Sunday, 4 January 2026

30th Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday before Theophany
Forefeast of Theophany

259 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Liturgy · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Zosimas

Hieromartyr Zosimas was a holy priest and martyr of the early Church who suffered persecution and death for his unwavering confession of the Christian faith. He endured torment at the hands of pagan persecutors and sealed his witness with the shedding of his blood. The title "hieromartyr" signifies his status as both a priest and a martyr, one who had been ordained to serve the holy liturgy of the Church and yet was called to lay down his life in testimony to Christ. Saint Zosimas stands in the communion of the holy martyrs who "conquered the kingdoms, wrought righteousness, and obtained the promises".

Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Euphemia

Saints Chrysanthus and Euphemia were holy martyrs who suffered for their confession of Christ. According to tradition, they were persecuted during the age of pagan emperors and sealed their faith through martyrdom. Chrysanthus, a young man of noble birth and exceptional learning, was converted to the Christian faith and became fervent in his love of God. His companion Euphemia shared his steadfast devotion and together they endured trials and tribulations for the sake of Christ. Their memory is venerated in the Orthodox Church as a witness to the saving power of faith in the face of suffering.

Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles

The Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles is a feast day established by the Orthodox Church to honour and glorify the seventy disciples whom Jesus Christ Himself chose and commissioned for the work of the Gospel. These seventy apostles are distinct from the Twelve Apostles who remained with Christ constantly. According to the Gospel of Saint Luke, our Lord Jesus Christ chose seventy more disciples and sent them forth two by two before His face into every city and place whither He Himself would come. He commissioned them to announce the coming Kingdom of God and to heal the sick, saying, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest." Following the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Seventy Apostles went forth into all lands, preaching the Gospel to every creature. Some accompanied the Twelve Apostles in their missionary journeys; others became evangelists in their own right. Among them were the holy Evangelists Mark and Luke, the disciple Timothy who was a companion of the Apostle Paul, and Prochorus, a disciple of the holy Evangelist John. Many of the Seventy suffered imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom for Christ's sake. The Church commemorates them collectively on 4 January to indicate the equal honour and dignity of each. The Canon for this synaxis was composed in the ninth century by Saint Joseph the Hymnographer.

Venerable Theoctistus, Abbot of Cucomo in Sicily

800

The Venerable Theoctistus was an abbot and founder of the Cucomo (also known as Coucouma or Coucoumis) Monastery on the island of Sicily. He lived in the second half of the eighth century, during a period of widespread iconoclastic heresy when the Orthodox faith was under severe persecution by iconoclastic emperors in the Byzantine Empire. During this turbulent time, many monks fled the Empire to escape the persecution of those who opposed the veneration of holy icons. The Venerable Theoctistus founded his monastery as a refuge where Greek monks fleeing the iconoclastic persecutions could come to pray undisturbed and preserve the Orthodox tradition and the veneration of sacred icons. As the founder and Igoumen (Abbot) of the Cucomo Monastery, he provided spiritual guidance and stability to the monks who gathered under his leadership. His monastery became a centre of Orthodox monastic life and spiritual witness during a dark period in the Church's history. The Venerable Theoctistus laboured faithfully in his abbatial ministry, guiding his monks in prayer, ascetical practice, and the preservation of Orthodox doctrine and piety. He reposed in the Lord in the year 800, having spent his life in service to God and His Church. The Venerable Theoctistus of Sicily should not be confused with another Venerable Theoctistus of Palestine (commemorated on 3 September), the companion of the great ascetic Saint Euthymios the Great.

The Ethiopian Eunuch of Queen Candace

His baptism by the holy Apostle Philip is told in Acts ch. 8. He was already seeking out the things of God — the story shows him reading the Book of Isaiah, and specifies that he was going to Jerusalem to worship. He returned home (“rejoicing”, say the scriptures) and proclaimed the Gospel of Christ in his native land; the ancient Church of Ethiopia traces its beginnings to his mission. He died a martyr’s death.

Venerable Apollinaria

5th c.

She was a maiden of high rank, the daughter of a magistrate named Anthimus in the city of Rome. Filled with love for Christ, she prevailed on her parents to allow her to travel on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In Jerusalem she dismissed most of her attendants, gave her jewels, fine clothes and money to the poor, and went on to Egypt accompanied only by two trusted servants. Near Alexandria she slipped away from them and fled to a forest, where she lived in ascesis for many years. She then made her way to Sketis, the famous desert monastic colony, and presented herself as a eunuch named Dorotheos. In this guise she was accepted as a monk. Anthimus, having lost his elder daughter, was visited with another grief: his younger daughter was afflicted by a demon. He sent this daughter to Sketis, asking the holy fathers there to aid her by their prayers. They put her under the care of “Dorotheos”, who after days of constant prayer effected the complete cure of her (unknowing) sister. When the girl got back home it was discovered that she was pregnant, and Anthimus angrily ordered that the monk who had cared for her be sent to him. He was astonished to find that “Dorotheos” was his own daughter Apollinaria, whom he had abandoned hope of seeing again. After some days the holy woman returned to Sketis, still keeping her identity secret from her fellow-monks. Only at her death was her true story discovered.

Daily readings

Epistle

— Sunday before Theophany weekly cycle

2 Timothy — 2 Timothy 4.5-8

⁵But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. ⁶For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. ⁷I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: ⁸Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Gospel

— Sunday before Theophany weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 1.1-8

¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; ²As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. ³The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. ⁴John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. ⁵And there went out unto him all the land of Judæa, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; ⁷And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. ⁸I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

8th Matins Gospel

John — John 20.11-18

¹¹But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, ¹²And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. ¹³And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. ¹⁴And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. ¹⁶Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. ¹⁷Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. ¹⁸Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.