Martyrs Chrysanthius and Daria

Saints commemorated

Saint of the day

Martyrs Chrysanthius and Daria
Chrysanthus and Daria

Chrysanthus and Daria (†c. 283) were a young married couple martyred at Rome in the reign of the emperor Numerian. Chrysanthus was the son of a wealthy Roman senator of Alexandrian descent who, coming upon the writings of the Christians, sought out a teacher and was baptised; when his father tried to break his resolve by marrying him to Daria, a beautiful and learned priestess of Athena, Chrysanthus instead converted her, and the two lived together in unbroken virginity, devoting their marriage to the winning of others to Christ — he among the men, she among the women. Their preaching drew a persecution that only multiplied martyrs: the tribune Claudius sent to torture Chrysanthus was himself converted with his wife Hilaria, their sons Jason and Maurus, and his soldiers, and all were put to death. Daria, sent to a brothel, was guarded by a lion; and at the last the couple were thrown into a sandpit on the Via Salaria and buried alive under earth and stones. When Christians afterward gathered at the pit to keep their memory, the pagans sealed them in too — the Martyrs of the Pit, led by the presbyter Diodorus and the deacon Marianus. They are commemorated on March 19.

Read their life →
Innocent of Komel

Innocent of Komel (mid-15th century – 1521) was a Russian monastic saint of the northern forests, a disciple of Nilus of Sora and one of the chief bearers of his teacher's austere skete tradition of non-acquisition and inner prayer. Descended from the princely Okhlyabinin line, a branch of the Rurikid house, he took monastic vows in the region of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery and attached himself to Nilus, whom he accompanied on pilgrimage to the holy places of the Christian East. After Nilus's repose he withdrew north into the Komel forest of the Vologda land and, on the little river Nurma (Ediza), founded a hermitage under a written rule of his own that carried Nilus's skete discipline into the next generation. He reposed there on March 19, 1521, and is venerated as Innocent of Komel and of Vologda.

Read their life →
Pancharius of Nicomedia

Pancharius (†c. 302) was a Roman of noble birth and a courtier in high favour with the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, who — fearing the emperor's anger and seduced by the honours of the world — denied Christ in the persecution and returned to paganism. His mother and sister, hearing of his fall, wrote to him a letter that recalled him to himself, bidding him fear God and the dread Judgment to come and not lose his soul for the passing glory of the court. Cut to the heart, Pancharius repented, and went before the emperor to confess Christ openly. For this he was stripped of his rank, tortured, and at the last beheaded at Nicomedia, washing away his denial in his own blood. He is commemorated on March 19.

Read their life →

British Isles and Ireland

St. Auxilius, bishop of Killossey (c.460)
St. Lactan, abbot of Achadh-Ur, now Freshford (672)
Holy Martyr Alcmund (c.800)

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.

Troparia & kontakia

Troparion — Tone 4

Your martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received from you, our God, crowns of incorruption; for, armed with your strength, they cast down the tyrants and shattered the powerless insolence of the demons. By their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.

Troparion — Tone 8

In thee, O Father, was the divine image kept secure; for, taking up thy cross, thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passes away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal. Therefore doth thy spirit, venerable Innocent, rejoice together with the Angels.

Troparion — Tone 4

Your martyr, O Lord, in his contest received from you, our God, the crown of incorruption; for, armed with your strength, he cast down the tyrants and shattered the powerless insolence of the demons. By his supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.

Saints commemorated