Tuesday, 2 June 2026

Third Day of the Trinity

Tuesday of the 1st week after Pentecost

51 days after Pascha · Tone 7 · Liturgy · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

★ Holy Great Martyr John the New of Suceava

Saint John the New was born about the year 1300 at Trebizond on the Black Sea coast and followed his father's trade as a merchant. Devout in the Orthodox faith and generous to the poor, he travelled by sea to Cetatea Alba (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi) in what is now Ukraine, then under Tatar rule. On the voyage a Venetian shipowner named Reiz, who had often disputed with John about the faith and been bested in argument, conceived a hatred for him. On reaching port the Venetian denounced John to the Tatar governor as one who wished to embrace the Persian religion. Brought before the ruler, the saint refused to deny Christ and was scourged so cruelly that the flesh fell from his body in pieces. He was then tied to the tail of a wild horse and dragged through the streets of the town, where a Jewish man cut off his head. Christians buried him secretly, and when miracles began to occur at the grave the relics were taken up and venerated openly. In 1402 they were translated to Suceava, the capital of the Moldavian voievod Alexander the Good, where they remain a chief treasure of the Romanian Church.

New Martyr Constantine of the Hagarenes

The New Martyr Constantine was a Muslim by birth, of a noble family of the island of Mytilene, who served as an officer under the Ottomans. Drawn to the Christian faith by the example of the Orthodox Christians among whom he lived, and by a vision of the Mother of God, he travelled to Mount Athos and was baptised at the skete of Saint Anne, taking the name Constantine. Returning openly to his homeland to confess the faith he had embraced, he was arrested as an apostate from Islam, imprisoned and beaten in an effort to make him recant. He stood firm in his confession of Christ and was hanged at Constantinople in 1819, glorifying God to the end. The Church numbers him among the new martyrs who suffered under the Turkish yoke and commemorates him with Saint Nicephorus and Saint John the New on this day.

Saint Erasmus, bishop of Formia

Saint Erasmus was bishop of Formia in Campania during the persecutions of Diocletian and Maximian at the close of the third century. According to ancient tradition he was first arrested in Antioch, where he confessed Christ and was tortured, and afterwards travelled by way of the Balkans to the West, preaching the Gospel and confirming the faithful in the regions of Lychnidos in Illyricum (modern Ohrid), where his memory has been kept from time immemorial on this day. Reaching Italy he was again seized, suffered fresh torments and reposed peacefully of his wounds at Formia about the year 303. His relics were later transferred to Gaeta, where his cathedral church preserves them. He is one of the most widely venerated Western martyrs in the Eastern calendars and is invoked especially by sailors, who know him as Saint Elmo.

Saint Nicephorus the Confessor, patriarch of Constantinople

He was born in Constantinople around 758, of pious parents: his father had been exiled under Constantine Copronymus for his steadfast veneration of the holy icons. Nikephoros served in the imperial palace as a secretary, but later renounced worldly success to struggle in monastic life near Constantinople. He built and administered a monastery which soon became filled with monks; but he himself never took the monastic habit, feeling himself unworthy. Though a layman, he took part in the Seventh Ecumenical Council at the request of the Emperor and Patriarch because of his remarkable knowledge of Holy Scripture. Much against his will, he was made Patriarch of Constantinople at the death of Patriarch Tarasios. He was made a monk, then elevated through all the priestly orders in a few days, then enthroned at St Sophia in 806.

A few years later, the Emperor Leo the Armenian took the throne. Patriarch Nikephoros, as was customary, sent him a Confession of the Orthodox Faith to sign. Leo put off signing the document until his coronation, then revealed himself to be an Iconoclast heretic. The Patriarch tried quietly to bring him back to the Orthodox faith, but to no avail. When the Emperor, in his turn, tried to make the holy Nikephoros bow to iconoclasm, the Patriarch clearly and publicly upheld the veneration of the holy Icons. For this he was deposed and driven into exile at the Monastery of St Theodore, which he himself had founded. Here he reposed, having served for nine years as Patriarch, and thirteen years in exile and privation.

Holy New Martyr Constantine

1819

He was born a Muslim on the island of Lesbos (Mitylene), but became convinced of the truth of Christ after he was healed of a serious illness by the aid of holy water in a church. He traveled to the Holy Mountain and was baptised at the monastery of Kapsokalyvia. Later, he was seized by the Turks, who first tortured him viciously and, when he would not deny the Faith, hanged him in Constantinople.

Hieromartyr Erazmo of Ochrid

303

“This saint was born in Antioch and lived in the reigns of Diocletian and Maximian. He lived in strict asceticism on Mount Lebanon, and was endowed by God with great wonderworking gifts. As a bishop, he set out to preach the Gospel. Arriving at the city of Ochrid, he restored the son of a man called Anastasius to life by his prayers, and baptised him. At this time, Erazmo baptised many other pagans and tore down the idolatrous altar in Ochrid. For this he was denounced to the Emperor Maximian, who was at that time staying in Illyria. The Emperor brought him before the copper image of Zeus, and ordered him to bring sacrifices and worship the idol. St Erazmo, by his power, caused a terrible dragon to come out of the statue, which terrified all the people. The saint then worked another wonder, and the dragon died. Then the saint preached Christ and baptised 20,000 souls. The furious Emperor commanded that all 20,000 be beheaded, and put Erazmo to harsh torture, before throwing him into prison. But an angel of God appeared to him, as once to the Apostle Peter, and led him out of the prison. After that, this servant of God went to Campania, where he preached the Gospel to the people, then returned again to the town of Hermelia, where he withdrew to a cave and lived in asceticism for the rest of his days. At the time of his death, he prostrated three times towards the East and, with upraised hands, prayed to God to forgive and give eternal life to all those who would, with faith, call upon his name. At the end of his prayer, a voice was heard from heaven: ‘Let it be as thou hast asked, My little healer Erazmo!’ The saint looked up once more to heaven with great joy and saw a wreath of glory descending upon him, and a choir of angels, prophets, apostles and martyrs waiting to receive his holy soul. He finally cried: ‘Lord, receive my spirit!’, and breathed his last, in about the year 303. The cave and chapel of St Erazmo stand to this day not far from Ochrid, and from there is proclaimed to this day the great power of the man of God, Erazmo the hieromartyr.” (Prologue) Note: St Erazmo is commemorated on May 4th in the Slavonic Menaion, but St Nikolai Velomirovich gives today as the date on which he was been commemorated in Ochrid “from time immemorial”.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Romans — Romans 1.1-7, 13-17

¹Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, ²(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) ³Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; ⁴And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: ⁵By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: ⁶Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: ⁷To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. ¹³Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. ¹⁴I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. ¹⁵So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. ¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 4.25-5.13

²⁵And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

¹And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: ²And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, ³Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. ⁵Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. ⁶Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. ⁷Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. ⁸Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. ⁹Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. ¹⁰Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. ¹²Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

¹³Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.