Friday, 30 May 2025

Friday of the 6th Sunday of Pascha

40 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Liturgy · Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Saint Exuperantius, Bishop of Ravenna

Saint Exuperantius was the twelfth bishop of Ravenna, the imperial seat of the Western Roman emperors in the time of his episcopate, ruling that important see for some six years until his repose about the year 418. He was raised to the episcopal throne in the difficult years following the sack of Rome by Alaric the Goth in 410, when Italy was full of refugees from the wars and ravages of the barbarians, and the city of Ravenna had become the residence of the Emperor Honorius. As bishop he gave himself unceasingly to the relief of the poor, the ransom of captives, the protection of his flock, and the strengthening of the faith in the face of Arian incursions among the Gothic peoples. He laboured to maintain the unity of the Church and to support the orthodox profession of faith confessed at Nicaea. He reposed in peace and was buried in his cathedral church at Ravenna, where his memory was kept with honour by the local faithful. The Orthodox Church remembers him among the holy hierarchs of the West on 30 May.

Saint Felix the First, Pope of Rome

Saint Felix the First was Pope of Rome from 5 January 269 until his repose, and in the synaxaria of the Orthodox Church he is honoured on 30 May. A Roman by birth, Felix succeeded Saint Dionysius in the chair of the apostle Peter and ruled the Roman Church through years of comparative peace under the emperors Claudius II and Aurelian. The chief act of his pontificate was his vigorous opposition to the heresy of Paul of Samosata, the deposed bishop of Antioch, who had denied the true divinity of the Word made flesh. Saint Felix wrote a dogmatic letter to Bishop Maximus of Alexandria affirming the unity of the Person of the Saviour, the Word incarnate, and the consubstantial divinity of the Son with the Father. When Paul, condemned by a synod, refused to vacate the cathedral church of Antioch, Saint Felix appealed through the emperor Aurelian, who ruled that the church should be given to him whom the bishops of Italy and of Rome judged to be in communion with the Catholic Church, and so Paul was at last expelled. Saint Felix is recorded in the ancient martyrologies and was buried in the catacomb of Callixtus on the Appian Way. He reposed about the year 274.

Saint Walstan of Bawburgh

Saint Walstan was born about the year 975 in the village of Bawburgh in Norfolk in eastern England, the son of pious parents named Benedict and Blide who, according to local tradition, were of the kindred of the West Saxon royal house. From his youth he was given to a life of prayer, chastity, and labour, and refusing the comforts of his rank he went out at the age of twelve to seek work as a hired man on the lands of a farmer named Nalga at Taverham. There he laboured for the rest of his life as a simple farm worker, gaining a great reputation for hard work, charity to the poor, and gentleness to beasts. Whatever wages he received he immediately divided with those poorer than himself; he gave away even the new shoes from his feet to a beggar, and his cloak to one who had none. Tradition records that an angel revealed to him that his death was approaching, and on 30 May 1016, while at his work in the harvest fields of Taverham, he gave up his soul to God. As his body was carried home springs of water broke forth at the places where his cart paused, and many sick afterwards received healing at his tomb at Bawburgh. He is honoured as the patron of farmers, farm-workers, and their animals throughout East Anglia.

Venerable Isaac the Confessor, Founder of the Dalmaton Monastery

Saint Isaac the Confessor lived in the fourth century in the reign of the emperor Valens (364 to 378), an adherent of the Arian heresy. From his youth Isaac had withdrawn to the desert and lived as a hermit, but when he learned that Valens was driving the Orthodox bishops from their sees and giving the churches into the hands of the Arians, he left his solitude and came to Constantinople. Going out to meet the emperor as he was setting out for the war against the Goths, Saint Isaac three times took hold of the bridle of the emperor's horse and cried, "Emperor, reopen the churches of the Orthodox, and the Lord will help you in your campaign." Twice the emperor passed by; on the third time he had Isaac thrown into a pit, but the saint emerged unharmed and prophesied that Valens would perish in fire if he did not give the churches back. Valens fell in battle at Adrianople in 378 and was burned in a barn where he had taken refuge, just as the saint had foretold. The succeeding emperor, Theodosius the Great, restored the Orthodox to their churches, and a wealthy aristocrat named Saturninus built a monastery for Saint Isaac at Constantinople, over which the saint was made first abbot. At the end of his life he committed the rule of the house to his disciple Dalmatus, after whom the monastery thereafter took its name. He reposed in peace about the year 383.

St Macrina, grandmother of St Basil the Great

4th c.

“The grandmother of St Basil the Great, she was outstanding for her intellect and piety. She was a disciple of St Gregory the Wonder-worker of Neocaesarea. In the reign of Diocletian, she abandoned her home and hid in the forests and desert places with her husband, Basil. Although their home was confiscated, they felt no pangs of regret. Stripped of everything except their love for God, they settled in an ancient forest and spent seven years there. By God’s providence, goats would come down from the mountains and provide them with food. They both died peacefully in the fourth century, after great sufferings for the Christian faith.” (Prologue)

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 19.1-8

¹And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

¹And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples: ²He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. ²and he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed? And they said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was given. ³And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. ³And he said, Into what then were ye baptized? And they said, Into John’s baptism. ⁴Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. ⁴And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus. ⁵When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁵And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. ⁶And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. ⁷And they were in all about twelve men. ⁷And all the men were about twelve. ⁸And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.

⁸And he entered into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, reasoning and persuading as to the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 14.1-11

¹Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

¹Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ²In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. ⁴And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. ⁴And whither I go, ye know the way. ⁵Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? ⁵Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way? ⁶Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. ⁶Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ⁷If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. ⁷If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. ⁸Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. ⁸Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. ⁹Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? ⁹Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father? ¹⁰Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. ¹⁰Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.