Sunday, 21 January 2024

33rd Sunday after Pentecost

280 days after Pascha · Tone 8 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Martyrs Eugene, Candidus, Valerian, and Aquila of Trebizond

The Holy Martyrs Eugenios (Eugene), Candidus, Valerianus (Valerian), and Aquilas were four Christian martyrs who suffered and shed their blood for Christ at Trebizond (the ancient city on the Black Sea coast in what is now Turkey) during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, around 303 AD. They lived during one of the most severe periods of persecution against Christians, when the imperial authorities sought to eradicate Christian faith throughout the Roman Empire. These four devout Christians were arrested and brought before a regimental commander named Lycius, who possessed both civil and military authority in the region. When they refused to renounce their Christian faith and offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, they were subjected to torture and interrogation. Their steadfast refusal to deny Christ or abandon their Christian convictions ultimately led to their martyrdom. Eugenios was the most prominent amongst them, and his witness became particularly celebrated in the early Christian community. Following the Christianisation of the Roman Empire after Constantine the Great's conversion, his remains were discovered in the Potters Cemetery at Trebizond, where they had been buried in an unmarked grave, remembered only in the hearts of the faithful Christian community. After Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, a shrine was erected over his grave in 326 AD to honour his memory and witness to Christ. The Holy Martyrs Eugenios, Candidus, Valerianus, and Aquilas exemplify the cost of faithful Christian discipleship during the age of persecution and the triumph of Orthodox faith over worldly power and violence. Their feast day on 21 January calls the faithful to remember their courage and to emulate their unwavering commitment to Christ.

Our Venerable Father Maximos the Confessor

662

He was born to a noble family in Constantinople in 580. (But, according to a recently-discovered account, he may have been born in Palestine.) He showed uncommon piety and depth of theological understanding from an early age, and wrote some of the Church’s most profound theological works. He became the chief secretary of the Emperor Heraclius and his grandson Constans. But when the Monothelite heresy took hold in the royal court, Maximos could not bear to be surrounded by this error and left for the Monastery at Chrysopolis, where he later became abbot. From the monastery, he battled Monothelitism in homilies and treatises that exercised a considerable influence; so much so that the Emperor Constans ordered him either to accept Monothelite belief or keep silence. Maximos refused to do either, and he was arrested. His tongue was torn out, his right hand cut off, and he was sentenced to exile. He died of his wounds and torments while still in prison awaiting deportation, at the age of eighty-two, in the year 662. The Great Horologion comments that “at that time only he and his few disciples were Orthodox in the East.” Nonetheless, his lonely and costly stand, whose fruit he did not see in his own lifetime, preserved the Orthodox Faith when emperors and patriarchs alike had fallen away. Saint Maximos’ right hand is venerated today at the Monastery of St Paul on Mt Athos.

Saint Meinrad of Einsiedeln

Saint Meinrad (c. 797 – 21 January 861), known as the "Martyr of Hospitality," was a German Benedictine hermit and monk of great spiritual stature, revered as a saint in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Born into the noble family of the Counts of Hohenzollern around 797, Meinrad received his monastic education at the abbey school of Reichenau, where he became a professed monk and was ordained to the priesthood. Around 829, feeling called to a more solitary and intensive ascetical life, Meinrad embraced the eremitical vocation and established his hermitage on the slopes of Etzel Pass. As news of his spiritual wisdom and holy example spread throughout the region, many pilgrims and seekers sought him out for spiritual direction and prayers. Desiring greater solitude for his contemplative life, Meinrad relocated in 835 to a remote hermitage in the dense forest at the location of present-day Einsiedeln, Switzerland. He carried with him a wonder-working icon of the Virgin Mary, which had been given to him by Hildegard, the abbess of Fraumünster convent in Zurich. Throughout his hermitical life, Meinrad maintained an extraordinary practice of hospitality, welcoming all pilgrims and travellers who came to him, feeding and sheltering them at great personal sacrifice. He considered all gifts presented to him by grateful visitors as belonging to the poor and distributed them generously to those in need. His life became a living witness to Christian charity and the sacred obligation of monastic hospitality. On 21 January 861, whilst engaged in his evening prayers, Meinrad was martyred by two robbers who sought the treasures which they mistakenly believed pilgrims had left at the shrine. His blood was shed not in persecution by pagan authorities, but through the violence of criminals—thus his title as the "Martyr of Hospitality." After Meinrad's repose, a hermit named Eberhard, formerly the Provost of Strasbourg, was moved by Meinrad's holy example to establish a monastery at the hermitage site. Eberhard became the first abbot of what became the renowned Einsiedeln Abbey, which continues to flourish to this day as a major pilgrimage destination and centre of Orthodox and Catholic monastic life. Meinrad's relics were originally buried at the Abbey of Reichenau but were translated to Einsiedeln in 1029.

Venerable Neophytus of Vatopedi

Venerable Neophytus was a monastic official and ascetical figure at the Great and Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi on Mount Athos during the fourteenth century. He held the position of Prosmonários—a significant administrative role in monastic communities responsible for supervising various aspects of monastic life and governance—at the renowned Vatopaidi Monastery, one of the most prominent monastic communities in the Orthodox world. As an official of Vatopaidi, Neophytus was entrusted with overseeing operations at the monastery's metokhion (dependency) located in Euboia. He devoted his life to monastic service and ascetical practices whilst fulfilling his administrative responsibilities. His life exemplified the Orthodox monastic principle that all work, whether manual labour or administrative duties, constitutes a form of prayer and service to God when performed with proper intention and dedication. The Orthodox Church commemorates Venerable Neophytus on 21 January, honouring his faithful service to the monastic community and his contribution to the spiritual life of Mount Athos. His memory is preserved not only in written historical records but also in the continuous liturgical remembrance of the Orthodox Church, which recognises his place amongst the sanctified servants of God. The Vatopaidi Monastery, where Neophytus served, is one of the "reigning monasteries" of Mount Athos and possesses a rich spiritual tradition dating back many centuries. The monastery's liturgical life and monastic practices continue to preserve the spiritual legacy of ascetics like Venerable Neophytus, whose faithful service contributed to the maintenance of Orthodox monasticism.

Virgin Martyr Agnes of Rome

Virgin Martyr Agnes (291 – 21 January 304) was born in 291 into a noble Roman family and raised in the Christian faith during the era of Roman persecution. From her earliest years, Agnes demonstrated extraordinary devotion to Christ and an unshakeable commitment to virginal chastity and spiritual purity. Her noble birth attracted the attention of several high-ranking suitors who sought her hand in marriage, but Agnes refused all of them, declaring her irrevocable betrothal to Christ as her spiritual bridegroom. Incensed by her steadfast refusal of their advances, her rejected suitors denounced her to the Roman authorities as a Christian. During the reign of Emperor Diocletian, when persecution of Christians reached its severity, Agnes was arrested and brought before pagan magistrates who attempted to coerce her into renouncing her faith and offering sacrifices to the pagan gods. Despite threats, torture, and the prospect of death, Agnes remained resolute, refusing to betray her beloved Christ. The thirteen or fourteen-year-old martyr was sentenced to death by the sword and executed on 21 January 304, thus sealing her witness with her blood. Her martyrdom exemplified the total dedication of Christian youth to Christ and the power of faith to overcome fear and death itself. Saint Agnes is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, and Lutheran Churches. Because of the legend surrounding her martyrdom and her name (from the Latin "agnus," meaning lamb), she is traditionally depicted in iconography as a young girl accompanied by a lamb, which symbolises her virginal innocence. She is also shown carrying a sword and a palm branch, the latter being an attribute of her martyrdom. Her relics are preserved in the basilica of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura (St. Agnes Outside the Walls) in Rome, where her bones rest in veneration. Her skull is housed in Sant'Agnese in Agone in the Piazza Navona in Rome. Saint Agnes is venerated as the patron saint of those seeking chastity and purity, as well as the patroness of young girls and girl scouts.

Our Holy Father Maximos the Greek

1556

He was born Michael Tivolis in 1470. In his early youth he traveled to Italy, where many scholars had fled to preserve Hellenic culture despite the fall of Constantinople. After completing his studies in Florence, he went to the Holy Mountain in 1507 and entered Vatopedi Monastery, where he received the name of Maximos. Ten years later he was sent to Russia in answer to a request of Grand Prince Basil Ivanovich, who sought someone to translate works of the Holy Fathers on the Psalter, as well as other Church books, into Slavonic. Maximos completed this work with such success that he was made to stay in Russia to correct the existing translations (from Greek to Slavonic) of the Scriptures and liturgical books, and to preach. His work aroused the jealousy of some native monks, and Maximos was falsely accused of plotting against the Prince. In 1525 he was condemned as a heretic by a church court and banished to the Monastery of Volokolamsk, where he lived as a prisoner, not only suffering cold and extreme physical privation but being denied Holy Communion and the use of books. One day an angel appeared to him and said ‘Have patience: You will be delivered from eternal torment by sufferings here below.’ In thanks for this divine comfort, St Maximus wrote a canon to the Holy Spirit on the walls of his cell in charcoal, since he was denied the use of paper and pen. (This canon is sung on Pentecost Monday in some Russian and Serbian Monasteries). Six years later he was tried again and condemned to indefinite imprisonment in chains at a monastery in Tver. Happily, the Bishop of Tver supported him, and he was able to continue his theological work and carry on a large correspondence despite his confinement. He endured these grim conditions for twenty years. Toward the end of his life, he was finally freed by the Tsar in response to pleas on his behalf by the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria and the intervention of pious Russian nobles. He was received with honor in Moscow, and allowed to carry on his theological work at the Lavra. The Tsar Ivan IV came to honor him highly, partly because the Saint had foretold the death of the Tsar’s son. When the Tsar called a Church Council to fight the doctrines of some who had brought the Calvinist heresy into Russia, he asked St Maximos to attend. Too old and weak to travel, the Saint sent a brilliant refutation of the heresy to the Council; this was his last written work. He reposed in peace in 1556, aged eighty-six. Not long after his death, he was glorified by the Church in Greece as a Holy Confessor and ‘Enlightener of Russia.’ In 1988 (!) he was added to the calendar of Saints by the Moscow Patriarchate.

Daily readings

11th Matins Gospel

John — John 21.15-25

¹⁵So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

¹⁵So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. ¹⁶He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. ¹⁶He saith to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Tend my sheep. ¹⁷He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. ¹⁷He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. ¹⁸Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. ¹⁸Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. ¹⁹This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. ¹⁹Now this he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. ²⁰Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; who also leaned back on his breast at the supper, and said, Lord, who is he that betrayeth thee? ²⁰Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? ²¹Peter therefore seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? ²¹Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? ²²Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. ²²Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. ²³Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? ²³This saying therefore went forth among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, that he should not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? ²⁴This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.

²⁴This is the disciple that beareth witness of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his witness is true. ²⁵And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

²⁵And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written.

Epistle

weekly cycle

Colossians — Colossians 1.12-18

¹²giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; ¹²Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: ¹³who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; ¹³Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: ¹⁴in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: ¹⁴In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: ¹⁵who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; ¹⁵Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: ¹⁶for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; ¹⁶For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: ¹⁷and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. ¹⁷And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 22.1-14

²The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, ²The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son, ³And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. ³and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the marriage feast: and they would not come. ⁴Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. ⁴Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them that are bidden, Behold, I have made ready my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage feast. ⁵But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: ⁵But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise; ⁶and the rest laid hold on his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. ⁶And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. ⁷But the king was wroth; and he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. ⁷But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. ⁸Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. ⁸Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they that were bidden were not worthy. ⁹Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. ⁹Go ye therefore unto the partings of the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage feast. ¹⁰So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. ¹⁰And those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was filled with guests. ¹¹But when the king came in to behold the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment:

¹¹And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: ¹²and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless. ¹²And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. ¹³Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ¹³Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. ¹⁴For many are called, but few chosen. ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.