Wednesday, 11 March 2026

St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem; St Euthymius, Bishop of Novgorod

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

32 days before Pascha · Tone 6 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · Lenten Fast

Presanctified Liturgy

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Pionius, Presbyter of Smyrna

250

Saint Pionius was a presbyter of the Church of Smyrna who suffered for Christ during the persecution of the emperor Decius in the year 250. A learned man and a faithful pastor, he had carefully transcribed the older account of the martyrdom of his predecessor Saint Polycarp, preserving for the Church the memory of that glorious witness. By a heavenly revelation Pionius foreknew that he would be arrested on 23 February, the very feast on which the Christians of Smyrna kept the memory of Saint Polycarp. On that day, having spent the night in prayer with his disciples Sabina and Asclepiades, he placed about his own neck and theirs woven cords as a sign of their willing readiness for martyrdom, that no one might think they were being led away by force. They were brought before the magistrates and exhorted to sacrifice to the gods, but Pionius answered with a long and noble defence of the faith, recorded in one of the most ancient and authentic acts of the martyrs that has come down to us. After many torments and a long imprisonment, Saint Pionius was at length condemned to be burned alive. On 11 March of the year 250 he was nailed to a stake in the amphitheatre of Smyrna, and giving thanks to God in the midst of the flames, he yielded up his soul. With him are commemorated his fellow-martyrs Limnus the presbyter, the women Sabina and Macedonia, and Asclepiades.

Saint Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem

He was born in Damascus to an eminent family, and was well educated in his youth. Discontented with the wisdom of the world, he entered monastic life in the monastery of St Theodosius, where he became the lifelong friend and disciple of John Moschos. Together they visited the monasteries and hermitages of Egypt; they later wrote down their discoveries among the holy monks in the classic Spiritual Meadow. After the death of his teacher, St Sophronius traveled to Jerusalem, which had just been liberated from the Persians. He was there to see the Precious Cross returned from Persia by the Emperor Heraclius, who carried it into Jerusalem on his back. A few years later, in 634, St Sophronius was elected Patriarch of Jerusalem, where he served his flock wisely for three years and three months. He was zealous in the defense of Orthodoxy against the Monothelite heresy: He convoked a Council in Jerusalem which condemned it before it was condemned at the Sixth Ecumenical Council. The holy Patriarch even traveled to Constantinople to rebuke the Patriarch Sergius and Emperor Heraclius, who had embraced the Monothelite error.

The years of peace were few for the Holy Land; for just as the Persian Empire was decisively defeated by Heraclius, the followers of Islam erupted out of Arabia, conquering most of North Africa and the Middle East in a few years. The Saint was so grieved by the capture of Jerusalem in 637 by the Caliph Omar that begged God to take him, so that he might not live to see the desecration of the holy places. His prayer was granted, and he reposed in peace less than a year later.

St Sophronios is the author of the Life of Saint Mary of Egypt, appointed to be read in the churches during every Great Lent. He also wrote the service of the Great Blessing of the Waters. Some have attributed the Vesperal hymn “Gladsome Light” to him, but we know that it dates from before the time of St Basil the Great, who mentions it in his writings. It seems though, that St Sophronios supplemented the hymn, and that its present form is due to him.

Venerable Sophronius the Recluse of the Kiev Caves

Saint Sophronius was an ascetic of the Far Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra, also called the caves of Saint Theodosius, where he laboured in the thirteenth century. Of his earlier life little is recorded, save that having renounced the world he embraced the strictest form of monastic struggle, withdrawing into the silence of the underground caves to give himself wholly to prayer and the contemplation of God. The tradition of the Lavra remembers him as a man of severe self-denial, who wore upon his bare flesh a coarse hairshirt and bound himself with a heavy iron belt. Day by day, in the unbroken stillness of his cell, he would read through the entire Psalter, weeping over the verses and offering them as incense to the Lord. By such hidden labours he attained great purity of heart and was found worthy of unceasing prayer. After a life pleasing to God, Saint Sophronius reposed in peace, and his incorrupt relics were laid to rest in the Far Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra, where they remain to this day, a source of healing and grace to those who venerate them. He is commemorated on 11 March, on the day of his repose, and again on 11 May, and is also numbered among the Synaxis of the venerable fathers whose relics rest in the Far Caves of Saint Theodosius, kept on 28 August.

St John Moschos, author of the Spiritual Meadow

622

He is commemorated today along with his disciple and friend St Sophronius (see above).

Holy Martyr Pionius

250

“A priest of Smyrna, he suffered there in the time of Decius’ persecution. They condemned him to be crucified, which was a great joy to him. And as soon as the soldiers assembled the cross and laid it on the ground, Pionius laid himself on it and stretched out his arms, calling to the soldiers to put the nails into his hands. The cross was inserted into the ground upside down, and a fire lit under the martyr’s head. There were many bystanders. Pionius closed his eyes and prayed to God within himself. The flames could not succeed in igniting even his hair, and when the fire had at last gone out and everyone thought that he was dead, Pionius opened his eyes and cried out joyfully: ‘O Lord, receive my spirit!’, and breathed his last. This saint wrote the life of St Polycarp of Smyrna, together with whom he now makes merry in the Kingdom of Christ. He suffered and was glorified in 250.” (Prologue)

Also commemorated: St Euthymius, Bishop of Novgorod

Daily readings

6th Hour

weekly cycle

Isaiah — Isaiah 10.12-20

¹²Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. ¹³For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: ¹⁴And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. ¹⁵Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. ¹⁶Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. ¹⁷And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; ¹⁸And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. ¹⁹And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

Vespers

weekly cycle

Genesis — Genesis 7.6-9

⁶And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

⁷And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. ⁸Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, ⁹There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

Vespers

weekly cycle

Proverbs — Proverbs 9.12-18 (LXX)

¹²If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

¹³A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. ¹⁴For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, ¹⁵To call passengers who go right on their ways: ¹⁶Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, ¹⁷Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. ¹⁸But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.