Thursday, 28 May 2026

St Nicetas, Bishop of Chalcedon; St Ignaty, Bishop of Rostov

Thursday of the 7th Sunday of Pascha

46 days after Pascha · Tone 6 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Eutychius, Bishop of Melitene

The Hieromartyr Eutychius was a fellow worker with the holy Apostles and is numbered among the disciples of the apostolic generation. According to ancient tradition he was instructed in the Christian faith by the Apostles themselves and was set apart by them as bishop of the city of Melitene in Armenia Minor, where he laboured to convert the pagans and to confirm the faithful in the doctrine of Christ. During the persecutions of the first century, while still in his old age, he came forward boldly before the ruler of the city, refused to offer sacrifice to the idols, and openly confessed Jesus Christ as the true God and Saviour of mankind. For this confession he was subjected to many torments and was at last cast into the sea, where he gave up his soul to God. The Canon of Saint Joseph the Hymnographer composed in his honour records that his relics were venerated in Constantinople, and that he had been instructed by the apostles of Christ and preached the word of salvation. The Orthodox Church keeps his memory on 28 May.

Hieromartyr Helladius, Bishop in the East

The Hieromartyr Helladius was a bishop in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire who suffered a martyric death for his confession of Christ. According to one tradition he endured under the Persians during their invasion of the eastern provinces in the fourth century, while other sources place him in the sixth or seventh century. He was first cast into a fire by his persecutors, but he came out unharmed by the prayers and grace of God. The pagans then turned to other torments and beat him with such cruelty that he gave up his soul to the Lord under their blows. The service appointed for his feast records that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself visited Saint Helladius in prison and healed his wounds, strengthening him for the contest. Although the details of his life have been lost, the Orthodox Church preserves his memory on 28 May among the company of the holy hieromartyrs, and asks his prayers for those who confess Christ in days of persecution.

Saint Andrew the Fool-for-Christ of Constantinople

Blessed Andrew the Fool-for-Christ was a Slav by birth, born among the Scythians and brought as a slave to Constantinople in the days of the emperor Leo VI the Wise (886 to 912), where he served in the household of the protospatharios Theognostus. From childhood he was given to prayer and to the reading of holy books, and when his master sent him to be educated, he made great progress. The Lord called him to the great and unusual ascetic labour of folly for Christ, and Saint Andrew, in obedience to that call, feigned madness, was driven from his master's house, and lived as a wanderer in the streets of Constantinople, suffering cold, hunger, mockery, and beatings, while in secret he was elevated to lofty visions of the heavenly things. With his disciple, the blessed Epiphanius, he beheld in the church of Blachernae the Most Holy Mother of God spreading her veil in protection over the people at prayer; this vision is the foundation of the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God. Saint Andrew reposed at Constantinople about the year 936 at the age of sixty-six. The Greek Church commemorates him on 28 May, the Slavic Church on 2 October.

Saint Nicetas the Confessor, Bishop of Chalcedon

Saint Nicetas the Confessor lived in the second half of the eighth century and the early ninth, and was elected to the episcopal throne of Chalcedon, the city across the Bosphorus from Constantinople where the Fourth Ecumenical Council had been held. As bishop he was distinguished above all by his charity to the poor, his hospitality to travellers, and his fatherly care for orphans and widows; he was known as a fearless intercessor for those who suffered injustice. When the iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813 to 820) renewed the persecution of the holy icons, depriving Orthodox bishops of their sees and demanding that they renounce the veneration of images, Saint Nicetas firmly resisted the imperial decree, denounced the iconoclast heresy, and exhorted his flock to reverence the holy icons of Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints. For this confession he was subjected to tortures and exiled from his city. He bore his sufferings with patience and reposed in exile at the beginning of the ninth century. From his relics flowed many miracles of healing, and the Orthodox Church honours him among the holy confessors of the icons.

Also commemorated: St Ignaty, Bishop of Rostov

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 25.13-19

¹³And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Cæsarea to salute Festus. ¹⁴And when they had been there many days, Festus declared Paul’s cause unto the king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix: ¹⁵About whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him. ¹⁶To whom I answered, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him. ¹⁷Therefore, when they were come hither, without any delay on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be brought forth. ¹⁸Against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed: ¹⁹But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 16.23-33

²³And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. ²⁴Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. ²⁵These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. ²⁶At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: ²⁷For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. ²⁸I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. ²⁹His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. ³⁰Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. ³¹Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? ³²Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. ³³These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.