Thursday, 13 August 2026

St Tikhon of Zadonsk

Thursday of the 11th week after Pentecost

123 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Red cross (polyeleos typikon symbol) · Dormition Fast (Fish, Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Holy Empress Irene, in monastic life Xenia

The Holy Empress Irene was born Piroska in 1088, daughter of King Saint Ladislaus of Hungary. The emperor Alexios Komnenos, hearing of her piety and her royal lineage, sought her hand for his son John, who for his many virtues was surnamed Kaloioannes, the good John. She was brought to Constantinople and married John II Komnenos around 1104, taking on her marriage the name Irene (peace), and reigned as Byzantine empress when her husband ascended the imperial throne in 1118. She bore eight children and was renowned in the capital for her piety, humility and almsgiving, founding hospitals and homes for orphans, and refraining from the pomp usual to imperial women. With her husband she founded the great monastery of Christ Pantokrator in Constantinople, with its three churches, hospital, leprosarium and home for the aged, which became one of the principal religious houses of the empire and the burial place of the Komnenian dynasty. She did not live to see the monastery completed, falling asleep in the Lord on 13 August 1134. Some accounts say that before her repose she received the great schema with the name Xenia. She was buried in the church of the Pantokrator and is venerated as a saint of the Orthodox Church on 13 August.

Holy Martyr Hippolytus of Rome and those with him: Concordia, Irenaeus and Abundius

The Martyr Hippolytus was a chief prison guard at Rome under the emperors Decius and Valerian. While the deacon Lawrence was awaiting execution Hippolytus was set to keep him, and the witness of the archdeacon's faith and the miracles wrought through him brought Hippolytus to belief in Christ. He was baptised together with his entire household, and after the death of Lawrence on 10 August 258 he reverently buried the martyr's body. Three days later he was seized himself, brought before the prefect, and refused to deny Christ. He was stripped, scourged, and finally tied by the legs to two wild horses, which dragged him over the stones until his soul departed to the Lord on 13 August 258, just as Saint Lawrence had foretold. With him there suffered his old nurse Concordia, who had reared him from infancy and who under her own torture cried out, "Better to die with my chaste lord than to live without him"; she was beaten to death with leaded scourges and her body cast onto a refuse heap. The Christians Irenaeus and Abundius found her remains and gave them honourable burial, for which they were themselves seized and put to death. Nineteen others of the household of Hippolytus were beheaded outside the Tiburtine Gate. Their memory is observed on 13 August, the same day on which the Apodosis of the Transfiguration is kept.

Saint Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh and Wonderworker of Zadonsk

Saint Tikhon, in the world Timothy Sokolov, was born in 1724 in the village of Korotsk in the Novgorod diocese, the son of the cantor Sabellius. The family was so poor that the boy laboured as a child with the village peasants for a single piece of bread. At the age of thirteen he was sent to a clergy school near the residence of the Archbishop of Novgorod, where he supported himself by working with the seminary's gardeners. His ability won him a place at the Novgorod seminary, where he excelled, and he afterwards taught Greek, rhetoric and philosophy there. He was tonsured a monk in 1758 with the name Tikhon, and within a few years was raised to the episcopate, being transferred in 1763 to the see of Voronezh. As bishop he laboured to revive the spiritual life of his diocese: he encouraged the clergy to preach and to know their flocks, formed a mission to bring sectarians back to Orthodoxy, reformed the ecclesiastical courts so as to aim at correction rather than punishment, and transformed the Slavonic-Latin school into a true seminary, drawing up its curriculum and gathering able teachers. His health, however, was broken by his labours, and in 1769 he retired to the monastery of Zadonsk, where he spent the remaining fourteen years of his life in prayer, writing and almsgiving. From his pen came treatises of great spiritual depth, including "On True Christianity," and he became a much-loved counsellor of clergy and laity alike, called the "Russian Chrysostom." He foretold the day of his repose and fell asleep in the Lord on Sunday, 13 August 1783. His incorrupt relics were uncovered on 14 May 1846 and he was glorified on 13 August 1861. He is commemorated on 13 August.

Translation of the Relics of Saint Maximus the Confessor

Saint Maximus the Confessor (c. 580 to 662) was a Byzantine monk and theologian whose firm defence of the doctrine that the incarnate Christ has both a divine and a human will against the heresy of Monothelitism is reckoned the principal cause of its eventual condemnation. Born in Constantinople of a noble family, he served as first secretary to the emperor Heraclius before withdrawing to monastic life in 614. He laboured in monasteries in Bithynia, in Africa, and finally in Rome, where with Pope Martin I he convened the Lateran Council of 649 against the Monothelites. For this confession he was seized by the imperial officers, brought to Constantinople, tried for refusing communion with the imperial church, and after long imprisonment had his tongue and right hand cut off so that he could no longer write or speak the truth. Exiled to the fortress of Schemarum in Lazica on the south-eastern shore of the Black Sea, in present-day Georgia, he reposed on 13 August 662. After his death three lamps were seen miraculously burning over his grave, a sign of the light of Orthodoxy that had shone through him. After the Sixth Ecumenical Council of 680 to 681 vindicated his teaching, his relics were translated from Lazica to Constantinople, to the Monastery of the Theotokos at Chrysopolis on the Bosphorus where he had once been igumen. This translation is commemorated on 13 August, alongside his principal feast on 21 January.

St Maximos the Confessor

662

He was from a noble family in Constantinople, and became the private secretary of the Emperor Heraclius and his grandson Constans. But when the Monothelite heresy (that Christ possesses one divine will, rather than a divine and a human will) took hold in the Imperial court, the Saint could not bear to be surrounded by this error and left the court for the Monastery at Chrysopolis, where in time he became the abbot. From the monastery he continued to speak and write in defense of Orthodox belief. The Emperor Constans ordered him either to accept Monothelite belief or to cease speaking against it, but St Maximos would do neither. For this, his tongue was torn out, his right hand was cut off, and he was sent into exile, where he reposed in 662. He is also commemorated on January 21; see that day for a slightly fuller account.

St Tikhon of Zadonsk

1783

He is one of the best-loved Saints of the Russian people. He was born into a very poor family in Novgorod province and received the baptismal name of Timothy. He went to seminary in Novgorod, where he excelled, later teaching Greek and other subjects. He was tonsured a monk at the age of thirty-four, receiving the monastic name of Tikhon. As his ascesis and wisdom became known, he quickly became eminent in the Church and in 1761 was made a bishop. In 1763 he was consecrated Bishop of Voronezh. After serving as bishop for about seven years, he retired to the monastery of Zadonsk, where he spent the remainder of his life. He devoted his “retirement” to prayer and the writing of books, producing a huge collection of writings that have earned him the name “the Russian Chrysostom.” He reposed in peace in 1783 at the age of fifty-nine. Many miracles were wrought by him after his death, and he was soon proclaimed a Saint by the people. When his body was exhumed in 1845 (over sixty years later) to make way for a new church in Zadonsk, his relics were found to be whole and incorrupt; even his vestments were free from decay. He was officially glorified in 1863; some three hundred thousand pilgrims attended his glorification.

Holy Martyr Hippolytus of Rome and 18 Martyrs with him

258

He was the pagan jailkeeper who guarded St Laurence (see August 10); seeing his prisoner’s holiness and the wonders wrought by him, Hippolytus was convinced of the truth of the Faith and became a Christian. When St Laurence baptized him, he was granted a vision of heaven and said ‘I see innocent souls in great joy.’ He took Laurence into his own home, and his entire household were baptized, nineteen in all. When St Laurence was martyred, Hippolytus retrieved his body by night and buried it. He was detected and brought before the Emperor Valerian on the third day after Laurence’s death. Despite severe beatings he would not renounce his faith. The Emperor ordered that he be stripped and flayed but, standing naked before the emperor, Hippolytus said ‘You have not stripped me, but have begun to clothe me.’ Despite all torments, neither Hippolytus nor any of his household would deny Christ. All of his household were slain, one by one, before Hippolytus. Finally Hippolytus himself was bound behind a wild horse and dragged to death.

Our Holy Mother the Empress Irene

12th c.

She was the pious wife of the Emperor John II Comnenus (reigned 1118-1143), but retired into monastic life. She founded the Monastery of the Pantokrator in Constantinople.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 4.1-6

¹Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; ²But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: ⁴In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. ⁵For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 24.13-28

¹³But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. ¹⁵When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) ¹⁶Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: ¹⁷Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: ¹⁸Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. ¹⁹And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! ²⁰But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: ²¹For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²²And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. ²³Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. ²⁴For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. ²⁵Behold, I have told you before. ²⁶Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. ²⁷For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ²⁸For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Vespers

OT — Composite 2 - Proverbs 10, 3, 8

The memory of a just man is praised, and the Lord’s blessing is upon his head. Blessed is one who has found wisdom; a mortal who knows understanding. To import her is better than treasures of gold and silver. She is more valuable than precious stones; nothing of value equals her worth. Justice proceeds from her mouth; she bears law and mercy on her tongue. Therefore, my children, listen to me, for I speak weighty things. And blessed is the one who keeps my ways. For my goings out are the goings out of life, and favour is prepared from the Lord. Therefore I exhort you, and utter my voice to the children of humankind. Because I, Wisdom, have prepared counsel, knowledge and understanding. I have called on them. Counsel and sureness are mine; prudence is mine, strength is mine. I love those who are my friends, while those who seek me will find grace. You innocent, then, understand cunning; you untaught, take it to heart. Listen to me, for I will speak weighty things, and I will open right things from my lips. Because my throat will meditate truth; lying lips are abominable before me. All the words of my mouth are with justice, there is nothing crooked in them nor twisted. They are all straight for those who understand, and right for those who find knowledge. For I teach you what is true, that your hope may be in the Lord and that you may be filled with spirit.

Vespers

Proverbs — Proverbs 10.31-11.12

³¹The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out. ³²The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

¹A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight. ²When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. ³The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. ⁴Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.

⁵The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. ⁶The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. ⁷When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth. ⁸The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. ⁹An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

¹⁰When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. ¹¹By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

¹²He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.

Vespers

Wisdom of Solomon — Wisdom of Solomon 4.7-15

⁷But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest.

⁸For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years.

⁹But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age.

¹⁰He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated.

¹¹Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.

¹²For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind.

¹³He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time:

¹⁴For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked.

¹⁵This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.

Matins Gospel

John — John 10.9-16

⁹I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ¹¹I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. ¹²But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. ¹³The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. ¹⁵As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Epistle

— St Tikhon

Hebrews — Hebrews 7.26-8.2

²⁶For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; ²⁷Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. ²⁸For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.

¹Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; ²A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

— St Tikhon

Matthew — Matthew 5.14-19

¹⁴Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. ¹⁶Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

¹⁷Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. ¹⁹Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.