Saturday, 20 September 2025

Saturday after Elevation

Saturday of the 15th week after Pentecost

153 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Great Martyr Eustathius Placidas, with his family

118

Before baptism he was a renowned military commander under Trajan. While hunting in the woods, he met a great stag with a shining Cross between his antlers. Through the stag, the Lord spoke to Placidas (his pagan name) and told him to find a priest and be baptized into Christ. Returning home, he found that his wife Tatiana had also had a vision in which she was told to become a Christian. They were baptized, Placidas receiving the name Eustathius, and Tatiana the name Theopiste; their two sons were baptized with them. Eustathius and his family were almost immediately subjected to a series of grievous trials, in which all were separated from one another. After years of hardship they were re-united, and returned to Rome with honor when the Emperor sought out Eustathius to command his army once again. But when the Emperor Hadrian (who had succeeded Trajan) commanded them to worship the idols, all of them refused. They were put together into a large bronze ox which was heated white-hot in a fire. When their bodies were removed, they were found to be dead but intact. The Prologue concludes, ‘Thus this glorious general gave to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s, and entered into the eternal Kingdom of Christ our God.’

★ Holy Great Martyr Eustathius Placidus, his wife Theopiste and their children Agapius and Theopistus

118

The Holy Great Martyr Eustathius, called Placidas before his baptism, was a renowned Roman general under the emperors Titus and Trajan. Even as a pagan, he devoted himself to charitable works, helping the poor and oppressed. While hunting on his estate one day he pursued a great stag, and as the beast turned to face him he saw between its antlers the radiant figure of the crucified Christ, who spoke to him from the vision and called him to faith. Returning home, Placidas, his wife Tatiana and their two sons were baptised, receiving the names Eustathius, Theopiste, Agapius and Theopistus. The Lord then warned Eustathius that, like Job, he would suffer many trials before his final glory. The family was stripped of its wealth and servants, and Eustathius led them away from Rome in poverty. Embarking for Egypt, the captain of the ship demanded Theopiste in payment of the fare and put Eustathius and his sons ashore. As he carried his children one by one across a river, a lion seized one and a wolf the other; he was left alone, weeping. For fifteen years he laboured as a hired man in a village. When the empire was threatened, Trajan sent for him to lead the army. Through the providence of God, husband, wife and sons were reunited; the boys had been raised in safety by villagers, and Theopiste had been preserved from defilement. Returning victorious to Rome under Hadrian, Eustathius refused to offer pagan sacrifice. With his wife and children he was first cast to wild beasts, who would not touch them, and then placed in a brazen bull heated red-hot, in which they gave up their souls to God in the year 118.

Holy New Martyr Hilarion of Crete

Saint Hilarion the New Martyr was born in Heraklion on the island of Crete and bore the secular name John. From his youth he was inclined to the ascetic life, and travelling to the Holy Mountain of Athos he was received into the great Iveron Monastery. The fathers there sent him to the Skete of Saint Anne to place himself under the guidance of the hieromonk Bessarion, who tonsured him with the name Hilarion. After many years of strict ascetical labours, prayer and obedience, the desire for martyrdom grew strong in his heart, and with the blessing of his elder he set out for Constantinople. There he openly confessed Christ before the Turkish authorities and reproached the false religion of his persecutors. After repeated interrogations, threats and tortures, during which he remained immovable in his confession, he was beheaded on 20 September 1804. He thus received from Christ two crowns: that of asceticism and that of martyrdom. His holy relics worked many wonders.

Holy Right-Believing Prince Michael of Chernigov and his Boyar Theodore

The holy right-believing Prince Michael of Chernigov was a leading Russian prince of the early thirteenth century, son of Vsevolod the Red, and at various times reigning in Pereyaslavl, Novgorod, Galich, Chernigov and Kiev. He was known among his people for his piety, his almsgiving and his concern for the building of churches. After the Mongol devastation of southern Rus in 1240, the Russian princes were obliged to journey to the camp of the Khan to receive confirmation of their thrones. In 1246 Saint Michael, accompanied by his faithful counsellor and friend the boyar Theodore, set out for the Horde of Batu on the Volga. There the priests of the Khan required of every visiting prince that he pass between two purifying fires and bow towards the south to the spirits of Genghis Khan. The Christian prince and his boyar refused. Replying to those who pressed them, Saint Michael said, "A Christian worships God alone, the Creator of the world, and not creatures. For Christ I am ready to bow my head." When attempts to bribe and frighten them failed, both were beaten without mercy and at last beheaded on 20 September 1246. Their bodies were thrown out to be eaten by dogs but were preserved by the protection of God, and by faithful Christians were translated in honour. The relics were later moved to Moscow under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, an event commemorated on 14 February.

Holy Martyrs Hypatius and Andrew, Confessors of the Holy Icons

8th c.

They were friends from childhood, fellow-strugglers for holiness. Their godly way of life attracted the attention of the Bishop of Ephesus, who made Hypatius a bishop and Andrew a deacon and itinerant preacher. During the reign of Leo the Isaurian (714-41) they were both imprisoned for confessing the Orthodox faith and defending the veneration of the holy icons. They were subjected to various tortures, including having icons set afire on their heads in mockery of their faithfulness. They were executed near Constantinople and their bodies thrown to the dogs.

Sts Anastasius, Theodore, Euprepius and Anastasius the Younger, confessors and disciples of St Maximos the Confessor

7th c.

These saints were disciples of St Maximos the Confessor (January 21) and suffered with him for their condemnation of the Monothelite doctrine promoted by the Emperor Constans II. Anastasius the elder (who had been the Papal representative to Constantinople) and Anastasius the younger were present at the Lateran Council called by St Martin, Pope of Rome (April 13), which condemned the Monothelite heresy. For this the Pope himself, and the two confessors named Anastasius, were seized by the Emperor. Along with St Maximos, the two endured many tortures; when St Maximos had his right hand cut off and his tongue cut out, Anastasius the elder suffered the same punishment. They, along with their fellow-disciples Euprepius and Theodore and St Maximos himself, were sent into exile to Lazica in the Caucasus, where all of them died. Euprepius died after one year; Saint Maximos after three years; Anastasius the younger a few days before St Maximos; Anastasius the elder after seven years of exile; and Theodore after twenty years. All remained steadfast until the end, and all are proclaimed as Confessors of the Faith.

Also commemorated: Greatmartyr Eustathius and Martyr Theopistes · Martyrs Michael and Theodore of Chernigov

Daily readings

Epistle

— Saturday after Elevation weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 1.26-29

²⁶For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

²⁶For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: ²⁷but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; ²⁷But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; ²⁸And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: ²⁸and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are: ²⁹That no flesh should glory in his presence. ²⁹that no flesh should glory before God.

Epistle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 4.17-5.5

¹⁷For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. ¹⁷For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. ¹⁸Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. ¹⁹But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will; and I will know, not the word of them that are puffed up, but the power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. ²¹What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness? ²¹What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

¹It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that one of you hath his father’s wife.

¹It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. ²And ye are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he that had done this deed might be taken away from among you. ²And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. ³For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, ³For I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already as though I were present judged him that hath so wrought this thing, ⁴In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴in the name of our Lord Jesus, ye being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. ⁵to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Gospel

— Saturday after Elevation weekly cycle

John — John 8.21-30

²¹Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

²¹He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come. ²²Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. ²²The Jews therefore said, Will he kill himself, that he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come? ²³And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. ²³And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. ²⁴I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. ²⁵They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? Jesus said unto them, Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning. ²⁵Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. ²⁶I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world. ²⁶I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. ²⁷They perceived not that he spake to them of the Father. ²⁷They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. ²⁸Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. ²⁸Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. ²⁹And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. ²⁹And he that sent me is with me; he hath not left me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to him. ³⁰As he spake these words, many believed on him. ³⁰As he spake these things, many believed on him.

Gospel

Matthew — Matthew 24.1-13

¹And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

¹And Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way; and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. ²But he answered and said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. ²And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

³And as he sat on the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

³And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? ⁴And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. ⁴And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray. ⁵For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. ⁵For many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray. ⁶And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet. ⁶And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. ⁷For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. ⁸But all these things are the beginning of travail. ⁸All these are the beginning of sorrows. ⁹Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name’s sake. ⁹Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. ¹⁰And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. ¹⁰And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. ¹¹And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. ¹¹And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. ¹²And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. ¹²And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold. ¹³But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. ¹³But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.