Wednesday, 24 July 2024

Martyrs Boris and Gleb, Passionbearers

Wednesday of the 5th week after Pentecost

80 days after Pascha · Tone 3 · Red cross (polyeleos typikon symbol) · Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Holy great-martyr Christina of Tyre

She was from Tyre in Syria, the daughter of a pagan named Urban. She is a miraculous example of one brought to faith in Christ without any human intervention. When she was about eleven years old, her father, seeing her great beauty and wanting to protect her from men until she was grown, made her live alone on the top floor of a fine house, with slaves, all worldly comforts, and gold and silver idols. Passing the time by looking out the window, Christina came by her meditations on the beauty and order of nature to believe in the one, living God. An Angel of the Lord then came to her, who marked her with the sign of the Cross and instructed her in the truth of the Gospel. The newly-enlightened Christina smashed all the idols in her room, so infuriating her father that he sent her to be tortured and beheaded for her faith. Her father, though in good health and in the prime of life, died that night. Christina was subjected to horrible tortures and mutilations, and finally died by the sword, her faith unshaken.

Troparion to St Christina: O Lord Jesus, unto Thee Thy lamb doth cry with a great voice:* O my Bridegroom, Thee I love;* and seeking Thee, I now contest, and with Thy baptism am crucified and buried.* I suffer for Thy sake, that I may reign with Thee;* for Thy sake I die, that I may live in Thee:* accept me offered out of longing to Thee as a spotless sacrifice.* Lord, save our souls through her intercessions,* since Thou art great in mercy.

Holy martyr Hermogenes

Saint Hermogenes is among those commemorated by the Church on 24 July, suffering martyrdom in the early centuries of the Church. According to the synaxaria, he was a Christian of noble bearing who confessed Christ openly during one of the imperial persecutions and was arrested with several companions. Refusing every persuasion to deny his faith, he was beaten, scourged and at length put to death by the sword. His name is preserved in the calendars of the Orthodox Church together with those of other martyrs of his day, and the faithful invoke him among the chorus of those who shed their blood for the Lord. Although the more detailed accounts of his life have not come down to us, the brief notice in the menaia preserves his confession and his crown.

Holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, princes of Russia, in holy baptism Romanus and David

Saints Boris and Gleb were the younger sons of the holy Equal-of-the-Apostles Vladimir, who in 988 brought Rus' to the baptismal font. Boris received the principality of Rostov, Gleb that of Murom, and both were known from their youth for piety, almsgiving, and love of the Scriptures. After the death of Saint Vladimir in 1015, their elder half-brother Sviatopolk seized Kiev and resolved to remove every rival to his throne. Boris, returning from a campaign against the Pechenegs, was warned of the plot by his retainers, but refused to lift his sword against his brother and elder. Sending his army away, he kept the night vigil in his tent on the river Alta, was struck down by Sviatopolk's assassins as he prayed, and pierced through with a spear, completing his life on 24 July 1015.

A few weeks later Sviatopolk lured Saint Gleb from Murom by a false summons, and the young prince was killed in his boat on the Dnieper near Smolensk by his own cook on the orders of the assassins, again offering no resistance. Their relics were translated to a church built in their honour at Vyshgorod, and many miracles were worked there. The Church glorified them as the first native saints of Rus', not as warrior-martyrs but as passion-bearers, who chose to die rather than to take up arms against a brother and so kept the commandment of Christ. The principal feast of both saints is celebrated together on 24 July; a separate translation of their relics is also kept on 2 May.

Saint Athenagoras the apologist of Athens

Saint Athenagoras was a Christian philosopher of Athens in the second century. Trained in the schools of Greek learning and a master of Platonic philosophy, he was led to faith in Christ through reading the Scriptures while himself searching out arguments to refute them. Having put on the yoke of the Gospel, he turned the whole strength of his learning to the service of the Church. About the year 177, in the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, he composed his Embassy on Behalf of the Christians, addressed to the emperor and his son Commodus. In it he answered the three principal slanders brought against the Christians of his time, that they were atheists, cannibals and incestuous, showing the slanders to be groundless and setting forth the chaste morals and the pure worship of the Church. He also wrote a treatise On the Resurrection of the Dead, defending that doctrine on philosophical grounds. Tradition relates that he taught at Alexandria and then returned to Athens, where he reposed in peace in old age. The Greek Church remembers him among the holy fathers of the second century on 24 July.

Saint Polycarp the hymnographer

Saint Polycarp lived in the ninth century and laboured as a presbyter and archimandrite of the Great Church of Constantinople. Trained from his youth in the Scriptures and in the chant of the Church, he was numbered among the foremost defenders of the holy icons during the second iconoclast persecution. He suffered exile and want for the sake of the truth, was eventually returned to the capital after the restoration of the icons in 843, and entrusted with the care of one of the great communities of the imperial city. He is remembered above all as a hymnographer. Many canons and stichera of his composition were received into the service books of the Orthodox Church, and his name appears as the author of several offices for saints and feasts of the calendar. He was also a confessor and a teacher of monks, training his disciples in the patient labour of prayer, fasting, and obedience. Saint Polycarp reposed in peace in advanced old age, and the Church keeps his memory on 24 July.

Daily readings

Vespers

Isaiah — Isaiah 43.9-14

⁹Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. ⁹Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth. ¹⁰Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. ¹⁰Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. ¹¹I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. ¹¹I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour. ¹²I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. ¹²I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God. ¹³Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? ¹³Yea, since the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who can hinder it?

¹⁴Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.

¹⁴Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.

Vespers

Wisdom of Solomon — Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9

¹But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them.

²In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery,

³And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace.

⁴For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality.

⁵And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself.

⁶As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering.

⁷And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.

⁸They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.

⁹They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect.

Vespers

Wisdom of Solomon — Wisdom of Solomon 4.7-15

⁷But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest.

⁸For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years.

⁹But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age.

¹⁰He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated.

¹¹Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.

¹²For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind.

¹³He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time:

¹⁴For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked.

¹⁵This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.

Matins Gospel

Luke — Luke 21.12-19

¹²But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. ¹²But before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you, and shall persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. ¹³And it shall turn to you for a testimony. ¹³It shall turn out unto you for a testimony. ¹⁴Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: ¹⁴Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate beforehand how to answer: ¹⁵For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. ¹⁵for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to withstand or to gainsay. ¹⁶And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. ¹⁶But ye shall be delivered up even by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. ¹⁷And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. ¹⁷And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. ¹⁸And not a hair of your head shall perish. ¹⁸But there shall not an hair of your head perish. ¹⁹In your patience possess ye your souls. ¹⁹In your patience ye shall win your souls.

Epistle

weekly cycle

Romans — Romans 15.7-16

⁷Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. ⁷Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God. ⁸Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: ⁸For I say that Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given unto the fathers, ⁹And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. ⁹and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles, And sing unto thy name. ¹⁰And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.

¹⁰And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.

¹¹And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; And let all the peoples praise him. ¹¹And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.

¹²And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be the root of Jesse, And he that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles; On him shall the Gentiles hope. ¹²And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.

¹³Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit. ¹³Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. ¹⁴And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

¹⁴And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. ¹⁵Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, ¹⁵But I write the more boldly unto you in some measure, as putting you again in remembrance, because of the grace that was given me of God, ¹⁶That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. ¹⁶that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Epistle

— Boris and Gleb

Romans — Romans 8.28-39

²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ²⁸And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose. ²⁹For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. ²⁹For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: ³⁰Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. ³⁰and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. ³¹What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³²He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? ³²He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? ³³Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. ³³Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth; ³⁴who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. ³⁴Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ³⁶Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ³⁷Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

³⁷Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁸For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³⁹Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 12.38-45

³⁸Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

³⁸Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we would see a sign from thee. ³⁹But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: ³⁹But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: ⁴⁰For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴⁰for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. ⁴¹The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here. ⁴²The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. ⁴²The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. ⁴³When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. ⁴³But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. ⁴⁴Then he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. ⁴⁴Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. ⁴⁵Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. ⁴⁵Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this evil generation.

Gospel

— Boris and Gleb

John — John 15.17-16.2

¹⁷These things I command you, that ye love one another. ¹⁷These things I command you, that ye may love one another. ¹⁸If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁸If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. ¹⁹If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. ²⁰Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. ²¹But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. ²¹But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²²If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. ²³He that hateth me hateth my Father also. ²³He that hateth me hateth my Father also. ²⁴If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁴If I had not done among them the works which none other did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. ²⁵But this cometh to pass, that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. ²⁶But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me: ²⁶But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: ²⁷and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. ²⁷And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

¹These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.

¹These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be caused to stumble. ²They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God. ²They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.