Sunday, 1 November 2026

22nd Sunday after Pentecost

203 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian of Asia

The Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian were brothers, natives of Asia Minor. Their pagan father died while they were still small children, and their mother Theodota raised them in Christian piety. Trained and skilled as physicians, they received from the Holy Spirit the gift of healing illnesses of body and soul through the power of prayer. With fervent love for both God and neighbour, they never took payment for their services, observing strictly the command of the Lord, "Freely you have received, freely give." Their reputation for compassion and miracles spread, and they brought many pagans to faith in Christ. According to tradition, even animals were healed by them, and a camel they had cured later spoke with a human voice to defend Damian, who had reluctantly accepted three eggs from a woman named Palladia in the name of the Holy Trinity. The brothers reposed in peace and were buried together at Thereman in Mesopotamia, after which many miracles continued at their relics.

Hieromartyrs John the bishop and James the presbyter of Persia

The Hieromartyrs John the Bishop and James the Presbyter, called "the zealot," lived during the reign of the Persian King Shapur II (309-379), who unleashed a long and savage persecution of Christians within his realm. Both shepherds laboured tirelessly to preach the true Faith and to confirm believers under the threat of imperial wrath, and many devout persons were drawn to Christianity through their courage and example. Arrested by the Persian authorities, they refused to deny Christ or to worship the sun and fire as the Persian religion demanded. After being subjected to cruel torments, they were beheaded around the year 343, attaining the crown of martyrdom together. Their joint commemoration on this day witnesses to the brotherhood of bishop and priest in the same confession of faith.

Saint David of Evia

Saint David of Evia, also known as David the Elder, was born around 1480 in the village of Gardinitsa in the province of Locrida in central Greece. His father Christodoulos was a priest and his mother Theodora was a pious woman, and they raised their four children in the fear of God. When little David was three years old, he saw in a vision Saint John the Baptist, who took him by the hand to a chapel dedicated to the Forerunner. Drawn from childhood to the monastic life, he was tonsured young and pursued ascetic struggle in several monasteries, eventually being persuaded by the bishop and the local nobility to serve as hegumen of the monastery of the Mother of God at Varnakova. Around 1535-1540 he founded on the island of Euboea (Evia) the monastery dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Saviour, where he spent the remainder of his long life as a teacher, ascetic, and wonderworker. He was renowned for his miracles, his struggle to preserve the Orthodox faith and Greek learning under Ottoman rule, and his gift of prophecy. He reposed around 1589 at his monastery, where his relics continue to work miracles for those who venerate them.

Saint Theodota, mother of the unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian

Saint Theodota was the mother of the holy unmercenary physicians Cosmas and Damian of Asia. Widowed while her sons were still small children, she devoted herself to raising them in the Orthodox faith, instilling in them piety, charity, and a fervent love for Christ. Her example of patient widowhood and strict Christian upbringing was credited by the Church with shaping the holy character of her sons, who would become healers and martyrs. The Orthodox Church honours her on the same day as her sons in recognition of her role in forming saints. She reposed in peace and is venerated alongside her two children as a model of faithful Christian motherhood.

Holy New Martyr Helen of Sinope

18th c.

She was a maiden of fifteen who lived with her parents in the Christian enclave of Sinope in Pontus during the 1700s. One day, as she went to the marketplace, she passed by the house of the local Pasha (governor), who, seeing her beauty, was seized by lust for her. He ordered his servants to bring her to him, and made two attempts to defile her; each time, however, he was prevented by a mysterious power that kept him from her like an invisible wall. Determined to have his way for her, he kept her prisoner in his house; but she was able to slip away and run home to her parents’ house. Enraged that his prey had escaped, the Pasha called together the leaders of the Christian community and promised that, unless Helen were handed over to him, all the Christians in the town would be massacred. Grief-stricken and fearful, the leaders persuaded Helen’s father to return the girl to the palace. The vile Pasha made several more attempts to rape the Saint, but once again he was restrained as if by an invisible wall as she recited the Six Psalms and all the prayers that she knew by heart. Realizing that he was powerless against her, the Pasha had her thrown in the common jail, then ordered that she be tortured to death. The executioners subjected the maiden to several cruel torments before killing her by driving two nails into her skull and beheading her. They then put her body in a sack and threw it in the Black Sea. Some Greek sailors followed a heavenly light to the place where the sack had sunk, and divers retrieved the Saint’s relics, which immediately revealed themselves as a source of healing for many. Her body was taken to Russia; her head was placed in the church in Sinope, where it continued to work miracles, especially for those who suffered from headaches. When the Greeks were driven from Sinope in 1924, refugees took the head with them. It is venerated today in a church near Thessalonika.

Also commemorated: Unmercenaries and Wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Galatians — Galatians 6.11-18

¹¹Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. ¹²As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. ¹³For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. ¹⁴But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. ¹⁵For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. ¹⁶And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. ¹⁷From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁸Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 8.26-39

²⁶And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. ²⁷And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. ²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. ²⁹(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) ³⁰And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. ³¹And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. ³²And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. ³³Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. ³⁴When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. ³⁶They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed.

³⁷Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. ³⁸Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.

11th Matins Gospel

John — John 21.15-25

¹⁵So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. ¹⁶He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. ¹⁷He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. ¹⁸Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. ¹⁹This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. ²⁰Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? ²¹Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? ²²Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. ²³Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? ²⁴This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. ²⁵And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.