Wednesday, 22 May 2024

Wednesday of the 3rd Sunday of Pascha

17 days after Pascha · Tone 2 · Liturgy · Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Holy Fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council

381

The Second Ecumenical Council was convened in Constantinople in the year 381, in the reign of the emperor Theodosius the Great. The Council met from May to July in the Church of Hagia Irene with one hundred and fifty Orthodox bishops in attendance, among whom were Saints Gregory the Theologian, who presided over a portion of its sessions, Gregory of Nyssa, Meletius of Antioch, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Amphilochius of Iconium. The Council consolidated the victory of Orthodoxy attained at the First Ecumenical Council in 325 by condemning the heresies of Macedonius, who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, of Apollinarius, who denied the full humanity of Christ, and of the followers of Eunomius and Sabellius. The Fathers expanded the Symbol of Faith of Nicaea by adding the articles concerning the Holy Spirit, producing the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed which the Orthodox Church confesses to this day. They also issued seven canons regulating the order of the Church, including the canon establishing the See of Constantinople as second in honour after Rome. The Holy Fathers of this Council are commemorated each year on 22 May.

Holy Martyr Basiliscus, Bishop of Comana

He was from Amasea on the Black Sea, and was a nephew of St Theodore the Tyro (February 17). He was a fellow-martyr of Eutropius and Cleonicus (March 3), but is commemorated because, after they were crucified, he was shut in prison. A new governor replaced the one who had killed Basiliscus’ companions, and Basiliscus prayed in tears that he not be deprived of a martyr’s death. The Lord Jesus appeared to him, promised that his prayer would be answered, and told him to go to his village to say farewell to his mother and brothers. The new governor, Agrippa, sent soldiers to the village and had Basiliscus brought back to him. On the way to Amasea, many wonders were worked throught the Saint, and many were brought to Christ. Brought before the governor, Basiliscus again refused to worship the idols or deny Christ: he was beheaded in Comana and his body thrown into the river. Upon the holy Saint’s execution, Agrippa instantly went mad, remaining so until he smeared himself with some of the Martyr’s blood, which immediately healed him. Convinced by this wonder of the truth of the Faith, Agrippa was baptised. All of this happened during the reign of Diocletian.

Holy Martyrs Marcellus and Codratus

The Holy Martyrs Marcellus and Codratus suffered for Christ during the persecutions of the early Church and are commemorated together on 22 May. Saint Marcellus was put to death by being placed in molten lead, which the pagan persecutors poured upon him so that he might apostatise; refusing to deny Christ, he gave up his soul to the Lord under this most cruel torment. Saint Codratus, also called Quadratus, was bound to wild horses and dragged across rough ground until he expired, his body torn and broken for the sake of his Saviour. Both martyrs are remembered together with the Holy Martyr Basiliscus of Comana on this day, their names preserved in the synaxaria of the Greek and Slavonic Churches. Their courage in the face of these terrible torments made them a pattern of patience and faith for the early Christians and confirmed the witness of those martyrs whose blood became, in the words of Tertullian, the seed of the Church.

Saint John-Vladimir, Prince of Serbia

Saint John-Vladimir, also known as Jovan Vladimir, was born around 990 and ruled Duklja, the most powerful Serbian principality of his time, from about the year 1000 until his martyric death in 1015. He came of a princely family from Zahumlje, his grandfather Hvalimir and his father Petrislav having ruled before him. Tradition remembers him as a wise and merciful ruler, meek, chaste and courageous, fervent in prayer, and a devoted builder and benefactor of churches. When Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria conquered Duklja around 1010, John-Vladimir was taken prisoner. According to a medieval chronicle, Samuel's daughter Theodora Kosara fell in love with him and begged her father for his hand; the Tsar consented to the marriage and restored Duklja to John-Vladimir, who ruled thereafter as Samuel's son-in-law. After Samuel's death he was summoned for talks with the new Bulgarian Tsar John-Vladislav and, having received a guarantee of safe conduct sealed by an Orthodox bishop with a wooden cross, he travelled to meet him. He was treacherously murdered at the entrance to a church on 22 May 1015 and was soon recognised as a martyr and saint, the first Serbian saint and the patron of Bar in Montenegro.

Righteous Melchizedek, king of Salem.

He was a “priest of the most high God” (Genesis 14:18-20), who blessed our Forefather Abraham and “brought forth bread and wine,” prefiguring the Holy Eucharist, centuries before the Law was given to Moses or Christ became incarnate. The Epistle to the Hebrews (ch. 7) reveals Melchizedek, the Priest-King, to be a type of Christ.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 8.18-25

¹⁸And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, ¹⁸Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, ¹⁹Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. ¹⁹saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. ²⁰But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. ²⁰But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money. ²¹Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. ²¹Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right before God. ²²Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. ²²Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray the Lord, if perhaps the thought of thy heart shall be forgiven thee. ²³For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. ²³For I see that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. ²⁴And Simon answered and said, Pray ye for me to the Lord, that none of the things which ye have spoken come upon me. ²⁴Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. ²⁵And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁵They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 6.35-39

³⁵And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. ³⁵Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. ³⁶But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. ³⁶But I said unto you, that ye have seen me, and yet believe not. ³⁷All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. ³⁷All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. ³⁸For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. ³⁸For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. ³⁹And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. ³⁹And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.