Friday, 2 August 2024

Friday of the 6th week after Pentecost

89 days after Pascha · Tone 4 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · Dormition Fast

Saints commemorated

Blessed Basil, Fool-for-Christ and Wonderworker of Moscow

Saint Basil the Blessed was born in December 1468 on the portico of the Elokhov church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, near Moscow. His parents were poor commoners, and as a boy he was apprenticed to a cobbler. While still young he showed signs of clairvoyance: when a merchant came to order boots and was overheard discussing his plans for the next day, Basil quietly remarked that the man would never wear them, and the merchant died that night. At the age of sixteen he left his trade for the way of foolishness for Christ. He went barefoot, summer and winter, almost without clothing, accepting blows, scorn and hunger as gifts from God. He overturned trays of bread and jars of kvass in the marketplaces, and the angry traders beat him, but it was afterwards discovered that the bread had been poorly baked and the kvass spoiled. By such hidden actions he taught the love of truth and the contempt of luxury. Basil rebuked Tsar Ivan the Terrible to his face for inattention during the divine services and for his violence against the innocent, and the tsar, who feared no other man, feared the holy fool, calling him a seer of hearts. Basil received from God the gifts of prophecy, the discernment of demons hidden under appearances of human kindness, and miraculous deliverance from danger. He fell asleep in the Lord on 2 August 1557, and the tsar himself, with the boyars, carried his coffin, while Saint Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, served his funeral. He was buried in the Trinity Church on the Moat in Red Square, which has since been known by his name. He was glorified by the Church in 1588.

Translation of the Relics of the Holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen

415

This day commemorates two events in the history of the relics of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, who was stoned to death outside Jerusalem about the year 34 and is honoured by the Church as the first martyr after the Lord's Ascension. In the year 415, during the reign of the Patriarch John of Jerusalem, a learned priest named Lucian, parish priest of the village of Caphargamala, was visited three times in dreams by the venerable Gamaliel, the teacher of Saint Paul who had received Stephen's body for burial. Gamaliel revealed to him the location of the forgotten grave in which he, his son Abibas, the priest Nicodemus and the Protomartyr lay buried. With the blessing of the patriarch the place was opened and the relics of Saint Stephen were found, accompanied by signs and a fragrance that filled the air. The relics were solemnly translated to Sion in Jerusalem and placed in the church of the holy Apostles. During the reign of the Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408 to 450) they were brought to Constantinople. According to the synaxarion, the empress Eudocia obtained them and they were placed in the church of the deacon Saint Lawrence. When the imperial city built a great church dedicated to the Protomartyr himself, the relics were translated there on 2 August. The right hand of Saint Stephen is preserved to this day in the Serapionov chamber of the Holy Trinity Lavra of Saint Sergius in Russia, and other portions of his relics are venerated across the Orthodox world.

Venerable Basil of Kamen, Fool-for-Christ

Saint Basil of Kamen lived between the second half of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth, in the northern Russian forests around Lake Kuben in the region of Vologda. He took monastic tonsure in the Saviour Stone Monastery, founded in the thirteenth century on a small rocky island in the lake, and there he undertook the rare and difficult exploit of foolishness for Christ. Like the better-known Basil of Moscow whose name he shared, he concealed his prayer and ascetic life beneath strange and provocative behaviour, accepting the contempt and ridicule of the world as a discipline against pride. He kept a strict fast, slept little, walked the shores of the lake in scant clothing in all weathers, and ministered in secret to the poor and afflicted of the surrounding villages. The brethren of the Saviour Stone Monastery preserved the memory of his sanctity, and after his repose his name was entered among the saints commemorated locally in the Vologda lands. He is numbered with the long line of holy fools, the iurodivye, by whom Russia learned the value of voluntary humiliation borne for the love of Christ.

Hieromartyr Stephen, Pope of Rome, and those with him

257

As Bishop of Rome from 254 to 257, he battled the Novatian heresy. By his prayers he once healed Lucilla, the daughter of the Roman tribune Nemesius; for this both father and daughter were baptized into Christ. Saint Stephen and twelve of his priests were beheaded during a celebration of the Liturgy, during the reign of Valerian.

Also commemorated: Trans. Rel. Protomartyr Stephen

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 4.5-8

⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. ⁵Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.

⁶Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other. ⁶And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. ⁷For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? ⁷For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? but if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? ⁸Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. ⁸Already are ye filled, already ye are become rich, ye have come to reign without us: yea and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 13.44-54

⁴⁴Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

⁴⁴The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the field; which a man found, and hid; and in his joy he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

⁴⁵Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

⁴⁵Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls: ⁴⁶Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. ⁴⁶and having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: ⁴⁸Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. ⁴⁸which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but the bad they cast away. ⁴⁹So shall it be in the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the righteous, ⁴⁹So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, ⁵⁰and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. ⁵⁰And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁵¹Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.

⁵¹Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea. ⁵²Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. ⁵²And he said unto them, Therefore every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

⁵³And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

⁵³And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. ⁵⁴And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?

⁵⁴And coming into his own country he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?