Saturday, 1 November 2025

Saturday of the 21st week after Pentecost

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

Saints commemorated

★ Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian of Asia

The Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian were brothers, natives of Asia Minor. Their pagan father died while they were still small children, and their mother Theodota raised them in Christian piety. Trained and skilled as physicians, they received from the Holy Spirit the gift of healing illnesses of body and soul through the power of prayer. With fervent love for both God and neighbour, they never took payment for their services, observing strictly the command of the Lord, "Freely you have received, freely give." Their reputation for compassion and miracles spread, and they brought many pagans to faith in Christ. According to tradition, even animals were healed by them, and a camel they had cured later spoke with a human voice to defend Damian, who had reluctantly accepted three eggs from a woman named Palladia in the name of the Holy Trinity. The brothers reposed in peace and were buried together at Thereman in Mesopotamia, after which many miracles continued at their relics.

Hieromartyrs John the bishop and James the presbyter of Persia

The Hieromartyrs John the Bishop and James the Presbyter, called "the zealot," lived during the reign of the Persian King Shapur II (309-379), who unleashed a long and savage persecution of Christians within his realm. Both shepherds laboured tirelessly to preach the true Faith and to confirm believers under the threat of imperial wrath, and many devout persons were drawn to Christianity through their courage and example. Arrested by the Persian authorities, they refused to deny Christ or to worship the sun and fire as the Persian religion demanded. After being subjected to cruel torments, they were beheaded around the year 343, attaining the crown of martyrdom together. Their joint commemoration on this day witnesses to the brotherhood of bishop and priest in the same confession of faith.

Saint David of Evia

Saint David of Evia, also known as David the Elder, was born around 1480 in the village of Gardinitsa in the province of Locrida in central Greece. His father Christodoulos was a priest and his mother Theodora was a pious woman, and they raised their four children in the fear of God. When little David was three years old, he saw in a vision Saint John the Baptist, who took him by the hand to a chapel dedicated to the Forerunner. Drawn from childhood to the monastic life, he was tonsured young and pursued ascetic struggle in several monasteries, eventually being persuaded by the bishop and the local nobility to serve as hegumen of the monastery of the Mother of God at Varnakova. Around 1535-1540 he founded on the island of Euboea (Evia) the monastery dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Saviour, where he spent the remainder of his long life as a teacher, ascetic, and wonderworker. He was renowned for his miracles, his struggle to preserve the Orthodox faith and Greek learning under Ottoman rule, and his gift of prophecy. He reposed around 1589 at his monastery, where his relics continue to work miracles for those who venerate them.

Saint Theodota, mother of the unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian

Saint Theodota was the mother of the holy unmercenary physicians Cosmas and Damian of Asia. Widowed while her sons were still small children, she devoted herself to raising them in the Orthodox faith, instilling in them piety, charity, and a fervent love for Christ. Her example of patient widowhood and strict Christian upbringing was credited by the Church with shaping the holy character of her sons, who would become healers and martyrs. The Orthodox Church honours her on the same day as her sons in recognition of her role in forming saints. She reposed in peace and is venerated alongside her two children as a model of faithful Christian motherhood.

Holy New Martyr Helen of Sinope

18th c.

She was a maiden of fifteen who lived with her parents in the Christian enclave of Sinope in Pontus during the 1700s. One day, as she went to the marketplace, she passed by the house of the local Pasha (governor), who, seeing her beauty, was seized by lust for her. He ordered his servants to bring her to him, and made two attempts to defile her; each time, however, he was prevented by a mysterious power that kept him from her like an invisible wall. Determined to have his way for her, he kept her prisoner in his house; but she was able to slip away and run home to her parents’ house. Enraged that his prey had escaped, the Pasha called together the leaders of the Christian community and promised that, unless Helen were handed over to him, all the Christians in the town would be massacred. Grief-stricken and fearful, the leaders persuaded Helen’s father to return the girl to the palace. The vile Pasha made several more attempts to rape the Saint, but once again he was restrained as if by an invisible wall as she recited the Six Psalms and all the prayers that she knew by heart. Realizing that he was powerless against her, the Pasha had her thrown in the common jail, then ordered that she be tortured to death. The executioners subjected the maiden to several cruel torments before killing her by driving two nails into her skull and beheading her. They then put her body in a sack and threw it in the Black Sea. Some Greek sailors followed a heavenly light to the place where the sack had sunk, and divers retrieved the Saint’s relics, which immediately revealed themselves as a source of healing for many. Her body was taken to Russia; her head was placed in the church in Sinope, where it continued to work miracles, especially for those who suffered from headaches. When the Greeks were driven from Sinope in 1924, refugees took the head with them. It is venerated today in a church near Thessalonika.

Also commemorated: Unmercenaries and Wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 3.12-18

¹²Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech, ¹²Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: ¹³and are not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel should not look stedfastly on the end of that which was passing away: ¹³And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: ¹⁴but their minds were hardened: for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth, it not being revealed to them that it is done away in Christ. ¹⁴But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. ¹⁵But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart. ¹⁵But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. ¹⁶But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁶Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁷Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. ¹⁸But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 8.16-21

¹⁶No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.

¹⁶And no man, when he hath lighted a lamp, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but putteth it on a stand, that they that enter in may see the light. ¹⁷For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. ¹⁷For nothing is hid, that shall not be made manifest; nor anything secret, that shall not be known and come to light. ¹⁸Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. ¹⁸Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he thinketh he hath.

¹⁹Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.

¹⁹And there came to him his mother and brethren, and they could not come at him for the crowd. ²⁰And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. ²⁰And it was told him, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. ²¹And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it. ²¹But he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these that hear the word of God, and do it.