Friday, 12 July 2024

Friday of the 3rd week after Pentecost

68 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Liturgy · Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy martyrs Proclus and Hilary of Ancyra

The holy martyrs Proclus and Hilary were natives of the village of Kallippi, near Ancyra in Galatia, and they suffered for Christ during the persecution under the emperor Trajan (98-117). Saint Proclus, the elder of the two, had embraced Christianity in his youth and lived a quiet life of prayer and almsgiving, hidden from the world. When the persecution overtook the region, he was denounced before the proconsul Maximus as a Christian and was brought to trial.

Standing fearless before the tribunal, Proclus openly confessed his faith and refused to offer sacrifice to the idols. The proconsul subjected him to harsh torments to break his resolve. While being led through the streets, he was met by his nephew Hilary (also named Hilarion), a youth of fifteen, who, seeing his uncle in chains, ran to embrace him and through tears confessed himself also a Christian. The soldiers seized the boy as well, and both were committed to prison.

In the days that followed, both Proclus and Hilary were beaten and tortured, but they remained joyful and constant in their confession. The proconsul finally sentenced Saint Proclus to be tied to a pillar outside the city and shot through with arrows, like another Sebastian. Saint Proclus prayed for his persecutors and gave up his soul to Christ. Three days later his nephew Hilary was beheaded by the sword, completing his martyric struggle and joining his uncle in the kingdom of God.

Saint Veronica, the woman with the issue of blood

Saint Veronica is the woman healed by our Lord Jesus Christ of an issue of blood, whose story is recorded in the Gospels of Saint Matthew (9:20-22), Saint Mark (5:25-34), and Saint Luke (8:43-49). She is also called Bernice in some sources, the Greek form of her name. For twelve years she had suffered from a haemorrhage, and as the evangelist tells us, "had spent all that she had on physicians and could not be healed by anyone." Hearing of the wonders worked by the Lord, she came up behind him in the crowd at Capernaum and touched the hem of his garment, saying within herself, "If I but touch his clothing I shall be healed." At once the issue of her blood was stayed, and the Saviour, perceiving that power had gone out of him, called her forward and said, "Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace." According to ecclesiastical tradition, Veronica continued to follow Christ and became a member of the early Church. Out of gratitude to her Healer she ordered that a bronze statue of the Saviour be made and set up at her house, before which she prayed daily. Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Ecclesiastical History (book seven), records having seen this image still standing at her native city of Paneas, also called Caesarea Philippi, and notes that a herb growing at its foot was credited with healing properties. After living a life pleasing to God, she reposed in peace. Orthodox tradition distinguishes Saint Veronica clearly from the western legend of a Veronica who is said to have wiped the face of Christ with a veil on the way to Golgotha. That figure is unknown to the synaxaria of the Eastern Church.

The Three Rivers icon of the Mother of God

The Three Rivers icon of the Mother of God is one of the wonderworking images of the Theotokos venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church and commemorated on 12 July. The original icon is associated with the spiritual heritage of Saint Sabbas of Storozhi (Zvenigorod) and was later kept on Mount Athos at the Greek monastery of Hilandar before its veneration spread among Russian Christians. According to tradition, the saint received the icon as a sign of divine protection over the lands surrounding the three rivers, and the image came to symbolise the protection of the Mother of God for travellers, for those crossing dangerous waters, and for those in need of safe passage in body or in soul. The icon depicts the Theotokos with the Christ child in the customary Hodegetria type, with a stream of water shown beneath, signifying the rivers of grace flowing from the Mother of God to those who venerate her. The Three Rivers icon was particularly revered in the Russian regions traversed by major waterways, where many copies were made and enshrined in chapels and parish churches. Numerous miracles of healing and deliverance from drowning and from disease are recorded by those who turned to the Mother of God before this icon.

Venerable Michael of Klops, fool-for-Christ of Novgorod

Saint Michael of Klops was of noble Russian lineage and a kinsman of grand prince Demetrius of the Don. To escape the praise of men and to walk a hidden path of holiness, he embraced the way of foolishness for Christ. Leaving Moscow secretly in beggar's rags, he made his way to the small Klops monastery dedicated to the holy Trinity, on the river Volkhov not far from Novgorod. How he entered the monastery remained a mystery to the brethren. The hieromonk Macarius, while passing through the cells one night censing during the ninth ode of the Canon, found a stranger in monastic garb seated in his locked cell, calmly copying out the Acts of the Holy Apostles by candlelight. To every question the stranger only repeated the words of the questioner, and would reveal nothing of his name or origin. The abbot received him as a gift of God. Some time later, when prince Constantine Dmitrievich visited the monastery, the stranger read the book of Job in the trapeza; the prince approached him, looked closely at his face, and bowed down, calling him by name as his kinsman Michael Maximovich. Michael lived at the Klops monastery for forty four years in great asceticism, exhausting his body in labour, vigils, and every form of self-denial. The Lord granted him the gift of clairvoyance, and he denounced the vices of men without fear of the powerful, foretelling famines, fires, and the fortunes of princes. He prophesied to the great princess Sophia of Lithuania the birth of her son, the future grand prince Ivan III, on 22 January 1440, and foretold also the eventual subjection of Novgorod to Moscow. Having indicated beforehand the place of his burial, the saint reposed in peace on 11 January 1453. Although his principal feast is kept on 11 January, his memory is also celebrated on 12 July, the date associated with the translation and uncovering of his relics.

St Veronica, the woman with the issue of blood who was healed by the Savior

See Matthew ch. 9, Mark ch. 5, and Luke ch. 8. After the events told in the Gospel, she spent the remainder of her life as a follower of Christ and reposed in peace.

Saint Païsios of the Holy Mountain

1994

‘The future Elder Paisius was born in 1924 and baptized by St. Arsenius of Cappadocia. He spent his youth as a carpenter until WW II, during which he repeatedly distinguished himself in the army by his bravery and self-sacrifice. In 1950 he went to Mt. Athos for eight years, where he was tonsured. Then he was asked to spend some time in his home village of Epirus, in order to defend the faithful against Protestant proselytism. He returned to Mt. Athos in 1964 and stayed in several monasteries, eventually settling in the Panagouda hermitage of Koutloumousiou Monastery, where he remained for fifteen years. Here his reputation as a holy elder and guide grew, and he tirelessly received those thirsting for spiritual direction, allowing himself only two or three hours of sleep each day. He reposed in 1994, one of the most well-known and beloved contemporary elders. Many of his counsels and other writings have been published.’ (St Herman Calendar, 1994) Elder Païsios was glorified by the Church in 2015; he is commemorated on the anniversary of his repose.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Romans — Romans 9.6-19

⁶Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

⁶But it is not as though the word of God hath come to nought. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel: ⁷Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. ⁷neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. ⁸That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. ⁸That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed. ⁹For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. ⁹For this is a word of promise, According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. ¹⁰And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac— ¹⁰And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; ¹¹for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, ¹¹(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) ¹²It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. ¹²it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. ¹³As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. ¹³Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. ¹⁵For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. ¹⁵For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ¹⁶So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy. ¹⁶So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. ¹⁷For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth. ¹⁷For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. ¹⁸Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. ¹⁸So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth.

¹⁹Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will? ¹⁹Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 10.32-36, 11.1

³²Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. ³²Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven. ³³But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. ³³But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven. ³⁴Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

³⁴Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law: ³⁵For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. ³⁶And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. ³⁶and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

¹And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.

¹And it came to pass when Jesus had finished commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and preach in their cities.