Friday, 20 March 2026

Holy Fathers Slain at St Sabbas Monastery

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

23 days before Pascha · Tone 7 · Presanctified · Lenten Fast

Presanctified Liturgy

Saints commemorated

Saint Cuthbert, Wonderworker of Lindisfarne

‘Saint Cuthbert was born in Britain about the year 635, and became a monk in his youth at the monastery of Melrose by the River Tweed. After many years of struggle as a true priest of Christ, in the service both of his own brethren and of the neglected Christians of isolated country villages, he became a solitary on Farne Island in 676. After eight years as a hermit, he was constrained to leave his quiet to become Bishop of Lindisfarne, in which office he served for almost two years. He returned to his hermitage two months before he reposed in peace in 687.

‘Because of the miracles he wrought both during his life and at his tomb after death, he is called the “Wonderworker of Britain.” The whole English people honoured him, and kings were both benefactors to his shrine and suppliants of his prayers. Eleven years after his death, his holy relics were revealed to be incorrupt; when his body was translated from Lindisfarne to Durham Cathedral in August of 1104, his body was still found to be untouched by decay, giving off “an odour of the sweetest fragrancy,” and “from the flexibility of its joints representing a person asleep rather than dead.” Finally, when the most impious Henry VIII desecrated his shrine, opening it to despoil it of its valuables, his body was again found incorrupt, and was buried in 1542. It is believed that after this the holy relics of Saint Cuthbert were hidden to preserve them from further desecration.’ (Great Horologion)

Saint Niketas the Confessor, Archbishop of Apollonias

Saint Niketas was Archbishop of Apollonias in Bithynia, on the southern shore of Lake Apolloniatis in Asia Minor, in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. Trained from his youth in the study of the holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers, he was raised to the episcopate in his own region for the depth of his learning, the soundness of his faith, and the gentleness of his pastoral care. He governed his see as a tender father to his flock and as a steadfast champion of the Orthodox faith. His ministry fell during the second great outbreak of the iconoclast heresy. When the emperor Leo the Armenian renewed the persecution against the holy icons, demanding that bishops and abbots subscribe to the iconoclast policy of the court, Saint Niketas refused to betray the tradition of the Church. He defended the veneration of the holy images by reference to Holy Scripture and to the teaching of the Fathers, showing that the honour rendered to the icon passes to the prototype. For this confession he was seized, deprived of his see, and sent into exile, where, after enduring many hardships for the sake of Christ and the holy icons, he reposed in peace about the year 813. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 20 March together with the other holy confessors of his generation, who by their patient suffering preserved the faith of the seven Ecumenical Councils.

Saint Wulfram, Archbishop of Sens

703

Saint Wulfram was born about the year 640 at Milly in the region of Fontainebleau, the son of an officer in the household of King Dagobert. Brought up at the Frankish court, he excelled in piety and learning, and embraced the clerical state. About the year 692 he was elected Archbishop of Sens, but after only a short time on that ancient throne he was drawn by the example of the saints to a more retired life and resigned the see in favour of his successor, Saint Amatus. He withdrew to the great abbey of Fontenelle in Normandy, where he received the monastic habit. There he heard reports of the heathen Frisians and was filled with apostolic zeal to bring them to Christ. With companions from Fontenelle he sailed to Frisia in the days of King Radbod, preaching the Gospel along the coasts and rivers, baptising those who believed, and rescuing children whom the Frisians, by ancient custom, exposed to the rising tide as offerings to the sea. By his prayers more than one such victim was preserved alive. He converted Radbod's son and many of the people, although the king himself in the end drew back from the font. Worn out by his labours, Saint Wulfram returned to Fontenelle, where he reposed in peace on 20 March in the year 703 or thereabouts. His relics were afterwards translated to Abbeville. He is honoured among the apostles of the Frisians and is commemorated on 20 March by the Orthodox Church among the western saints of the undivided faith.

The Holy Fathers Slain at the Monastery of Saint Sabbas

The Martyred Holy Fathers John, Sergius, Patrick and others were slain at the Monastery of Saint Sabbas (also called the Lavra of Saint Sabbas) during the eighth century. The area around Jerusalem was subjected to frequent incursions of the Saracens (Arab raiders).

On Great Thursday, 20 March, the Saracens descended upon the Lavra with a large force and began to assault the monks. The survivors were driven into the church, where they were tortured in order to force them to reveal where any treasure might be hidden.

The barbarians seized Saint John, a young monk who had cared for vagrants and the poor with great compassion. They beat him fiercely, then they cut the sinews of his hands and feet and dragged him over stones by his feet, tearing the skin from his back.

The keeper of the church vessels, Saint Sergius, hid the sacred vessels and attempted to flee, but he was captured and beheaded by the cruel raiders. Saint Patrick and seventeen other monks also fell under the swords of the barbarians. Eighteen men perished in a cave within the monastery.

The wicked Saracens who plundered the monastery and murdered these holy fathers were punished by God with a sudden illness, and they all perished. Their bodies were devoured by wild beasts, demonstrating divine justice.

St Photine the Samaritan Woman

See her commemoration on February 26.

Also commemorated: Holy Fathers Slain at St Sabbas Monastery

Daily readings

6th Hour

weekly cycle

Isaiah — Isaiah 29.13-23

¹³Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: ¹⁴Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. ¹⁵Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? ¹⁶Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

¹⁸And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. ¹⁹The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. ²⁰For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: ²¹That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought. ²²Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. ²³But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

Vespers

weekly cycle

Genesis — Genesis 12.1-7

¹Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: ²And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: ³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

⁴So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. ⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

⁶And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. ⁷And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

Vespers

weekly cycle

Proverbs — Proverbs 14.15-26

¹⁵The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going. ¹⁶A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident. ¹⁷He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated. ¹⁸The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. ¹⁹The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. ²⁰The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends. ²¹He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he. ²²Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. ²³In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. ²⁴The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly. ²⁵A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.

²⁶In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.