Friday, 3 October 2025

Friday of the 17th week after Pentecost

166 days after Pascha · Tone 7 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · Fast

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens

Saint Dionysius the Areopagite was a noble Athenian who received a thorough Greek education at Athens and afterwards travelled to Egypt, where he studied astronomy at Heliopolis. There, with his friend Apollophanes, he witnessed the supernatural darkness at the moment of the Crucifixion of Christ and exclaimed, "Either the Creator of all the world now suffers, or this visible world is coming to an end." Returning to Athens, he was elected to the Areopagus, the city's high court. When the Apostle Paul preached on the Areopagus (Acts 17:16-34), Dionysius believed and was baptised, becoming Paul's companion in the Gospel for three years. He was consecrated as the first Bishop of Athens. Tradition relates that he was present at the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in Jerusalem. He afterwards travelled westward to Gaul to preach Christ, and according to Saint Demetrius of Rostov was martyred by beheading at Athens in extreme old age, around the year 96. The Orthodox Church receives as his the writings on the heavenly hierarchy, the divine names and the mystical theology, which have profoundly shaped Eastern Christian theology.

Holy Damaris of Athens

Saint Damaris was an Athenian woman of the first century, named in the Acts of the Apostles among those who believed when the Apostle Paul preached on the Areopagus in Athens: "Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them" (Acts 17:34). The Tradition of the Orthodox Church remembers her as the first Athenian woman to receive the faith of Christ through Paul's preaching. She is regarded as having lived a holy life thereafter as one of the foundresses of the Christian community at Athens, and she is commemorated on the same day as Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, the chief of those converted on the same occasion.

Holy Martyrs Rusticus the Priest and Eleutherius the Deacon

The Holy Martyrs Rusticus the Priest and Eleutherius the Deacon were the closest companions and fellow-labourers of the Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite. According to tradition they accompanied him on his missionary journey to Gaul to preach the Gospel among the pagans of the West. They worked together with him at Lutetia (later Paris) and the surrounding country, baptising many and establishing the first Christian communities there. Arrested with their bishop during the persecution under the Emperor Domitian, they suffered tortures for the faith and, refusing to sacrifice to the idols, were beheaded with him on the hill outside the city which afterwards became known as Mons Martyrum (Montmartre). They are commemorated together with Saint Dionysius on 3 October.

Saint John the Chozebite, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine

He came from a prominent family in Egypt, and was brought up among the Monophysites. He became a monk in his youth, and went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When he attempted to enter the Church of the Resurrection to venerate the Precious Cross, an unseen power prevented him from entering. The next night he heard a voice telling him in his sleep that those who do not embrace the Orthodox faith are unworthy to worship the holy Cross of the Savior. John awoke and hurried to the church where, in tears, he accepted and confessed the entire Orthodox Faith. After returning to Egypt he settled in Palestine, living alone in a cave in the isolated region called Chozeba. There he lived in solitude until one day a couple brought their son, possessed by an evil spirit. They had been sent to John by Ananias, a well-known ascetic of Palestine. John considered himself unworthy to pray for the casting out of demons, so he prayed in the name of Ananias, and the boy was healed. Thenceforth, John’s wonderworking powers became known, and many made the difficult journey to his cave for the healing of spiritual and bodily ailments. Later John, much against his will, was consecrated Bishop of Caesarea; but he was unable to tolerate the cares of episcopal life and fled again to the desert, where he spent the rest of his life. The faithful continued to visit him in great numbers, and many signs and wonders were worked through his prayers. He reposed in peace at a great age.

Holy Hieromartyr Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, and his disciples

258

He was a disciple of Origen and became a priest in Alexandria. He became Bishop of Alexandria in 247, serving not only his own see but the whole Church with fervor and compassion. He traveled to Rome to fight the Novatian schisms that disturbed the Body of Christ at that time, and mediated in the dispute between St Cyprian (September 16) and the Pope. During the reign of Valerian, the new Governor of Alexandra, Emilianus, summoned St Dionysius, along with a group of his clergy, and demanded that they renounce Christ. When all stood firm in the Faith, he exiled them to the remote village of Kephro. But Christians flocked to the village to seek out the holy Bishop, and many pagans in the region were converted by him — so that soon the town was more nearly a Christian mission than a place of exile. When Emilianus learned of this, he exiled the Bishop and his disciples far into the wilderness, where they lived amidst terrible sufferings and hardships for more than twelve years. Saint Dionysius and his deacons Gaius and Faustus all died there; Eusebius the deacon and Maximus the priest eventually escaped. Eusebius became Bishop of Laodicea; Maximus, like his spiritual father, became Bishop of Alexandria.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Ephesians — Ephesians 4.17-25

¹⁷This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind,

¹⁷This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, ¹⁸being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; ¹⁸Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: ¹⁹who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. ¹⁹Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. ²⁰But ye did not so learn Christ; ²⁰But ye have not so learned Christ; ²¹if so be that ye heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: ²¹If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²²That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; ²²that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit; ²³And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; ²³and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. ²⁴And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

²⁵Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.

²⁵Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 6.17-23

¹⁷and he came down with them, and stood on a level place, and a great multitude of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judæa and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;

¹⁷And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judæa and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; ¹⁸and they that were troubled with unclean spirits were healed. ¹⁸And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. ¹⁹And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. ¹⁹And all the multitude sought to touch him; for power came forth from him, and healed them all.

²⁰And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

²⁰And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. ²¹Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. ²²Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. ²²Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. ²³Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. ²³Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy: for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets.