Thursday, 15 May 2025

Thursday of the 4th Sunday of Pascha

25 days after Pascha · Tone 3 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Venerable Pachomius the Great, founder of cenobitic monasticism

348

His name in his native Coptic, Pachom, means “eagle.” He was an Egyptian pagan who entered the Roman army at a young age. While quartered at Thebes, he was amazed at the kindness of the local Christians, who brought food and drink to the soldiers. Learning who they were, he believed in Christ and vowed, once released from the army, to serve him for the rest of his life. At the end of his military service, he was baptised and became the disciple of the hermit Palamon, with whom he lived for ten years.

At a place called Tabennisis an angel appeared to him dressed in the robes of a monk and gave him a tablet on which was written a rule for a cenobitic monastery — one in which the brethren live communally rather than as hermits, something that had not been seen before among Christians. The angel commanded him to found such a monastery. Pachomius set to work, building many cells though there was no one to live there but himself and his brother John. When John questioned the unnecessary building, Pachomius only said that he was following God’s command, without saying who would live there or when.

But soon men began to assemble there, and in time so many came to be his disciples that he eventually founded nine monasteries housing thousands of monks. The rule that he gave (or had been given) for these monasteries became the model for all communal Christian monasticism thereafter. St Pachomius reposed in 346, before his great Egyptian fellow-strugglers St Anthony the Great and St Athanasius the Great.

Entertaining angels unawares: Christian believers’ simple acts of kindness toward their pagan oppressors may have seemed foolish to many, but it was such acts that opened the eyes of Pachomius to the light of Christ, and which bore incalculably great fruit: the founding of the monastic life which is still the backbone of Christ’s Church.

Saint Achilles, bishop of Larissa

Saint Achilles lived in the fourth century during the reign of the holy emperor Constantine the Great. Renowned for his holy life and his learning, he was elevated to the see of Larissa in Thessaly, where he laboured to root out paganism, demolished idolatrous temples and built and adorned many churches in their place. He took part in the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325, where he stood with the fathers in defence of the Orthodox faith and boldly denounced the heretic Arius. Tradition recounts that, to confound the Arians, he picked up a stone and challenged them, if Christ were merely a creature, to make oil flow from it; when they could not, the saint commanded oil to spring from the stone in witness to the equal divinity of the Son with the Father. He returned to his diocese and reposed in peace in Larissa about the year 330. When Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria later conquered Thessaly, the relics of Saint Achilles were translated to an island in Lake Prespa, which thereafter bore the saint's name.

Saint Isaiah the Wonderworker, bishop of Rostov

Saint Isaiah was born in the region of Kiev in the eleventh century to pious parents who raised him in the Orthodox faith. While still young he renounced the world and entered the Kiev Caves Monastery, where he was tonsured by Saint Theodosius. After a long ascetic struggle in the caves he was appointed abbot of the monastery of Saint Demetrius in Kiev by Prince Iziaslav, and there he laboured for the salvation of his brethren by word and example. In 1077 he was consecrated bishop of Rostov, a region still largely pagan. Travelling tirelessly through his vast diocese, the saint preached the Gospel to the unbelievers, baptising whole villages, building churches and confirming the newly converted in the faith. He is numbered among those holy hierarchs by whose labours the Russian land was won for Christ. According to tradition, in 1089 Saint Isaiah was miraculously borne on a cloud, after the manner of the Apostles, to Kiev, that he might be present at the consecration of the great church of the Dormition at the Caves Monastery. After thirteen years as bishop he reposed on 15 May 1090. His incorrupt relics were uncovered in 1164 and rest in the cathedral of the Dormition at Rostov.

Venerable Euphrosynus of Pskov

Saint Euphrosynus, in the world Eleazar, was born about 1386 in the village of Videlebye near Pskov to pious peasant parents. From his childhood he loved the church and the reading of the holy books. Refusing the marriage his parents had arranged, he secretly left his home and entered the Snetnaia Mountain Monastery near Pskov, where he was tonsured under the name of Euphrosynus. Seeking still greater silence, he withdrew to the banks of the river Tolba about twenty-five versts from Pskov and there built a small chapel and a cell. Disciples gathered around him, and so was founded the Eleazarov monastery of the Three Hierarchs. The saint himself drew up the first known monastic rule of northern Russia, ordering the common life of his brethren in poverty, silence and obedience. He took a leading part in the famous controversy of his day over the singing of the Alleluia, defending the practice received from Constantinople. Refusing all honours, he remained until his death a simple monk and left the office of abbot to one of his disciples. He reposed at the great age of ninety-five on 15 May 1481. His relics are honoured at the monastery he founded.

Venerable Isaiah, wonderworker of the Kiev Near Caves

Saint Isaiah of the Kiev Caves is to be distinguished from his namesake Saint Isaiah, bishop of Rostov, with whom he shares the day of commemoration. He laboured in the Kiev Caves Monastery in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, devoting himself to silence, fasting and unceasing prayer. Living in the cells hewn out of the cliffs above the Dnieper, he received from God the gift of working miracles even during his earthly life, healing the sick who came to him and consoling the sorrowful. He reposed in peace on 15 May 1115, and his relics rest incorrupt in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony at the Kiev Caves Lavra, where he is numbered among the synaxis of the venerable fathers of those caves. The faithful continue to seek his intercession for healing of body and soul.

Our Father among the Saints Achillius, Bishop of Larissa

330

He was born in Cappadocia, and was one of the 318 God-bearing Fathers who attended the First Ecumenical Council. At the council, Achillius took up a stone and said to the Arians, ‘If Christ is a creature of God, as you say, tell oil to flow from this stone.’ When the heretics kept silent, Achilleus went on, ‘And if the Son of God is equal to the Father, as we believe, let oil flow from this stone,’ at which oil flowed out. Returning to Larissa, the holy bishop cast down many pagan temples, built many churches, cast out many demons, and reposed in peace.

Also commemorated: Slain Crown Prince Dimitry of Moscow

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 10.34-43

³⁴Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

³⁴And Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: ³⁵But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. ³⁵but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him. ³⁶The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) ³⁶The word which he sent unto the children of Israel, preaching good tidings of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)— ³⁷That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judæa, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; ³⁷that saying ye yourselves know, which was published throughout all Judæa, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; ³⁸even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. ³⁸How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. ³⁹And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom also they slew, hanging him on a tree. ³⁹And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: ⁴⁰Him God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made manifest, ⁴⁰Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; ⁴¹Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴¹not to all the people, but unto witnesses that were chosen before of God, even to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴²And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. ⁴²And he charged us to preach unto the people, and to testify that this is he who is ordained of God to be the Judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. ⁴³To him bear all the prophets witness, that through his name every one that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 8.12-20

¹²Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

¹²Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life. ¹³The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. ¹³The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest witness of thyself; thy witness is not true. ¹⁴Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. ¹⁴Jesus answered and said unto them, Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye know not whence I come, or whither I go. ¹⁵Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. ¹⁵Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. ¹⁶And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. ¹⁶Yea and if I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. ¹⁷Yea and in your law it is written, that the witness of two men is true. ¹⁷It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. ¹⁸I am he that beareth witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. ¹⁸I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. ¹⁹Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. ¹⁹They said therefore unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father: if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also. ²⁰These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come. ²⁰These words spake he in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man took him; because his hour was not yet come.