Wednesday, 3 April 2024

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

32 days before Pascha · Tone 2 · Presanctified · Lenten Fast

Presanctified Liturgy

Saints commemorated

Holy Martyrs Elpidephoros, Dios, Bithonios and Galycos

The Holy Martyrs Elpidephorus, Dius, Bithonius and Galycus suffered for confessing the Christian faith in the third century, in the persecutions of the Roman emperors. The synaxarion preserves only the manner of their death: each was given over to a different torment, and so each obtained a different crown of martyrdom. Saint Elpidephorus was beheaded with the sword. Saint Dius was put to death by stoning. Saint Bithonius was drowned in the sea. Saint Galycus was thrown to wild beasts and torn in pieces in the arena. They are listed together in the menologia of Constantinople and in the Greek menaia under 3 April. They are not to be confused with the Persian martyr Elpidephorus, the companion of Saints Acindynus, Pegasius, Aphthonius and Anempodistus, who is commemorated on 2 November.

Saint Illyricus of Mount Myrsinon

Saint Illyricus the Wonderworker (Illyrikos Thaumatourgos) was an ascetic who lived on Mount Myrsinon in the Peloponnesus, in a hermitage near present-day Pyrgos in Elis, Greece. The dates of his birth and repose are not preserved in the synaxaria, but he is reckoned among the holy hesychasts of the early Byzantine period. He devoted himself to the strict ascetic life on the mountain, dwelling in solitude, fasting and prayer. His sanctity and his gift of wonderworking drew many monks to seek him as a spiritual father, and a community grew up around his hermitage. He healed the sick, cast out demons and brought help to those in distress. Reposing in peace, he is commemorated on 3 April in the synaxarion of Constantinople and in the Greek menaia, and his memory is especially honoured in the local churches of the Peloponnese.

Saint Joseph the Hymnographer

816

Saint Joseph the Hymnographer was born in Sicily in the year 816 to the pious Christians Plotinus and Agatha. To escape the Arab invasions of the island the family moved to the Peloponnese, and at the age of about fifteen Joseph entered the monastery of Latomos at Thessalonica, where he received tonsure and the priesthood. Recognised for his piety and learning, he was brought to Constantinople by Saint Gregory the Decapolite, with whom he laboured for the veneration of the holy icons during the second iconoclast persecution.

Sent by Saint Gregory to Rome to seek the support of the Pope against the iconoclasts, Joseph was captured at sea by Arab pirates and taken to Crete, where he was held in prison. There, by his prayer and the intercession of Saint Nicholas of Myra, who appeared to him in the cell, he was miraculously delivered. Returning to Constantinople, he received the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew and built a church in his honour, and gathered around himself a small monastic community.

Under the renewed iconoclasm of the emperor Theophilus (829 to 842) Saint Joseph was again persecuted and exiled to Cherson for eleven years. After the Triumph of Orthodoxy in 843 he was recalled by the holy empress Theodora, and was made skeuophylax (keeper of sacred vessels) of the Great Church of Hagia Sophia, an office he held under the patriarchs Saint Ignatius and Saint Photius. Filled with deep love for the saints, he composed canons in their honour for almost every day of the year. Cardinal Pitra reckoned that he wrote a thousand canons; more than two hundred are preserved in the Menaia under the acrostic of his name, and many of the canons of the Paraklitiki are also his work. He reposed in peace around 886. He is commemorated on 3 April in the Greek tradition and on 4 April in the Slavic.

Venerable Nicetas the Confessor of Medikion

Saint Nicetas the Confessor was born in Bithynian Caesarea of pious parents in the second half of the eighth century. His mother died eight days after his birth, and his father Philaretos took the monastic habit, leaving the boy in the care of his grandmother. From childhood Nicetas spent his time at the church and was a disciple of the hermit Stephen, who placed him in the monastery of Medikion (Mydicia) in Bithynia, near the Sea of Marmara, founded by Saint Nicephorus.

After seven years he was ordained presbyter at the monastery, around the year 790. When the elder Saint Nicephorus, abbot of the community, became gravely ill he entrusted to Nicetas the guidance of the brotherhood, and at his repose Nicetas was unanimously chosen abbot by the monks. Under him the Medikion grew to more than one hundred ascetics renowned for the rigour of their life.

When the iconoclast emperor Leo V the Armenian (813 to 820) renewed the persecution of the holy images, the abbots of the great monasteries of Bithynia were summoned to Constantinople and pressed to accept the heresy. Saint Nicetas at first held firm, was scourged and imprisoned, but in a moment of weakness was deceived into communicating with the iconoclast Patriarch Theodotos when Orthodox icons were placed before him. Returning to his monastery, when he saw that the persecution continued he repented bitterly. He hastened back to Constantinople, openly denounced the heresy, and was again imprisoned for six years until the death of Leo. Released by Michael II he refused to return to Medikion lest he confuse his disciples by his earlier act, and withdrew to a hermitage near the imperial city, where he lived in repentance and unceasing prayer until his peaceful repose in 824. Many miracles are attributed to him, both in life and at his tomb.

Saint Seraphim of Vyritsa

1949

Born in 1866, he married and had three children. In 1920, at the age of 54, he and his wife quietly separated and each entered monastic life. Eventually he became the spiritual father of the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, where, as a clairvoyant staretz, he also confessed thousands of laity. He said, “I am the storage room where people’s afflictions gather.” In imitation of his patron saint, he prayed for a thousand nights on a rock before an icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov. He reposed in the Lord in 1949 and the Church of Russia glorified him in August of 2000. Thus his whole life as a monk was spent under Communist persecution.

Daily readings

6th Hour

weekly cycle

Isaiah — Isaiah 10.12-20

¹²Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

¹²Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. ¹³For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: ¹³For he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and like a valiant man I have brought down them that sit on thrones: ¹⁴And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. ¹⁴and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped. ¹⁵Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

¹⁵Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? shall the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? as if a rod should wield them that lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood. ¹⁶Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. ¹⁶Therefore will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory there shall be kindled a burning like the burning of fire. ¹⁷And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. ¹⁷And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; ¹⁸And he will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and it shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. ¹⁸And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. ¹⁹And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. ¹⁹And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may write them.

²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him that smote them, but shall lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

Vespers

weekly cycle

Genesis — Genesis 7.6-9

⁶And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

⁶And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. ⁷And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

⁷And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. ⁸Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, ⁸Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creepeth upon the ground, ⁹There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. ⁹there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah.

Vespers

weekly cycle

Proverbs — Proverbs 9.12-18 (LXX)

¹²If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. ¹²If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself; And if thou scoffest, thou alone shalt bear it.

¹³A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. ¹³The foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knoweth nothing. ¹⁴For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, ¹⁴And she sitteth at the door of her house, On a seat in the high places of the city, ¹⁵To call passengers who go right on their ways: ¹⁵To call to them that pass by, Who go right on their ways: ¹⁶Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, ¹⁶Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither; And as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him, ¹⁷Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. ¹⁷Stolen waters are sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant. ¹⁸But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell. ¹⁸But he knoweth not that the dead are there; That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.