Wednesday, 22 July 2026

Holy Myrrhbearer Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles

Wednesday of the 8th week after Pentecost

101 days after Pascha · Tone 6 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Holy myrrh-bearer and equal-of-the-apostles Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene came from the town of Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, between Capernaum and Tiberias. The Gospels record that the Lord cast seven demons out of her, and from that hour she became one of his most devoted disciples, following him through Galilee and Judea and ministering to him from her own substance. She stood by the Cross at Golgotha when most of the apostles had fled, and she watched as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus laid the Lord's body in the tomb. She returned with the other myrrh-bearing women at dawn on the first day of the week, and the risen Christ appeared first to her, calling her by name in the garden. She is therefore named "equal-of-the-apostles" because she was the first to proclaim the Resurrection, saying to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord."

Holy Tradition relates that after Pentecost she travelled with the apostles preaching the Gospel. Going to Rome, she gained an audience with the emperor Tiberius and spoke to him of the Resurrection. According to the tradition preserved by Saint Modestus of Jerusalem and others, she presented him with a red egg and the words "Christ is risen," giving rise to the Paschal custom of dyed eggs. She also testified before Tiberius against Pilate and the Jewish leaders for their unjust condemnation of the Lord. Later she went to Ephesus to assist Saint John the Theologian in his preaching, and there she fell asleep in peace. Her relics were translated to Constantinople in the ninth century by the emperor Leo the Wise and laid in the monastery of Saint Lazarus.

Holy apostle Cornelius the centurion

Saint Cornelius was a Roman centurion of the Italian Cohort stationed at Caesarea Maritima in Palestine in the first century. The Acts of the Apostles describes him as "a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always." An angel appeared to him in a vision while he was praying at the ninth hour and instructed him to send for Simon Peter, who was lodging in Joppa. While his messengers were on the way, Peter received his own vision of the great sheet let down from heaven containing all manner of creatures, and the divine command, "What God has cleansed, do not call common." When Peter came to the house of Cornelius and preached the Gospel, the Holy Spirit descended on Cornelius, his household and friends, and they spoke in tongues and magnified God. Astonished, the apostle commanded that they be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, the first uncircumcised Gentiles to be received into the Church. Cornelius was thus the first-fruits of the Gentile world. Holy Tradition records that he later became bishop of Skepsis in Mysia, where he overthrew the temple of Apollo by his prayers and converted the prince of the city. He reposed in peace in old age. His principal commemoration is on 13 September, with an additional remembrance on 22 July in some calendars.

Holy virgin-martyr Markella of Chios

Saint Markella was born on the island of Chios, traditionally placed in the fourteenth century, the only daughter of a pagan or recently lapsed local lord. Her mother, a devout Christian, raised her in piety and taught her the Scriptures, but died while Markella was still young. Growing in beauty and virtue, the maiden consecrated her virginity to Christ. After her mother's death her father conceived an unnatural and incestuous passion for her. When she resisted his advances and fled, he pursued her into the hills of north-western Chios. At a place called Volissos he overtook her by the sea, and when she had no further refuge he struck her down with his sword. Tradition relates that as she ran a rock opened to receive part of her body and then closed again, leaving only her head and shoulders exposed, which her father then severed. The waters of the cove where she suffered are said to grow warm at the time of her feast and to give forth a sweet fragrance, and many healings are reported there. A great pilgrimage church built over the spot is one of the most beloved shrines of the Aegean.

Translation of the relics of hieromartyr Phocas, bishop of Sinope

Saint Phocas was bishop of Sinope on the Black Sea coast of Pontus in the late first or early second century. He is celebrated for his pastoral zeal, his care of the poor and seafarers, and the boldness with which he confessed Christ. During the persecution under the emperor Trajan, the governor Africanus arrested him and demanded that he sacrifice to idols. Saint Phocas refused, was tortured at length, and was finally cast into a heated bath where he gave up his soul to God around the year 117. His principal feast is kept on 22 September, the day of his martyrdom. The present commemoration on 22 July marks the translation of his holy relics from Sinope to Constantinople, which took place in either 403 or 404 during the reign of the emperor Arcadius. The relics were received with great solemnity and laid in a church built in his honour. Saint Phocas is widely venerated as the protector of seafarers, and Black Sea sailors traditionally set aside a portion of their food at meals as the saint's share, which was then given as alms to the poor in his name.

Venerable Cornelius of Pereyaslavl

1693

Saint Cornelius, in the world Conon, was born into a merchant family of Ryazan in the seventeenth century. As a young man he secretly left his home and went to the monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb at Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, where he was tonsured a monk. He devoted himself to silence, manual labour, and unremitting prayer, taking the most demanding obediences of the community: he tilled the garden, drew water, and chopped firewood for the brethren. For thirty years he kept a complete vow of silence, communicating only by gesture, so that many supposed him to be mute. He wore the same coarse garment in summer and winter, slept little, and stood at the prayers of the night services as if made of stone. After many years of this hidden ascetic struggle, he was tonsured to the great schema. Saint Cornelius reposed in 1693 and was buried in the monastery church. When his grave was opened in 1701, his relics were found incorrupt and a new tomb was prepared for them. He was glorified for the gifts of unceasing prayer and discernment which God granted him in reward for his hidden labours.

Also commemorated: Holy Myrrhbearer Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 10.12-22

¹²Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ¹³There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

¹⁴Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. ¹⁶The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? ¹⁷For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. ¹⁸Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? ¹⁹What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? ²⁰But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. ²¹Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. ²²Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 16.20-24

²⁰Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

²¹From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. ²²Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. ²³But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

²⁴Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.