Friday, 19 September 2025

Friday of the 15th week after Pentecost

152 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius and Dorymedon of Synnada

The holy martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius and Dorymedon suffered for Christ in the city of Antioch under the emperor Probus, who reigned from 276 to 282. While a great pagan festival was being celebrated, Trophimus and Sabbatius, both Christians, came into the city and were grieved at the impiety they saw on every side. They were arrested and brought before the governor Atticus. Sabbatius confessed Christ first and was tortured so cruelly that he gave up his soul under the lash. Trophimus was beaten and then sent to Phrygia to the proconsul Denys at Synnada to be further tormented. There he was scourged, his feet were pierced and he was forced to walk in iron sandals studded with nails to the place of his next torture. The senator Dorymedon, a secret Christian of Synnada, visited Trophimus in prison, washing and binding his wounds. When the pagans learned that the senator had refused to take part in the festival of Castor and Pollux, they questioned him; he openly confessed Christ and refused to honour the demons. He and Saint Trophimus were thrown to the wild beasts in the arena, but the animals would not touch them. At last both were beheaded with the sword and so received their crowns.

Holy Right-Believing Prince Theodore of Smolensk and his children David and Constantine

The holy right-believing Prince Theodore of Smolensk and Yaroslavl, called the Black, was born early in the thirteenth century at a terrible time for Rus, in the years of the Mongol invasion of 1237 to 1239. By inheritance he was prince of Mozhaisk, a portion of the Smolensk principality, and through his marriage to Princess Maria of Yaroslavl he received that throne also. After her early death he was for a time excluded from his own household by his mother-in-law. Travelling to the Golden Horde to render service, he so won the favour of Khan Mengu-Temir, who treated the Orthodox Church with respect, that the khan gave him his own daughter in marriage; she received holy Baptism and was named Anna. While at Sarai, Theodore strove to soften the lot of Christians under Mongol rule and to build churches there. From Anna were born his two sons, David and Constantine, who from childhood were instructed in the faith. After the deaths of his elder son and his mother-in-law, he was at last received back upon the throne of Yaroslavl, which he ruled in piety and justice. Falling ill in 1299, he received the great schema and reposed peacefully on 19 September. His son David ruled at Yaroslavl after him until 1321, and the youngest, Constantine, having lived in piety, was buried beside his father. Their incorrupt relics were uncovered together at Yaroslavl on 5 March 1463.

Saint Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury

Saint Theodore of Tarsus was born about the year 602 in the same city in Cilicia that had given Saint Paul to the Church. A Greek by birth and education, he studied at Antioch and Constantinople in the great learning of the East, and after the Persian conquest of Cilicia he travelled to Rome, where he became a learned monk. In 667 Pope Vitalian, having considered and rejected other candidates, chose Theodore, then sixty-five years old, to be sent to England as Archbishop of Canterbury, with the African abbot Saint Hadrian as his companion. He was consecrated archbishop in Rome on 26 March 668 and arrived at Canterbury on 27 May 669. Theodore at once set about reforming and unifying the still young Anglo-Saxon Church. He travelled the length of England, the first archbishop whose authority all the English Church accepted, ordained bishops, settled disputed sees and divided the great dioceses for more effective pastoral care. With Hadrian he founded a school at Canterbury where Latin and Greek, the Scriptures, poetry, astronomy and the calculation of the church calendar were taught, opening a golden age of Anglo-Saxon scholarship. In 672 he summoned the Council of Hertford, the first council of the whole English Church and the first national assembly of any kind in the country, and he later presided over the Council of Hatfield in 679. He fell asleep at Canterbury on 19 September 690 and was buried in the church of Saints Peter and Paul.

Holy Martyr Zosimas the Hermit of Cilicia

4th c.

Dometian, a prince and a fierce persecutor of Christians, was hunting in the mountains when he came upon an old man surrounded by wild beasts, who were as gentle and tame as lambs in his presence. When asked who he was, the old man answered that he was Zosimas, a Christian who had left the persecutors in the city to live among the beasts instead. Dometian, hearing that Zosimas was a Christian, ordered him seized and bound, and subjected him to many tortures. When the holy man was wounded and beaten all over, the prince tied a rock around his neck and hanged him from a tree, mocking him with the words ‘Command a wild beast to come, then we will all believe!’ Zosimas prayed, and at once a large lion appeared, came up to Zosimas, and took the weight of the rock on its head to ease the martyr’s sufferings. The terrified prince freed Zosimas, who died of his wounds not long afterward.

Also commemorated: Ss David and Constantine of Yaroslavl

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Galatians — Galatians 4.8-21

⁸Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

⁸Howbeit at that time, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them that by nature are no gods: ⁹but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again? ⁹But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? ¹⁰Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. ¹⁰Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years. ¹¹I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. ¹¹I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labor upon you in vain.

¹²Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

¹²I beseech you, brethren, become as I am, for I also am become as ye are. Ye did me no wrong: ¹³but ye know that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you the first time: ¹³Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. ¹⁴and that which was a temptation to you in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but ye received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. ¹⁴And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Where then is that gratulation of yourselves? for I bear you witness, that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁵Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. ¹⁶So then am I become your enemy, by telling you the truth? ¹⁶Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? ¹⁷They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. ¹⁷They zealously seek you in no good way; nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them. ¹⁸But it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times, and not only when I am present with you. ¹⁸But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. ¹⁹My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, ¹⁹My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you— ²⁰but I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone; for I am perplexed about you. ²⁰I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.

²¹Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

²¹Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 6.45-53

⁴⁵And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.

⁴⁵And straightway he constrained his disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before him unto the other side to Bethsaida, while he himself sendeth the multitude away. ⁴⁶And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. ⁴⁶And after he had taken leave of them, he departed into the mountain to pray. ⁴⁷And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. ⁴⁷And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. ⁴⁸And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. ⁴⁸And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking on the sea; and he would have passed by them: ⁴⁹But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: ⁴⁹but they, when they saw him walking on the sea, supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; ⁵⁰for they all saw him, and were troubled. But he straightway spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. ⁵⁰For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. ⁵¹And he went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves; ⁵¹And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. ⁵²For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. ⁵²for they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened. ⁵³And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore.

⁵³And when they had crossed over, they came to the land unto Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.