Thursday, 17 September 2026

Martyr Sophia and Daughters Faith, Hope, and Love

Thursday of the 16th week after Pentecost

158 days after Pascha · Tone 6 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Heraclides, Bishop of Tamasos in Cyprus

The hieromartyr Heraclides was a native of the village of Lambadistos on the island of Cyprus, the son of a pagan priest. When the holy apostles Paul, Barnabas and Mark came to Cyprus on their first missionary journey, the young man's father, although a pagan, gladly received them and offered them hospitality. The apostles however would not dine in a house where sacrifices were made to idols, and asked for a guide who could show them the way through the island. Heraclides' father offered them his son, then bearing the name Heracleon. Travelling with the apostles, the youth was instructed in the Christian faith and was baptised by Saint Paul, who at his baptism gave him the name Heraclides. On his second visit to Cyprus, the apostle Barnabas consecrated him bishop and set him over the city of Tamasos. With apostolic zeal Heraclides preached the Gospel through the surrounding villages, working many miracles and converting great multitudes from paganism. Together with his disciple Myron, who succeeded him in the see of Tamasos, he was at last seized by pagan persecutors. After being beaten and tortured he was cast into a fire, in which he gave up his soul to God and received the crown of martyrdom. Over his tomb a great monastery rose in later centuries, the Monastery of Saint Heraclides, which remains a place of pilgrimage in Cyprus.

Holy Martyr Agathokleia

The holy martyr Agathokleia was a servant in the household of a certain Christian named Nicholas, whose wife Paulina was a pagan. For eight years Agathokleia endured continual abuse at the hands of her mistress because of her faith. Paulina beat her fiercely and forced her to walk barefoot over sharp stones. In one fit of cruelty she struck the saint with a hammer and broke her rib, and on another occasion she cut out her tongue. Yet nothing could compel Agathokleia to deny Christ or to worship idols. Paulina then locked the martyr in prison and tried to break her by hunger, but birds brought her food each day and she did not perish. Finally, enraged by the saint's invincible patience, her mistress poured red-hot coals upon her head, and so the holy martyr surrendered her soul to God. Her commemoration has been kept in the Orthodox Church on 17 September from ancient times.

Holy Martyrs Sophia and her three daughters Faith, Hope and Love

The Holy Martyrs Sophia and her three daughters Faith, Hope and Love were born in Italy in the early second century. Their mother was a pious Christian widow who, having received a special love for Christ from her own family, named her three little girls after the three Christian virtues. The family lived openly as Christians during the reign of the emperor Hadrian (117 to 138). Brought to Rome and accused before the emperor, they refused to offer sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. The eldest, Faith, twelve years old, was scourged, her breasts cut off and she was cast into boiling pitch from which she emerged unhurt; she was then beheaded. The second, Hope, ten years old, was tortured and finally beheaded. The youngest, Love, only nine, was tied to a wheel and beaten with rods until her body was covered with bloody welts, then she too was beheaded. To intensify her inner suffering Sophia was forced to watch her daughters die one by one, urging each in turn to bear their torments for the Heavenly Bridegroom. The emperor permitted her to take their bodies; she carried them beyond the city walls in a wagon and buried them on a high hill. Sitting by their graves in unceasing prayer, after three days she gave up her soul to the Lord and was buried with her children.

Our Holy Father Lambert, Bishop of Maastricht

705

He was born to a noble family in Maastricht (in modern-day Netherlands). When his spiritual father Bishop Theodard was killed in 671, St Lambert was elected Bishop of Maastricht despite his youth. He was loved by his flock for his holiness, ascetic labors and almsgiving, but was driven from his see in 675 after his patron King Childeric II was assasinated. He withdrew to the Monastery of Stavelot where he lived for seven years as one of the brethren, claiming no privileges despite his office. Once, getting up to pray during the night, he accidentally disturbed the monastic silence. The Abbot called out for whoever was responsible to do penance by standing barefoot in the snow before a cross outside the monastery church. In the morning the Abbot was dismayed to see the Bishop standing barefoot, covered with snow, before the cross, his face shining. The Abbot sought to apologize, but Lambert replied that he was honored to serve God like the Apostles, in cold and nakedness. When King Pepin of Heristal took power in 681, he restored Lambert to his see, despite the Saint’s desire to remain in obscurity. The holy bishop renewed his pastoral labors with vigor, visiting the most distant parishes and preaching the Gospel to the pagans who still inhabited the area, despite danger and threats. But when King Pepin put away his wife and replaced her with his concubine Alpais, St Lambert was the only Bishop who dared to rebuke him. For this he incurred the wrath of Alpais, who ordered his death. His assassins carried out their evil commission, even though they found a cross shining above the humble dwelling where he was staying. Saint Lambert is one of the best-loved Saints of the Netherlands and Belgium, where many parish churches are dedicated to him. His relics are now in the Belgian city of Liège.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Ephesians — Ephesians 1.1-9

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: ²Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ⁴According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: ⁵Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. ⁷In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; ⁸Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; ⁹Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 7.24-30

²⁴And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. ²⁵For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: ²⁶The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. ²⁷But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. ²⁸And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. ²⁹And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. ³⁰And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.