Thursday, 22 August 2024

Thursday of the 9th week after Pentecost

109 days after Pascha · Tone 7 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Athanasius, Bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia

Saint Athanasius was Bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia during the reign of the Emperor Valerian (253-259). He is remembered above all as the spiritual father of Saint Anthousa, the daughter of wealthy pagans of Seleucia, whom he received and baptised after she came to him with two of her servants seeking the truth of the Gospel. Following her baptism he tonsured her into the monastic life and directed her to a hidden place of ascetic struggle. Saint Athanasius was afterwards arrested for the confession of Christ and beheaded by the sword together with the servants Charesimus and Neophytus, around the year 257.

Holy Martyr Agathonicus of Nicomedia and his companions

1200

The Martyr Agathonicus suffered for Christ during the reign of the Emperor Maximian (284-305). Descended from the noble lineage of the Hypasians, he lived in Nicomedia and was well versed in Holy Scripture. Through his preaching he converted many pagans to Christ, including a leading member of the Senate. The comes Eutolmius, dispatched to persecute Christians in Pontus, arrested Agathonicus together with the converted senator and the companions Zoticus, Theoprepius, Acindynus, Severian and Zeno. After cruel tortures the martyrs were brought to Thrace, and on the orders of the emperor at Selymbria they were beheaded with the sword. The relics of Saint Agathonicus were later translated to a church bearing his name in Constantinople, where the Russian pilgrim Anthony venerated them in the year 1200.

Holy Virgin Martyr Eulalia of Merida

Saint Eulalia of Merida was a young Christian maiden of noble Spanish family who suffered martyrdom in the Iberian city of Merida during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian, around the year 304. Though only twelve or thirteen years of age, she boldly came forward before the Roman governor and reproached him for compelling Christians to sacrifice to idols. Refusing to deny Christ, she endured cruel tortures with hooks and burning torches and was finally suffocated by the smoke of her own pyre. Her veneration spread widely in the West and her memory is preserved among the saints commemorated on this day in the Orthodox synaxaria.

Venerable Anthousa, with her servants Charesimus and Neophytus

Saint Anthousa lived during the reign of the Emperor Valerian (253-259) and was born in Seleucia, the daughter of wealthy pagan parents named Antoninus and Maria (Martyria). Hearing of the Christian faith, she travelled to Tarsus in Cilicia accompanied by two trusted servants and there sought out the holy bishop Athanasius. Saint Athanasius baptised her, and on her way to receive baptism a luminous cloud is said to have shielded her and angels to have ministered to her. After her baptism Anthousa received monastic tonsure and withdrew to the desert, where she lived as an ascetic for over twenty years. Her servants Charesimus and Neophytus, baptised together with their mistress, were arrested with the bishop and put to death for their confession of Christ. Saint Athanasius is commemorated as a hieromartyr on the same day.

Holy Martyr Eulalia of Barcelona

303

She was born of Christian parents in Barcelona, and dedicated herself to a life of holiness, taking Christ as her bridegroom. When the persecutor Dacian came to Barcelona, Eulalia secretly left her parents’ house by night and came before Dacian, denouncing him in front of many witnesses as a murderer of the innocent, and publicly confessing her faith in Christ. The wicked Dacian had her stripped and beaten, then tied to a tree in the form of a cross, and ordered that her flesh be burned with torches. When her torturer mockingly asked ‘Where is your Christ to save you?’ she answered ‘He is here with me; you cannot see Him because of your impurity.’ When the holy Eulalia died at last under torture, the people saw a white dove fly from her mouth. An unseasonable snowstorm then covered her naked body like a white garment.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 14.6-19

⁶Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? ⁶But now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching? ⁷Even things without life, giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they give not a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? ⁷And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? ⁸For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? ⁸For if the trumpet give an uncertain voice, who shall prepare himself for war? ⁹So also ye, unless ye utter by the tongue speech easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye will be speaking into the air. ⁹So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. ¹⁰There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and no kind is without signification. ¹⁰There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. ¹¹Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. ¹¹If then I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh will be a barbarian unto me. ¹²Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. ¹²So also ye, since ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may abound unto the edifying of the church. ¹³Wherefore let him that speaketh in a tongue pray that he may interpret. ¹³Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. ¹⁴For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. ¹⁵What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. ¹⁵What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. ¹⁶Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? ¹⁶Else if thou bless with the spirit, how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say the Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? ¹⁷For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. ¹⁷For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. ¹⁸I thank God, I speak with tongues more than you all: ¹⁸I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: ¹⁹Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. ¹⁹howbeit in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 20.17-28

¹⁷And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,

¹⁷And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples apart, and on the way he said unto them, ¹⁸Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, ¹⁸Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, ¹⁹And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again. ¹⁹and shall deliver him unto the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify: and the third day he shall be raised up.

²⁰Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.

²⁰Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, worshipping him, and asking a certain thing of him. ²¹And he said unto her, What wouldest thou? She saith unto him, Command that these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand, and one on thy left hand, in thy kingdom. ²¹And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. ²²But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. ²²But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? They say unto him, We are able. ²³He saith unto them, My cup indeed ye shall drink: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left hand, is not mine to give; but it is for them for whom it hath been prepared of my Father. ²³And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. ²⁴And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. ²⁴And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation concerning the two brethren. ²⁵But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. ²⁵But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ²⁶But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; ²⁶Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister; ²⁷and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant: ²⁷And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: ²⁸even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. ²⁸Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.