Tuesday, 3 November 2026

Martyrs Acepsimus, Joseph, Aithalas

Tuesday of the 23rd week after Pentecost

205 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Translation of the relics of the holy great-martyr George to Lydda

On 3 November the Orthodox Church commemorates the translation of the relics of the Holy Great-Martyr George the Trophy-bearer from Nicomedia, where he was beheaded under the emperor Diocletian around the year 296, to the city of Lydda in Palestine, the homeland of his mother. After his martyrdom his servant gathered his honourable body and conveyed it to Lydda, fulfilling the saint's own request, where the Christians buried him with reverence. In the time of the emperor Constantine the Great, when the persecutions had ceased, a magnificent church was raised over his tomb. The dedication of this church and the placing of the saint's relics within it took place on this day, and from earliest times the feast has been kept throughout the Christian East. Saint George's principal feast remains 23 April, the day of his martyrdom, but on this day the Church honours the wonderworking presence of his relics in the Holy Land.

Holy hieromartyrs Acepsimas the bishop, Joseph the presbyter, and Aithalas the deacon, of Persia

The Holy Martyrs Acepsimas, Joseph and Aithalas were leaders of the Christian Church in the Persian city of Naesson during the long persecution of King Shapur II (309-379). Acepsimas was the aged bishop of the city, beloved of his flock for his ascetic life and tireless pastoral labour, while the seventy-year-old presbyter Joseph and the deacon Aithalas served alongside him. When the king's officers came to arrest them, all three were seized and severely beaten, then thrown together into a dark prison. For three years they were held in chains, suffering hunger, thirst and repeated tortures, but they refused to renounce Christ or to worship the sun and fire. At last the bishop Acepsimas, by then about eighty years of age, was beheaded for his confession. Joseph the presbyter was led into the city to be stoned, and his execution was prolonged for several hours by his torturers. Aithalas the deacon was taken to the village of Patrias, where he was likewise stoned to death; tradition relates that a tree grew on the site of his grave, and its fruit brought healings to the faithful. Their martyrdom was witnessed by the holy widow Snandulia, who buried their relics with reverence.

Saint George of Neapolis, the new hieromartyr

1797

Saint George the New Hieromartyr lived in Neapolis of Asia Minor (Nev-Sehir in Turkish, in Cappadocia) in the eighteenth century, where he served as priest at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos. He was renowned among his flock for his righteousness, holiness, and zeal in pastoral care, ministering to the Greek Orthodox Christians who lived under Ottoman rule. In the year 1797 he was invited to the village of Malakopi, six hours' journey from Neapolis, to officiate at a great feast because the local priest was either ill or hiding from Ottoman persecution. The elder accepted gladly without weighing the danger. On his way, or while serving in the village, he was set upon by Turks who, inflamed against the Christian faith, attacked him with savage cruelty. They tortured him and beheaded him for confessing Christ. The local Christians later found his body and venerable head, mourned over them, and buried his relics with great honour. He is glorified as one of the new hieromartyrs of the Greek nation under the Turkish yoke.

Saint Snandulia of Persia

Saint Snandulia was a devout Christian widow of the Persian city of Arbela who lived in the fourth century during the great persecution of King Shapur II. Possessed of considerable wealth, she devoted herself to acts of mercy, visiting Christians who suffered in prison for the sake of Christ, bringing them food and clothing, washing their wounds, and burying the bodies of the martyrs. When she learned of the imprisonment of the bishop Acepsimas, the presbyter Joseph and the deacon Aithalas, she ministered to them in their long captivity. After the saints were executed, she gathered their relics and gave them honourable burial. According to her life she stretched out her hands "for needful things" and "to the poor," but refused to lift her hands to do evil even when soldiers tried to compel her to throw a stone at the holy martyr Joseph. She reposed around 380 in peace, having spent her life in fearless service to Christ's confessors.

Holy Virgin Martyr Winefride of Treffynnon, Wales

7th c.

“Saint Winefride (in Welsh, Gwenfrewi) was a maiden of noble birth who lived in North wales in the seventh century. The niece and spiritual daughter of Saint Beuno (21 April), she entered the Monastery of Gwytherin after his death, where she lived under the spiritual direction of Saint Eleril. The son of a neighbouring chieftan, Caradoc by name, seized by an unchaste passion, pursued her and struck off her head with a sword. The spot where her head fell became known as Treffynnon or Holywell, because of the appearing of a healing spring for those who would take its waters with faith. Holywell remains a great place of pilgrimage in Britain to this day.” (Synaxarion)

Also commemorated: Martyrs Acepsimus, Joseph, Aithalas

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Thessalonians — 1 Thessalonians 1.6-10

⁶And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: ⁷So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. ⁹For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; ¹⁰And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 11.34-41

³⁴The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. ³⁵Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. ³⁶If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

³⁷And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. ³⁸And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. ³⁹And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. ⁴⁰Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? ⁴¹But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.