Friday, 22 May 2026

Martyr Basiliscus, Bishop of Comana

Friday of the 6th Sunday of Pascha

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

Saints commemorated

Holy Fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council

381

The Second Ecumenical Council was convened in Constantinople in the year 381, in the reign of the emperor Theodosius the Great. The Council met from May to July in the Church of Hagia Irene with one hundred and fifty Orthodox bishops in attendance, among whom were Saints Gregory the Theologian, who presided over a portion of its sessions, Gregory of Nyssa, Meletius of Antioch, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Amphilochius of Iconium. The Council consolidated the victory of Orthodoxy attained at the First Ecumenical Council in 325 by condemning the heresies of Macedonius, who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, of Apollinarius, who denied the full humanity of Christ, and of the followers of Eunomius and Sabellius. The Fathers expanded the Symbol of Faith of Nicaea by adding the articles concerning the Holy Spirit, producing the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed which the Orthodox Church confesses to this day. They also issued seven canons regulating the order of the Church, including the canon establishing the See of Constantinople as second in honour after Rome. The Holy Fathers of this Council are commemorated each year on 22 May.

Holy Martyr Basiliscus, Bishop of Comana

He was from Amasea on the Black Sea, and was a nephew of St Theodore the Tyro (February 17). He was a fellow-martyr of Eutropius and Cleonicus (March 3), but is commemorated because, after they were crucified, he was shut in prison. A new governor replaced the one who had killed Basiliscus’ companions, and Basiliscus prayed in tears that he not be deprived of a martyr’s death. The Lord Jesus appeared to him, promised that his prayer would be answered, and told him to go to his village to say farewell to his mother and brothers. The new governor, Agrippa, sent soldiers to the village and had Basiliscus brought back to him. On the way to Amasea, many wonders were worked throught the Saint, and many were brought to Christ. Brought before the governor, Basiliscus again refused to worship the idols or deny Christ: he was beheaded in Comana and his body thrown into the river. Upon the holy Saint’s execution, Agrippa instantly went mad, remaining so until he smeared himself with some of the Martyr’s blood, which immediately healed him. Convinced by this wonder of the truth of the Faith, Agrippa was baptised. All of this happened during the reign of Diocletian.

Holy Martyrs Marcellus and Codratus

The Holy Martyrs Marcellus and Codratus suffered for Christ during the persecutions of the early Church and are commemorated together on 22 May. Saint Marcellus was put to death by being placed in molten lead, which the pagan persecutors poured upon him so that he might apostatise; refusing to deny Christ, he gave up his soul to the Lord under this most cruel torment. Saint Codratus, also called Quadratus, was bound to wild horses and dragged across rough ground until he expired, his body torn and broken for the sake of his Saviour. Both martyrs are remembered together with the Holy Martyr Basiliscus of Comana on this day, their names preserved in the synaxaria of the Greek and Slavonic Churches. Their courage in the face of these terrible torments made them a pattern of patience and faith for the early Christians and confirmed the witness of those martyrs whose blood became, in the words of Tertullian, the seed of the Church.

Saint John-Vladimir, Prince of Serbia

Saint John-Vladimir, also known as Jovan Vladimir, was born around 990 and ruled Duklja, the most powerful Serbian principality of his time, from about the year 1000 until his martyric death in 1015. He came of a princely family from Zahumlje, his grandfather Hvalimir and his father Petrislav having ruled before him. Tradition remembers him as a wise and merciful ruler, meek, chaste and courageous, fervent in prayer, and a devoted builder and benefactor of churches. When Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria conquered Duklja around 1010, John-Vladimir was taken prisoner. According to a medieval chronicle, Samuel's daughter Theodora Kosara fell in love with him and begged her father for his hand; the Tsar consented to the marriage and restored Duklja to John-Vladimir, who ruled thereafter as Samuel's son-in-law. After Samuel's death he was summoned for talks with the new Bulgarian Tsar John-Vladislav and, having received a guarantee of safe conduct sealed by an Orthodox bishop with a wooden cross, he travelled to meet him. He was treacherously murdered at the entrance to a church on 22 May 1015 and was soon recognised as a martyr and saint, the first Serbian saint and the patron of Bar in Montenegro.

Righteous Melchizedek, king of Salem.

He was a “priest of the most high God” (Genesis 14:18-20), who blessed our Forefather Abraham and “brought forth bread and wine,” prefiguring the Holy Eucharist, centuries before the Law was given to Moses or Christ became incarnate. The Epistle to the Hebrews (ch. 7) reveals Melchizedek, the Priest-King, to be a type of Christ.

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, 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. ³And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto 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. ⁵When they heard this, they were baptized in 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. 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.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 14.1-11

¹Let not your heart be troubled: ye 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. 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. ⁴And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. ⁵Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 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 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. 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? 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. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.