Thursday, 3 September 2026

Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia

Thursday of the 14th week after Pentecost

144 days after Pascha · Tone 4 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia

302

The Hieromartyr Anthimus was bishop of the great city of Nicomedia in Bithynia at the height of the persecution against the Christians launched by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian in the closing years of the third century. When the imperial residence at Nicomedia was being purged of believers, Anthimus, then already an elder of advanced years, was hidden in a village called Omana not far from the city by the entreaties of his flock. From his place of concealment he wrote letters of consolation and exhortation to the Christians of Nicomedia, urging them to remain firm in the faith and not to fear those who could kill the body but had no power over the soul. One such letter, entrusted to his deacon Theophilus, was intercepted, and the holy bishop's hiding place was betrayed. The emperor Maximian sent twenty soldiers to seize him. When they arrived, Anthimus himself, without revealing who he was, met them, gave them food and refreshment, and only then declared that he was the bishop they sought. Astonished by his hospitality and his calm confession, several of them fell at his feet and were baptised on the way back to the city. Brought before Maximian, the holy hieromartyr endured many torments. He was beaten, suspended, his sides torn with iron claws, his face pierced, and at last he was beheaded with the sword in the year 302. Together with him are honoured the deacon Theophilus, the deacons Dorotheus and Mardonius, the priests Indes and Gorgonius, and the deacon Migdonius, who suffered with him at Nicomedia.

Holy Martyr Basilissa of Nicomedia

The holy virgin martyr Basilissa of Nicomedia was a child of nine years when she was brought before the governor Alexander during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian at the beginning of the fourth century. Although she was so young, she had been instructed in the Christian faith by her parents and refused with steadfast courage to deny her Lord. The governor, attempting to bend her by terror, ordered her to be flogged. The blows fell upon her, but she did not weep, calling upon the name of Christ. He commanded that she be beaten with rods, that her body be scorched with fire and that she be cast into the heated furnace, but she emerged from each torment without harm, the flames not so much as scorching her hair. Wild beasts let loose upon her lay tame at her feet. Astonished at these wonders, Alexander himself, struck to the heart, fell down before her, confessed Christ as the true God, was baptised by the bishop, and within a few days reposed in peace. Saint Basilissa withdrew outside the city to give thanks to God on a small hill, where, kneeling in prayer, she gave up her soul to her heavenly Bridegroom. Her relics were buried in that same place by the local Christians, and the spring that flowed there became renowned for healings.

Holy New Martyr Polydorus of Cyprus

Saint Polydorus the New Martyr was born on the island of Cyprus, in the city of Nicosia, around the year 1794, the son of pious Orthodox parents. After their early death he travelled in pursuit of his livelihood through the Levant, settling for a time among the Christians of Egypt and later sailing to the West Indies. While at sea, in a moment of weakness brought on by drink and bad company, he was led to deny the Christian faith and to embrace Islam. As soon as he came to himself, he was filled with bitter remorse and resolved to seek out a martyr's death as the only fitting penance. Returning to the East, he confessed his apostasy openly before a Christian priest and at length presented himself before the Turkish judge of New Ephesus, declaring that he had abandoned his denial of Christ and confessed himself once again a Christian. Though offered every inducement to recant, the holy youth was steadfast. He was thrown into prison, beaten, threatened and tortured. At last he was condemned to death and was hanged at New Ephesus on the third of September 1794, at the age of about twenty. His body was reverently taken down by Christians and buried in the local Orthodox cemetery, and his memory has been kept by the Church of Cyprus and the Greek Church as one of the New Martyrs under the Turkish yoke.

Saint Theoctistus, fellow faster of Saint Euthymius the Great

467

Saint Theoctistus was a fellow ascetic and the closest spiritual companion of Saint Euthymius the Great. He came to the Holy Land in the late fourth century from Asia Minor and entered the laura of Pharan in the Judean desert, where he met Saint Euthymius soon after the latter's arrival from Melitene around the year 405. The two embraced one another in spiritual brotherhood and withdrew together to a deserted region near the brook of Wadi Mukellik, southeast of Jerusalem, where they lived in a cave and devoted themselves to silence, fasting and prayer for several years. As disciples gathered around them, Theoctistus, by the will of Euthymius, organised the brotherhood into a coenobitic monastery situated on the slope below the cave of Euthymius, and was appointed its first abbot. Saint Euthymius continued to dwell in the cave higher up, but referred all those who came to him for the angelic life to be tested first under Theoctistus, before being admitted to his own laura. The two cooperated for nearly forty years, Theoctistus governing his community with wisdom, discipline and gentleness, and serving as a father to many spiritual children, including the youthful Saint Sabas. The monastery of Theoctistus, often called Doukos, became one of the foundational houses of Palestinian monasticism. He reposed at a great age in the year 467, having outlived Saint Euthymius by one year, and was buried in the cave where they had first lived together.

Holy Martyr Basilissa

309

She lived near Nicomedia during the great persecution by the Emperor Diocletian. Though she was only nine years old, she was arrested and brought before Alexander, the Governor of Bithynia. When she fearlessly proclaimed her faith in Christ, the Governor had her stripped and beaten, but she only gave thanks to God. Enraged at the steadfastness of a mere child, the Governor ordered her chained and plunged head-first into boiling pitch, then cast into a blazing furnace, then thrown to the lions. Through all these torments she was miraculously preserved. Astonished at the wonders that he beheld, Alexander fell at Basilissa’s feet and confessed that he too believed that Christ is the Savior. He was baptized by the Bishop of Nicomedia and died not long afterward. Basilissa went into the wilderness outside the city to give thanks to God for her endurance under torture and to ask Him to receive her soul in peace. While praying in this way, she entered into her rest.

Our Holy Father Joannicius, Archbishop and first Patriarch of Serbia

1354

“Born in Prizrem, he served as first secretary to King Dušan. He became Archbishop in 1339, and in 1346 was raised to the rank of Patriarch. He was a zealous pastor, and brought order to the Serbian Church, being ‘a great upholder of the Church’s laws’. He entered into rest on September 3rd, 1349, and his relics are preserved at Pec´.” (Prologue)

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Galatians — Galatians 1.1-10, 20-2.5

¹Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) ²And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: ³Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: ⁵To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

⁶I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: ⁷Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. ⁹As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

¹⁰For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. ²⁰Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. ²¹Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; ²²And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ: ²³But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. ²⁴And they glorified God in me.

¹Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. ²And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. ³But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: ⁴And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: ⁵To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 5.1-20

¹And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. ²And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, ³Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: ⁴Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. ⁵And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. ⁶But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, ⁷And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. ⁸For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. ⁹And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. ¹⁰And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. ¹¹Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. ¹²And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. ¹³And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. ¹⁴And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. ¹⁵And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. ¹⁶And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. ¹⁷And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. ¹⁸And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. ¹⁹Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. ²⁰And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.