Martyr Agapius and Seven with Him

Saints commemorated

Saint of the day

Martyr Agapius and Seven with Him

Agapius and his companions (†c. 303) were a band of young men of Palestine — Agapius, Plesius, Timolaus, Romulus, two named Dionysius and two named Alexander, eight in all — who gave themselves up to martyrdom at Caesarea in Palestine during the Great Persecution of Diocletian. Their martyrdom is not a synaxarion legend but a scene witnessed and recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea in his Martyrs of Palestine: at a public spectacle in which Christians were being thrown to the beasts, six of them stepped forward with their own hands bound before the governor Urbanus, declaring themselves Christians and demanding to share the martyrs' lot; imprisoned, they were joined by Agapius — already a confessor hardened by earlier torments — and by another Dionysius who had ministered to them. All eight were beheaded together on one day. The Church keeps their memory on March 15, honouring in them a martyrdom sought rather than merely endured.
Holy Martyr Alexander (270-275)

Alexander (†c. 270–275) was a priest of Side, the port-city of Pamphylia on the southern coast of Asia Minor, who suffered martyrdom in the persecution under the emperor Aurelian. Arrested for his bold preaching of Christ and brought before the governor Antoninus, he confessed the faith without flinching and was put through a succession of savage torments; through them, the synaxarion relates, the Lord upheld him beyond nature, so that the tortures failed of their purpose. At the last he was beheaded, and — in the received account — the very judge who had condemned him was moved by what he had seen. He is commemorated on March 15.
Aristobulus of Britain

Aristobulus (1st century) was one of the Seventy Apostles and, by the tradition of the East, the brother — or kinsman — of the Apostle Barnabas of Cyprus. Paul greets "those of the household of Aristobulus" (Romans 16:10), and the Church numbers him among the fellow-labourers of the Apostle, ordained bishop and sent to preach the Gospel in the far West. He is honoured as the first apostle of Britain, carrying Christ to the islands at the edge of the world, where — among a fierce and unbelieving people who beat and mocked him — he founded the Church, made many converts, and, in the received Eastern account, reposed in peace among those he had won. He is commemorated in his own right on March 15 (Greek usage; the Slavic and American calendars keep him on March 16), and again with a company of his fellow apostles of the Seventy on October 31, and among them all in the Synaxis of the Seventy on January 4.
Manuel of Crete

Manuel the Cretan (†1792) was a new martyr of the Ottoman period. Born a Christian in Crete in the eighteenth century, he was taken captive as a child by the Turks and compelled to accept Islam. Grown to manhood and unable to bear the denial of his baptism, he openly confessed himself a Christian once more, and for this "apostasy" from Islam — a capital crime under Ottoman law — he was beheaded on the island of Chios in the year 1792. He is numbered among the company of new martyrs who, under the yoke, washed away a forced conversion in their own blood, and is commemorated on March 15.
Nicander of Egypt

Nicander (†c. 302) was a Christian of Egypt — remembered in the tradition as a physician — who suffered martyrdom in the Great Persecution under Diocletian. His crime, in the eyes of the persecutors, was an act of mercy: he sought out the bodies of the martyrs who had been put to death and left unburied, and gave them honourable burial, and he ministered to the confessors held in prison. Seized in the very act of caring for the dead, he refused to renounce Christ and was put to death — flayed alive, the synaxarion says. He is commemorated on March 15.

Troparia & kontakia

Troparion — Tone 4 (from the common of martyrs)

Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their courageous contest received incorruptible crowns from Thee, our God; for possessing Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and broke the feeble insolence of the demons. By their intercessions, O Christ God, save our souls.

Troparion — Tone 4 (from the common of a hieromartyr)

As one who shared in the ways of the Apostles and succeeded to their thrones, thou didst find in thy labours, O God-inspired one, an ascent to divine vision; wherefore, rightly dividing the word of truth, thou didst contend for the faith even unto blood, O Hieromartyr Alexander. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.

Troparion — Tone 3 (from the common of apostles)

Holy Apostle Aristobulus, intercede with the merciful God, that he may grant to our souls the forgiveness of transgressions.

Troparion — Tone 4 (from the common of a martyr)

Thy martyr, O Lord, in his courageous contest received an incorruptible crown from Thee, our God; for possessing Thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and broke the feeble insolence of the demons. By his intercessions, O Christ God, save our souls.

Troparion — Tone 4 (from the common of a martyr)

Thy martyr, O Lord, in his courageous contest received an incorruptible crown from Thee, our God; for possessing Thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and broke the feeble insolence of the demons. By his intercessions, O Christ God, save our souls.

Readings

6th Hour

Isaiah 3.1-14

¹For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, ²The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, ³The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. ⁴And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. ⁵And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. ⁶When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand: ⁷In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people. ⁸For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory. ⁹The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. ¹⁰Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. ¹¹Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. ¹²As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. ¹³The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. ¹⁴The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

Vespers

Genesis 2.20-3.20

²⁰And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. ²¹And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; ²²And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. ²³And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. ²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. ²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. ¹Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? ²And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: ³But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. ⁴And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: ⁵For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. ⁶And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. ⁷And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. ⁸And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. ⁹And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? ¹⁰And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. ¹¹And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? ¹²And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. ¹³And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. ¹⁴And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: ¹⁵And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. ¹⁶Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. ¹⁷And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; ¹⁸Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; ¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. ²⁰And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Proverbs 3.19-34

¹⁹The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. ²⁰By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. ²¹My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: ²²So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. ²³Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. ²⁴When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. ²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. ²⁶For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. ²⁷Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. ²⁸Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. ²⁹Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. ³⁰Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. ³¹Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. ³²For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous. ³³The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just. ³⁴Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.

Saints commemorated