Sunday, 2 August 2026

9th Sunday after Pentecost

112 days after Pascha · Tone 8 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · Dormition Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Blessed Basil, Fool-for-Christ and Wonderworker of Moscow

Saint Basil the Blessed was born in December 1468 on the portico of the Elokhov church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, near Moscow. His parents were poor commoners, and as a boy he was apprenticed to a cobbler. While still young he showed signs of clairvoyance: when a merchant came to order boots and was overheard discussing his plans for the next day, Basil quietly remarked that the man would never wear them, and the merchant died that night. At the age of sixteen he left his trade for the way of foolishness for Christ. He went barefoot, summer and winter, almost without clothing, accepting blows, scorn and hunger as gifts from God. He overturned trays of bread and jars of kvass in the marketplaces, and the angry traders beat him, but it was afterwards discovered that the bread had been poorly baked and the kvass spoiled. By such hidden actions he taught the love of truth and the contempt of luxury. Basil rebuked Tsar Ivan the Terrible to his face for inattention during the divine services and for his violence against the innocent, and the tsar, who feared no other man, feared the holy fool, calling him a seer of hearts. Basil received from God the gifts of prophecy, the discernment of demons hidden under appearances of human kindness, and miraculous deliverance from danger. He fell asleep in the Lord on 2 August 1557, and the tsar himself, with the boyars, carried his coffin, while Saint Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, served his funeral. He was buried in the Trinity Church on the Moat in Red Square, which has since been known by his name. He was glorified by the Church in 1588.

Translation of the Relics of the Holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen

415

This day commemorates two events in the history of the relics of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, who was stoned to death outside Jerusalem about the year 34 and is honoured by the Church as the first martyr after the Lord's Ascension. In the year 415, during the reign of the Patriarch John of Jerusalem, a learned priest named Lucian, parish priest of the village of Caphargamala, was visited three times in dreams by the venerable Gamaliel, the teacher of Saint Paul who had received Stephen's body for burial. Gamaliel revealed to him the location of the forgotten grave in which he, his son Abibas, the priest Nicodemus and the Protomartyr lay buried. With the blessing of the patriarch the place was opened and the relics of Saint Stephen were found, accompanied by signs and a fragrance that filled the air. The relics were solemnly translated to Sion in Jerusalem and placed in the church of the holy Apostles. During the reign of the Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408 to 450) they were brought to Constantinople. According to the synaxarion, the empress Eudocia obtained them and they were placed in the church of the deacon Saint Lawrence. When the imperial city built a great church dedicated to the Protomartyr himself, the relics were translated there on 2 August. The right hand of Saint Stephen is preserved to this day in the Serapionov chamber of the Holy Trinity Lavra of Saint Sergius in Russia, and other portions of his relics are venerated across the Orthodox world.

Venerable Basil of Kamen, Fool-for-Christ

Saint Basil of Kamen lived between the second half of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth, in the northern Russian forests around Lake Kuben in the region of Vologda. He took monastic tonsure in the Saviour Stone Monastery, founded in the thirteenth century on a small rocky island in the lake, and there he undertook the rare and difficult exploit of foolishness for Christ. Like the better-known Basil of Moscow whose name he shared, he concealed his prayer and ascetic life beneath strange and provocative behaviour, accepting the contempt and ridicule of the world as a discipline against pride. He kept a strict fast, slept little, walked the shores of the lake in scant clothing in all weathers, and ministered in secret to the poor and afflicted of the surrounding villages. The brethren of the Saviour Stone Monastery preserved the memory of his sanctity, and after his repose his name was entered among the saints commemorated locally in the Vologda lands. He is numbered with the long line of holy fools, the iurodivye, by whom Russia learned the value of voluntary humiliation borne for the love of Christ.

Hieromartyr Stephen, Pope of Rome, and those with him

257

As Bishop of Rome from 254 to 257, he battled the Novatian heresy. By his prayers he once healed Lucilla, the daughter of the Roman tribune Nemesius; for this both father and daughter were baptized into Christ. Saint Stephen and twelve of his priests were beheaded during a celebration of the Liturgy, during the reign of Valerian.

Also commemorated: Trans. Rel. Protomartyr Stephen

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 3.9-17

⁹For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. ¹⁰According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. ¹¹For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; ¹³Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. ¹⁴If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. ¹⁵If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. ¹⁶Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? ¹⁷If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 14.22-34

²²And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. ²³And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. ²⁴But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. ²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. ²⁶And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. ²⁷But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. ²⁸And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. ²⁹And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. ³⁰But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. ³¹And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? ³²And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. ³³Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

³⁴And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.

9th Matins Gospel

John — John 20.19-31

¹⁹Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. ²⁰And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. ²¹Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. ²²And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: ²³Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

²⁴But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

²⁶And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. ²⁷Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. ²⁸And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. ²⁹Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

³⁰And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: ³¹But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.