Thursday, 31 July 2025

Forefeast of the Procession of the Lifegiving Cross

Thursday of the 8th week after Pentecost

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

Saints commemorated

★ Holy righteous Eudocimus of Cappadocia

Saint Eudocimus was born in Cappadocia in the early ninth century, of pious Christian parents named Basil and Eudocia, who were of the rank of patrician at the court of the emperor Theophilus. From his childhood he was distinguished for the love of God, the reading of the Scriptures, and the avoidance of every vain entertainment. As he grew up he was given a prominent military command in the theme of Charsiana, on the Cappadocian frontier. While administering the affairs of his province, he kept a strict rule of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, sending money privately to monasteries and to those in need, and refusing all friendship with women, his only companion in conversation being his mother.

He honoured his parents with the utmost reverence, judged the cases brought before him with strict justice, and was loved by the soldiers and the poor alike. He reposed in peace at the age of thirty-three, around 840. After eighteen months his tomb gave forth a sweet fragrance, miracles began to occur there, and his mother, hearing of these wonders, came and translated his body to Constantinople. He was numbered among the saints in the time of the empress Theodora, who venerated him as a special protector of her family. He is invoked by the faithful as a model of pure youth and of the laymen and soldiers who lived as monks in the world.

Forefeast of the procession of the precious and life-giving Cross

The first day of August is kept by the Orthodox Church as the feast of the Procession of the Precious and Life-giving Cross of the Lord. From the seventh or eighth century at Constantinople a portion of the True Cross, kept in the imperial palace, was carried in solemn procession through the city during the first two weeks of August, when the heat of summer customarily brought outbreaks of pestilence and disease. The Cross was taken from house to house and through the streets, the prayers for the consecration of the waters were read, and the people drank of the blessed water and were healed. From this practice arose both the August feast and the lesser blessing of the waters which inaugurates the Dormition Fast. The eve of the feast, 31 July, is therefore observed as its forefeast. The hymns of the day call the faithful to prepare themselves in repentance and the keeping of fast, that they may worthily receive the precious wood of the Cross which on the morrow comes forth in procession. The faithful are reminded that the Cross is the throne of the King, the weapon of peace, the unconquerable trophy, and that those who worship it are armed against every visible and invisible foe.

Holy righteous Joseph of Arimathea

Saint Joseph was a wealthy and prominent member of the Sanhedrin and a native of Arimathea, identified by ancient tradition with Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim. The Gospels describe him as "a good and just man" who was looking for the kingdom of God, a secret disciple of the Lord because of his fear of his fellow councillors. He had not consented to the counsel and deed of those who condemned Jesus to death. After the Crucifixion he came forward boldly and asked Pilate for the body of the Lord, and together with Saint Nicodemus he took it down from the Cross, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in a new tomb hewn out of the rock in his own garden, sealing the entrance with a great stone.

For this last act of love he was numbered among the holy myrrh-bearers and is honoured especially with them on the third Sunday of Pascha. According to the tradition preserved in both East and West, after the Resurrection he preached the Gospel widely. The Greek synaxaria record his missionary travels in the lands of the West; the British tradition, very ancient and embraced in the Western menologies, holds that he came to the island of Britain and built the first church at Glastonbury in honour of the Mother of God. He reposed in peace in old age. The Orthodox Church remembers him together with Nicodemus on 31 July as well as on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearers.

Saint Dionysius the rhetor, of Vatopedi

Saint Dionysius the rhetor was a learned monk and spiritual father of the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos in the seventeenth century. Born in Greek lands and educated in the schools of Constantinople, he excelled in the rhetorical and theological arts of his day, but renounced a brilliant secular career to be tonsured a monk on the Holy Mountain. There he became known for his learning, his piety, and his careful guidance of souls, and gathered around himself a number of disciples whom he instructed in the patristic spiritual tradition. He was sought as a confessor by the pious people of the surrounding countryside, particularly in the small town of Verroia and on the Aegean islands, and made several missionary journeys outside the Mountain to preach repentance, encourage the keeping of the fasts and the frequent reception of the holy mysteries, and to compose lives of saints and brief catechetical works. He returned each time to his cell at Vatopedi, where, in great old age, he reposed in peace. The Greek Church keeps his commemoration on 31 July among the Athonite fathers.

Saint Germanus, bishop of Auxerre

Saint Germanus was born about 378 of a noble Gallo-Roman family at Auxerre in central Gaul. Educated at Rome in law and rhetoric, he served with distinction as an advocate and as governor of one of the provinces of Gaul, before, around 418, the bishop Saint Amator constrained him, almost against his will, to receive ordination and named him as his successor. From the day of his consecration Germanus put off the manners of the world, gave away his wealth, took to a single tunic of coarse cloth, and adopted a rule of life in which fasting, watching, and the study of Scripture filled almost every hour. Twice, in 429 and again about 447, he was sent by the Roman bishops on mission to Britain to combat the Pelagian heresy, which was then troubling the British Church. There he confirmed the orthodox by his preaching at the great public conference of Verulamium, and is also remembered for leading the Christian Britons to the bloodless "Alleluia victory" over a raid of pagan Saxons and Picts. Returning to Gaul, he laboured untiringly for his diocese and the relief of the oppressed; he undertook a long journey to Ravenna to plead for the citizens of Armorica before the emperor Valentinian III, and reposed in that city about 448. His relics were brought back in honour to Auxerre, where his great basilica still stands. The Orthodox Church of the West has restored his commemoration on 31 July.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 10.28-11.7

²⁸But if any man say unto you, This hath been offered in sacrifice, eat not, for his sake that showed it, and for conscience’ sake: ²⁸But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: ²⁹conscience, I say, not thine own, but the other’s; for why is my liberty judged by another conscience? ²⁹Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience? ³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? ³⁰For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? ³¹Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. ³¹Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. ³²Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: ³²Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God: ³³Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. ³³even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.

¹Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

¹Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

²Now I praise you that ye remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.

²Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. ³But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. ³But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. ⁴Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. ⁴Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. ⁵But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. ⁵But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head; for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. ⁶For if a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn: but if it is a shame to a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled. ⁶For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. ⁷For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. ⁷For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 16.24-28

²⁴Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ²⁴Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ²⁵For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. ²⁵For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. ²⁶For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁶For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life? ²⁷For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then shall he render unto every man according to his deeds. ²⁷For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. ²⁸Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. ²⁸Verily I say unto you, There are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.