Saturday, 31 May 2025

Saturday of the 6th Sunday of Pascha

41 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Apostle Hermas of the Seventy

The Holy Apostle Hermas was one of the Seventy Apostles whom the Lord Jesus Christ chose and sent forth to preach the Gospel. A Greek by birth who spent some time in Rome, he is greeted by name by the holy Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans, where the Apostle to the Gentiles writes, "Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them" (Romans 16 verse 14). After labouring with the Apostles in the spread of the faith, Hermas was set apart as bishop of Philippopolis in Thrace, where he preached the Gospel, ordained presbyters, and confirmed the faithful in the doctrine of Christ. According to the synaxarion he was wealthy in his earlier years but lost his fortune through the sins of his sons, and he ended his life by martyrdom for the name of the Lord. Some have ascribed to him the celebrated work known as the Shepherd of Hermas, an early Christian apocalyptic and moral treatise widely read in the Church of the second century, although other ancient testimony assigns that book to a later Hermas of Rome. Saint Hermas is commemorated on 31 May and on 4 January among the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles.

Holy Martyr Hermeias of Comana

The Holy Martyr Hermeias suffered for Christ in the city of Comana in Cappadocia during the persecution under the emperor Antoninus Pius (138 to 161). An aged soldier of the Roman armies, he was brought before the governor Sebastian, who had come into the province to arrest the Christians, and who urged him to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, promising imperial honours and rewards. The old soldier confessed Christ openly. He was beaten on the face until the skin was torn from his cheeks, and was then cast into a red-hot furnace; when after three days the furnace was opened, Saint Hermeias was found alive and unharmed. The governor next summoned a sorcerer named Marus, who prepared two strong potions of poison, but neither did the saint any harm; the sorcerer himself, seeing the power of the Lord, confessed Christ and was at once beheaded. The saint was then mangled with iron hooks, plunged into boiling oil, and his eyes gouged out, all of which he bore with thanksgiving to the Lord; he was hanged upside down for three days, but the Lord preserved his life. At last the maddened Sebastian beheaded him with his own sword. Christians took his body for burial, and from his relics flowed many healings.

Holy Martyrs Eusebius and Haralambos

The Holy Martyrs Eusebius and Haralambos are commemorated on 31 May in the synaxaria of the Greek Church together with the Holy Martyr Hermeias of Comana. According to the brief notices preserved in the Synaxaristes, both suffered for the confession of Christ in the early centuries of the Christian persecutions and were put to death by the sword. Although the fuller details of their lives and the cities of their contest have been lost in the passage of time, their names have been retained by the Church in her hymns and prayers on this day, that the faithful may share by prayer in their good confession. They are honoured among that great cloud of witnesses, named and unnamed, who in every place and age have laid down their lives for the love of Christ; their commemoration on the last day of May, together with the holy Apostle Hermas and the Martyr Hermeias, makes the conclusion of this month of springtime a feast of those who, by their blood, watered the seed of the Gospel in many lands.

Saint Petronilla of Rome, Virgin

Saint Petronilla, called Aurelia Petronilla, was an early Christian virgin of the Roman Church, venerated from antiquity at her tomb on the Via Ardeatina south of the city, where she was buried in the catacomb of Domitilla. Ancient tradition holds that she was a spiritual daughter of the holy Apostle Peter, who is said to have cured her of a fever or palsy by his prayer; some accounts make her his bodily daughter, but the better witness is that she belonged by blood to the Roman family of the Aurelii, and was a younger kinswoman of those Christian Flavii from whom Domitilla came. She gave herself wholly to the Lord, refusing the marriage proposals of a noble pagan suitor named Flaccus, fasted and prayed for three days, and on the third day, having received the Holy Mysteries, she gave up her soul to God. Her relics were transferred in the eighth century to a chapel in the Vatican basilica, where they continue to be honoured. The Orthodox Church honours her among the holy Roman virgins on 31 May.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 20.7-12

⁷And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

⁷And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight. ⁸And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. ⁸And there were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together. ⁹And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. ⁹And there sat in the window a certain young man named Eutychus, borne down with deep sleep; and as Paul discoursed yet longer, being borne down by his sleep he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead. ¹⁰And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. ¹⁰And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Make ye no ado; for his life is in him. ¹¹When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. ¹¹And when he was gone up, and had broken the bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. ¹²And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted. ¹²And they brought the lad alive, and were not a little comforted.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 14.10-21

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. ¹²Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. ¹²Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. ¹³And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹³And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If ye shall ask anything in my name, that will I do. ¹⁴If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

¹⁵If ye love me, keep my commandments. ¹⁵If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, ¹⁶And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ¹⁷even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you. ¹⁷Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you. ¹⁸I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. ¹⁹Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also. ¹⁹Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. ²⁰At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. ²⁰In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. ²¹He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him. ²¹He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.