Therefore wast thou glorified, as a divine initiate of the grace of God.
Kontakion — Tone 2
A hidden virgin of the Nile land, spinning flax by day and keeping vigil by night, thou wast granted the sight of things to come, and by thy prayer alone thou didst hold back the armed and save thy people; wherefore we honour thee, O righteous Piama.
Troparion — Tone 4
The truth of thy deeds revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, an image of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; therefore by humility thou hast gained the things on high, and by poverty the things of wealth. O Father Agapitus, intercede with Christ God, that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4
Desiring the life on high, beyond this world, thou didst turn away from the things below; and taking up thy cross, thou didst follow Christ, and didst settle in the wilderness, O most wondrous one, wrestling therein in psalmody, in vigils, and in fasting. Wherefore the All-Holy Spirit came to dwell in thee; and now, having boldness before Christ God, ask for the Orthodox people health and salvation, and forget not to visit thy children who keep thy sacred memory, O Cosmas, our venerable father.
Troparion — Tone 4
O guide of Orthodoxy, teacher of piety and holiness, luminary of the world, God-inspired adornment of hierarchs: by thy teaching thou hast enlightened all, O harp of the Spirit. O Father Flavian, intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received incorruptible crowns from thee our God; for possessed of thy might, they cast down the tyrants and shattered the powerless insolence of demons. By their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8
Guide of Orthodoxy, teacher of piety and holiness, luminary of the Church, God-inspired adornment of hierarchs: O wise Leo, by thy teachings thou hast enlightened all, O lyre of the Spirit. Intercede with Christ God, that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O mother, was the divine image surely preserved; for thou didst take up the cross and follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passeth away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal. Therefore doth thy spirit, O righteous Piama, rejoice together with the Angels.
Readings
4th Matins Gospel
Luke 24.1-12
1Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8And they remembered his words, 9And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. 10It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. 11And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. 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.
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.