Paschaltide, day 15 · 14 days since Pascha
Myrrhbearing Women; Holy Greatmartyr, Victorybearer and Wonderworker George
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
George the Great Martyr
George the Trophy-bearer (†303) is the most universally venerated of the martyrs of the East, honoured from Ethiopia to England as Μεγαλομάρτυς and Τροπαιοφόρος — "great-martyr" and "trophy-bearer," the soldier who carried off the prize. Born in Cappadocia of a martyred father and a Palestinian mother from Lydda, he rose young to the rank of comes in the guard of Diocletian, and when the persecuting edict was published at Nicomedia in 303 he gave away his goods, freed his slaves, and denounced the emperor's decree to his face before the council. There followed the long cycle of tortures for which his passion is famous — the spiked wheel, the pit of quicklime, the red-hot iron shoes, the poison of the magician Athanasius — through which the martyr was preserved, so that the sorcerer himself, and the Empress Alexandra, and many of the court confessed Christ. He was beheaded on 23 April 303 and buried at Lydda (Diospolis) in Palestine, where his shrine became one of the great pilgrimage places of Christendom. To him the later tradition attached the celebrated miracle of the dragon, and he is the patron of Georgia, England, Greece, Ethiopia, Portugal and Catalonia, of the city of Beirut and of Christian soldiers everywhere.
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Alexandra the Empress
Alexandra, honoured as the wife of the emperor Diocletian, is the most exalted of the converts won by the sufferings of George the Great Martyr. The passion of George relates that she followed the whole contest between the young officer and her husband, and that when George shattered the idols in the temple of Apollo she forced her way through the crowd crying "O God of George, help me, for thou alone art almighty!" and fell at the martyr's feet confessing Christ. Condemned with him on the spot, she is said to have died on the way to execution, sitting down to rest against a wall and giving up her soul without the sword. She is commemorated with George on 23 April. The historical woman behind the commemoration — Diocletian's wife, called Prisca in the Latin sources, put to death with her daughter Valeria under Licinius about 314–315 — is the subject of a genuine and unresolved question.
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Joanna the Myrrhbearer
Joanna was the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod Antipas, and one of the women who followed Christ from Galilee, supported His ministry out of their own means, and came to the sepulchre on the morning of the Resurrection. Saint Luke names her twice and only twice — among the women healed of infirmities who "ministered unto them of their substance" (Luke 8:3), and among those who brought the news of the empty tomb to the apostles and were not believed (Luke 24:10). The tradition adds one act to the Gospel record: that when Herodias had the head of the Forerunner thrown away in an unclean place, it was Joanna who recovered it and buried it in a vessel on the Mount of Olives, where it lay until the First Finding. She reposed in peace in the first century. Her fixed commemoration is June 27; her great commemoration, the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, is movable.
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Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea is the rich and noble counsellor — εὐσχήμων βουλευτής — who alone of the Sanhedrin refused to consent to the condemnation of Christ, and who, when the Twelve had scattered, went in to Pontius Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. All four Evangelists record him; the Church names him in every one of her Passion services. With Nicodemus he took the Lord down from the Cross, wound the body in clean linen with the spices, and laid it in his own new tomb, hewn in the rock in a garden beside Golgotha — the sepulchre from which Christ rose, and the holiest place in the Christian world. Tradition adds that he afterwards preached the Gospel and reposed in peace; the Church keeps his memory on July 31 and, with the myrrhbearing women and Nicodemus, on the movable Sunday of the Myrrhbearers.
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Mary and Martha, Sisters of Lazarus
Mary and Martha of Bethany are the sisters of Lazarus the Four-Days-Dead and, with him, the household in which the Lord was most at home. The Gospels give them to the Church in three scenes: Martha serving and Mary sitting at the Lord's feet (Luke 10:38–42); the two sisters meeting Jesus outside their brother's tomb, where Martha makes the confession "I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God" and hears the words "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11); and the supper six days before the Passover, at which Mary anointed the Lord's feet with the pound of costly spikenard and wiped them with her hair (John 12:1–8). They believed in Christ before the raising of their brother, followed him to the tomb with the myrrhbearing women, and — after the martyrdom of Stephen drove Lazarus from Jerusalem — shared his exile and his preaching. The Church remembers them on the movable Sunday of the Myrrhbearers and, as a fixed commemoration, on June 4.
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Mary Magdalene
Mary of Magdala, the fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, was delivered by Christ from seven demons and thereafter followed Him and ministered to Him of her own substance. She stood by the Cross when the disciples had fled, watched where the Lord was laid, and came at first light on the third day with the spices — and so became the first human being to see the risen Christ and the first to be sent with the news of the Resurrection. For this the Church calls her ἰσαπόστολος, Equal-to-the-Apostles, and the Fathers name her apostle to the apostles. Tradition carries her afterwards to Rome, where she is said to have testified of the Resurrection before Tiberius with a red egg in her hand, and then to Ephesus, where she laboured beside the Apostle John and reposed in peace; her relics were translated to Constantinople by the emperor Leo VI the Wise.
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Mary of Cleopas
Mary "of Cleopas" is the woman whom St John names at the foot of the Cross — "his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas" (John 19:25) — and whom the Church numbers among the myrrh-bearing women who followed Christ from Galilee, stood by at the Crucifixion, watched the burial, and came with spices to the tomb on the first day of the week to hear from the angel that He was risen. The Orthodox tradition makes her a daughter of Joseph the Betrothed by his first marriage, brought up in the same household as the Virgin and her companion from childhood, and afterwards given in marriage to Joseph's younger brother Cleopas; her son is the hieromartyr Simeon, son of Cleopas, second bishop of Jerusalem. She reposed in peace. Her fixed memory is May 23; her great commemoration is the movable Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers.
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Nicodemus the Righteous
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrin, who came to Jesus by night to ask about the Kingdom and received from Him the teaching on being born again of water and the Spirit (John 3). He appears twice more in the Fourth Gospel: pleading in the council that the Law does not condemn a man unheard (John 7:50–51), and coming at last into the open on Great Friday with a hundred pound weight of myrrh and aloes to help Joseph of Arimathea take the body of the Lord from the Cross and lay it in the tomb (John 19:39–42). Tradition has him baptised by the Apostles Peter and John, expelled from the Sanhedrin and driven from Jerusalem, and sheltered in the country house of the teacher Gamaliel, in whose tomb at Kaphar Gamala his relics were found together with those of the Protomartyr Stephen in the year 415.
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Salome the Myrrhbearer
Salome is the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the apostles James and John, and one of the myrrhbearing women who followed Christ from Galilee, stood at the Cross when the disciples had fled, and came to the sepulchre before dawn with spices to anoint a body that was not there. The Gospels name her twice by name (Mark 15:40; 16:1) and twice more by description — the mother of the sons of Zebedee who asked for the two thrones (Matthew 20:20–21), and one of the women watching the crucifixion from afar (Matthew 27:56). The tradition makes her a kinswoman of the Theotokos, though it has never agreed on the degree. She lived to see her elder son become the first of the Twelve to be killed for Christ, and reposed in peace. She is commemorated on August 3, and with all the myrrhbearers on the movable Sunday of the Myrrhbearers.
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Tamara of Georgia
Tamara (c. 1166–1213) is the queen under whom Georgia reached the height of its power and holiness, and whom her own people call not queen but king — mepe — because she ruled in her own right. Daughter of George III of the Bagratid house, crowned co-ruler at about twelve and sole sovereign at eighteen, she opened her reign by summoning a council that purged the Church of simony, and closed it having doubled her kingdom: the victories of Shamkor (1195) and Basiani (1203) broke the Muslim coalitions ranged against her, and Georgian arms reached from the Black Sea to the Caspian. She abolished capital punishment and torture, endowed churches and monasteries from Vardzia to Athos, Palestine, Cyprus, Sinai and Antioch, wove vestments with her own hands, and lived beneath the purple as an ascetic. To her court belongs the golden age of Georgian letters, and Shota Rustaveli's Knight in the Panther's Skin is dedicated to her. She reposed in 1213 and is honoured on May 1 and on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Ibar of Leinster (5th C)
Readings
Vespers
Isaiah 43.9-14 (St George)
9Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. 10Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. 12I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. 13Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? 14Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9 (St George)
1But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. 2In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, 3And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. 4For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. 5And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. 6As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering. 7And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. 8They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. 9They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect.
Wisdom of Solomon 4.7-15 (St George)
7But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. 8For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. 9But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. 10He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated. 11Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. 12For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind. 13He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: 14For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked. 15This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.
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
Acts 6.1-7
1And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. 5And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: 6Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Acts 12.1-11 (St George)
1Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. 2And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) 4And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. 5Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. 6And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. 7And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. 8And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. 9And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. 10When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. 11And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
Gospel
Mark 15.43-16.8
43Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. 44And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. 45And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. 47And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. 1And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 3And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. 5And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 6And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. 7But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. 8And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.
John 15.17-16.2 (St George)
17These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. 23He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. 26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. 1These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. 2They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Troparia & kontakia
Apolytikion — Tone 4
Thy lamb Alexandra crieth out to thee with a great voice, O Jesus: I love thee, my Bridegroom, and seeking thee I contend; I am crucified and buried together 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 entreaties, O merciful one, save our souls.
Apolytikion — Tone 4
As the deliverer of captives and defender of the poor, physician of the sick and champion of kings, O Trophy-bearer and Great-martyr George, intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Apolytikion — Tone 2
The noble Joseph, taking down Thy most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in clean linen with sweet spices, and laid it in a new tomb.
Apolytikion — Tone 1
Christ, who for our sake was born of the Virgin, thou didst follow, O honourable Magdalene Mary, keeping His ordinances and His laws; wherefore, keeping festival today on thine all-holy memorial, we receive by thine intercessions the forgiveness of our sins.
Apolytikion — Tone 2 (common of the myrrh-bearing women)
Thou didst follow the Lord from Galilee and minister unto Him of thine own substance; thou didst stand by the Cross with the Virgin Mother, and didst come at dawn with sweet spices to the tomb; and hearing the angel's word, O Mary wife of Cleopas, thou wast made a herald of the Resurrection. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Thou didst forsake a throne and a crown of earth for the confession of Christ, O glorious Alexandra, and crying out in the midst of the tyrants, "Thou alone art God," thou wast numbered with the martyrs; wherefore, entreat him without ceasing for us who honour thee.
Kontakion — Tone 4
Tilled by God, thou wast shown forth as the most honoured husbandman of true religion, gathering for thyself the sheaves of the virtues; for having sown in tears, thou reapest with rejoicing, and having contended even unto blood, thou hast won Christ. By thine intercessions, O holy one, thou grantest to all forgiveness of their offences.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Thou didst say "Rejoice" to the myrrhbearing women, and didst still the lamentation of the foremother Eve by Thy Resurrection, O Christ God; and Thou didst bid Thine apostles preach: The Saviour is risen from the grave.
Kontakion — Tone 4
The God who transcends all being, when He came into the world through the Theotokos, found in thee, O Mary, a second light, shining with the radiance of thy deeds; wherefore we cry to thee: Rejoice, O Magdalene, glory of the myrrhbearing women.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Thou who wast reared in the house of Joseph beside the Maiden who bore God, and wast the mother of Simeon the shepherd of Jerusalem: thou didst not forsake thy Master in His Passion, but broughtest myrrh to His tomb; wherefore we call thee blessed among the myrrh-bearers, O Mary.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Thou didst ask for a throne for thy sons, and wast taught to ask for the cup; and standing by the Cross thou didst see the kingdom thou hadst not understood. Wherefore, coming with myrrh at the dawn, thou wast the first to hear, He is risen: O Salome, mother of the sons of thunder, pray that we may seek the things above.
Kontakion
Having preserved thy soul unspotted in the midst of a kingdom, and having clothed the naked and comforted the afflicted, thou wast shown forth as a bright lamp of thy land, O most praised Tamara; wherefore we cry to thee: Rejoice, boast and protection of Georgia.
Troparion
The noble Joseph, taking down Thy most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in clean linen with sweet spices, and laid it in a new tomb; but on the third day Thou didst rise, O Lord, granting to the world great mercy. Unto the myrrhbearing women standing by the grave the angel cried out: Myrrh is fitting for the dead, but Christ hath been shown a stranger to corruption.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of righteous women)
Ye ministered without blame unto the Saviour, O holy sisters of Lazarus: thou, O honoured Martha, in the service of thy hands, and thou, O all-modest Mary, in the hearing of his word and in the myrrh poured out for his burial. Wherefore, having learned of his Resurrection with the myrrhbearing women, ye were filled with the light of God: entreat him that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 2
Thou camest to the Light by night, O righteous Nicodemus, and wast taught the birth from above; and when the disciples were scattered thou didst come forth openly with myrrh and aloes, to take down from the Tree the Life of all and lay Him in the tomb. Wherefore, entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion
The noble Joseph took down Thy most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in clean linen with sweet spices, and laid it in a new tomb; but on the third day Thou didst rise, O Lord, granting the world great mercy — and Thou didst say to the myrrhbearing women, Rejoice, proclaiming peace to Thine apostles and resurrection to the fallen.
Troparion
Thou didst love Christ from thy youth, O blessed one, and having received the sceptre from God thou didst rule thy people in righteousness and in mercy; adorning thy royal state with fasting, almsgiving and prayer, thou didst finish thy course in peace. O right-believing Tamara, entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.