Sunday, 31 May 2026

8th Sunday of Pascha: Feast of the Holy Trinity

49 days after Pascha · Tone 7 · Major feast Lord · 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 2.1-11

¹And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ²And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. ³And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. ⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. ⁵And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. ⁶Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. ⁷And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilæans? ⁸And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? ⁹Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 7.37-52, 8.12

³⁷In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. ³⁸He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ³⁹(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

⁴⁰Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. ⁴¹Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? ⁴²Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? ⁴³So there was a division among the people because of him. ⁴⁴And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.

⁴⁵Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? ⁴⁶The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. ⁴⁷Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? ⁴⁸Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? ⁴⁹But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. ⁵⁰Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) ⁵¹Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? ⁵²They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.

¹²Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Vespers

Numbers — Numbers 11.16-17, 24-29

¹⁶And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. ¹⁷And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

²⁴And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. ²⁵And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. ²⁶But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. ²⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. ²⁹And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

Vespers

Joel — Joel 2.23-32

²³Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. ²⁴And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. ²⁵And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. ²⁶And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. ²⁷And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

²⁸And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: ²⁹And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. ³⁰And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. ³¹The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. ³²And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Vespers

Ezekiel — Ezekiel 36.24-28

²⁴For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

²⁵Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. ²⁶A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. ²⁷And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. ²⁸And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Matins Gospel

John — John 20.19-23

¹⁹Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. ²⁰And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. ²¹Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. ²²And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: ²³Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.