Monday, 7 September 2026

Martyr Sozon of Cilicia; St John, Archbishop of Novgorod

Monday of the 15th week after Pentecost

148 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Red squigg (doxology typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Forefeast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos

The seventh of September is the Forefeast, or eve, of the great feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, which is celebrated on the eighth of September and is the first of the Twelve Great Feasts of the liturgical year. Following the order of the Indiction, by which the Church year begins on the first of September, the festal cycle opens with the birth of the Mother of God, just as the cycle of salvation history began with her holy Nativity, and is brought to its close on the fifteenth of August with her Dormition. By placing this day of preparation before the feast itself, the Church begins to sing the joy of the world: that of the barren and aged Joachim and Anna a daughter has been promised, the Virgin who shall become the dwelling-place of God the Word in the flesh. The hymns of the forefeast already proclaim the coming birth of her who is the Bridge that leads to heaven, the Tabernacle, the Living Ark, and the Spiritual Paradise, and they call upon the faithful to make ready by purification of mind and life. The forefeast is observed with festal hymnography sung at vespers and matins, and on this day the parish prepares itself for the all-night vigil of the great feast. Together with the Forefeast, the Church remembers Saint Sozon of Cilicia, the apostle Evodius of the Seventy, the Apostle Onesiphorus of the Seventy, the holy martyr Eupsychius of Caesarea, and other saints who fell asleep on this day.

★ Holy Martyr Sozon of Cilicia

The Holy Martyr Sozon was a young shepherd of Lycaonia in the borders of Cilicia, born of pious parents and brought up in the Christian faith from his childhood. As he tended the flocks of his father in the wooded hills, he was accustomed to leading his fellow shepherds in prayer, instructing them in the truth of Christ, and exhorting them to abandon the worship of the dumb idols. Once, while seated under an oak tree by a spring, he received a visitation from on high in which he was strengthened to go forward and confess the name of Christ in the city. About the year 304, in the persecution of the emperor Maximian, Sozon went to the city of Pompeiopolis in Cilicia, where there stood a magnificent golden idol revered by the citizens. Entering the temple alone, he broke off the right hand of the statue with his shepherd's staff and went out, breaking it into pieces and distributing the gold to the poor. The pagan priests, finding the mutilated idol, raised an outcry and arrested innocent men. Saint Sozon, learning that others were being punished in his stead, gave himself up to the governor Maximian, who was then in the city, and openly confessed his deed and his faith. He was scourged, hung up and torn with iron hooks, and shod with red-hot iron sandals in which he was made to walk. Despite all this he continued to glorify Christ, and was at last cast into a furnace, where he gave up his soul to God. Christians took up his body and buried it with honour. Many miracles took place at his grave, and the staff of the holy martyr was preserved by the Church as a precious relic.

Holy Apostle Evodius of the Seventy, Bishop of Antioch

The Holy Apostle Evodius was one of the Seventy Apostles chosen by the Lord and sent out before His face. After the day of Pentecost he attached himself to the company of the chief Apostle Peter, who consecrated him as the first bishop of Antioch in Syria, where the disciples of Christ were first called Christians. Saint Evodius governed that great church for twenty-seven years, succeeding the Apostle Peter in the see and being himself succeeded by the holy Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer. Tradition records that it was Evodius who first applied the name Christian to the disciples of the Lord, and that he composed many works of doctrine, including a book entitled "The Star," which was lost, but in which, according to ancient testimonies, he set out the genealogy of Christ from the time of His ancestors. He is also said to have transmitted in his writings the tradition that the Most Holy Theotokos was twenty-three years of age at the time when she gave birth to the Lord, and that she dwelt in the household of the holy Apostle John for the space of fifteen years after the Ascension, until her holy Dormition. Saint Evodius watered the soil of the Antiochene church by his pastoral labours and crowned his episcopal ministry by martyrdom, sealing his confession with his blood under the emperor Nero around the year 66.

Holy Apostle Onesiphorus of the Seventy

The Holy Apostle Onesiphorus was one of the Seventy Apostles whom the Lord chose and sent two by two before His face into every city and place. He is mentioned by name in the Second Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, where the apostle writes, "May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me." From these words it is clear that Onesiphorus, an Ephesian by origin, came to Rome during the captivity of the Apostle Paul and was unwearied in seeking him out and ministering to his needs. The same epistle implies that Onesiphorus had also rendered service of every kind to the Apostle Paul in Ephesus before that journey. Tradition relates that he was made bishop of Colophon in Asia Minor, and afterwards of Cyrene in Libya, where he preached the Gospel to the heathen. Together with his companion Saint Porphyrius he was finally seized by the persecutors, scourged, dragged behind wild horses, and so received the crown of martyrdom in the days of the emperor Domitian. The Church honours him together with Saint Porphyrius on the seventh day of September, and again on the fourth day of January with the rest of the Seventy.

Holy Martyr Eupsychyius of Caesarea

2nd c.

He was the son of a wealthy pagan senator in Caesarea of Cappadocia. When his father died, he gave his inheritance to the poor, proclaiming the Kingdom of God while he did so. For this he was arrested by Sapricius, Governor of Cappadocia, and put in prison. He persuaded his jailers to release him for awhile, and set about giving away the remainder of his worldly goods, first to his accusers and persecutors, then to the poor. When all his wealth was gone, he voluntarily returned to prison. He was viciously scourged several times, then beheaded. At his martyrdom, it is said that milk instead of blood flowed from his body.

Our Holy Father John, Archbishop of Novgorod

1185

“He was first a married priest and then, from 1163, bishop in Novgorod, building seven churches during his lifetime. He had a vision of the holy Mother of God and a rare power over demons, making them obey him, and he once miraculously preserved Novgorod from an attack by seventy-two princes. He suffered from diabolical temptations, but overcame them all by the power of the Cross and by prayer. Retiring to a monastery in old age, he received the Great Habit and entered peacefully into rest in the Lord on September 7th, 1185.” (Prologue)

St Kassia the Hymnographer

9th c.

She was born in Constantinople to a noble family, and grew to be unusually beautiful and learned — so much so that she was chosen to participate in a ‘bride show’, at which the Emperor Theophilos was to choose a wife. Struck by Kassia’s beauty, the Emperor approached her and said ‘Through a woman came forth the baser things,’ referring to Eve’s transgression. Kassia responded, ‘Through a woman came forth the better things’, referring to the Incarnation of Christ through His Most Pure Mother. Stung by her reply, the Emperor rejected her and chose Theodora as his wife. Kassia entered monastic life and founded a women’s monastery in Constantinople, closely allied with the Stoudion Monastery. Serving as abbess of the monastery, she wrote many liturgical hymns, at least twenty of which are included in the services of the Church. Best-known (or at least most closely associated with her) is the Hymn of Kassiani, sung at Matins on Holy Wednesday. She reposed in peace.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Galatians — Galatians 2.11-16

¹¹But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. ¹²For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. ¹³And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. ¹⁴But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? ¹⁵We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, ¹⁶Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 5.24-34

²⁴And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. ²⁵And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, ²⁶And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, ²⁷When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. ²⁸For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. ²⁹And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. ³⁰And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? ³¹And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? ³²And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. ³³But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. ³⁴And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.