Wednesday 3 April 2030

Ven. Nicetas the Confessor

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Great Lent, day 24 · 25 days until Pascha

Saints commemorated

  • Saint of the day

    Ven. Nicetas the Confessor

    Nicetas (c. 760–824) was abbot of the great monastery of Medikion in Bithynia and one of the foremost confessors of the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm. Under his governance Medikion became a school of holiness numbering hundreds of monks; and when the emperor Leo V the Armenian renewed the war on the holy icons, Nicetas — with the Patriarch Nicephorus and Theodore the Studite — refused all compromise, and for it endured imprisonment, exile and years of hardship, ending his days a confessor. His Life, written soon after his death by his disciple Theosteriktos, is one of the fullest and most valuable accounts of the iconoclast persecution seen from within.

  • Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (886)

  • Saint Seraphim of Vyritsa (1949) (March 21 OC)

  • Theodosia of Tyre

    Theodosia was a young maiden of Tyre, about eighteen years old, who during the persecution of Maximinus Daza went up to the confessors awaiting trial at Caesarea in Palestine to greet them and ask their prayers, and was for this seized and put to a cruel death — her sides and breasts torn, and at last cast into the sea (or, in the Greek synaxarion, beheaded). Her martyrdom is recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea, who was an eyewitness of the persecution.

British Isles and Ireland

  • St. Comman (c.7th C)

Troparia & kontakia

Kontakion — Tone 2

Celebrating thy holy memory, O all-blessed Nicetas, we glorify the Lord who gave thee strength to confess Him; for standing firm for the honour of the holy icons, thou didst endure exile and affliction, and now thou dost intercede for us all.

Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a venerable confessor)

O God of our fathers, ever dealing with us according to Thy gentleness: take not Thy mercy from us, but by the prayers of Thy venerable one Nicetas guide our life in peace.

Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a woman-martyr)

Thy lamb, O Jesus, crieth with a loud voice: Thee, O my Bridegroom, do I love, and seeking Thee I pass through many sufferings; I am crucified and buried with Thee in Thy baptism, and I suffer for Thy sake that I may reign with Thee; I die for Thee that I may live in Thee. Accept me as a spotless sacrifice offered in love. By her prayers, O merciful One, save our souls.

Readings

6th Hour

Isaiah 26.21-27.9

21For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. 1In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. 2In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. 3I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. 4Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. 5Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. 6He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. 7Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? 8In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. 9By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

Vespers

Genesis 9.18-10.1

18And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. 24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died. 1Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

Proverbs 12.23-13.9 (LXX)

23A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. 24The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute. 25Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad. 26The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them. 27The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious. 28In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death. 1A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke. 2A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence. 3He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. 4The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. 5A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame. 6Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner. 7There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. 8The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke. 9The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

Presanctified Liturgy