Pre-Lenten Triodion, day 22 · 49 days until Pascha
Forgiveness Sunday
Saints commemorated
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Apostles of the Seventy Archippus and Philemon
Archippus was an apostle of the Seventy and a minister of the church of Colossae in Phrygia, greeted by the Apostle Paul as "our fellow soldier" (Philemon 2) and charged in the Epistle to the Colossians to "take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it" (Colossians 4:17). The Byzantine tradition remembers him as the son of Philemon and Apphia, in whose house the Colossian church assembled, and numbers him with his father among the Seventy. Under Nero he received the crown of martyrdom at Colossae, dragged before the mob and stoned to death — the hymnography singing that he "longed for the cornerstone Stone" and so "was battered with stones for love of Him." He is kept with the whole Colossian household on November 22, and again on February 19, where the day is led by his own name and his proper hymns.
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Our Venerable Mother Philothea of Athens (1589)
Philothei of Athens (1522–1589), born Regoula Benizelou to one of the noblest families of Ottoman Athens, is the great nun-martyr and philanthropist of the enslaved city — venerated as a patroness of Athens, where her incorrupt relics rest in the Metropolitan Cathedral. Married against her will as a girl and widowed within a few years, she refused all further marriage and, after her parents' death, took the monastic name Philothei and founded on her own estate the convent of St Andrew, gathering about it a great complex of schools, workshops, hospices and refuges. From it she ransomed Christian captives, and above all sheltered and spirited to safety women fleeing the harems and the slavery of the conquerors — for which the Turkish authorities seized her at a night vigil, beat her savagely, and left her mortally hurt. She lingered some months and reposed of her wounds on February 19, 1589, and was numbered among the new martyrs of the Church under the Turkish yoke.
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Conon of Penthucla
Conon (sixth century) was a Cilician who from his youth was a monk of the monastery of Penthucla near the Jordan, ordained presbyter and appointed to baptize the many pilgrims and converts who came down to the holy river. Grievously troubled at having, by the rite, to anoint women with the holy oil, he resolved to abandon his charge and flee — until John the Baptist appeared to him and strengthened him, promising to bear the struggle for him, so that thereafter he ministered the baptism in peace and without disturbance for many years. He reposed in great old age and is commemorated on February 19.
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Dositheus of Gaza
Dositheus (sixth century) was the young disciple of Abba Dorotheus of Gaza, and the living illustration of his master's teaching on obedience. A pampered youth of a rich house, ignorant of the faith, he was converted by a vision at the holy places of Jerusalem and entered the coenobium of Abba Seridos near Gaza, where he was given wholly into the care of Dorotheus. In some five years he was so refined by a perfect, unquestioning obedience — cutting off his own will in the smallest things, even his fondness for fine food and his craft as an infirmarian — that when he died young of consumption, the great elders Barsanuphius and John declared his measure equal to that of the aged ascetics. His Life, written by Dorotheus, and the sayings that frame it, are a classic of the literature of monastic obedience.
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Eugene and Macarius of Antioch
Eugene and Macarius were presbyters of the Church of Antioch who, under the emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363), boldly reproached him to his face for his apostasy from Christ and his restoration of the worship of idols. For this they were tortured and sent into a harsh exile — the tradition places it in the desert of Mauretania (or Arabia) — where, near a spring of poisonous water made sweet and healing by their prayer, they ended their lives about the year 363, confessors who sealed their witness with death. They are commemorated on February 19.
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Philemon, Archippus, Onesimus and Apphia
Philemon and his wife Apphia were a Christian couple of Colossae in Phrygia whose house became the church addressed in the Apostle Paul's shortest surviving letter, the Epistle to Philemon; Archippus, greeted in the same letter as Paul's "fellow soldier," is remembered as their son, and Onesimus is the runaway slave whose return the letter pleads for, later himself a bishop and martyr. Counted among the Seventy Apostles, Philemon and Archippus laboured for the Gospel throughout Phrygia — Philemon becoming, by the tradition, bishop of Gaza — and under Nero the three of Colossae received the crown of martyrdom, Archippus cut down with knives and Philemon and Apphia stoned. They are commemorated together on November 22 and again on February 19; Onesimus keeps his own principal feast on February 15.
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Rabulas of Samosata
Rabulas (c. 450 – c. 530) was a Syrian ascetic of Samosata on the Euphrates who, after taking the monastic habit young and long labouring as a solitary in the deserts and mountains after the pattern of the Prophet Elijah and John the Forerunner, passed into Phoenicia and there became a renowned founder of monasteries. Aided by the emperors Zeno and Anastasius, he built a great house of prayer near Berytus (Beirut) and others besides, governing them in meekness and mercy and famed for the gift of intercession. Warned of his end by a heavenly voice — "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden" — he reposed in peace at a great age about the year 530, and is commemorated on February 19.
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Theodotus, Asclepiodota and Maximus of Adrianople
Theodotus, Asclepiodota and Maximus were martyrs of Thrace under the emperor Galerius (305–311). Maximus and Asclepiodota, eminent citizens of Marcianopolis whose Christian life had drawn many to baptism, were arrested by Tiris, governor of Thrace; Theodotus was seized for rebuking the governor's cruelty. Tortured at Marcianopolis and again at Adrianople — where the beasts of the arena refused to touch them — they were beheaded near the village of Saltys on the road to Philippopolis, and the tradition adds that the governor was struck dead by lightning on his judgment seat. They are commemorated together on September 15.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Odran the Martyr (452)
Readings
3rd 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
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.
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 4
Possessing thee, O Archippus, as a great star, the Church, illumined by the beams of thy wonders, crieth out to thee: Save those who with faith honour thy memory.
Kontakion — Tone 2
As stars of many rays enlightening the ends of the earth, let us praise the apostles of Christ — Philemon the glorious and Archippus the sacred, Onesimus and Mark and Apollos, and with them Apphia the all-wise — crying out to them: Pray without ceasing for us all.
Troparion — Tone 3
O holy Apostle Archippus, intercede with the merciful God, that he may grant to our souls the forgiveness of transgressions.
Troparion — Tone 8 (from the common of a venerable one)
By a flood of tears thou didst make the barren desert bloom, and by thy deep sighing thou didst bring forth fruit a hundredfold in labours, and wast made a beacon shining upon the world by thy miracles, O Conon our father. Intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 8 (from the common of a venerable one)
By a flood of tears thou didst make the barren desert bloom, and by thy deep sighing thou didst bring forth fruit a hundredfold in labours, and wast made a beacon shining upon the world by thy miracles, O Dositheus our father. Intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4 (from the common of martyrs)
Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their courageous contest received incorruptible crowns from thee our God; for possessed of thy might, they cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble arrogance of the demons. By their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 3
Holy Apostles, intercede with the merciful God, that he grant to our souls the forgiveness of offences.
Troparion — Tone 4
Having received the radiance of the venerable saints, O modest one, thou didst make bright the city of the Athenians by thine ascetic struggle and by thy grace; for, bearing the fruit of love for thy neighbour, thou wast lawfully perfected in contest, and hast received from the Lord a divine crown. O Philothei our mother, entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 8 (from the common of a venerable one)
By a flood of tears thou didst make the barren desert bloom, and by thy deep sighing thou didst bring forth fruit a hundredfold in labours, and wast made a beacon shining upon the world by thy miracles, O Rabulas our father. Intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4 (from the common of martyrs)
Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received incorruptible crowns from Thee our God; for possessing Thy strength they cast down the tormentors and broke the feeble insolence of the demons: at their intercessions save our souls.