Tuesday, 29 April 2025

Day of Rejoicing (Radonitsa)

Tuesday of the 2nd Sunday of Pascha

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

Saints commemorated

Holy Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus

324

The Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus, namely Theognes, Rufus, Antipater, Theostichus, Artemas, Magnus, Theodotus, Thaumasius and Philemon, suffered for Christ in the city of Cyzicus on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara during the great persecutions which lasted from the reign of Diocletian into that of Maximian and Galerius, between the years 286 and 299. Cyzicus had received the seed of the Gospel from the preaching of the Apostle Paul, who passed through that region, and there had been Christians in the city from apostolic times. The nine saints came from various places and walks of life: some were soldiers, some farmers, some men of substance, but all confessed Christ openly when the heathen sacrifices were demanded of them. They were arrested and taken before the governor, who tried by promises of honour and threats of torment to make them deny the faith. The saints stood firm, encouraging one another by Scripture and prayer, and after enduring beatings, imprisonment and many cruel tortures over a number of days they were all beheaded with the sword and their bodies were hastily buried near the city. After the peace of the Church under Saint Constantine the Great in the year 324, the Christians of Cyzicus uncovered the bodies of the saints and found them incorrupt. They were placed in a church built in their honour, where many sick were healed and those troubled by unclean spirits were restored to their right minds.

Saint Basil of Ostrog, metropolitan of Zahumlje and Herzegovina

Saint Basil was born on 28 December 1610 in the village of Mrkonjic in Popovo Polje in Herzegovina, the son of Peter and Anastasia Jovanovic. From his earliest years he was inclined to prayer and to the spiritual life. As a youth he was sent to the monastery of the Dormition at Trebinje, where his pious uncle was abbot, and there he was tonsured a monk and ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood. He served the Serbian Orthodox flock under the heavy yoke of the Ottomans and afterwards travelled to Mount Athos and to Russia to seek aid for the suffering Christians of his land. On his return he was consecrated metropolitan of Zahumlje and Herzegovina and laboured to encourage the people, to repair churches and monasteries, and to defend the faithful against the violence of the Turks and the proselytising efforts of the Latins. When his enemies pressed him too closely and the monastery of Tvrdos was destroyed by the Turks, he withdrew with thirty monks to the steep cliffs of Ostrog in Montenegro, where he founded the monastery now famous throughout the Orthodox world. There he lived in a cave-cell, devoting himself to prayer, fasting and the writing of letters to his suffering people. He reposed in peace on 29 April 1671. His incorrupt relics, treasured at Ostrog, work miracles to this day for all who come in faith, both Orthodox and other Christians and even Muslims, and the monastery is the most visited shrine of the Serbian Church.

Venerable Memnon the wonderworker of Egypt

Saint Memnon was an Egyptian by birth who from his youth withdrew into the Egyptian desert and embraced the monastic life. By the strictness of his fasting, his constant prayer and the great labour of his obedience he attained victory of spirit over the flesh and was found worthy by God of many spiritual gifts, including discernment, prophecy and the working of miracles. After many years of struggle in solitude he was made hegumen of a monastery, where he guided the brethren with patience and wise counsel, leading them by his own example more than by speech. The Synaxarion records that by his prayers he drove a great plague of locusts from the fields of the monastery, sweetened bitter water into drinking water, calmed storms at sea for those who called on his name, and saved sailors from shipwreck. The brothers loved him as a true father, and even after his peaceful repose his tomb continued to work miracles, healing the sick and assisting those who came to him in faith. The Greek Synaxarion places his memory on 28 April and the Slavic on 29 April.

St Basil, bishop of Ostrog in Montenegro

1671

As a monk, he was known for his very severe asceticism. Against his will, he was made Bishop of Zahum, where he served his flock faithfully for many years, “keeping it from the cruelty of the Turks and the guile of the Latins” (Prologue). When his monastery was destroyed by the Turks he moved to Ostrog, where he reposed. His body has remained whole, incorrupt, healing and wonderworking to this day. Innumerable miracles have been worked at his grave; both Christians and Muslims seek out his relics for healing from sicknesses and sufferings. (A story heard from a parishioner at St Basil of Ostrog Church in Illinois: while the Saint’s relics remain intact, reputedly his shoes wear out from time to time and need to be replaced.)

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 4.1-10

¹And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,

¹And as they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, ²Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ²being sore troubled because they taught the people, and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. ³And they laid hands on them, and put them in ward unto the morrow: for it was now eventide. ⁴Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. ⁴But many of them that heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

⁵And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem;

⁵And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, ⁶and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest. ⁶And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. ⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, By what power, or in what name, have ye done this? ⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? ⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, ⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders, ⁹If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; ⁹if we this day are examined concerning a good deed done to an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole; ¹⁰Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. ¹⁰be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him doth this man stand here before you whole.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 3.16-21

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. ¹⁷For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.

¹⁸He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁸He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. ²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. ²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. ²¹But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. ²¹But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.