Saturday, 6 April 2024

Memorial Saturday

Third Saturday of Lent

29 days before Pascha · Tone 2 · Red cross (polyeleos typikon symbol) · Lenten Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

★ Saint Methodius, Equal of the Apostles, Enlightener of the Slavs

Saint Methodius (c. 815 to 6 April 885), Equal of the Apostles and Archbishop of Moravia, was born in Thessalonica into the noble and pious family of the drungarius Leo. He was the eldest of seven brothers; the youngest, Saint Constantine, was given the monastic name Cyril shortly before his death. The family lived among the Slavs of the Thessalonican region, and the brothers learned the Slavic tongue from childhood. Methodius first served in the army and was for about ten years governor of a Slavic principality dependent upon the Byzantine empire (probably one of the Strymon principalities, near the Bulgarian frontier), an office which deepened his command of the Slavic language. About the year 856 he abandoned the world, received tonsure on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, and there gave himself to fasting and prayer. When in 862 the Moravian prince Rostislav sent envoys to the emperor Michael III asking for missionaries who could preach in the Slavic tongue, Saint Methodius, with his brother Cyril and the disciples Gorazd, Clement, Sava, Naum and Angelyar, devised a Slavonic alphabet and translated the Gospel, the Apostle, the Psalter and the divine services into the Slavic language. The brothers came to Moravia in 863 and laboured there for three and a half years. After Saint Cyril's repose at Rome in 869, Methodius was consecrated by Pope Adrian II Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia for the Slavic peoples. At the instigation of certain Latin clergy in Moravia he was seized and imprisoned for nearly three years in a German monastery, where he was tormented and held in bitter cold. In 873 Pope John VIII secured his release and his restoration to his see. He completed the translation of the Old Testament (apart from the books of the Maccabees) and of the Nomokanon. Foreknowing his end, he gave his last blessings to his disciples on 6 April 885 and reposed at the age of about seventy. He is celebrated as Equal of the Apostles in the Slavic Churches and his memory is kept on 6 April (his repose) and, with Saint Cyril, on 11 May, 14 February and 24 May.

Holy 120 Martyrs of Persia

The Holy 120 Martyrs of Persia were a group of Christian captives, mostly Greeks, who were put to death by the Sassanian emperor Shapur II in the great persecution of the middle of the fourth century, between the years 344 and 347. They had been taken prisoner during Shapur's wars against the Christian Roman emperor Constantius II (337 to 361), and were detained as captives in the Persian dominions. When the persecution of the Christians of Persia broke out, Shapur ordered the captives to renounce Christ and to worship the sun and fire as their conquerors did. Among the one hundred and twenty there were nine consecrated virgins, dedicated to God from their youth. None of the company would deny the faith. Some endured prolonged tortures, others were imprisoned, and at last all were brought together to a great pyre and burnt alive, professing Christ to the end. Their suffering took place in the same period as the martyrdoms of Saint Simeon bar-Sabbae of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and the great host of the Persian martyrs of Shapur II's persecution.

Saint Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople

552

Saint Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople (c. 512 to 6 April 582), was born in the village of Theium ("Divine") in Phrygia. His father Alexander was an officer in the army of the great Belisarius; his mother Synesia was the daughter of the priest Hesychius of Augustopolis, by whom Eutychius received his Christian upbringing and early education. About the age of thirty he received the angelic schema in one of the monasteries of Amasea, where for the strictness of his life he was made archimandrite of all the Amasean houses.

In the year 552 his bishop sent him on business to Constantinople, where he so impressed the emperor Justinian I that, on the death of the Patriarch Saint Mennas a few weeks later, the emperor procured Eutychius's election as his successor. He presided over the Fifth Ecumenical Council, which assembled at Constantinople in May 553 and condemned the so-called "Three Chapters" and the errors of Origen. He shared the first place at the council with Patriarch Apollinarius of Alexandria and the other ancient sees.

Toward the end of his reign, Justinian inclined to the heresy of "aphthartodocetism" (the teaching that the body of Christ was incorruptible from the moment of His conception, free from natural needs and passions). Saint Eutychius firmly refused to accept this doctrine, and was deposed and exiled in 565, first to the island of Principus in the Sea of Marmara and afterwards to his old monastery at Amasea, where he spent twelve years and five months in patient prayer, working many miracles. After the death of the Patriarch John Scholasticus in 577, the Emperor Justin II and Tiberius II Caesar restored him to the patriarchal throne in Constantinople, where he was received with great rejoicing.

He served his church faithfully for five more years, and on the Sunday after Easter, 6 April 582, foreseeing his end, he gave his last instructions to his clergy and reposed in peace at the age of seventy. He left behind a treatise on the Resurrection and the Last Things, which was praised by Pope Saint Gregory the Great. He is honoured among the saints of the universal Church.

Also commemorated: St Methodius, Enilightener of the Slavs

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Hebrews — Hebrews 10.32-38

³²But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of sufferings; ³²But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; ³³partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used. ³³Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. ³⁴For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. ³⁴For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. ³⁵Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward. ³⁵Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. ³⁶For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise. ³⁶For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. ³⁷For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. ³⁷For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. ³⁸But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. ³⁸Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

Epistle

— Departed

1 Thessalonians — 1 Thessalonians 4.13-17

¹³But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope.

¹³But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. ¹⁵For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. ¹⁵For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; ¹⁷then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. ¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 2.14-17

¹⁴And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. ¹⁴And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the place of toll, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.

¹⁵And it came to pass, that he was sitting at meat in his house, and many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. ¹⁵And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. ¹⁶And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? ¹⁶And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and publicans, said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? ¹⁷When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. ¹⁷And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Gospel

— Departed

John — John 5.24-30

²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. ²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life. ²⁵Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. ²⁵Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. ²⁶For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; ²⁶For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself: ²⁷And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. ²⁷and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. ²⁸Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, ²⁸Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, ²⁹And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. ²⁹and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. ³⁰I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

³⁰I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.