Thursday, 21 August 2025

Thursday of the 11th week after Pentecost

123 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy

The Holy Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy was a Hebrew by descent, born in the Syrian city of Edessa. He is to be distinguished from Saint Jude (also called Thaddeus or Lebbaeus), who was one of the Twelve and is commemorated on 19 June. While still a young man Thaddeus came to Jerusalem for one of the great feasts, where he heard the preaching of Saint John the Forerunner. Receiving baptism at his hands in the Jordan, he remained in Palestine; he saw the Saviour, listened to His teaching, and was numbered by the Lord among the Seventy Disciples whom He sent out two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to come.

After the Ascension of the Lord, Saint Thaddeus returned to his native Edessa and there fulfilled the promise made by Christ to King Abgar, who had once written to the Lord asking for healing. Edessa had received the Holy Image of Christ "Not Made by Hands", and the king had been healed of leprosy by venerating it; but full instruction in the faith came through the apostle. Thaddeus preached Christ in Edessa, baptising King Abgar, his household, and the people of the city. He overthrew the pagan idols and ordained presbyters, organising the Church of Edessa.

From Edessa Saint Thaddeus journeyed to other cities of Mesopotamia and Syria, including Amida and Beirut, preaching everywhere the Gospel of Christ, healing the sick, and exhorting all to repentance. He founded churches and ordained clergy, and many believed at his word. The Slavonic Menaion records that he peacefully reposed at Beirut in the year 44; according to other sources he reposed in Edessa, while an ancient Armenian tradition relates that after various tortures he was beheaded by the sword on 21 December in the Artaz region in the year 50.

The Holy Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on 21 August, and his memory is kept also in the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles on 4 January.

Holy Martyr Bassa of Edessa and her sons Theognis, Agapius and Pistus

The Holy Martyr Bassa, with her three sons Theognis, Agapius and Pistus, lived in the city of Macedonian Edessa during the persecution of the emperor Maximian Galerius at the beginning of the fourth century. Saint Bassa was married to a pagan priest named Valerius, but from her childhood she had been raised in the Christian Faith, and she instructed her sons in it secretly so that they too were grounded in piety from a tender age.

When her household refused to take part in the worship of idols, Valerius himself denounced his wife and his children to the governor. Brought before the tribunal, the saints fearlessly confessed Christ. The governor, hoping that the suffering of her sons would shake the resolve of the mother, ordered them to be tortured first before her eyes. The eldest, Saint Theognis, was raked with iron claws and then beheaded. Saint Agapius was flayed alive from his head to his chest, but he did not utter a sound. The youngest, Saint Pistus, was tortured and likewise beheaded. The mother stood beside them and encouraged them to endure unto the end for the love of Christ.

Saint Bassa was then thrown into prison and weakened by hunger, but an angel of the Lord came and strengthened her with heavenly food. Brought out for further tortures, she remained unharmed by fire, by water, and by wild beasts. When she was led into a pagan temple to be made to sacrifice, she shattered the statue of Zeus with her own hands. At last she was taken to the island of Halonisus and there beheaded by the sword, receiving the crown of martyrdom and being reunited with her children.

A church was built over the relics of Saint Bassa at the harbour of the city of Chalcedon, and she was greatly venerated throughout Asia Minor. The Holy Martyrs Bassa, Theognis, Agapius and Pistus are commemorated together on 21 August.

Holy Martyrs Donatus the Deacon, Romulus the Priest, Silvanus the Deacon and Venustus

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The Holy Martyrs Donatus the Deacon, Romulus the Priest, Silvanus the Deacon and Venustus were Christians of the city of Cibalae (modern Vinkovci) in the Roman province of Pannonia, near Sirmium. They suffered for Christ in the year 304 during the great persecution of Diocletian, in the same region and at about the same time as the celebrated bishop and martyr Saint Eusebius of Cibalae. Romulus was a presbyter who fearlessly proclaimed the Gospel and ministered the Holy Mysteries to the faithful even after the imperial decrees forbidding Christian assembly. With him laboured the deacons Silvanus and Donatus, who served the altar and assisted in the instruction of the catechumens. Donatus's brother Venustus, a layman, was bound to them by ties of blood and of common faith. When the persecution intensified the four were arrested together and brought before the magistrates. They were ordered to surrender the sacred Scriptures and to offer incense before the statues of the gods, but they refused with one voice to do either. After cruel tortures, by which the persecutors hoped to break their resolve, they were condemned to death and beheaded by the sword on 21 August, receiving together the unfading crowns of martyrdom. Their memory is preserved in the ancient Synaxaria of the Eastern Church and in the Roman Martyrology, and they are commemorated together with the Holy Apostle Thaddeus and Saint Bassa and her sons on 21 August.

Saint Abraham, Archimandrite of Smolensk

Saint Abraham of Smolensk was a Russian monk, priest and teacher of repentance who lived in the latter half of the twelfth century and the early years of the thirteenth. He was born to noble parents in the city of Smolensk who had long prayed for a child, and he was the only surviving son after twelve daughters. From childhood he was inclined to the things of God, frequenting the divine services and abstaining from the games of his peers. After the death of his parents he distributed his inheritance to monasteries, churches and the poor and entered the Monastery of the Theotokos at Selische, six versts outside Smolensk, where he was tonsured a monk and given the name Abraham. He gave himself to fervent ascesis, spending whole nights in prayer, and he became a noted scholar of the Holy Scriptures and of patristic writings, copying out books with his own hand. His knowledge of the Last Judgement and his power as a preacher of repentance drew great crowds of laity to him for confession and counsel. His popularity, however, drew upon him the envy of certain of the Smolensk clergy, who accused him of being a false prophet, of seducing women through confession, and of reading forbidden books. Saint Abraham was tried, suspended from priestly service and confined to his original monastery. Soon afterwards a great drought afflicted the region; the harvest failed and people began to die. The pious bishop Ignatius, after fasting and prayer, recognised that the calamity had come because of the unjust treatment of the saint. Abraham was restored to his priesthood, the abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Cross resigned, and Saint Abraham was appointed archimandrite there. As he prayed for the city, the Lord sent abundant rain. For the rest of his life Saint Abraham continued to lead the brethren and to instruct the people in repentance, the unceasing prayer of the heart and faithful Christian life. He reposed in great old age, around the year 1222. He is venerated as a wonderworker and a witness to the Orthodox tradition of pre-Mongol Rus'. His memory is kept on 21 August.

Holy Forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

They are also commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, before Nativity.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 4.1-6

¹Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not:

¹Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; ²but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ²But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish: ³But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: ⁴in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. ⁴In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. ⁵For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁵For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁶For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 24.13-28

¹³But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. ¹³But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come. ¹⁵When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

¹⁵When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that readeth understand), ¹⁶Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: ¹⁶then let them that are in Judæa flee unto the mountains: ¹⁷let him that is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house: ¹⁷Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: ¹⁸and let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloak. ¹⁸Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. ¹⁹And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! ¹⁹But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days! ²⁰But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: ²⁰And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a sabbath: ²¹for then shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be. ²¹For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²²And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. ²²And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. ²³Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. ²³Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not. ²⁴For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. ²⁴For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵Behold, I have told you before. ²⁵Behold, I have told you beforehand. ²⁶If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe it not. ²⁶Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. ²⁷For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ²⁷For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. ²⁸For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. ²⁸Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.