Saturday, 22 August 2026

Martyr Agathonicus and Companions

Saturday of the 12th week after Pentecost

132 days after Pascha · Tone 2 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Athanasius, Bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia

Saint Athanasius was Bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia during the reign of the Emperor Valerian (253-259). He is remembered above all as the spiritual father of Saint Anthousa, the daughter of wealthy pagans of Seleucia, whom he received and baptised after she came to him with two of her servants seeking the truth of the Gospel. Following her baptism he tonsured her into the monastic life and directed her to a hidden place of ascetic struggle. Saint Athanasius was afterwards arrested for the confession of Christ and beheaded by the sword together with the servants Charesimus and Neophytus, around the year 257.

Holy Martyr Agathonicus of Nicomedia and his companions

1200

The Martyr Agathonicus suffered for Christ during the reign of the Emperor Maximian (284-305). Descended from the noble lineage of the Hypasians, he lived in Nicomedia and was well versed in Holy Scripture. Through his preaching he converted many pagans to Christ, including a leading member of the Senate. The comes Eutolmius, dispatched to persecute Christians in Pontus, arrested Agathonicus together with the converted senator and the companions Zoticus, Theoprepius, Acindynus, Severian and Zeno. After cruel tortures the martyrs were brought to Thrace, and on the orders of the emperor at Selymbria they were beheaded with the sword. The relics of Saint Agathonicus were later translated to a church bearing his name in Constantinople, where the Russian pilgrim Anthony venerated them in the year 1200.

Holy Virgin Martyr Eulalia of Merida

Saint Eulalia of Merida was a young Christian maiden of noble Spanish family who suffered martyrdom in the Iberian city of Merida during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian, around the year 304. Though only twelve or thirteen years of age, she boldly came forward before the Roman governor and reproached him for compelling Christians to sacrifice to idols. Refusing to deny Christ, she endured cruel tortures with hooks and burning torches and was finally suffocated by the smoke of her own pyre. Her veneration spread widely in the West and her memory is preserved among the saints commemorated on this day in the Orthodox synaxaria.

Venerable Anthousa, with her servants Charesimus and Neophytus

Saint Anthousa lived during the reign of the Emperor Valerian (253-259) and was born in Seleucia, the daughter of wealthy pagan parents named Antoninus and Maria (Martyria). Hearing of the Christian faith, she travelled to Tarsus in Cilicia accompanied by two trusted servants and there sought out the holy bishop Athanasius. Saint Athanasius baptised her, and on her way to receive baptism a luminous cloud is said to have shielded her and angels to have ministered to her. After her baptism Anthousa received monastic tonsure and withdrew to the desert, where she lived as an ascetic for over twenty years. Her servants Charesimus and Neophytus, baptised together with their mistress, were arrested with the bishop and put to death for their confession of Christ. Saint Athanasius is commemorated as a hieromartyr on the same day.

Holy Martyr Eulalia of Barcelona

303

She was born of Christian parents in Barcelona, and dedicated herself to a life of holiness, taking Christ as her bridegroom. When the persecutor Dacian came to Barcelona, Eulalia secretly left her parents’ house by night and came before Dacian, denouncing him in front of many witnesses as a murderer of the innocent, and publicly confessing her faith in Christ. The wicked Dacian had her stripped and beaten, then tied to a tree in the form of a cross, and ordered that her flesh be burned with torches. When her torturer mockingly asked ‘Where is your Christ to save you?’ she answered ‘He is here with me; you cannot see Him because of your impurity.’ When the holy Eulalia died at last under torture, the people saw a white dove fly from her mouth. An unseasonable snowstorm then covered her naked body like a white garment.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 1.26-29

²⁶For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: ²⁷But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; ²⁸And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: ²⁹That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 20.29-34

²⁹And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

³⁰And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. ³¹And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. ³²And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? ³³They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. ³⁴So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.