Wednesday, 20 August 2025

Wednesday of the 11th week after Pentecost

122 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Liturgy · Fast

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Philip, Bishop of Heraclea, with the Martyrs Severus, Memnon and 37 soldiers

The Hieromartyr Philip was Bishop of Heraclea in Thrace, and together with the Holy Martyrs Severus, Memnon and thirty-seven soldiers he suffered for Christ at Philippopolis in Thrace under the emperor Diocletian about the year 304. Bishop Philip was a chief shepherd renowned for his sound teaching and his courage in the face of persecution. When the imperial decrees were issued ordering the destruction of churches and the offering of pagan sacrifices, he gathered his faithful flock and exhorted them to remain steadfast in confessing Christ. When the soldiers came to seal the doors of the church, Saint Philip reminded them that the temple of God is not in the building of stones but in the hearts of believers, and he continued to preach openly in the public square. He was arrested together with the deacon Hermes and the presbyter Severus, and dragged before the governor Bassus and his successor Justinus. Refusing to surrender the sacred books or to offer sacrifice, he was subjected to severe tortures: he was beaten, his face was disfigured, and he was bound and dragged with ropes through the streets. Saint Severus the soldier had been instrumental in the conversion of the centurion Memnon to Christ. When the governor learned this, he ordered that Saint Memnon be tortured: three strips of skin were cut from his back. Saint Severus was raked with iron hooks; red-hot rings were placed upon his fingers and a glowing iron belt was fastened about his loins; finally his eyes were put out. Bishop Philip and the deacon Hermes had their hands and feet cut off, and together with the other thirty-seven faithful confessors they were cast into a great furnace at Adrianople, where they yielded their souls to God in a single chorus of praise. Their bodies, miraculously preserved from the flames, were taken up by the Christians of the city and given honourable burial. The names of the holy martyrs are kept in the diptychs of the Church and they are commemorated together on 20 August.

Holy Martyr Lucius the Senator

The Holy Martyr Lucius lived in the third century and held the rank of senator in the Roman state. The records of the holy Synaxarion preserve only a brief account of his sufferings, but his witness shines as a model of one who exchanged the honours of this present life for the everlasting honour of confessing Christ. He came to faith in the Lord Jesus through the example of the holy hieromartyr Theodore, Bishop of Cyrene, whose martyrdom he had witnessed during the persecutions of the early fourth century. Beholding the steadfast endurance of the bishop in his torments, the senator was struck to the heart and acknowledged Christ to be the only true God. Together with the governor Dignian, whom he had also won over to the faith, Saint Lucius then journeyed to the island of Cyprus, where the persecution against Christians was likewise raging. When he saw the crowns being given to those who confessed the Lord, Saint Lucius did not wait to be sought out, but voluntarily presented himself before the magistrates and openly proclaimed himself a Christian. He was tortured and pressed to renounce his faith, but he stood firm, choosing to lose the dignity of his earthly senatorship rather than the heavenly honour of being numbered with the saints. He was condemned to death and beheaded by the sword about the year 310, finishing his course on the island of Crete (according to other sources on Cyprus). The Holy Martyr Lucius the Senator is commemorated on 20 August together with the other saints whose witness adorns this day of the Church's calendar.

Saint Stephen, King of Hungary

Saint Stephen, the first king of Hungary, was born about the year 975 to the Hungarian chieftain Geza, descended from the warlord Arpad, and his Christian wife Sarolt, daughter of the prince of the Transylvanian Hungarians. He was given the Magyar name Vajk and was baptised in his youth, receiving the Christian name Stephen. He succeeded his father as Grand Prince of the Hungarians in 997 and as Apostolic King of Hungary from the year 1000 or 1001 until his repose in 1038. Saint Stephen devoted his reign to the conversion of his pagan subjects and the establishment of the Christian Faith in Hungary. He founded numerous bishoprics and monasteries, sent for clergy from both East and West to baptise his people, and ordered the building of churches throughout his realm. He was personally pious, devoted to prayer, generous in almsgiving, and just in his judgements. He composed admonitions for his son Emeric, instructing him in the duties of a Christian king, and he took to himself as patron the Most Holy Theotokos, to whom he commended his crown and kingdom shortly before his death. Although Hungary was at the boundary between East and West and Stephen received his royal crown from Rome, his reign predated the schism between East and West, and he is venerated as a saint by both Orthodox and Catholic Christians. His mother and many of his subjects were of the Eastern Christian tradition, and he founded an Orthodox monastery for nuns at Veszprem and supported a community of Greek monks at Marosvar. The Patriarch of Constantinople gave him a fragment of the True Cross, which he set in his sceptre. Saint Stephen reposed on 15 August 1038, the Feast of the Dormition. His relics were translated on 20 August 1083, and that day is now kept as his feast. His sanctity has long been recognised by the Orthodox of the Carpathians, and on 20 August 2000, the thousandth anniversary of his coronation, his veneration was formally proclaimed by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

The Holy Prophet Samuel

406

The Holy Prophet Samuel was the fifteenth and last of the Judges of Israel, living more than a thousand years before the Birth of Christ. He was descended from the Tribe of Levi and was the son of Elkanah from Ramathaim-Zophim of Mount Ephraim. His mother Hannah was barren for many years, and she vowed to the Lord that if He would grant her a son, she would dedicate him to His service. When the child was born she named him Samuel, which means "asked of God", and after he was weaned she fulfilled her vow by bringing him to the high priest Eli at the Tabernacle in Shiloh, where she left him to be raised in the service of the Lord.

While the boy Samuel ministered before the Lord, the word of God was rare in those days, but the Lord called the child by name in the night and revealed to him the impending judgement upon the unfaithful house of Eli. From that time the word of the Lord was with Samuel, and all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that he was established as a prophet of the Lord. After the death of Eli, Samuel governed the people as their judge, calling them to repentance and leading them to victory over the Philistines after they had put away their false gods.

When Samuel grew old the people demanded a king to rule over them like the other nations. Samuel was grieved, for he saw in this a rejection not of himself but of the Lord, who had governed His people directly until that time. Yielding to the divine command, Samuel anointed Saul, son of Kish, as the first king of Israel. After Saul fell from obedience to God, Samuel anointed the youth David, son of Jesse of Bethlehem, to be king in his place, and so prepared the way for the royal line through which the Christ would come.

Saint Samuel reposed in great old age and was mourned by all Israel. He was buried in his native Ramathaim. In the year 406 his honoured relics were translated from Judaea to Constantinople. The Holy Prophet Samuel is commemorated on 20 August, and his words and deeds are recorded in the First Book of Kings (which is the First Book of Samuel in the Hebrew canon).

Hieromartyr Philip, Bishop of Heraklion, and those with him

2nd c.

He served in Thrace in the time of Diocletian’s persecutions. When the pagans were about to burn a Christian church, he came forward and said to them: ‘Do you think that God is shut within walls? He lives in men’s hearts.’ The church was burned and all its clergy were taken to Jedrene where, after long imprisonment and torture, they were drowned in the river Maritsa. The holy bishop Philip, his priest Severus, his deacon Hermes, and thirty-eight other Christians all received the martyr’s crown.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 3.4-11

⁴And such confidence have we through Christ to God-ward:

⁴And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: ⁵not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; ⁵Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; ⁶who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. ⁶Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. ⁷But if the ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look stedfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which glory was passing away: ⁷But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: ⁸how shall not rather the ministration of the spirit be with glory? ⁸How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? ⁹For if the ministration of condemnation hath glory, much rather doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. ⁹For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. ¹⁰For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. ¹⁰For verily that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasseth. ¹¹For if that which passeth away was with glory, much more that which remaineth is in glory. ¹¹For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 23.29-39

²⁹Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

²⁹Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, ³⁰And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. ³⁰and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. ³¹Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. ³¹Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets. ³²Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. ³²Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. ³³Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? ³³Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? ³⁴Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:

³⁴Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: ³⁵that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁵That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. ³⁶Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁶Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! ³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. ³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. ³⁹For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. ³⁹For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.