Sunday, 20 April 2025

The Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Holy Pascha

Pascha · Tone 1 · Major feast Lord · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

Saint Athanasios, founder of the Great Meteoron

Saint Athanasios was born in 1302 at Hypate, the well-known medieval town of New Patras in central Greece, the son of wealthy parents who named him Andronikos at his baptism. His mother died in childbirth and his father shortly afterwards, so that the boy lost both parents in his earliest years. He was reared by relatives and showed a precocious love of learning and prayer. As a young man he came under the influence of the hesychast movement, and after a period at Thessalonica he made his way to Mount Athos, where in 1332 he was received as a novice and tonsured by Hieromonk Gregory of Sinai with the name Anthony. Later, at his tonsure into the Great Schema, he was given the name Athanasios. Seeking still greater stillness he left the Holy Mountain with two companions and was directed by a disciple of Gregory of Sinai, who had become a bishop, to travel to Thessaly. There, on the towering pinnacles of rock at Meteora, he ascended one of the highest peaks, the great rock now called the Great Meteoron, and built a small church and cells. About the year 1356 he organised the brotherhood with a strict cenobitic rule modelled on the Athonite typikon and dedicated the principal church to the Transfiguration of the Lord. He thereby became the first founder of the famous monastic confederation of Meteora. He reposed peacefully, after a short illness, about the year 1380, at the age of seventy-eight.

Saints Gregory and Anastasius, patriarchs of Antioch

593

Saints Gregory and Anastasius were patriarchs of Antioch in succession during the late sixth century. Saint Anastasius I, called the Sinaite from his sojourn on Mount Sinai before his elevation, occupied the throne of Antioch from 559 and was a vigorous defender of the faith of Chalcedon against the Monophysite party then dominant in Syria. He was deposed and exiled in 570 by the emperor Justin II for his bold opposition to a tract of crypto-Monophysite tendency which the emperor wished to impose. During his exile his place was taken by Saint Gregory, a learned monk who had been raised in Cilicia and had served as superior of the monastery of the Byzantines on Sinai before his consecration. Gregory shepherded the see through years of war, plague and earthquake, was renowned for his almsgiving and for his eloquence, and even succeeded in winning back many adherents of Monophysitism by his patient preaching. He died in 593, having drunk a draught intended to relieve gout. Anastasius was then recalled from exile by the holy emperor Maurice, at the urging of Pope Saint Gregory the Great of Rome, who was his close friend and correspondent, and he occupied the throne of Antioch a second time until his repose in 599. The two are commemorated together on this day as faithful shepherds of the apostolic see of Antioch.

St Theodore Trichinas, hermit near Constantinople

400

He was born in Constantinople to well-off and pious parents. He became a monastic in Thrace, and subjected himself to many ascetic labors, one of which was always to dress in a hair-shirt, from which he was called “Trichinas” (meaning “hairy”). He was granted the gift of working miracles, both during his lifetime and after his repose. His relics exuded a healing myrrh.

Venerable Anastasius, abbot of Sinai

Saint Anastasius of Sinai was a seventh-century monk, priest and theologian renowned for his scriptural commentaries and his defences of the doctrines of the Church. Born in the East, perhaps in Cyprus, he made a pilgrimage to the holy places of Jerusalem and afterwards took up residence as a monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai about the middle of the seventh century. He lived for an extended period under the guidance of the abbot Saint John Climacus, the author of the Ladder of Divine Ascent, and after John's repose he was himself raised to the office of abbot of the monastery of the Burning Bush, later known as the monastery of Saint Catherine. Besides being a great ascetic he was an eloquent author, leaving behind lives of saints, instructional and doctrinal writings, and a famous work known as the Hodegos, or Guide, in which he argued against the heretical Acephali and Monophysites, who rejected the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council held at Chalcedon in 451. He travelled widely through Egypt, Syria and Arabia, debating with the heterodox and confirming the faithful in Orthodoxy. His preaching, his writings and his austere life made him one of the most respected teachers of the eastern Church in his age. He reposed in great old age, having served the Lord faithfully, about the year 700.

Venerable Theodore Trichinas, the hair-shirt wearer

Saint Theodore was born in Constantinople of wealthy and pious parents. From childhood he was inclined to the monastic life, and in due course he abandoned his family, his inheritance and the worldly path that lay open before him in order to enter a monastery in Thrace. There he embraced the strictest possible asceticism. He wore a coarse hair shirt next to his skin, from which he received the surname Trichinas, the "hair-shirt wearer." Spurning all bodily comfort, he slept on a hard stone instead of any bed, both to mortify the flesh and to keep himself from sleeping over much. He kept long fasts, watched through the nights in prayer and laboured in silence, conversing only with God. By his unceasing struggles against the flesh and the devil he attained great purity of heart and was granted by the Lord the gifts of healing and of casting out demons. Even after his repose, towards the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century, his tomb continued to pour forth healings, and a fragrant myrrh flowed from his relics, so that his memory remained green among the faithful of Constantinople for many generations. The Orthodox Church keeps his memory on this day as a model of strict ascetic struggle.

Holy Apostle Zaccheus

This is the tax-collector Zaccheus whom Jesus called down from the tree in Jericho (Luke ch. 19). He became a faithful disciple and, after the Resurrection, a companion of the Apostle Peter. He became Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, where he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

Also commemorated: Beginning of the Pentecostarion

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 1.1-8

¹The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

¹The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, ²Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: ²until the day in which he was received up, after that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen: ³To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: ³to whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God: ⁴And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. ⁴and, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, ye heard from me: ⁵For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. ⁵for John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence. ⁶When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

⁶They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? ⁷And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within his own authority. ⁷And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. ⁸But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. ⁸But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 1.1-17

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The same was in the beginning with God. ²The same was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. ³All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. ⁴In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ⁴In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ⁵And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not. ⁵And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. ⁶There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.

⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. ⁷The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁸He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. ⁹That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. ⁹There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not. ¹¹He came unto his own, and his own received him not. ¹¹He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. ¹²But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹²But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹³Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ¹⁴And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.

¹⁵John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. ¹⁵John beareth witness of him, and crieth, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that cometh after me is become before me: for he was before me. ¹⁶And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. ¹⁶For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace. ¹⁷For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.