Monday, 28 April 2025

Monday of the 2nd Sunday of Pascha

8 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Apostles Jason and Sosipater of the Seventy

Saints Jason and Sosipater are numbered among the Seventy Apostles whom the Lord sent out two by two before his face. Saint Jason was born in Tarsus, the home city of the Apostle Paul, and was the first Christian of that city; he is the same Jason who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as having received Paul and Silas into his house in Thessalonica, and whose home was attacked by an angry mob. Saint Sosipater was a native of Achaia and is mentioned by Paul in the Epistle to the Romans, where he sends greetings as a kinsman of the apostle. After the labours and martyrdom of Saint Paul, Jason became Bishop of Tarsus and Sosipater Bishop of Iconium. The two travelled together to the western lands and came at last to the island of Corfu, where they preached Christ, founded a church in honour of the Protomartyr Stephen and converted many. Cast into prison by the king of Corfu, they led seven other prisoners to faith in Christ, who afterwards received the crown of martyrdom by being thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch and resin. The king's daughter, the holy Virgin Kerkyra, was likewise illumined by their preaching, openly confessed Christ before her father and was hung up by the wrists and shot through with arrows. Many further miracles followed and the king and people came to faith. Jason and Sosipater laboured on Corfu to a great age and reposed in peace there.

Holy Martyrs Dada, Maximus and Quinctilian, at Dorostolum

286

Saints Dada, Maximus and Quinctilian were three brothers who lived in the city of Dorostolum in Moesia on the Danube during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian. When the imperial decree was published commanding all to offer sacrifice to the gods at the public festivals on pain of death, the three brothers refused to obey and withdrew secretly into the forest of Ozovia, where they gave themselves to prayer and fasting. Soldiers sent in pursuit found them at prayer and brought them before the proconsul Tarquinius and his colleague Gabinius. Interrogated as to their faith, all three confessed themselves Christians. Tarquinius offered to appoint Maximus as a pagan priest of Zeus, but the saint denounced Zeus as a foul adulterer and called upon the name of Christ alone as the true God. After many torments the proconsul, unable to overcome their constancy, sentenced them to death, and they were led back under guard to the very forest where they had been seized and there beheaded with the sword in the year 286. Their relics worked many miracles, and they are commemorated together by the Church on this day.

Saint Cyril, bishop of Turov

1183

Saint Cyril of Turov was born about the year 1130 in the city of Turov on the river Pripyat, in what is now southern Belarus, the son of wealthy and pious parents. From his early years he gave himself to the study of the sacred Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers, mastering not only Slavonic but also Greek so as to read the holy books in the original. Renouncing his inheritance, he was tonsured a monk in the Saint Boris and Gleb monastery in Turov, where he lived in great asceticism. For a time he withdrew into a pillar, after the manner of the stylites of old, and from there sent forth instructions and writings for the people of God. The fame of his holy life and his learning reached the prince and the people, who chose him as their bishop, and Cyril was consecrated to the see of Turov by the Metropolitan of Kiev. As bishop he combated the Bogomil heresy and other false teachings of his day, and composed many sermons, prayers, treatises and a corpus of letters distinguished for their grace and theological depth. He is sometimes called the Russian Chrysostom on account of the eloquence of his preaching. After some years, drawn by his love of stillness, he resigned his throne and returned to monastic seclusion, devoting his last years to writing. He reposed on 28 April in the year 1183. He is one of the chief lights of the early Russian Church and a master of liturgical homily.

The Nine Martyrs at Cyzicus

3rd c.

These nine holy Martyrs were from various places, but when they refused to offer sacrifice to idols or to deny Christ, all were beheaded together in Cyzicus, a city in Asia Minor on the coast of the Sea of Marmara. Their names were Theognis, Rufus, Antipater, Theostoichus, Artemas, Magnus, Theodotus, Thaumasilas and Philemon. During the reign of the Emperor Constantine a church was built in Cyzicus in their honor, and their incorrupt relics were deposited there. They are commemorated April 29 on the Slavic calendar.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 3.19-26

¹⁹Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; ¹⁹Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; ²⁰And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: ²⁰and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus: ²¹Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. ²¹whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old. ²²For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. ²²Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me; to him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. ²³And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. ²³And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. ²⁴Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. ²⁴Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. ²⁵Ye are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ²⁵Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. ²⁶Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. ²⁶Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 2.1-11

¹And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:

¹And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: ²And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. ²and Jesus also was bidden, and his disciples, to the marriage. ³And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. ³And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. ⁴Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. ⁴And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. ⁵His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. ⁵His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. ⁶Now there were six waterpots of stone set there after the Jews’ manner of purifying, containing two or three firkins apiece. ⁶And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. ⁷Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. ⁷Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. ⁸And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the ruler of the feast. And they bare it. ⁹When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, ⁹And when the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants that had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast calleth the bridegroom, ¹⁰And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. ¹⁰and saith unto him, Every man setteth on first the good wine; and when men have drunk freely, then that which is worse: thou hast kept the good wine until now. ¹¹This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. ¹¹This beginning of his signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him.