Monday, 28 July 2025

Monday of the 8th week after Pentecost

99 days after Pascha · Tone 6 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy apostles and deacons Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon and Parmenas of the Seventy

The four holy apostles Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon and Parmenas were among the seven men chosen by the apostles in the early days of the Church at Jerusalem to serve at table and to relieve the apostles for the ministry of the word and prayer. Together with Stephen, Philip and Nicolaus, they were ordained to the diaconate by the laying-on of hands of the Twelve, as the book of Acts records. All four were filled with the Holy Spirit and went forth to preach the Gospel.

Prochorus was a companion and disciple of the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian, sharing his exile on the island of Patmos and writing down at his dictation the Gospel and Apocalypse, according to ancient tradition. He is held to have become bishop of Nicomedia in Bithynia and to have suffered martyrdom at Antioch. Nicanor was killed at Jerusalem on the same day as the holy archdeacon Stephen, in the persecution that followed Stephen's death. Timon became bishop of Bostra in Arabia and was thrown into a furnace by the pagans, from which he came forth unharmed and was finally crucified for Christ. Parmenas served the church of Macedonia and reposed in peace, worn out by his long apostolic labours, in the presence of the apostles. The four are commemorated together on 28 July.

Holy martyr Eustathius of Galatia, of Ancyra

Saint Eustathius was a Roman soldier of Galatia in Asia Minor who suffered martyrdom under the emperor Maximian at the close of the third or beginning of the fourth century. A native of the village of Marathon near Ancyra, he was a Christian from his youth and served Christ even within the legions, refusing to take part in the sacrifices ordered for the troops. When his confession was reported to the local commander, he was arrested and brought to the city. Subjected to severe tortures, including the breaking of his bones, the burning of his sides with torches and immersion in boiling pitch, he was strengthened in each ordeal by the appearance of an angel of the Lord. The judge, unable to break his constancy, sent him in chains to Nicaea, where he was thrown into the river. Witnesses testified that he walked upon the water, was beheaded only after he had finished his prayer, and that his body was carried by the stream to a place where Christians could recover it for honourable burial. The Church keeps his commemoration on 28 July.

Venerable Acacius the new of Mount Latros

Saint Acacius was a monk of Mount Latros, the great monastic mountain of western Asia Minor, in the eleventh century. From his youth he loved the things of God and entered one of the lavras of the holy mountain, where he was tonsured and trained in obedience under a wise elder. He surpassed his companions in fasting, vigil, and the warfare of the spirit, eating only every second or third day and sleeping for short hours upon the bare ground. After many years in the community he was permitted to retire to a hermit's cell among the high rocks of Latros, where he gave himself to unceasing prayer. The Lord granted him the gift of tears, the discernment of thoughts, and the working of healings. Many came to him from the surrounding country with their afflictions, and the elder, while loving silence, did not refuse to bring help by his prayers and counsel. He reposed in peace at a great age, and his relics were honoured by the brotherhood of the mountain. The Church remembers him on 28 July among the venerable fathers.

Venerable Irene, abbess of Chrysovalantou

Saint Irene was born in Cappadocia in the ninth century, of a noble Christian family. After the death of the empress Theodora the regent and the betrothal of her son the young emperor Michael III, the imperial servants were sent throughout the empire to find a suitable bride for him, and the maidens chosen for their beauty were brought to Constantinople. Irene was among them, but on her journey she was met by Saint Joannicius the Great on Mount Olympus of Bithynia, who, knowing the secrets of her heart, told her that she had been chosen by the heavenly King and not by the earthly. By the time she reached Constantinople another bride had already been chosen, and Irene asked to be admitted to the women's monastery of Chrysovalantou near the capital.

She advanced quickly in obedience and ascetic struggle, spending whole nights in prayer with her arms extended and her body so still that it seemed without breath. Through the gifts granted to her she was made abbess by the brethren, and led the community for many years in the spirit of the desert. She was favoured with visions of the saints, with the gift of foreknowledge, and with the conversion of sinners; the apostle John the Theologian appeared to her in particular as her heavenly protector. She reposed in great old age, having governed the monastery to her last hours, and is invoked especially by women who suffer in childlessness or in the difficulties of the family.

Venerable Paul of Xeropotamou

Saint Paul was the son of the emperor Michael I Rangabe of Byzantium and was born around 800. After the deposition of his father in 813 the imperial children, including Paul (whose original name was Procopius), were tonsured and dispersed to various monasteries to remove them as possible claimants to the throne. Paul was educated in the imperial city, where he became known for the depth of his learning, and as a young man wrote a treatise in defence of the Mother of God against the heretics. The fame of his life of prayer reached the emperor, who summoned him to court, but he soon withdrew to Mount Athos, drawn by the desert. There he founded the monastery of Xeropotamou, "of the dry stream," which still bears his name, and a little later, with imperial help, the monastery of Saint Paul on the south-western slope of the Holy Mountain. Both communities became great centres of asceticism and learning. Saint Paul governed his brethren with humility, fasting, and unceasing prayer, and refused to receive ordination to the priesthood from a sense of his unworthiness. He reposed at Xeropotamou about 820, having delivered up his soul peacefully in the presence of his disciples. He is venerated as one of the founding fathers of the great Athonite tradition.

Also commemorated: Apostles of 70 Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 9.13-18

¹³Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? ¹³Know ye not that they that minister about sacred things eat of the things of the temple, and they that wait upon the altar have their portion with the altar? ¹⁴Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. ¹⁴Even so did the Lord ordain that they that proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel. ¹⁵But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. ¹⁵But I have used none of these things: and I write not these things that it may be so done in my case; for it were good for me rather to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. ¹⁶For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! ¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel. ¹⁷For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. ¹⁷For if I do this of mine own will, I have a reward: but if not of mine own will, I have a stewardship intrusted to me. ¹⁸What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. ¹⁸What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the gospel.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 16.1-6

¹The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.

¹And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and trying him asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ²He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. ²But he answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the heaven is red. ³And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? ³And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day: for the heaven is red and lowering. Ye know how to discern the face of the heaven; but ye cannot discern the signs of the times. ⁴A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed. ⁴An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of Jonah. And he left them, and departed. ⁵And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.

⁵And the disciples came to the other side and forgot to take bread.

⁶Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. ⁶And Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.