Friday, 31 May 2024

Friday of the 4th Sunday of Pascha

26 days after Pascha · Tone 3 · Liturgy · Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Holy Apostle Hermas of the Seventy

The Holy Apostle Hermas was one of the Seventy Apostles whom the Lord Jesus Christ chose and sent forth to preach the Gospel. A Greek by birth who spent some time in Rome, he is greeted by name by the holy Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans, where the Apostle to the Gentiles writes, "Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them" (Romans 16 verse 14). After labouring with the Apostles in the spread of the faith, Hermas was set apart as bishop of Philippopolis in Thrace, where he preached the Gospel, ordained presbyters, and confirmed the faithful in the doctrine of Christ. According to the synaxarion he was wealthy in his earlier years but lost his fortune through the sins of his sons, and he ended his life by martyrdom for the name of the Lord. Some have ascribed to him the celebrated work known as the Shepherd of Hermas, an early Christian apocalyptic and moral treatise widely read in the Church of the second century, although other ancient testimony assigns that book to a later Hermas of Rome. Saint Hermas is commemorated on 31 May and on 4 January among the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles.

Holy Martyr Hermeias of Comana

The Holy Martyr Hermeias suffered for Christ in the city of Comana in Cappadocia during the persecution under the emperor Antoninus Pius (138 to 161). An aged soldier of the Roman armies, he was brought before the governor Sebastian, who had come into the province to arrest the Christians, and who urged him to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, promising imperial honours and rewards. The old soldier confessed Christ openly. He was beaten on the face until the skin was torn from his cheeks, and was then cast into a red-hot furnace; when after three days the furnace was opened, Saint Hermeias was found alive and unharmed. The governor next summoned a sorcerer named Marus, who prepared two strong potions of poison, but neither did the saint any harm; the sorcerer himself, seeing the power of the Lord, confessed Christ and was at once beheaded. The saint was then mangled with iron hooks, plunged into boiling oil, and his eyes gouged out, all of which he bore with thanksgiving to the Lord; he was hanged upside down for three days, but the Lord preserved his life. At last the maddened Sebastian beheaded him with his own sword. Christians took his body for burial, and from his relics flowed many healings.

Holy Martyrs Eusebius and Haralambos

The Holy Martyrs Eusebius and Haralambos are commemorated on 31 May in the synaxaria of the Greek Church together with the Holy Martyr Hermeias of Comana. According to the brief notices preserved in the Synaxaristes, both suffered for the confession of Christ in the early centuries of the Christian persecutions and were put to death by the sword. Although the fuller details of their lives and the cities of their contest have been lost in the passage of time, their names have been retained by the Church in her hymns and prayers on this day, that the faithful may share by prayer in their good confession. They are honoured among that great cloud of witnesses, named and unnamed, who in every place and age have laid down their lives for the love of Christ; their commemoration on the last day of May, together with the holy Apostle Hermas and the Martyr Hermeias, makes the conclusion of this month of springtime a feast of those who, by their blood, watered the seed of the Gospel in many lands.

Saint Petronilla of Rome, Virgin

Saint Petronilla, called Aurelia Petronilla, was an early Christian virgin of the Roman Church, venerated from antiquity at her tomb on the Via Ardeatina south of the city, where she was buried in the catacomb of Domitilla. Ancient tradition holds that she was a spiritual daughter of the holy Apostle Peter, who is said to have cured her of a fever or palsy by his prayer; some accounts make her his bodily daughter, but the better witness is that she belonged by blood to the Roman family of the Aurelii, and was a younger kinswoman of those Christian Flavii from whom Domitilla came. She gave herself wholly to the Lord, refusing the marriage proposals of a noble pagan suitor named Flaccus, fasted and prayed for three days, and on the third day, having received the Holy Mysteries, she gave up her soul to God. Her relics were transferred in the eighth century to a chapel in the Vatican basilica, where they continue to be honoured. The Orthodox Church honours her among the holy Roman virgins on 31 May.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 10.44-11.10

⁴⁴While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

⁴⁴While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word. ⁴⁵And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. ⁴⁵And they of the circumcision that believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. ⁴⁶For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, ⁴⁶For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, ⁴⁷Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? ⁴⁷Can any man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? ⁴⁸And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. ⁴⁸And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

¹Now the apostles and the brethren that were in Judæa heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

¹And the apostles and brethren that were in Judæa heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. ²And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, ²And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, ³Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. ³saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. ⁴But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying, ⁴But Peter began, and expounded the matter unto them in order, saying, ⁵I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even unto me: ⁵I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: ⁶Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. ⁶upon which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw the fourfooted beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and birds of the heaven. ⁷And I heard also a voice saying unto me, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. ⁷And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. ⁸But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath ever entered into my mouth. ⁸But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. ⁹But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. ⁹But a voice answered the second time out of heaven, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common. ¹⁰And this was done thrice: and all were drawn up again into heaven. ¹⁰And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 8.21-30

²¹Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

²¹He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come. ²²Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. ²²The Jews therefore said, Will he kill himself, that he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come? ²³And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. ²³And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. ²⁴I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. ²⁵They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? Jesus said unto them, Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning. ²⁵Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. ²⁶I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world. ²⁶I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. ²⁷They perceived not that he spake to them of the Father. ²⁷They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. ²⁸Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. ²⁸Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. ²⁹And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. ²⁹And he that sent me is with me; he hath not left me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to him. ³⁰As he spake these words, many believed on him. ³⁰As he spake these things, many believed on him.