Wednesday, 12 August 2026

Martyrs Anicletus and Photius of Nicomedia

Wednesday of the 11th week after Pentecost

122 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Liturgy · Dormition Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Martyrs Pamphilus and Capiton

The Holy Martyrs Pamphilus and Capiton suffered for Christ in the early centuries of the Church and were beheaded by the sword at Olivria, a place near Constantinople. Little is preserved concerning their lives, but the synaxarion records that they were faithful confessors of the Christian faith who refused to deny Christ when challenged, and so received the crown of martyrdom. They are reckoned among the early martyrs of the Bithynian region and are commemorated by the Orthodox Church on 12 August.

Holy Martyrs Photius and Anicetus of Nicomedia

The Holy Martyrs Anicetus and Photius were natives of Nicomedia, related to one another as uncle and nephew. Anicetus was a senior officer in the imperial guard. When the emperor Diocletian set up in the city square new instruments of execution to terrify the Christians and ordered all to sacrifice to the idols, Anicetus stepped forward and openly denounced the cruelty of the persecution and confessed Christ as God. The emperor, enraged, ordered him to be tortured: his tongue was torn out, his teeth were broken, but he continued to confess Christ. He was thrown to lions, but they grew gentle and lay down at his feet; he was bound to a wheel, but the wheel stopped; he was cast into a heated furnace, but emerged unharmed. While these tortures were inflicted his nephew Photius came forward and embraced his kinsman, declaring that he too was a Christian. The emperor commanded the two to be tied by the legs and dragged behind wild horses, but they were preserved. Finally a great furnace was prepared; many other Christians, inspired by the constancy of Anicetus and Photius, came forward crying, "We too are Christians," and entered the flames with them. The two saints died together praying, and their bodies were not consumed by the fire, even their hair remaining whole. They suffered around the year 305 and are commemorated on 12 August.

Saint Castor the Venerable

Saint Castor is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on 12 August as a venerable father, that is, an ascetic who reposed peacefully rather than as a martyr. He is named in the synaxaria of the day among the saints of the early Church and is honoured for the ascetic life he led in service to Christ. The synaxaria preserve no detailed life of him, but his memory has continued to be kept on this date in the Eastern Orthodox calendar.

Hieromaryr Alexander, Bishop of Comana

3rd c.

“He lived in the town of Comana near Neocaesarea as a simple charcoal-burner. When the Bishop of Comana died, St Gregory of Neocaesarea, the Wonderworker (Nov. 17), was invited to preside over the Council to choose a new bishop. At the Council there were both clergy and laymen. They were unable to come to agreement on one person, estimating the candidates they selected according to their outward worth and behaviour. St Gregory told them that they must not give so much weight to the outward impression as to the soul and the spiritual aptitude. Then some wag called out mockingly: ‘Then let’s choose Alexander the charcoal-burner as bishop!’, and there was general laughter. St Gregory asked who this Alexander was. Thinking that his name would not have come up before the Council except by the providence of God, he commanded that he be brought. Being a charcoal-burner, he was black with soot and in rags, and his appearance provoked further mirth in the Council. Then Gregory took him aside and asked him to tell the truth about himself. Alexander told him that he had been a Greek philosopher, enjoying great honour and position, but that he had set it all aside, demeaned himself and made himself as a fool for Christ from the time that he had read and understood the Holy Scriptures. Gregory commanded that he be bathed and clad in new clothes, then went into the Council with him and, before them all, began to examine him in the Scriptures. All were filled with amazement at the wisdom and grace of Alexander’s words, and were quite unable to recognize the former charcoal-burner in this wise man. With one voice, they chose him as bishop, and he received the love of his flock for his holiness, his wisdom and his goodness. He died a martyr for Christ under Diocletian.” (Prologue)

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 3.4-11

⁴And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: ⁵Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; ⁶Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. ⁷But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: ⁸How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? ⁹For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. ¹⁰For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. ¹¹For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 23.29-39

²⁹Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, ³⁰And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. ³¹Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. ³²Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. ³³Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

³⁴Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: ³⁵That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. ³⁶Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! ³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. ³⁹For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.