Friday, 21 August 2026

Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy; Avram, Archimandrite of Smolensk

Friday of the 12th week after Pentecost

131 days after Pascha · Tone 2 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy

The Holy Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy was a Hebrew by descent, born in the Syrian city of Edessa. He is to be distinguished from Saint Jude (also called Thaddeus or Lebbaeus), who was one of the Twelve and is commemorated on 19 June. While still a young man Thaddeus came to Jerusalem for one of the great feasts, where he heard the preaching of Saint John the Forerunner. Receiving baptism at his hands in the Jordan, he remained in Palestine; he saw the Saviour, listened to His teaching, and was numbered by the Lord among the Seventy Disciples whom He sent out two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to come.

After the Ascension of the Lord, Saint Thaddeus returned to his native Edessa and there fulfilled the promise made by Christ to King Abgar, who had once written to the Lord asking for healing. Edessa had received the Holy Image of Christ "Not Made by Hands", and the king had been healed of leprosy by venerating it; but full instruction in the faith came through the apostle. Thaddeus preached Christ in Edessa, baptising King Abgar, his household, and the people of the city. He overthrew the pagan idols and ordained presbyters, organising the Church of Edessa.

From Edessa Saint Thaddeus journeyed to other cities of Mesopotamia and Syria, including Amida and Beirut, preaching everywhere the Gospel of Christ, healing the sick, and exhorting all to repentance. He founded churches and ordained clergy, and many believed at his word. The Slavonic Menaion records that he peacefully reposed at Beirut in the year 44; according to other sources he reposed in Edessa, while an ancient Armenian tradition relates that after various tortures he was beheaded by the sword on 21 December in the Artaz region in the year 50.

The Holy Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on 21 August, and his memory is kept also in the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles on 4 January.

Holy Martyr Bassa of Edessa and her sons Theognis, Agapius and Pistus

The Holy Martyr Bassa, with her three sons Theognis, Agapius and Pistus, lived in the city of Macedonian Edessa during the persecution of the emperor Maximian Galerius at the beginning of the fourth century. Saint Bassa was married to a pagan priest named Valerius, but from her childhood she had been raised in the Christian Faith, and she instructed her sons in it secretly so that they too were grounded in piety from a tender age.

When her household refused to take part in the worship of idols, Valerius himself denounced his wife and his children to the governor. Brought before the tribunal, the saints fearlessly confessed Christ. The governor, hoping that the suffering of her sons would shake the resolve of the mother, ordered them to be tortured first before her eyes. The eldest, Saint Theognis, was raked with iron claws and then beheaded. Saint Agapius was flayed alive from his head to his chest, but he did not utter a sound. The youngest, Saint Pistus, was tortured and likewise beheaded. The mother stood beside them and encouraged them to endure unto the end for the love of Christ.

Saint Bassa was then thrown into prison and weakened by hunger, but an angel of the Lord came and strengthened her with heavenly food. Brought out for further tortures, she remained unharmed by fire, by water, and by wild beasts. When she was led into a pagan temple to be made to sacrifice, she shattered the statue of Zeus with her own hands. At last she was taken to the island of Halonisus and there beheaded by the sword, receiving the crown of martyrdom and being reunited with her children.

A church was built over the relics of Saint Bassa at the harbour of the city of Chalcedon, and she was greatly venerated throughout Asia Minor. The Holy Martyrs Bassa, Theognis, Agapius and Pistus are commemorated together on 21 August.

Holy Martyrs Donatus the Deacon, Romulus the Priest, Silvanus the Deacon and Venustus

304

The Holy Martyrs Donatus the Deacon, Romulus the Priest, Silvanus the Deacon and Venustus were Christians of the city of Cibalae (modern Vinkovci) in the Roman province of Pannonia, near Sirmium. They suffered for Christ in the year 304 during the great persecution of Diocletian, in the same region and at about the same time as the celebrated bishop and martyr Saint Eusebius of Cibalae. Romulus was a presbyter who fearlessly proclaimed the Gospel and ministered the Holy Mysteries to the faithful even after the imperial decrees forbidding Christian assembly. With him laboured the deacons Silvanus and Donatus, who served the altar and assisted in the instruction of the catechumens. Donatus's brother Venustus, a layman, was bound to them by ties of blood and of common faith. When the persecution intensified the four were arrested together and brought before the magistrates. They were ordered to surrender the sacred Scriptures and to offer incense before the statues of the gods, but they refused with one voice to do either. After cruel tortures, by which the persecutors hoped to break their resolve, they were condemned to death and beheaded by the sword on 21 August, receiving together the unfading crowns of martyrdom. Their memory is preserved in the ancient Synaxaria of the Eastern Church and in the Roman Martyrology, and they are commemorated together with the Holy Apostle Thaddeus and Saint Bassa and her sons on 21 August.

Saint Abraham, Archimandrite of Smolensk

Saint Abraham of Smolensk was a Russian monk, priest and teacher of repentance who lived in the latter half of the twelfth century and the early years of the thirteenth. He was born to noble parents in the city of Smolensk who had long prayed for a child, and he was the only surviving son after twelve daughters. From childhood he was inclined to the things of God, frequenting the divine services and abstaining from the games of his peers. After the death of his parents he distributed his inheritance to monasteries, churches and the poor and entered the Monastery of the Theotokos at Selische, six versts outside Smolensk, where he was tonsured a monk and given the name Abraham. He gave himself to fervent ascesis, spending whole nights in prayer, and he became a noted scholar of the Holy Scriptures and of patristic writings, copying out books with his own hand. His knowledge of the Last Judgement and his power as a preacher of repentance drew great crowds of laity to him for confession and counsel. His popularity, however, drew upon him the envy of certain of the Smolensk clergy, who accused him of being a false prophet, of seducing women through confession, and of reading forbidden books. Saint Abraham was tried, suspended from priestly service and confined to his original monastery. Soon afterwards a great drought afflicted the region; the harvest failed and people began to die. The pious bishop Ignatius, after fasting and prayer, recognised that the calamity had come because of the unjust treatment of the saint. Abraham was restored to his priesthood, the abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Cross resigned, and Saint Abraham was appointed archimandrite there. As he prayed for the city, the Lord sent abundant rain. For the rest of his life Saint Abraham continued to lead the brethren and to instruct the people in repentance, the unceasing prayer of the heart and faithful Christian life. He reposed in great old age, around the year 1222. He is venerated as a wonderworker and a witness to the Orthodox tradition of pre-Mongol Rus'. His memory is kept on 21 August.

Holy Forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

They are also commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, before Nativity.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 7.10-16

¹⁰For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. ¹¹For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. ¹²Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you. ¹³Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all. ¹⁴For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth. ¹⁵And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him. ¹⁶I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 2.18-22

¹⁸And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? ¹⁹And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. ²¹No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. ²²And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.