Monday, 10 November 2025

Monday of the 23rd week after Pentecost

204 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Holy great-martyr Constantine-Kakhi, prince of Georgia

768

Saint Constantine, surnamed Kakhi, was born in the year 768 into a noble family of Kartli in eastern Georgia. The byname Kakhi indicates his descent from the princely houses of Kakheti. He grew up in great wealth and was famed throughout his country for his openhanded almsgiving, his patronage of churches, and his pilgrimages to the Holy Land, where he made generous donations to the holy places and to the Christians of Jerusalem. By the middle of the ninth century the Caliphate of the Abbasids had imposed a heavy yoke upon the lands of Georgia. In 853 the Arab general Bugha al-Kabir invaded the country at the head of a large Muslim army, sacking Tbilisi and laying waste the surrounding regions. The aged Prince Constantine, then in his eighty-fifth year, took up arms together with his son Tarkhuji at the head of the troops of Kartli. After a fierce campaign he was captured in battle and sent in chains to the city of Samarra, then capital of the caliphate, to be presented to the Caliph Jafar al-Mutawakkil (847 to 861). The caliph offered him riches and honours if he would renounce Christ and embrace Islam, but Constantine answered, "I fear only Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." He was kept in prison for many days and subjected to threats and entreaties, all of which he met with steadfast confession. Enraged at his constancy, the caliph ordered that he be beheaded. He was martyred on 10 November 852. A few years afterwards, faithful Georgian Christians recovered his relics from the Muslims and brought them home to Kartli, where they were enshrined with great honour. The Georgian Orthodox Church numbered him among the saints in the same century, and he is venerated as a martyr-prince and protector of the Georgian land.

Holy apostles Erastus, Olympas, Rodion, Sosipater, Quartus and Tertius of the Seventy

The Orthodox Church commemorates together on 10 November six of the Seventy Apostles, all of them mentioned in the Epistles of Saint Paul.

Saint Erastus had been the steward of the city of Corinth, as Saint Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:23). After leaving his civic post he laboured with the Apostle in the work of the Gospel and ended his life as bishop of Paneas in Palestine, or, according to other traditions, of Philippi.

Saint Olympas, named in Romans 16:15, was a companion of the Apostle Peter at Rome. Together with Saint Rodion he suffered beheading on the very day and hour that Saint Peter was crucified under the emperor Nero.

Saint Rodion (Herodion), a kinsman of the Apostle Paul (Romans 16:11), left the bishop's throne at Patras to follow Saint Peter to Rome. He was bound and tortured for refusing to sacrifice to idols, and was finally beheaded with Saint Olympas.

Saint Sosipater, a native of Achaia and another kinsman of Saint Paul (Romans 16:21), was bishop of Iconium, where together with Saint Jason of Tarsus he preached the Gospel and was buried.

Saint Quartus (Romans 16:23) endured many sufferings for his faith and converted many pagans to Christ. He reposed in peace as bishop of Beirut.

Saint Tertius, the scribe to whom Saint Paul dictated the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:22), succeeded Saint Sosipater as bishop of Iconium and there reposed in peace, having shepherded his flock with apostolic zeal.

Holy martyr Orestes the physician of Cappadocia

304

Saint Orestes lived in the city of Tyana in Cappadocia during the reign of the emperor Diocletian (284 to 305). Of noble birth and excellent education, he became a learned and skilful physician, freely treating the sick and using his profession to bring many to the knowledge of Christ. He combined the work of healer with that of soldier, and was renowned for his courage and uprightness of life. When the emperor sent the magistrate Maximinus to Cappadocia to stamp out Christianity, Orestes was among the first to be brought before him. With great boldness he confessed Christ as the true God and refused to offer sacrifice to idols. The judge handed him over to torturers, who took turns to beat him with rods, lashes, and rawhide whips, and afterwards burned his body with fire. They then drove twenty iron nails into the soles of his feet and tied him to the back of a wild horse, which dragged him over rough and stony ground for many miles. Mortally wounded, Saint Orestes commended his soul to the Lord and reposed in the year 304. The torturers cast his broken body into the sea, but Christians later recovered his relics. Several centuries afterwards, the saint appeared in a vision to Saint Dimitri of Rostov, showing him the wounds upon his body, that the Russian hierarch might write his life with greater accuracy. He is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on 10 November.

Saint Arsenios of Cappadocia, the wonderworker

“Cappadocia (in eastern Turkey) is virtually devoid of Christians now, but in 1840, when St Arsenios was born there, there were still vital Orthodox communities. He became a monk and was sent to his native town, Farasa, to serve the people. He became known as a mighty intercessor before God, praying for all who came to him, Muslims as well as Christians. His countless miracles of healing became known throughout Cappadocia; those who could not come to see him would sometimes send articles of clothing for him to pray over. He became known as Hadjiefendis, a Muslim term of honour for pilgrims, because he made pilgrimage to the Holy Land every ten years on foot. He never accepted any gifts in return for his prayers and healings, saying ‘Our faith is not for sale!’

“He concealed his holiness as much as he could beneath a rough and sharp-tempered exterior. If anyone expressed admiration for him, he would reply “So you think I’m a saint? I’m only a sinner worse than you. Don’t you see that I even lose my temper? The miracles you see are done by Christ. I do no more than lift up my hands and pray to him.” But as the Scriptures say, the prayers of a righteous man avail much, and when St Arsenios lifted up his hands, wonders often followed.

“He lived in a small cell with an earthen floor, fasted often and was in the habit of shutting himself in his cell for at least two whole days every week to devote himself entirely to prayer.

“Father Arsenios predicted the expulsion of the Greeks from Asia Minor before it happened, and organized his flock for departure. When the expulsion order came in 1924, the aged Saint led his faithful on a 400-mile journey across Turkey on foot. He had foretold that he would only live forty days after reaching Greece, and this came to pass. His last words were “The soul, the soul, take care of it more than the flesh, which will return to earth and be eaten by worms!” Two days later, on November 10, 1924, he died in peace at the age of eighty-three. Since 1970, many apparitions and miracles have occurred near his holy relics, which reside in the Monastery of Souroti near Thessalonica. He was officially glorified by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1986.”

— Source: Orthodox Parish of St John of Kronstadt (UK)

The primary source for the life of St Arsenios is Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, compiled by Elder Païsios of the Holy Mountain, who was baptized as an infant by the Saint.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Thessalonians — 1 Thessalonians 1.1-5

¹Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

¹Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

²We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; ²We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; ³remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father; ³Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; ⁴Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. ⁴knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, ⁵how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake. ⁵For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 12.13-15, 22-31

¹³And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.

¹³And one out of the multitude said unto him, Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me. ¹⁴And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? ¹⁴But he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? ¹⁵And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. ¹⁵And he said unto them, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

²²And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

²²And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. ²³The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. ²³For the life is more than the food, and the body than the raiment. ²⁴Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? ²⁴Consider the ravens, that they sow not, neither reap; which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feedeth them: of how much more value are ye than the birds! ²⁵And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? ²⁵And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit unto the measure of his life? ²⁶If then ye are not able to do even that which is least, why are ye anxious concerning the rest? ²⁶If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? ²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ²⁷Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ²⁸But if God doth so clothe the grass in the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much more shall he clothe you, O ye of little faith? ²⁸If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? ²⁹And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. ²⁹And seek not ye what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. ³⁰For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. ³⁰For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: but your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

³¹But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³¹Yet seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you.