Thursday, 1 May 2025

Thursday of the 2nd Sunday of Pascha

11 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Holy Prophet Jeremiah

He is the author of the Old Testament book that bears his name and of the Book of Lamentations; and Baruch, his scribe and disciple, composed the Old Testament book that bears his own name. Jeremiah was the son of Helkiah, of the tribe of Levi, from the city of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. He prophesied for thirty years, from 613 to 583 BC. When the Hebrew people were taken into captivity in the reigh of Zedekiah, the Prophet remained behind and mourned the downfall of the Jerusalem: this is the origin of the book of Lamentations. The Jews who remained fled into Egypt, forcibly taking Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch with them. In Egypt, his prophecies continued to disturb his own people, who stoned him to death by in 583.

His name means “The Lord is exalted.” He is ranked second among the great Prophets, after Isaiah.

The holy Prophets and Forefathers, who lived before Christ’s coming in the flesh are counted as Saints of the Church because they foresaw His coming, spoke of it in their prophecies, looked forward to it with Joy, and greeted Jesus as their Savior when he descended into Hades before his Resurrection.

Holy New Martyr Maria Methymopoula of Crete

Saint Maria Methymopoula was a Cretan new martyr who suffered for Christ during the Ottoman occupation of Crete. Born of pious Orthodox parents in the village of Kato Phourni in the Mirabella region, she was raised in the faith and grew up beautiful and devout. She was seized by a Turkish official who tried to force her into apostasy and into his harem, but she would neither renounce Christ nor yield her chastity. Subjected to threats, flatteries, and finally to torture, Maria continued to confess her Lord. She was put to death in 1826 during the wider violence of the Greek War of Independence, joining the long company of new martyrs of the Ottoman period. Her witness is kept in the local synaxaria of Crete and entered Orthodox calendars through the work of Saint Nikodemos and his successors. The Greek New Martyr Maria of Friuli noted in some lists is generally identified with this Cretan Maria; the Friuli reference appears to be a transmission variant.

Saint Tamara, Queen of Georgia

‘Saint Tamara was the only child of King George III. Upon his death in 1184, she became Queen at the age of twenty-four. Despite her youth, she ruled the country with such wisdom and godliness — leading it to unprecedented military triumphs over the neighboring Moslem countries in defence of her kingdom, fostering arts and letters, and zealously strengthening Orthodoxy — that her reign is known as the Golden Age of Georgia. After her coronation, she convoked a local council to correct disorders in church life. When the bishops had assembled from all parts of her kingdom, she, like Saint Constantine at the First Ecumenical Council, honoured them as if she were a commoner, and they Angels of God; exhorting them to establish righteousness and redress abuses, she said in her humility, “Do away with every wickedness, beginning with me, for the prerogative of the throne is in no wise that of making war against God.” Saint Tamara called herself “the father of orphans and the judge of widows,” and her contemporaries called her “King” instead of “Queen.” She herself led her army against the Moslems and fearlessly defeated them; because of the reverence that even the enemies of Georgia had for her, entire mountain tribes renounced Islam and were baptized. She built countless churches and monasteries throughout her kingdom, and was a benefactress also to the Holy Land, Mount Athos, and holy places in Greece and Cyprus. She has always been much beloved by her people, who have memorialized her meekness, wisdom, piety, obedience, and peace-loving nature in innumerable legends, ballads, and songs; the poem written in her honor by Shota Rustaveli, “The Knight of the Panther Skin,” is the masterpiece of Georgian literature. The great Queen Tamara departed the earthly kingdom for the heavenly in the year 1212.’ (Great Horologion)

Venerable Pachomius the Great

Saint Pachomius the Great is honoured as the founder of coenobitic (communal) monasticism. Born around 292 in the Upper Thebaid of Egypt to pagan parents, he was conscripted into the Roman army as a young man. The kindness shown to the soldiers by Christians at Thebes moved him deeply, and on his discharge he sought baptism, then withdrew to the desert to live as a disciple of the elder Palamon. After years of solitary struggle an angel appeared to him at the deserted village of Tabennisi, gave him a tablet inscribed with a rule, and instructed him to gather brethren under a common life. Pachomius built the first cenobium on this pattern, drawing thousands of monks into a network of monasteries on the Nile, with regular hours of prayer, manual labour, fasting, and obedience to the abbot. His sister Mary founded a parallel community for women across the river. Saint Athanasius the Great visited him and confirmed his work. Pachomius reposed around 348, leaving an enduring rule that shaped both Eastern and Western monastic life. Several Orthodox calendars commemorate him on 15 May; the Greek tradition keeps his memory on 1 May.

Synaxis of the Three New Righteous Martyrs of the Holy Mountain, Euthymius, Ignatius, and Acacius

c. 1815

All three were monks on Mt Athos. All three had renounced Christ in their youth and embraced Islam, but had repented and pursued the Christian life with fervor. All three, at different times, returned to Constantinople and declared themselves Christians, dooming themselves to death under Islamic law. Acacius’s poor and pious mother told him, ‘As you voluntarily denied the Lord, so you must now voluntarily and courageously receive martyrdom for our sweet Jesus.’ All three were beheaded in Constantinople. The holy relics of all three are kept at the Skete of the Venerable Forerunner on the Holy Mountain, where they had been monks.

Also commemorated: Ven. Paphnutius of Borovsk

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 4.23-31

²³And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

²³And being let go, they came to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said unto them. ²⁴And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: ²⁴And they, when they heard it, lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, O Lord, thou that didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is: ²⁵Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? ²⁵who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David thy servant, didst say, Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples imagine vain things? ²⁶The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. ²⁶The kings of the earth set themselves in array, And the rulers were gathered together, Against the Lord, and against his Anointed: ²⁷For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

²⁷for of a truth in this city against thy holy Servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together, ²⁸to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel foreordained to come to pass. ²⁸For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. ²⁹And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, ²⁹And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, ³⁰By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. ³⁰while thou stretchest forth thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy holy Servant Jesus.

³¹And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. ³¹And when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 5.24-30

²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. ²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life. ²⁵Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. ²⁵Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. ²⁶For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; ²⁶For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself: ²⁷And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. ²⁷and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. ²⁸Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, ²⁸Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, ²⁹And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. ²⁹and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. ³⁰I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

³⁰I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.