Wednesday, 3 July 2024

Wednesday of the 2nd week after Pentecost

59 days after Pascha · Tone 8 · Red cross (polyeleos typikon symbol) · Fast

Saints commemorated

Blessed John of Moscow, fool for Christ

Blessed John, called Big-Cap because of the heavy iron cap he wore, was born in the village of Vologda in the early sixteenth century. From his youth he laboured at a saltworks, where he carried water for the workmen and gave himself to constant prayer and severe fasting. After a time he moved to Rostov, where for the love of Christ he took upon himself the fearful podvig of folly, going about clad in chains and rags, with great iron weights and an iron cap upon his head, and a heavy chain across his shoulders. Settling at Moscow in the reign of the Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, he walked the streets summer and winter barefoot and almost naked, rebuking the proud and the powerful, foretelling the future, and praying day and night before the cathedrals of the Kremlin. He had the gift of clairvoyance and prophesied the great misfortunes that were soon to befall Russia in the Time of Troubles. He reposed on 3 July 1589 and was buried in the Cathedral of the Intercession on Red Square, the place of his prayer, where his iron weights and cap were long preserved. Many miracles were worked at his tomb, and the Tsar Boris Godunov ordered a special chapel erected in his honour.

Holy martyr Hyacinth of Caesarea in Cappadocia

Saint Hyacinth, a native of Caesarea in Cappadocia, was raised in a Christian family. The emperor Trajan, hearing of his beauty and quick understanding, made the boy his cubicularius, or chamberlain, unaware that he was a secret Christian. One day, while the emperor and his court were offering sacrifice to idols, the young Hyacinth remained in the palace, shut himself up in a small room, and prayed fervently to the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the servants overheard him and denounced him to the emperor.

Brought to trial, Hyacinth refused to deny Christ or to sacrifice to the deaf and dumb idols, declaring himself a Christian. He was scourged and cast into prison, where the only food given him was meat which had already been offered to the idols. Considering the eating of such food a denial of Christ, the brave young athlete refused to taste it, and after some forty days died of hunger in his cell. The prison guards saw a great light fill the dungeon, and two radiant angels: one covered his body with a shining vestment, and the other placed a crown upon his head. Hyacinth suffered at the age of about twenty in 108. His relics were later translated from Rome to Caesarea.

Saint Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople

Saint Anatolius was born at Alexandria in the second half of the fourth century, at a time when many representatives of distinguished Byzantine families ardently strove to serve the Church of Christ, armed with Greek philosophic learning. He was ordained deacon by Saint Cyril of Alexandria and was present at the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus in 431. Following the deposition of Saint Flavian at the so-called Robber Council of 449, Anatolius was elevated to the throne of Constantinople through the influence of Dioscorus of Alexandria and the emperor Theodosius II. Although he had been consecrated by Dioscorus, Anatolius at once united with the Orthodox. Before the Fourth Ecumenical Council he held a local council in Constantinople in 450 at which the Tome of Saint Leo of Rome was read and approved, and the heresy of Eutyches and Dioscorus was condemned. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 he affirmed the Orthodox doctrine of the two natures of Christ, divine and human, united without confusion or separation, and he subscribed to the deposition of Nestorius, Eutyches, and Dioscorus. Saint Anatolius zealously laboured to restore the purity of Orthodoxy throughout his patriarchate and made a great contribution to the liturgical treasury of the Church. He composed hymns for Sundays, for the feasts of the Lord, including the Nativity and the Theophany, and for the martyrs; the so-called Anatolika still chanted at vespers bear his name. He reposed on 3 July 458.

Venerable Anatole the Younger of Optina

Saint Anatole the Younger, in the world Alexander Potapov, was born on 15 February 1855 in Moscow into an old merchant family. From his youth he longed for the monastic life, but his mother withheld her blessing, so he served first as a clerk in trade in Kaluga and remained at home until her death. In 1885, at the age of thirty, he came to Optina monastery, where he was received as a novice in 1888 and became the cell attendant of the great elder Saint Ambrose. In 1895 he was tonsured a monk and given the name Anatole in honour of Saint Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople. He was ordained deacon in 1899, and people soon began to come to him as to an elder. Following the repose of the elder Joseph in 1911, Anatole took up the burden of the eldership at Optina. Quiet, gentle, and unfailingly loving, he received with patience hundreds of pilgrims each day, weeping with those who wept and bearing their sorrows as his own. He had the gift of healing and of clairvoyance, foretold the coming Russian catastrophe, and consoled the suffering with the assurance that God would not abandon his servants. In the early 1920s the saint was repeatedly mocked and tormented by soldiers of the Red Army. He was to be arrested on 30 July 1922, but asked for one night to prepare himself. When the soldiers returned the next morning and asked his cell attendant Father Barnabas if he was ready, the latter invited them in: they found Father Anatole lying in his coffin, the Lord having taken him during the night to spare him further suffering. He was glorified together with the Optina Elders by the Moscow Patriarchate on 7 August 2000; his memory is also kept on 3 July (the feast of his patron, Saint Anatolius of Constantinople).

Our Holy Father Isaiah the Solitary

491

One of the Desert Fathers, he lived in asceticism first at Scetis in Egypt, then in Palestine; he died in Gaza. His instructive writings are often quoted by the Fathers. Abba Isaiah said: The crown of all good works consists in this: that a man place all his hope in God, that he flee to Him once and for all with all his heart and strength, that he be filled with compassion for all and weep before God, imploring His help and mercy.

Our Holy Father Alexander, founder of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones

430

“Born in Asia and educated in Constantinople, he went into the army after completing his studies and became an officer. Reading the Holy Scriptures, he came upon the Saviour’s words: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me’ (Matt. 19:21). These words made such an impression on him that he sold and gave away all that he had, and went off to the desert. After long asceticism and striving for purification, he founded the community of the ‘Wakeful Ones’ (Acoemetae) with a special rule. According to this rule, the services in the church continued day and night in unbroken sequence. The brethren were divided into six groups, each having its appointed hours of day or night to go to church and take over the reading and singing from the previous group. He travelled a great deal over the East, bringing people to faith in Christ, disputing with heretics, working miracles by God’s grace and growing old in the service of the Lord Jesus. He finished his earthly course in Constantinople in the year 430, where his relics revealed the miraculous power and glory with which God had glorified His holy servant.” (Prologue)

Our Father among the Saints Anatolios, Archbishop of Constantinople

458

He was a priest from Alexandria. At the ‘Robber Council’ at Ephesus in 449, Dioscoros, the monophysite who occupied the Patriarchal throne in Alexandria, had Anatolios installed as Patriarch of Constantinople, thinking that he would prove an ally. But Anatolios quickly emerged as a fervent champion of Orthodoxy: he convened a council of bishops just before the Council of Chalcedon in 451, at which Pope Leo’s Orthodox “Tome” (see February 18) was approved, though Dioscoros had not allowed it to be read at the Robber Council. At the Council of Chalcedon, Anatolios condemned Nestorius, Eutyches, and his frustrated patron Dioscoros. He reposed in peace in 458. Anatolios is believed to be the author of the ‘Anatolian Stichera’ found in the weekly Vespers and Matins services; but these may have been composed by another Anatolios, a monk and a disciple of St Theodore the Studite.

Also commemorated: Trans. Rel. Philip, Metr. Moscow

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Romans — Romans 4.13-25

¹³For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹³For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: ¹⁴For if they that are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect: ¹⁵Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. ¹⁵for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. ¹⁶Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, ¹⁶For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷(as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were. ¹⁷(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. ¹⁸Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be. ¹⁸Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. ¹⁹And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: ¹⁹And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; ²⁰He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; ²⁰yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, ²¹And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. ²¹and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. ²²Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. ²²And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. ²³Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him; ²³Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; ²⁴But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; ²⁴but for our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification. ²⁵Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 7.21-23

²¹Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²¹Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.