Friday, 24 October 2025

Friday of the 20th week after Pentecost

187 days after Pascha · Tone 2 · Liturgy · Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Holy great martyr Arethas and his companions in Najran

‘These Martyrs contested for piety’s sake in the year 524 in Najran, a city of Arabia Felix (present-day Yemen). When Dhu Nuwas, ruler of the Himyarite tribe in south Arabia, and a Judaizer, took power, he sought to blot out Christianity, especially at Najran, a Christian city. Against the counsels of Arethas, chief man of Najran, the city surrendered to Dhu Nuwas, who immediately broke the word he had given and sought to compel the city to renounce Christ. Led by Saint Arethas, hundreds of martyrs, including women, children, and babes, valiantly withstood his threats, and were beheaded and burned. After the men had been slain, all the free-born Christian women of Najran were brought before the tyrant and commanded to abjure Christ or die; yet they rebuked the persecutor with such boldness that he said even the men had not insulted him so contemptuously. So great was their faith that not one woman was found to deny Christ in all Najran, although some of them suffered torments more bitter than most of the men. In alliance with Byzantium, the Ethiopian King Elesbaan liberated Najran from Dhu Nuwas soon after and raised up churches in honour of the Martyrs. Najran became a place of pilgrimage until the rise of Islam a century later. At the end of his life King Elesbaan, who was also called Caleb, retired into solitude as a hermit; he sent his crown to Jerusalem as an offering to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He also is commemorated on this day as a saint. Saint Arethas’ name in Arabic, Harith, means “plowman, tiller,” much the same as “George” in Greek.’ (Great Horologion)

Ethiopia is still a Christian nation, surrounded by Islamic states. The late Emperor Haile Selasse’s name means, in Ethiopian, “Power of the Trinity.”

Icon of the mother of God "Joy of all who sorrow"

The wonderworking icon of the most holy Theotokos called "Joy of All Who Sorrow" became famous for its first recorded miracle on 24 October 1688 in Moscow. Euphymia, the sister of Patriarch Joachim's brother-in-law, lay grievously ill and beyond hope, when she heard a voice telling her to pray before this icon at the Church of the Transfiguration on Ordynka. She did so and was instantly healed. The image depicts the Mother of God standing in full stature, in some versions with the divine Child in her arms and in others without, surrounded by suffering, hungry, naked and grieving people whom angels of the Lord assist with gifts of consolation and mercy at her command. From this first healing many further miracles followed, and the icon became a chief consolation of the afflicted in Russian piety. A second celebrated miracle, the appearance of coins on the icon during a thunderstorm at Saint Petersburg on 23 July 1888, gave rise to a related icon, "Joy of All Who Sorrow with the Coins". Numerous churches throughout the Orthodox world are dedicated to this icon.

Saint Athanasius I, patriarch of Constantinople

1310

Saint Athanasius I, in the world Alexius, was born about 1230 in Adrianople. From his youth he longed for the monastic life and went to Thessalonica, where he was tonsured with the name Acacius. He withdrew to Mount Athos and entered the brotherhood of Esphigmenou monastery, serving in the trapeza for three years, then to other holy mountains, before settling on Mount Galanteia near Ephesus. His holiness became widely known and at the suggestion of the emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus a council unanimously elected him patriarch of Constantinople in 1289, when he took the name Athanasius. He governed the Church with apostolic strictness, demanding holiness from clergy and bishops, succouring the poor, and rebuking the powerful. The opposition of certain bishops compelled him to resign in 1293 and return to his cell. In 1303, in the midst of severe famine and earthquake, he was recalled to the patriarchal throne and served seven more years before withdrawing again to monastic seclusion. He reposed in 1310 at the age of nearly a hundred. His relics work many miracles.

Also commemorated: Martyr Arethas and Companions

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Philippians — Philippians 3.8-19

⁸Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, ⁸Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith: ⁹And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: ¹⁰that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; ¹⁰That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; ¹¹if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead. ¹¹If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. ¹²Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. ¹²Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. ¹³Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, ¹³Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ¹⁴I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you: ¹⁵Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. ¹⁶only, whereunto we have attained, by that same rule let us walk. ¹⁶Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

¹⁷Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample. ¹⁷Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. ¹⁸(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: ¹⁸For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: ¹⁹Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) ¹⁹whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 10.1-15

¹After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

¹Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come. ²Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. ²And he said unto them, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest. ³Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. ³Go your ways; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. ⁴Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes; and salute no man on the way. ⁵And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace be to this house. ⁵And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. ⁶And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall turn to you again. ⁶And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. ⁷And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. ⁷And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. ⁸And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: ⁸And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: ⁹And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. ⁹and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. ¹⁰But into whatsoever city ye shall enter, and they receive you not, go out into the streets thereof and say, ¹⁰But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, ¹¹Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. ¹¹Even the dust from your city, that cleaveth to our feet, we wipe off against you: nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh. ¹²I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. ¹²But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. ¹³Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹³Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. ¹⁴But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment, than for you. ¹⁵And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt be brought down unto Hades. ¹⁵And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.