Saturday, 6 September 2025

Saturday of the 13th week after Pentecost

139 days after Pascha · Tone 3 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Commemoration of the miracle of the Archangel Michael at Chonae

The Church on the sixth of September commemorates the miracle worked by the holy Archangel Michael at Chonae in Phrygia. According to ancient tradition, the holy apostles John the Theologian and Philip, while preaching the Gospel in those regions, foretold that on the spot where they stood near the city of Hierapolis a great spring of healing waters would arise and that the Archangel Michael would be honoured there. After the apostles had departed, the prediction was fulfilled: a wonder-working spring sprang from the earth at the place known as Cheretopa, and a man of Laodicea, whose mute daughter had been healed by drinking from the spring after he had seen the archangel in a dream, raised a small church in honour of the Captain of the Heavenly Host. Many of the heathen, witnessing the miracles wrought there, came to faith in Christ and were baptised. The pagans of the region grew envious and resolved to destroy the church by diverting the waters of two nearby rivers to flood the site and sweep away the building together with the spring. For sixty years a pious sacristan named Archippus had served the church in great asceticism, eating only vegetables and water, and sleeping on the bare ground. When he heard of the plot he prayed earnestly to God and to the Archangel Michael that the holy place be preserved. The archangel appeared to him in glory, struck the rock with his staff, and opened a wide fissure into which the rushing waters were drawn down. The spring continued to flow undisturbed, and the church was preserved. From the rushing of the rivers into the chasm, a Greek word for "plunging," the place received the name Chonae, by which it has been known ever since. Saint Archippus continued to serve there for many years, and reposed in peace at the age of seventy.

Holy Martyr Eudoxius and his companions Zeno, Macarius and others

311

The Holy Martyr Eudoxius was a senior officer of the imperial Roman army during the persecution of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian in the early fourth century. He held the rank of comes and commanded a unit of troops in Melitene of Armenia. When the imperial edict requiring sacrifice to the gods was published, Eudoxius, learning of it, set aside his military belt, the symbol of his office, and withdrew with his wife Basilissa and their children to a country estate in order to avoid being compelled to apostatise. He was, however, traced and arrested by the governor, who tried to win him back to the imperial service by flattery. When Eudoxius openly confessed Christ before the tribunal and threw down his armour and his belt at the governor's feet, eleven hundred of his fellow soldiers, moved by his example, declared themselves Christians along with him. The governor, fearing the tumult, dared not punish them all, but reported the matter to the emperor. With the saint were arrested also his close friends Zeno and Macarius, his relative Romulus, who had been the first to encourage him in the confession of the faith, and other companions. They endured many tortures, and finally Eudoxius, Zeno, Macarius and Romulus were beheaded at Melitene in the year 311. The body of Saint Eudoxius was buried by his wife Basilissa, who later, having raised her children in piety, also reposed in peace and is honoured among the holy women confessors.

Saint Archippus the sacristan of Chonae

Saint Archippus was a native of Hierapolis in Phrygia, born around the year 280 of pious Christian parents. From childhood he was inclined to the worship of the one true God, and when he had reached the age of ten he left his family and entered the small church of the Archangel Michael at the wonder-working spring of Cheretopa, near the future city of Chonae. There he made his dwelling, taking on himself the office of sacristan and watcher of the holy place. He pursued a life of strict asceticism, eating only vegetables and a little bread, drinking only water, sleeping on the bare ground, and clothing himself in a single rough garment, persevering in unceasing prayer and the singing of psalms. Despite the threats and insults of the pagans of the region, who hated the church and its miracles, he served the holy archangel for sixty years without ceasing. When the pagans at last conspired to destroy the church by diverting two rivers to flood the spot, it was Saint Archippus whose tearful prayers called down the appearance of the Archangel Michael, who saved the church by opening the rock to receive the rushing waters, the event from which the place gained the name Chonae. After this great miracle Archippus continued to serve the church for the remainder of his days, and reposed in peace at the age of seventy. He is honoured by the Church on the same day as the miracle in which he was God's instrument.

Holy Prophet Zacharias and Righteous Elizabeth, parents of St John the Forerunner

1st c.

The story of the holy parents of the Forerunner is told in the first chapters of Luke’s Gospel. Several of the Fathers say that Zacharias is the one who, the Lord said, was slain between the temple and the altar (Matthew 23:35); because he continued to call the Mary the Mother of God a virgin even after she bore Christ; and because his son had escaped the slaughter of the innocents ordered by Herod. St Elizabeth had hidden him in a cave in the desert; he remained in the wilderness from that time until he began to preach by the Jordan.

St Maxim, martyr of Lemkos, Czechoslovakia

1914

St Maxim was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1888. At this time all Orthodox Churches had been captured and subjected to the “Unia,” by which, though keeping the Orthodox liturgical rites, they were united to the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the Carpatho-Russian people were ignorant of the change and what it meant; others were unhappy with it but, in their subject condition, saw no alternative. Maxim’s farmer parents, at great personal sacrifice, obtained an education for him that enabled him to study for the priesthood at the Basilian seminary in Krakow. Here he discerned the un-Orthodox nature of the “Greek Catholic” training there and traveled to Russia, where he became a novice at the Great Lavra of Pochaev and met Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky), who encouraged him in his quest for Orthodoxy. (Archbishop Anthony, after the Russian Revolution, became the first Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad). He entered seminary in Russia in 1905 and was ordained to the Priesthood in 1911.Metropolitan Anthony, knowing the hardships and persecutions that awaited any Orthodox priest in Austro-Hungary, offered to find Maxim a parish in Russia. But Maxim was already aware of the hunger for Orthodoxy among many of the Carpatho-Russian people; several people from his village had travelled to America and while there had attended Orthodox Churches and confessed to Orthodox priests. They begged him to return to his country and establish an Orthodox parish there. When he returned to his native village of Zhdynia, the polish authorities, seeing him in the riassa, beard and uncut hair of an Orthodox priest, mocked him, saying “Look, Saint Nicholas has come to the Carpathians!” But the people of nearby Hrab sent a delegation asking him to set up an Orthodox parish in their village. This he did, setting up a house-church in the residence that the people gave him. Almost immediately, he and his people began to be harassed and persecuted, first at the instigation of “Greek Catholic” priests, then of the government. His rectory/church was closed, and he and several of his parishioners were repeatedly jailed, sometimes on trumped-up charges of sedition. (The Carpatho-Russian people were always suspected of pro-Russian political sympathies by the Austrian and Polish authorities). Despite these persecutions, through Fr Maxim’s labors a wave of desire for Orthodoxy spread through the region, with many Carpatho-Russians openly identifying themselves as Orthodox. The government issued orders to regional mayors to forbid those who had identified themselves as Orthodox to gather and, in 1913, appointed a special commissioner whose task was to force the people to return to Catholicism. In 1914, war broke out between Russia and Austro-Hungary. Despite lack of any evidence that Fr Maxim had engaged in pro-Russian political activity — he once said “My only politics is the Gospel” — he was arrested and executed on September 6 by the Papal calendar, August 24 by the Church Calendar. He was denied any form of Church burial, and his father buried him with his own hands. Following the First World War, Orthodoxy became legal in the new Polish Republic, and a monument was placed over Fr Maxim’s grave in his home town of Zhdynia. In 1994, the Orthodox Church of Poland officially glorified St Maxim.

Also commemorated: Miracle of Archangel Michael at Colossae

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 2.6-9

⁶Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

⁶We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nought: ⁷but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory: ⁷But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: ⁸Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁸which none of the rulers of this world hath known: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory: ⁹But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. ⁹but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And which entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 22.15-22

¹⁵Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

¹⁵Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might ensnare him in his talk. ¹⁶And they send to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any one: for thou regardest not the person of men. ¹⁶And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. ¹⁷Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? ¹⁷Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not? ¹⁸But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why make ye trial of me, ye hypocrites? ¹⁸But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? ¹⁹Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. ¹⁹Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a denarius. ²⁰And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? ²⁰And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? ²¹They say unto him, Cæsar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. ²¹They say unto him, Cæsar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. ²²And when they heard it, they marvelled, and left him, and went away. ²²When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.