Monday, 16 June 2025

Monday of the 2nd week after Pentecost

57 days after Pascha · Tone 8 · Liturgy · Apostles Fast

Beginning of Apostles' Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Hieromartyr Tigrius the Presbyter and Martyr Eutropius the Reader

The Hieromartyr Tigrius and the Martyr Eutropius were contemporaries and friends of Saint John Chrysostom and were numbered among his clergy in Constantinople. The presbyter Tigrius was a mild and kindly pastor and a former slave who had been freed for his virtues, while Eutropius the reader was distinguished for his prudence and the purity of his life. When Saint John Chrysostom was driven from his see and sent into exile in 404, Tigrius and Eutropius were arrested as his partisans and accused of having set fire to the cathedral and to the buildings of the senators who opposed him. Tigrius was put to torture, beaten with leather thongs, and banished to Mesopotamia, where he died in prison. Eutropius was flogged, suspended from a pillar, struck with iron rods and cast into prison, and when the torments were renewed he gave up his soul to God. Their bodies were buried by the faithful and their memory was kept by the Church which Saint John had served.

Saint Tikhon of Lukh, Wonderworker of Kostroma

Saint Tikhon of Lukh was born into a noble family in the principality of Lithuania at the end of the fifteenth century. Refusing to accept the Roman confession then being pressed upon his homeland, he left his country and entered the service of the Orthodox prince Theodore Belsky, settling with him in the Russian lands. Receiving monastic tonsure with the name Tikhon, he withdrew into the wilderness of the Kostroma diocese in the region of Lukh, building a cell on the bank of the Kopytovka river. When two monks, Photius and Gerasimus, came to share his solitude, he moved three versts further into the forest to a more remote place. He copied books with great skill and was a fine turner of wood, supporting himself and his brethren by the work of his hands. Saint Tikhon fell asleep in the Lord on 16 June 1503 in such poverty that his disciples scarcely knew how to bury him. After his death the monastery of Saint Nicholas was built on the site of his labours, and in 1569 healings began at his grave, where his relics were found incorrupt.

Saint Tychon the Wonderworker, Bishop of Amathus

He was born to pious Christian parents on Cyprus. Known for his piety and purity of life, he was became a clergyman, then was made Bishop of Amathus by St Epiphanios (May 12). He served faithfully as bishop in Cyprus for many years, finally reposing in peace. At this time there were still many pagans in Cyprus, and he worked tirelessly as a missionary among them, bringing many to the Faith. He was known as a wonder-worker from his youth. “His father was a baker, and whenever his father left him alone in the shop, he would distribute the bread to the poor without payment. His father reproached him once for doing this, so he prayed to God and their storehouse became so full of grain that they could open the door only with difficulty.” (Prologue) Once he planted a dry slip from a grapevine, and it miraculously turned green and bore fruit. After his repose, on his feast day the vine would be laden with unripe grapes, as usual for this time of year; but during the Divine Liturgy, the grapes would become fully ripened.

Holy Martyrs Tigrios and Eutropios

404

When St John Chrysostom was exiled, the Great Church caught fire and was destroyed. Most of the people saw this as a judgment upon the City for exiling the holy Archbishop; but St John’s enemies tried to blame his followers and persecuted them fiercely. Two of these loyal followers were Tigrios, a priest, and Eutropios, a reader. Tigrios had been a slave in his youth and was a eunuch; but once he was freed he had given his life selflessly to the service of the Church. The governor, Optatius, had Tigrios viciously tortured, then sent him into exile in Mesopotamia, where he died in captivity. Eutropios, another pure and holy servant of the Church, was flogged with whips and rods, then hanged. Christians carrying his body for burial heard a beautiful angelic chanting in the sky above them.

Also commemorated: St Tycho, Bishop of Amathus

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Romans — Romans 2.28-3.18

²⁸For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: ²⁸For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: ²⁹but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. ²⁹But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

¹What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision?

¹What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? ²Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the oracles of God. ²Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. ³For what if some were without faith? shall their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God? ³For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? ⁴God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. ⁴God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. ⁵But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)

⁵But if our unrighteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? (I speak after the manner of men.) ⁶God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? ⁶God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? ⁷For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? ⁷But if the truth of God through my lie abounded unto his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? ⁸and why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? whose condemnation is just. ⁸And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

⁹What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin;

⁹What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; ¹⁰As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: ¹⁰as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. ¹¹There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God; ¹²They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. ¹²They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one: ¹³Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: ¹³Their throat is an open sepulchre; With their tongues they have used deceit: The poison of asps is under their lips: ¹⁴Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: ¹⁴Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: ¹⁵Their feet are swift to shed blood: ¹⁵Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways; ¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways: ¹⁷And the way of peace have they not known: ¹⁷And the way of peace have they not known: ¹⁸There is no fear of God before their eyes. ¹⁸There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 6.31-34, 7.9-11

³¹Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³¹Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³²For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. ³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. ³³But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³³But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³⁴Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. ³⁴Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. ⁹Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? ⁹Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; ¹⁰Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹⁰or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? ¹¹If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?