Saturday, 3 October 2026

Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite

Saturday of the 18th week after Pentecost

174 days after Pascha · Tone 8 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens

Saint Dionysius the Areopagite was a noble Athenian who received a thorough Greek education at Athens and afterwards travelled to Egypt, where he studied astronomy at Heliopolis. There, with his friend Apollophanes, he witnessed the supernatural darkness at the moment of the Crucifixion of Christ and exclaimed, "Either the Creator of all the world now suffers, or this visible world is coming to an end." Returning to Athens, he was elected to the Areopagus, the city's high court. When the Apostle Paul preached on the Areopagus (Acts 17:16-34), Dionysius believed and was baptised, becoming Paul's companion in the Gospel for three years. He was consecrated as the first Bishop of Athens. Tradition relates that he was present at the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in Jerusalem. He afterwards travelled westward to Gaul to preach Christ, and according to Saint Demetrius of Rostov was martyred by beheading at Athens in extreme old age, around the year 96. The Orthodox Church receives as his the writings on the heavenly hierarchy, the divine names and the mystical theology, which have profoundly shaped Eastern Christian theology.

Holy Damaris of Athens

Saint Damaris was an Athenian woman of the first century, named in the Acts of the Apostles among those who believed when the Apostle Paul preached on the Areopagus in Athens: "Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them" (Acts 17:34). The Tradition of the Orthodox Church remembers her as the first Athenian woman to receive the faith of Christ through Paul's preaching. She is regarded as having lived a holy life thereafter as one of the foundresses of the Christian community at Athens, and she is commemorated on the same day as Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, the chief of those converted on the same occasion.

Holy Martyrs Rusticus the Priest and Eleutherius the Deacon

The Holy Martyrs Rusticus the Priest and Eleutherius the Deacon were the closest companions and fellow-labourers of the Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite. According to tradition they accompanied him on his missionary journey to Gaul to preach the Gospel among the pagans of the West. They worked together with him at Lutetia (later Paris) and the surrounding country, baptising many and establishing the first Christian communities there. Arrested with their bishop during the persecution under the Emperor Domitian, they suffered tortures for the faith and, refusing to sacrifice to the idols, were beheaded with him on the hill outside the city which afterwards became known as Mons Martyrum (Montmartre). They are commemorated together with Saint Dionysius on 3 October.

Saint John the Chozebite, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine

He came from a prominent family in Egypt, and was brought up among the Monophysites. He became a monk in his youth, and went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When he attempted to enter the Church of the Resurrection to venerate the Precious Cross, an unseen power prevented him from entering. The next night he heard a voice telling him in his sleep that those who do not embrace the Orthodox faith are unworthy to worship the holy Cross of the Savior. John awoke and hurried to the church where, in tears, he accepted and confessed the entire Orthodox Faith. After returning to Egypt he settled in Palestine, living alone in a cave in the isolated region called Chozeba. There he lived in solitude until one day a couple brought their son, possessed by an evil spirit. They had been sent to John by Ananias, a well-known ascetic of Palestine. John considered himself unworthy to pray for the casting out of demons, so he prayed in the name of Ananias, and the boy was healed. Thenceforth, John’s wonderworking powers became known, and many made the difficult journey to his cave for the healing of spiritual and bodily ailments. Later John, much against his will, was consecrated Bishop of Caesarea; but he was unable to tolerate the cares of episcopal life and fled again to the desert, where he spent the rest of his life. The faithful continued to visit him in great numbers, and many signs and wonders were worked through his prayers. He reposed in peace at a great age.

Holy Hieromartyr Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, and his disciples

258

He was a disciple of Origen and became a priest in Alexandria. He became Bishop of Alexandria in 247, serving not only his own see but the whole Church with fervor and compassion. He traveled to Rome to fight the Novatian schisms that disturbed the Body of Christ at that time, and mediated in the dispute between St Cyprian (September 16) and the Pope. During the reign of Valerian, the new Governor of Alexandra, Emilianus, summoned St Dionysius, along with a group of his clergy, and demanded that they renounce Christ. When all stood firm in the Faith, he exiled them to the remote village of Kephro. But Christians flocked to the village to seek out the holy Bishop, and many pagans in the region were converted by him — so that soon the town was more nearly a Christian mission than a place of exile. When Emilianus learned of this, he exiled the Bishop and his disciples far into the wilderness, where they lived amidst terrible sufferings and hardships for more than twelve years. Saint Dionysius and his deacons Gaius and Faustus all died there; Eusebius the deacon and Maximus the priest eventually escaped. Eusebius became Bishop of Laodicea; Maximus, like his spiritual father, became Bishop of Alexandria.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 15.39-45

³⁹All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. ⁴⁰There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. ⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. ⁴²So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: ⁴³It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: ⁴⁴It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. ⁴⁵And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 5.17-26

¹⁷And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judæa, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

¹⁸And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. ¹⁹And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. ²¹And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? ²²But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? ²³Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? ²⁴But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. ²⁵And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. ²⁶And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.