Thursday 22 May 2031
Ascension of the Lord
The Ascension of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ
Ascensiontide, day 1 · 39 days since Pascha
Ascension of the Lord
About Ascension of the Lord → · About Commemoration of the Second Ecumenical Council →
Saints commemorated
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Martyr Basiliscus, Bishop of Comana
Basiliscus (†c. 308) was a young Christian of the Pontic country, nephew of the great-martyr Theodore the Recruit, who confessed Christ at Amasea together with Eutropius and Cleonicus and was left alive in prison when they were crucified. Driven at last in iron sandals studded with nails to Comana in Pontus, he prayed beside a withered plane-tree that put out leaves while a spring broke from its root, saw the idols of the city fall at his word, and was beheaded, his body thrown into the river and recovered by the faithful. Over his grave outside Comana a martyrium arose — and it was there, ninety-nine years later, that John Chrysostom, dying on the forced march into his last exile, was met in a night vision by Basiliscus with the words, "Take courage, brother John; tomorrow we shall be together." Chrysostom died the next day and was buried beside him.
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Righteous Melchizedek, king of Salem.
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Commemoration of the Second Ecumenical Council (381).
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John Vladimir of Serbia
John Vladimir (c. 990 – 22 May 1016) was prince of Dioclea — Duklja, the Serbian principality on the Adriatic that lay where Montenegro and northern Albania meet — and is honoured as the first canonised saint of the Serbian people. Caught between the Empire of Basil II and the Bulgarian tsardom of Samuel, he surrendered his fortress rather than let his people starve, was carried captive to Prespa, and was there married to Samuel's daughter Theodora Kosara and restored to his throne as the tsar's vassal. He ruled a decade in peace, remembered as a mild, just, and prayerful prince, and was beheaded at the church door at Prespa on 22 May 1016 by order of Samuel's nephew John Vladislav, who had sworn him safe conduct. His relics, laid first in his own church on Lake Skadar, rest today in Tirana, and return each year to the monastery near Elbasan that bears his name for his feast. He is venerated as great-martyr and wonderworker by Serbs, Albanians, Bulgarians, Macedonians and Montenegrins alike.
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Marcellus and Codratus
Marcellus and Codratus are two martyrs of the Byzantine synaxaria commemorated on May 22, of whom nothing is transmitted but their names and the manner of their deaths: Marcellus was made to swallow molten lead, and Codratus — the Greek notices name him Kodros — was torn to pieces by horses, dragged over the ground until he died. The synaxarion gives each a single line of verse and no more: that Marcellus drank the boiling lead as easily as a man drinks water, and that Codratus, having run his course as a horseman runs it, lifted his hands and received the crown. Their place, their century, and the persecution under which they suffered are not recorded.
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Sophia the Physician
Sophia, called the Physician (ἡ ἰατρός), is a martyr of the Byzantine synaxaria commemorated on May 22, known only from her bare synaxarion notice: a woman who practised the healing art and was put to death by the sword for Christ. Nothing of her country, her century, or the circumstances of her passion has been transmitted. The synaxarion preserves the single line of verse that is her whole biography — that she who had once been a healer of bodies was, by the sword, shown to be a healer of souls — and she stands in the calendar as one of the small number of women whom the Church remembers in a learned profession.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Conall, abbot of Inniscoel (7th C)
Troparia & kontakia
Apolytikion — Tone 4
Thou wast taken up in glory, O Christ our God, and didst gladden thy disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit; and by the blessing they were made certain that thou art the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.
Apolytikion
Most glorified art Thou, O Christ our God, who hast set our Fathers as beacons upon the earth, and by them hast guided us all into the true faith: O greatly merciful One, glory to Thee.
Apolytikion — Tone 4 (common of a martyr)
Thy martyr Basiliscus, O Lord, has received from Thee, our God, an incorruptible crown for the contest he endured; for, having Thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and broke in pieces the powerless insolence of the demons. At his supplications, O Christ God, save our souls.
Apolytikion — Tone 4
Thou didst rule thy people in gentleness and didst give thy body to the sword rather than break thy word, O Prince John Vladimir; wherefore Christ has crowned thee with the martyrs and made thy relics a fountain of healing. Intercede with Him, O passion-bearing prince, that our souls may be saved.
Apolytikion — Tone 4 (common of martyrs)
Thy martyrs Marcellus and Codratus, O Lord, have received from Thee, our God, incorruptible crowns for the contest they endured; for, having Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and broke in pieces the powerless insolence of the demons. At their supplications, O Christ God, save our souls.
Apolytikion — Tone 4 (common of a woman martyr)
Thy lamb Sophia crieth out to Thee with a great voice, O Jesus: I love Thee, my Bridegroom, and seeking Thee I strive in contest; 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. Receive me as a spotless sacrifice, offered to Thee in love. At her supplications, O merciful One, save our souls.
Exapostilarion — Tone 2 (sung three times)
Before the eyes of thy disciples thou wast taken up, O Christ, to be enthroned together with the Father; and the angels running on before thee cried aloud: Lift up the gates, lift them up, for the King has gone up to the glory that is the source of light.
Kontakion — Tone 6
Having fulfilled the dispensation for our sake, and united the things of earth with the things of heaven, thou wast taken up in glory, O Christ our God, in no way parted from us, but remaining inseparable and crying to those who love thee: I am with you, and no one is against you. Leaving on earth the things of earth, and yielding the ashes to the dust, come, let us wake and lift up our eyes and our thoughts on high; let us mortals send our sight and our senses together flying toward the gates of heaven; let us reckon that we are on the Mount of Olives and are gazing upon the Redeemer as he is borne upon a cloud.
Kontakion
The preaching of the Apostles and the definitions of the Fathers have sealed the one faith of the Church; and she, wearing the garment of truth woven from the theology that comes from above, rightly divides and glorifies the great mystery of godliness.
Kontakion — Tone 8
Shod in iron and bound to a withered tree, thou didst pray, and the dry wood put forth leaves and a spring of living water broke from its root; wherefore, when thy head was struck off at Comana, thou didst become thyself a fountain of healings, O Basiliscus, and a comfort to the exiled.
Kontakion — Tone 8
Summoned by an oath and betrayed at the church door, thou didst receive the sword with a quiet heart, and didst take up thine own head as a crown; O John Vladimir, first-fruits of the saints of thy people, cease not to intercede for those who honour thee.
The
O Lord, having in thy goodness fulfilled the mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations, thou didst come with thy disciples to the Mount of Olives, having with thee her who bore thee, the Maker and Fashioner of all things; for she who as a mother grieved above all others in thy Passion had also to enjoy the surpassing joy of the glorifying of thy flesh — in which we too, sharing it, glorify at thine ascent into the heavens, O Master, thy great mercy that has come upon us.
Readings
Vespers
Isaiah 2.2-3
2And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Composite 21 - Isaiah 62.10-63.3, 7-9
1Thus says the Lord: Walk, go through my gates; prepare my way and make a way for my people, and cast the stones out of the way; raise up a standard for the nations. For see, the Lord has made it heard to the ends of the earth: Say to the daughter of Sion: See, your Saviour has come, and his reward is with him, and his work before his face. And he will call it a holy people, redeemed by the Lord; while you will be called a city sought after, and not forsaken. Who is this who comes from Edom, the scarlet of his garments from Bosor, thus beautiful in his apparel? He cries out with much strength. I reason of justice and judgement of salvation. Why are your garments red, and your clothing as from a trodden winepress? I am full of the trodden grape; I have trampled the winepress quite alone, and no man from the nations was with me. I have remembered the mercy of the Lord, I will recall the Lord’s virtues, the Lord’s praise for all the things with which He rewards us. The Lord is a good judge for the house of Israel; he deals with us according to his mercy and according to the multitude of his justice. And he said: Are you not my people? Children will surely not be rebellious; and he became for them salvation out of their every distress. It was not an emissary, not an Angel, but the Lord himself saved them because he loved them and spared them. He redeemed them and took them up and exalted them all the days of the age.
Composite 22 - Zechariah 14.1, 4, 8-11
1Thus says the Lord: See, the day of the Lord is coming, and on that day his feet will stand upon the mount of Olives, opposite Jerusalem, where the sun rises. And on that day living water will come out from Jerusalem, half towards the first sea and half towards the last sea; in spring and in summer it shall be so; and the Lord will be for a King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name, compassing all the earth and the wilderness from Gabaa as far as Remmon, south of Jerusalem; and he shall be exalted and remain on his place from the gate of Benjamin as far as the place of the first gate, as far as the gate of Gomor and as far as the tower of Anameël and as far as the tower of the corners and as far as the king’s winepresses; they shall dwell in it and there shall be no more curse and Jerusalem shall dwell confidently.
Matins Gospel
Mark 16.9-20
9Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 10And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 12After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. 13And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. 14Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Epistle
Acts 1.1-12
1The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. 12Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.
Gospel
Luke 24.36-53
36And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. 38And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 40And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. 41And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? 42And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43And he took it, and did eat before them. 44And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48And ye are witnesses of these things. 49And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 50And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.