Saturday, 21 March 2026

Memorial Saturday

Fourth Saturday of Lent

22 days before Pascha · Tone 7 · Liturgy · Lenten Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Saint Cyril, Bishop of Catania

Saint Cyril was born in Antioch and was a disciple of the Apostle Peter, the Chief of the Apostles. The Apostle Peter, recognising the spiritual gifts and piety of Cyril, installed him as Bishop of Catania in Sicily, where he would shepherd the flock of Christ. Saint Cyril wisely guided his flock in the Orthodox faith with pastoral care and spiritual wisdom. He was pious in his personal life and devoted to the Gospel. The Lord granted him the gift of wonderworking, and through his prayers many miraculous signs were performed for the strengthening of faith and the healing of the afflicted. Saint Cyril's episcopal ministry brought many souls to Christ and established the Church firmly in Catania. He is commemorated on 21 March as a holy bishop and wonderworker in the Orthodox tradition.

Saint James the Confessor, Bishop of Catania

Saint James, Bishop and Confessor, was inclined toward the ascetic life from his early years. He entered the Studite monastery, where he was tonsured and became a monk devoted to prayer and spiritual discipline.

Pious and well-versed in Holy Scripture, Saint James was eventually elevated to the bishop's throne of Catania in Sicily, where he faithfully shepherded Christ's flock. During the reign of the iconoclast Emperor Constantine V Copronymus (741-775), Saint James was repeatedly urged not to venerate the holy icons.

Refusing to abandon the veneration of sacred images, which had been honoured since ancient times in the Church, Saint James suffered greatly for his Orthodox faith. The iconoclasts exhausted him in prison, starved him, beat him with rods, and subjected him to many cruel torments. Yet he bravely endured all these sufferings without wavering in his confession of Christ.

Saint James was ultimately exiled from his see because of his steadfast defence of the holy icons. He died in exile, completing his struggle as a confessor of the Orthodox faith. The Church commemorates him on 21 March as a holy confessor and bishop.

Saint Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople

Saint Thomas served as Patriarch of Constantinople, shepherding the Church of Constantinople during a critical period in Church history. Upon the death of the holy Patriarch Thomas in 610, considerable disorders and ecclesiastical difficulties arose in the Patriarchate and the wider Church. Saint Thomas' successor, Patriarch Sergius (610-638), faced significant theological challenges and controversies regarding the nature of Christ. Despite the good intentions of Patriarch Sergius, the subsequent period saw the rise of the Monothelite heresy, which denied the full Orthodox teaching concerning Christ's divine and human wills. This theological struggle underscores the importance of Saint Thomas' faithful stewardship of the Patriarchate and his commitment to preserving Orthodox doctrine. Saint Thomas is commemorated on 21 March in the Orthodox Church calendar as a holy Patriarch.

Our Holy Father Serapion

366

‘A companion of St Antony the Great, he lived in the Nitrian desert, in charge of the monastery of Arsina which contained 11,000 monks. Palladius and Sozomenes gave him the title “the Great”. He entered into rest in about 366. St Serapion wrote: “Do not think that sickness is grave; only sin is grave… Sickness leads us only to the tomb, but sin follows the sinner beyond it”.’ (Prologue)

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Hebrews — Hebrews 6.9-12

⁹But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. ¹⁰For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. ¹¹And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: ¹²That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 7.31-37

³¹And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. ³²And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. ³³And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; ³⁴And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. ³⁵And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. ³⁶And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; ³⁷And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Epistle

— Departed

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 15.47-57

⁴⁷The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. ⁴⁸As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. ⁴⁹And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. ⁵⁰Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. ⁵¹Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel

— Departed

John — John 5.24-30

²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. ²⁵Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. ²⁶For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; ²⁷And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. ²⁸Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, ²⁹And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. ³⁰I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.