Holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalia and the twenty three with them
The Martyrs Adrian and Natalia lived in Nicomedia at the beginning of the fourth century during the persecution of the Emperor Maximian. Adrian, head of the imperial praetorium, was a young pagan only twenty eight years of age, married barely a year to Natalia, who was secretly a Christian. Watching twenty three Christians endure dreadful tortures with unshakeable joy, Adrian asked them what reward they expected; learning of the heavenly life that awaited them, he commanded the scribes to enrol his name with theirs and openly confessed Christ. Cast into prison, he was visited by Natalia, who rejoiced at his decision and exhorted him to be steadfast. The executioners broke the limbs of the martyrs upon the anvil; Natalia, fearing her husband would falter at the sight of the others' sufferings, asked the soldiers to begin with him and herself laid his hands and feet upon the block. Saint Adrian and his companions were then burned, but a sudden storm extinguished the fire and the bodies were preserved unharmed. Natalia, having taken the severed hand of her husband as a relic, soon afterwards reposed in peace at his tomb at Argyropolis. Saints Adrian and Natalia are venerated as the patrons of Christian marriage.
Holy Seven Youths of Ephesus, second commemoration
On this day the Orthodox Church makes a second commemoration of the seven youths Maximilian, Iamblichus, Martinian, John, Dionysius, Exacustodianus and Antoninus of Ephesus, who in the time of the persecution under the Emperor Decius about the year 250 fled into a cave on Mount Ochlon, where they fell into a wondrous sleep at God's command. They were sealed within the cave by their persecutors and slept for nearly two centuries, until in the reign of Saint Theodosius the Younger they were revealed alive as a witness against those who denied the resurrection of the dead. Their first feast falls on 4 August; the placing of their holy relics is remembered on the twenty sixth of the same month.
Martyrs Adrian and Natalia and 23 companions of Nicomedia
4th c.
“Husband and wife, they were both of noble and wealthy families in Nicomedia. Adrian was the governor of the Praetorium and a pagan, and Natalia was a secret Christian. They were both young, and had lived in wedlock for thirteen months in all before their martyrdom. When the wicked Emperor Maximian visited Nicomedia, he ordered that the Christians be seized and put to torture. There were twenty-three Christians hidden in a cave near the city. Someone handed them over to the authorities and they were cruelly flogged with leather whips and staves, and thrown into prison. They were then taken from prison and brought before the Praetor for their names to be noted. Adrian looked a these people, tortured but unbowed, peaceful and meek, and he put them under oath to say what they hoped for from their God, that they should undergo such tortures. They spoke to him of the blessedness of the righteous in the Kingdom of God. Hearing this, and again looking at these people, Adrian suddenly turned to the scribe and said: ‘Write my name along with those of these saints; I also am a Christian.’ When the Emperor heard of this, he asked him: ‘Have you lost your mind?’ Adrian replied: ‘I haven’t lost it, but found it!’ Hearing this, Natalia rejoiced greatly, and, when Adrian sat chained with the others in prison, came and ministered to them all. When they flogged her husband and put him to various tortures, she encouraged him to endure to the end. After long torture and imprisonment, the Emperor ordered that they be taken to the prison anvil, for their arms and legs to be broken with hammers. This was done and Adrian, along with the twenty-three others, breathed his last under the vicious tortures. Natalia took their relics to Constantinople and there buried them. After several days, Adrian appeared to her, bathed in light and beauty and calling her to come to God, and she peacefully gave her soul into her Lord’s hands.” (Prologue)
Saint Joasaph, Crown Prince of India, and his father Saint Abenner
Saint Joasaph was, according to the ancient Christian tradition preserved in the East and recounted by Saint John of Damascus, the only son of Abenner, a pagan king of India who fiercely persecuted the Christians. Warned by astrologers that his son would forsake the world for Christ, the king shut Joasaph up in a splendid palace, hoping to keep him from any knowledge of suffering or of the true God. Yet by divine providence the young prince came to encounter the realities of sickness, poverty and death, and was secretly visited by the wise hermit Barlaam, who instructed him in the Christian faith and baptised him. After many trials Joasaph converted his father Abenner, who in repentance laid down his crown and ended his days as a penitent. Joasaph in turn renounced the throne and went out into the desert, where he found Saint Barlaam and lived with him in great asceticism until his peaceful repose. The Orthodox Church honours Saint Joasaph together with his teacher Barlaam and his father Abenner.
Uncovering of the Relics of Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
Saint Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh and Wonderworker of Zadonsk, was born in 1724 in the village of Korotsk in the Novgorod region and reposed in retirement at the Zadonsk Monastery on 13 August 1783. After his repose his tomb became a place of constant pilgrimage and many miracles. On 14 May 1846, when the foundations of the cathedral were being relaid, the body of the saint was found incorrupt; and on 13 August 1861 he was solemnly glorified by the Russian Church and his relics enshrined for veneration. The 26th of August is kept by the Russian Church as the feast of the uncovering and glorification of the relics of Saint Tikhon, who is honoured as a great teacher of true Christianity and a tireless intercessor for those who flee to him.
Our Holy Father Tithoës of the Thebaid
4th c.
One of the great Egyptian Desert Fathers, he was a disciple of St Pachomius the Great and served as abbot of Tabennisi. Through his years of struggle in prayer, he attained to such purity of heart that whenever he raised his hands in prayer, his spirit was instantly caught up in pure contemplation of God. When one of the brethren asked him what path leads to humility, he answered ‘The path of humility is abstinence, prayer and considering oneself as the least of all creatures.’ He reposed in peace.