Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Forefeast of the Procession of the Lifegiving Cross

Wednesday of the 6th week after Pentecost

87 days after Pascha · Tone 4 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Holy righteous Eudocimus of Cappadocia

Saint Eudocimus was born in Cappadocia in the early ninth century, of pious Christian parents named Basil and Eudocia, who were of the rank of patrician at the court of the emperor Theophilus. From his childhood he was distinguished for the love of God, the reading of the Scriptures, and the avoidance of every vain entertainment. As he grew up he was given a prominent military command in the theme of Charsiana, on the Cappadocian frontier. While administering the affairs of his province, he kept a strict rule of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, sending money privately to monasteries and to those in need, and refusing all friendship with women, his only companion in conversation being his mother.

He honoured his parents with the utmost reverence, judged the cases brought before him with strict justice, and was loved by the soldiers and the poor alike. He reposed in peace at the age of thirty-three, around 840. After eighteen months his tomb gave forth a sweet fragrance, miracles began to occur there, and his mother, hearing of these wonders, came and translated his body to Constantinople. He was numbered among the saints in the time of the empress Theodora, who venerated him as a special protector of her family. He is invoked by the faithful as a model of pure youth and of the laymen and soldiers who lived as monks in the world.

Forefeast of the procession of the precious and life-giving Cross

The first day of August is kept by the Orthodox Church as the feast of the Procession of the Precious and Life-giving Cross of the Lord. From the seventh or eighth century at Constantinople a portion of the True Cross, kept in the imperial palace, was carried in solemn procession through the city during the first two weeks of August, when the heat of summer customarily brought outbreaks of pestilence and disease. The Cross was taken from house to house and through the streets, the prayers for the consecration of the waters were read, and the people drank of the blessed water and were healed. From this practice arose both the August feast and the lesser blessing of the waters which inaugurates the Dormition Fast. The eve of the feast, 31 July, is therefore observed as its forefeast. The hymns of the day call the faithful to prepare themselves in repentance and the keeping of fast, that they may worthily receive the precious wood of the Cross which on the morrow comes forth in procession. The faithful are reminded that the Cross is the throne of the King, the weapon of peace, the unconquerable trophy, and that those who worship it are armed against every visible and invisible foe.

Holy righteous Joseph of Arimathea

Saint Joseph was a wealthy and prominent member of the Sanhedrin and a native of Arimathea, identified by ancient tradition with Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim. The Gospels describe him as "a good and just man" who was looking for the kingdom of God, a secret disciple of the Lord because of his fear of his fellow councillors. He had not consented to the counsel and deed of those who condemned Jesus to death. After the Crucifixion he came forward boldly and asked Pilate for the body of the Lord, and together with Saint Nicodemus he took it down from the Cross, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in a new tomb hewn out of the rock in his own garden, sealing the entrance with a great stone.

For this last act of love he was numbered among the holy myrrh-bearers and is honoured especially with them on the third Sunday of Pascha. According to the tradition preserved in both East and West, after the Resurrection he preached the Gospel widely. The Greek synaxaria record his missionary travels in the lands of the West; the British tradition, very ancient and embraced in the Western menologies, holds that he came to the island of Britain and built the first church at Glastonbury in honour of the Mother of God. He reposed in peace in old age. The Orthodox Church remembers him together with Nicodemus on 31 July as well as on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearers.

Saint Dionysius the rhetor, of Vatopedi

Saint Dionysius the rhetor was a learned monk and spiritual father of the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos in the seventeenth century. Born in Greek lands and educated in the schools of Constantinople, he excelled in the rhetorical and theological arts of his day, but renounced a brilliant secular career to be tonsured a monk on the Holy Mountain. There he became known for his learning, his piety, and his careful guidance of souls, and gathered around himself a number of disciples whom he instructed in the patristic spiritual tradition. He was sought as a confessor by the pious people of the surrounding countryside, particularly in the small town of Verroia and on the Aegean islands, and made several missionary journeys outside the Mountain to preach repentance, encourage the keeping of the fasts and the frequent reception of the holy mysteries, and to compose lives of saints and brief catechetical works. He returned each time to his cell at Vatopedi, where, in great old age, he reposed in peace. The Greek Church keeps his commemoration on 31 July among the Athonite fathers.

Saint Germanus, bishop of Auxerre

Saint Germanus was born about 378 of a noble Gallo-Roman family at Auxerre in central Gaul. Educated at Rome in law and rhetoric, he served with distinction as an advocate and as governor of one of the provinces of Gaul, before, around 418, the bishop Saint Amator constrained him, almost against his will, to receive ordination and named him as his successor. From the day of his consecration Germanus put off the manners of the world, gave away his wealth, took to a single tunic of coarse cloth, and adopted a rule of life in which fasting, watching, and the study of Scripture filled almost every hour. Twice, in 429 and again about 447, he was sent by the Roman bishops on mission to Britain to combat the Pelagian heresy, which was then troubling the British Church. There he confirmed the orthodox by his preaching at the great public conference of Verulamium, and is also remembered for leading the Christian Britons to the bloodless "Alleluia victory" over a raid of pagan Saxons and Picts. Returning to Gaul, he laboured untiringly for his diocese and the relief of the oppressed; he undertook a long journey to Ravenna to plead for the citizens of Armorica before the emperor Valentinian III, and reposed in that city about 448. His relics were brought back in honour to Auxerre, where his great basilica still stands. The Orthodox Church of the West has restored his commemoration on 31 July.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 2.9-3.8

⁹But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. ⁹but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And which entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him. ¹⁰But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

¹⁰But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. ¹¹For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. ¹¹For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. ¹²But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God. ¹³Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words. ¹³Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged. ¹⁴But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. ¹⁵But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man. ¹⁶For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. ¹⁶For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

¹And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.

¹And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. ²I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. ²I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able;

³For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? ³for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men? ⁴For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? ⁴For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not men? ⁵Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? ⁵What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him. ⁶I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. ⁶I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. ⁷So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. ⁷So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. ⁸Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. ⁸Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 13.31-36

³¹Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

³¹Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: ³²Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. ³²which indeed is less than all seeds; but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof.

³³Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

³³Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened. ³⁴All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

³⁴All these things spake Jesus in parables unto the multitudes; and without a parable spake he nothing unto them: ³⁵That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. ³⁵that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world. ³⁶Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

³⁶Then he left the multitudes, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Explain unto us the parable of the tares of the field.