Monday, 8 July 2024

Monday of the 3rd week after Pentecost

64 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Appearance of the "Kazan" icon of the Most Holy Theotokos

1579

“In Kazan, in 1579, the nine-year old Matrona, whose parents’ home had burned down in a fire, had a dream in which she beheld an icon of the Theotokos and heard a voice commanding her to recover this icon from the ashes of the ruined house. The icon was found wrapped in an old piece of cloth under the stove, where it may have been hidden during the Tartar invasions. The icon was finally brought to the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, where it became renowned for the healings that the Mother of God wrought through it for the blind… The icon of Kazan is one of the most beloved icons of the Mother of God in Russia.” (Great Horologion)

★ Holy great martyr Procopius of Caesarea in Palestine

The holy great martyr Procopius, in the world Neanius, was a native of Jerusalem who lived and suffered during the reign of the emperor Diocletian (284-305). His father, an eminent Roman named Christopher, was a Christian, while his mother, Theodosia, remained a pagan. Deprived of his father at an early age, the young child was raised by his mother. He received an excellent secular education and was introduced to Diocletian in the very first year of the emperor's accession to the throne, advancing rapidly in government service. Around the year 303, when open persecution against Christians began, Neanius was sent as proconsul to Alexandria with orders to persecute the Church mercilessly. On the way to Egypt, near the Syrian city of Apamea, Neanius experienced a vision of the Lord Jesus, similar to that of Saul on the road to Damascus. A voice from a radiant cross of crystal said to him, "I am Jesus, the crucified Son of God." Neanius was converted and proceeded to confess Christ openly, distributing his possessions to the poor and freeing his servants. Brought before the courts and repeatedly tortured, he was urged to renounce Christ. The procurator Flavian eventually sentenced him to beheading by the sword. Inspired by his witness, many of his former guards and Roman soldiers, together with their tribunes Nikostratus and Antiochus, also accepted martyrdom. The saint's mother Theodosia herself came to faith and suffered with him.

★ Holy Great Martyr Prokopios

303

“He was born in Jerusalem of a Christian father and a pagan mother, at first bearing the name Neanias. After his father’s death, his mother brought him up entirely in the spirit of Roman idolatry. When he had grown up, the Emperor Diocletian saw him at some time and was so pleased with him that he took him to court to serve in the army. When this wicked Emperor launched a persecution of Christians, he ordered Neanias to go with a detachment of soldiers to Alexandria and exterminate the Christians there. But, on the road, there happened to Neanias something similar to that which happened to Saul. At three o’clock in the morning there was a violent earthquake, the Lord Jesus appearing to him and saying: ‘Neanias, where are you going, and against whom are you rebelling?’ In great fear, Neanias replied: ‘Who are you, Lord? I cannot recognise You.’ Then a brilliant Cross, as of crystal, appeared in the sky and a voice came from the Cross: ‘I am Jesus, the crucified Son of God.’ The Lord went on: ‘By this sign that you have seen, overcome your enemies, and My peace will be with you.’ This event utterly changed Neanias’s life. He caused a cross such as he had seen to be made, and, instead of moving against the Christians, set off with his soldiers against the Agarians, who were attacking Jerusalem. He entered Jerusalem victorious and told his mother that he was a Christian. Brought to trial, he took off his army belt and sword and cast them before the judge, demonstrating by this that he was a soldier only of Christ the King. After harsh torture, he was thrown into prison. There Christ the Lord appeared to him again, baptising him and giving him the name Procopius. One day twelve women came to the window of his cell and said to him: ‘We also are the servants of Christ.’ Arrested for this, they were thrown into the same prison, where St Procopius instructed them in the Christian faith and carefully prepared them to receive the crown of martyrdom. These twelve women were then harshly tortured. Beholding their sufferings and courage, Procopius’s mother also came to faith in Christ, and then all thirteen were put to death. When St Procopius was led to the scaffold, he raised his hands towards the East and prayed to God for all the poor and needy, the destitute and the widowed, and especially for the holy Church, that it might grow and spread and that Orthodoxy might shine to the end of time. He was assured from heaven that his prayer was heard, after which he joyfully laid his head under the sword and went to his Lord, to eternal joy. St Procopius suffered with honour in Palestinian Caesarea, and was crowned with an eternal wreath of glory, on July 8th, 303.” (Prologue)

The Kazan icon of the Mother of God

The Kazan icon of the Mother of God is one of the most venerated icons in the Russian Orthodox Church. It was discovered on 8 July 1579 in the city of Kazan, after the Theotokos herself revealed its location. Following a great fire that had destroyed much of Kazan that year, the Mother of God appeared in a dream to a ten year old girl named Matrona, instructing her where the holy image had been hidden in the ground. After the vision was repeated three times, Matrona and her mother dug at the spot indicated, beneath the ashes of a burnt house, and uncovered the icon. The image appeared as bright and luminous as if it were newly painted. According to tradition, the icon had originally been brought from Constantinople and had been concealed in the earth long before to preserve it from the Tatars. Once revealed, it was carried in solemn procession by the clergy of Kazan, and many miracles of healing followed. Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered the building of a convent on the site of its discovery to enshrine the icon. When Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich came to the throne, he established two annual feasts for the Kazan icon: 8 July, commemorating its discovery, and 22 October, commemorating the deliverance of Moscow from the Polish invasion of 1612, in which a copy of the icon had been carried by the Russian forces. The Kazan icon has long been regarded as the holy protectress of Russia, and copies are venerated throughout the Orthodox world.

Venerable Theophilus the myrrh-gusher of Pantokrator monastery, Mount Athos

Saint Theophilus the myrrh-gusher was born around 1460 in the village of New Zikhne in Greek Macedonia. From childhood he was drawn to the spiritual life, and he received a sound education before entering the monastic ranks. He was tonsured a monk and lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain of Athos, first at Vatopedi monastery, then at Iveron, and finally settling in the cell of Saint Basil near Karyes, near the monastery of Pantokrator. A man of profound humility, Theophilus refused all ecclesiastical honours that were offered to him. The archbishopric of Thessalonica was pressed upon him, but he firmly declined to leave his cell or his life of silence. He devoted himself to copying manuscripts, prayer, and the strict ascetical struggle. As he felt his death approaching in 1548, the saint gave a remarkable instruction to his disciple Isaac: he was not to receive an honourable burial, but Isaac was to tie a cord around his feet and drag him out of the monastery, casting his body into a nearby ravine. When the saint reposed on 8 July 1548, Isaac obeyed his elder. By divine providence the relics of Saint Theophilus were later revealed, and when they were brought to his cell a fragrant myrrh began to flow from them in great abundance. From this miraculous outpouring he received the title myrrh-gusher. His relics continue to be venerated at the monastery of Pantokrator on Mount Athos.

St Procopius, Fool for Christ

1303

He was a prominent merchant of German origin. Visiting Novgorod on business, he was so moved by the beauty of Orthodoxy that he embraced the Orthodox faith. Seeking to follow Christ more fully, he gave away all his goods to the poor and lived as an indigent, giving his life to prayer and asceticism but feigning madness to avoid the praise of men. He was granted the gifts of prescience and of insight into the hearts of others: he would often speak to those who came to him of their secret sins, and several times he predicted natural disasters. Once he stopped a deadly hailstorm in town of Ustiug through his fervent prayers before the icon of the Mother of God. He was found dead on the road, covered with snow; a church was built over his relics, which worked many wonders.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Romans — Romans 7.1-13

¹Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

¹Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth? ²For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. ²For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband. ³So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. ³So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man. ⁴Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. ⁴Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. ⁶But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. ⁶But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet: ⁸But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. ⁸but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin is dead. ⁹For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. ⁹And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; ¹⁰and the commandment, which was unto life, this I found to be unto death: ¹⁰And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. ¹¹for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me. ¹¹For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. ¹²Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. ¹²So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good. ¹³Did then that which is good become death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good;—that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful. ¹³Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 9.36-10.8

³⁶But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. ³⁶But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd. ³⁷Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; ³⁷Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few. ³⁸Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. ³⁸Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest.

¹And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

¹And he called unto him his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. ²Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

²Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; ³Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphæus, and Thaddæus; ³Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; ⁴Simon the Cananæan, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. ⁴Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. ⁵These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

⁵These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: ⁶But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁶but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. ⁷And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. ⁸Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. ⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give.