Saturday, 24 May 2025

Saturday of the 5th Sunday of Pascha

34 days after Pascha · Tone 4 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Saint Symeon the Stylite of the Wonderful Mountain, the Younger

596

He was born in Antioch in 522. His father, John, died in an earthquake, leaving him to be raised by his mother Martha. From his earliest childhood he lived a very ascetic life and was under special protection and guidance of St John the Baptist, who often appeared to him. He became a monk as a young man and, after a vision of the Lord, who appeared to him as a handsome youth and filled his heart to overflowing with love for Christ, he ascended onto a pillar, where he stayed for eighteen years, praying and singing psalms. He then went to the mountain called ‘Wonderful’, where he lived alone in a barren place for ten years; he then ascended another pillar, where he remained in extreme hardship for forty-five years. During this time he became known as a wonder-worker and visionary: the Prologue says ‘The measure of his love for God was such that rare grace was given him, by the help of which he was able to heal every sort of illness, tame wild beasts and perceive the most distant regions of the earth and the hearts of men. He was taken out of the body and saw the heavens, conversed with angels, harried the demons, prophesied, spent thirty days at a time without sleep and even longer without food, receiving nourishment at the hands of angels.’ He reposed at the age of 85; seventy-nine years of his life had been spent in asceticism.

Holy Martyr Meletius the Stratelates

The Holy Martyr Meletius the Stratelates, that is, military commander, served in the Roman armies in Galatia in Asia Minor during the reign of the emperor Antoninus Pius (138 to 161). A fervent Christian, he prayed continually that God would enlighten the unbelievers and bring an end to pagan error. By the power of his prayer, the demons that dwelt in the pagan temples were driven into stray dogs, which began to howl through the country and to terrify the inhabitants; Saint Meletius and his soldiers, also Christians, hunted these maddened dogs and razed the idol temples. Arrested for this and brought before the governor Maximian, Meletius refused to sacrifice to the idols and was subjected to many tortures before being hanged upon a tree, thus completing his martyrdom. With him suffered the tribunes Stephen and John, beheaded for the same confession; the martyrs Theodore and Faustus, given over to the fire; the wives Marciana, Susanna and Palladia; and the infants Cyriacus and Christian; and a great host of one thousand two hundred and eighteen soldiers with women and children, all of whom together attained the crown of martyrdom on this day.

Saint Nicetas the Stylite, Wonderworker of Pereyaslavl

Saint Nicetas the Stylite of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky was, in his earlier life, a tax collector of his city who, taking advantage of his office, oppressed the people and amassed unjust wealth. One day, going into church, he heard the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings; relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow," and these words pierced his heart with such force that he was unable to sleep for grief over his sins. Distributing all his goods to the poor, he came as a penitent to the monastery of Saint Demetrius in Pereyaslavl, where the abbot put him to a long trial. After working three days at the threshold of the monastery, he stood naked in a marshy place to be stung by gnats and mosquitoes, and was at last received as a monk. He then dug himself a deep pit beside the monastery wall and stood upon a stone within it, bound with heavy chains, becoming a stylite of the Russian land. The Lord granted him gifts of healing and clairvoyance. On the night of 24 May 1186 some kinsmen, supposing his iron chains to be silver, broke into his cell and slew him. Coming to themselves on the bank of the Volga, they discovered that the chains were only iron and cast them away in shame; the chains were later found by fishermen and brought back to glorify the holy martyr.

Saint Vincent of Lerins

Saint Vincent of Lerins was a Gallic monk and theologian who reposed about the year 445. He was born at Toul in north-eastern Gaul, the brother of Saint Lupus of Troyes, and after a period of military service he withdrew to the island monastery of Lerins, founded by Saint Honoratus off the coast of Provence. There he was tonsured, ordained to the priesthood, and devoted himself to a life of prayer, study, and the discernment of true doctrine. About the year 434, three years after the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus had condemned Nestorius, he wrote under the pen-name Peregrinus his celebrated Commonitorium, a manual against the heresies of his day. In it he laid down the rule by which the Catholic faith may be distinguished from novelties, that we are to hold to that which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all, the famous Vincentian canon (Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus). He defended the title Theotokos for the Mother of God and confessed the unity of the Person of Christ in two natures. The Orthodox Church honours him among the holy Fathers of the West and keeps his memory on 24 May.

Our Holy Father Nikita Stylites

1186

As a youth, he was heedless and corrupt; but one day he entered a church and heard the words of Isaiah, ‘Wash you, make you clean’ (Is. 1:16). His life changed completely: he left his family and property to enter a monastery near Pereyaslavl, where he took on a life of severe asceticism. He wore chains and (in the words of the Prologue) ‘shut himself up in a pillar’, for which he was called the Stylite. He was granted the gift of healing and by his prayers restored many who came to him, including Michael, Prince of Chernigov, whom he healed of palsy. Some thieves, seeing his chains and thinking that they were made of silver, killed him one night and made off with the chains. Soon afterward, Saint Nikita appeared to an elder named Simeon and told him to put the chains with him in his grave when they were found.

Also commemorated: Ven. Simeon the Stylite · Ven. Nikita the Stylite

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 15.35-41

³⁵Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. ³⁵But Paul and Barnabas tarried in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

³⁶And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.

³⁶And after some days Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us return now and visit the brethren in every city wherein we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they fare. ³⁷And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. ³⁷And Barnabas was minded to take with them John also, who was called Mark. ³⁸But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. ³⁸But Paul thought not good to take with them him who withdrew from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. ³⁹And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; ³⁹And there arose a sharp contention, so that they parted asunder one from the other, and Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed away unto Cyprus: ⁴⁰And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. ⁴⁰but Paul chose Silas, and went forth, being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. ⁴¹And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 10.27-38

²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: ²⁸And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. ²⁸and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. ²⁹My Father, who hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰I and my Father are one. ³⁰I and the Father are one. ³¹The Jews took up stones again to stone him. ³¹Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. ³²Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? ³²Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from the Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? ³³The Jews answered him, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. ³³The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. ³⁴Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? ³⁴Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? ³⁵If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; ³⁵If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), ³⁶Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? ³⁶say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? ³⁷If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. ³⁷If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. ³⁸But if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. ³⁸But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.