Friday, 6 September 2024

Friday of the 11th week after Pentecost

124 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Commemoration of the miracle of the Archangel Michael at Chonae

The Church on the sixth of September commemorates the miracle worked by the holy Archangel Michael at Chonae in Phrygia. According to ancient tradition, the holy apostles John the Theologian and Philip, while preaching the Gospel in those regions, foretold that on the spot where they stood near the city of Hierapolis a great spring of healing waters would arise and that the Archangel Michael would be honoured there. After the apostles had departed, the prediction was fulfilled: a wonder-working spring sprang from the earth at the place known as Cheretopa, and a man of Laodicea, whose mute daughter had been healed by drinking from the spring after he had seen the archangel in a dream, raised a small church in honour of the Captain of the Heavenly Host. Many of the heathen, witnessing the miracles wrought there, came to faith in Christ and were baptised. The pagans of the region grew envious and resolved to destroy the church by diverting the waters of two nearby rivers to flood the site and sweep away the building together with the spring. For sixty years a pious sacristan named Archippus had served the church in great asceticism, eating only vegetables and water, and sleeping on the bare ground. When he heard of the plot he prayed earnestly to God and to the Archangel Michael that the holy place be preserved. The archangel appeared to him in glory, struck the rock with his staff, and opened a wide fissure into which the rushing waters were drawn down. The spring continued to flow undisturbed, and the church was preserved. From the rushing of the rivers into the chasm, a Greek word for "plunging," the place received the name Chonae, by which it has been known ever since. Saint Archippus continued to serve there for many years, and reposed in peace at the age of seventy.

Holy Martyr Eudoxius and his companions Zeno, Macarius and others

311

The Holy Martyr Eudoxius was a senior officer of the imperial Roman army during the persecution of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian in the early fourth century. He held the rank of comes and commanded a unit of troops in Melitene of Armenia. When the imperial edict requiring sacrifice to the gods was published, Eudoxius, learning of it, set aside his military belt, the symbol of his office, and withdrew with his wife Basilissa and their children to a country estate in order to avoid being compelled to apostatise. He was, however, traced and arrested by the governor, who tried to win him back to the imperial service by flattery. When Eudoxius openly confessed Christ before the tribunal and threw down his armour and his belt at the governor's feet, eleven hundred of his fellow soldiers, moved by his example, declared themselves Christians along with him. The governor, fearing the tumult, dared not punish them all, but reported the matter to the emperor. With the saint were arrested also his close friends Zeno and Macarius, his relative Romulus, who had been the first to encourage him in the confession of the faith, and other companions. They endured many tortures, and finally Eudoxius, Zeno, Macarius and Romulus were beheaded at Melitene in the year 311. The body of Saint Eudoxius was buried by his wife Basilissa, who later, having raised her children in piety, also reposed in peace and is honoured among the holy women confessors.

Saint Archippus the sacristan of Chonae

Saint Archippus was a native of Hierapolis in Phrygia, born around the year 280 of pious Christian parents. From childhood he was inclined to the worship of the one true God, and when he had reached the age of ten he left his family and entered the small church of the Archangel Michael at the wonder-working spring of Cheretopa, near the future city of Chonae. There he made his dwelling, taking on himself the office of sacristan and watcher of the holy place. He pursued a life of strict asceticism, eating only vegetables and a little bread, drinking only water, sleeping on the bare ground, and clothing himself in a single rough garment, persevering in unceasing prayer and the singing of psalms. Despite the threats and insults of the pagans of the region, who hated the church and its miracles, he served the holy archangel for sixty years without ceasing. When the pagans at last conspired to destroy the church by diverting two rivers to flood the spot, it was Saint Archippus whose tearful prayers called down the appearance of the Archangel Michael, who saved the church by opening the rock to receive the rushing waters, the event from which the place gained the name Chonae. After this great miracle Archippus continued to serve the church for the remainder of his days, and reposed in peace at the age of seventy. He is honoured by the Church on the same day as the miracle in which he was God's instrument.

Holy Prophet Zacharias and Righteous Elizabeth, parents of St John the Forerunner

1st c.

The story of the holy parents of the Forerunner is told in the first chapters of Luke’s Gospel. Several of the Fathers say that Zacharias is the one who, the Lord said, was slain between the temple and the altar (Matthew 23:35); because he continued to call the Mary the Mother of God a virgin even after she bore Christ; and because his son had escaped the slaughter of the innocents ordered by Herod. St Elizabeth had hidden him in a cave in the desert; he remained in the wilderness from that time until he began to preach by the Jordan.

St Maxim, martyr of Lemkos, Czechoslovakia

1914

St Maxim was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1888. At this time all Orthodox Churches had been captured and subjected to the “Unia,” by which, though keeping the Orthodox liturgical rites, they were united to the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the Carpatho-Russian people were ignorant of the change and what it meant; others were unhappy with it but, in their subject condition, saw no alternative. Maxim’s farmer parents, at great personal sacrifice, obtained an education for him that enabled him to study for the priesthood at the Basilian seminary in Krakow. Here he discerned the un-Orthodox nature of the “Greek Catholic” training there and traveled to Russia, where he became a novice at the Great Lavra of Pochaev and met Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky), who encouraged him in his quest for Orthodoxy. (Archbishop Anthony, after the Russian Revolution, became the first Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad). He entered seminary in Russia in 1905 and was ordained to the Priesthood in 1911.Metropolitan Anthony, knowing the hardships and persecutions that awaited any Orthodox priest in Austro-Hungary, offered to find Maxim a parish in Russia. But Maxim was already aware of the hunger for Orthodoxy among many of the Carpatho-Russian people; several people from his village had travelled to America and while there had attended Orthodox Churches and confessed to Orthodox priests. They begged him to return to his country and establish an Orthodox parish there. When he returned to his native village of Zhdynia, the polish authorities, seeing him in the riassa, beard and uncut hair of an Orthodox priest, mocked him, saying “Look, Saint Nicholas has come to the Carpathians!” But the people of nearby Hrab sent a delegation asking him to set up an Orthodox parish in their village. This he did, setting up a house-church in the residence that the people gave him. Almost immediately, he and his people began to be harassed and persecuted, first at the instigation of “Greek Catholic” priests, then of the government. His rectory/church was closed, and he and several of his parishioners were repeatedly jailed, sometimes on trumped-up charges of sedition. (The Carpatho-Russian people were always suspected of pro-Russian political sympathies by the Austrian and Polish authorities). Despite these persecutions, through Fr Maxim’s labors a wave of desire for Orthodoxy spread through the region, with many Carpatho-Russians openly identifying themselves as Orthodox. The government issued orders to regional mayors to forbid those who had identified themselves as Orthodox to gather and, in 1913, appointed a special commissioner whose task was to force the people to return to Catholicism. In 1914, war broke out between Russia and Austro-Hungary. Despite lack of any evidence that Fr Maxim had engaged in pro-Russian political activity — he once said “My only politics is the Gospel” — he was arrested and executed on September 6 by the Papal calendar, August 24 by the Church Calendar. He was denied any form of Church burial, and his father buried him with his own hands. Following the First World War, Orthodoxy became legal in the new Polish Republic, and a monument was placed over Fr Maxim’s grave in his home town of Zhdynia. In 1994, the Orthodox Church of Poland officially glorified St Maxim.

Also commemorated: Miracle of Archangel Michael at Colossae

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 4.13-18

¹³But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak; ¹³We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; ¹⁴knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you. ¹⁴Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. ¹⁵For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God. ¹⁵For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

¹⁶Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. ¹⁶For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; ¹⁷For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; ¹⁸while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. ¹⁸While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 24.27-33, 42-51

²⁷For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ²⁷For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. ²⁸For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. ²⁸Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

²⁹Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

²⁹But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: ³⁰And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³⁰and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. ³¹And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. ³²Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

³²Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; ³³So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. ³³even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh, even at the doors.

⁴²Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. ⁴²Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. ⁴³But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. ⁴³But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through. ⁴⁴Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. ⁴⁴Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh. ⁴⁵Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

⁴⁵Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over his household, to give them their food in due season? ⁴⁶Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. ⁴⁶Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. ⁴⁷Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath. ⁴⁷Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. ⁴⁸But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord tarrieth; ⁴⁸But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; ⁴⁹And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; ⁴⁹and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken; ⁵⁰The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, ⁵⁰the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, ⁵¹And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁵¹and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.