Thursday, 5 November 2026

Martyrs Galacteon and Wife Epistemis; Repose St Jonah of Novgorod

Thursday of the 23rd week after Pentecost

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

Saints commemorated

Holy apostle Hermas of Philippopolis

Saint Hermas, one of the Seventy Apostles greeted by Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Romans (16:14), was a Greek who spent some years at Rome before being sent forth to preach the Gospel in Thrace. He was appointed bishop of Philippopolis (now Plovdiv in Bulgaria), where he laboured tirelessly to enlighten the pagan inhabitants of the region, baptizing many and establishing the Church among the Thracian peoples. According to the tradition recorded in the synaxaria, he was wealthy in his earlier life but fell into poverty through his own sins and the misdeeds of his sons; visited by an angel of repentance who remained with him, he turned wholly to God. Some Orthodox sources identify him with the Hermas to whom is ascribed the early second-century work "The Shepherd," though others distinguish the two. He ended his earthly course as a martyr for Christ. He is honoured today with the four other apostles of the Seventy commemorated on 5 November, and again on 31 May among his fellow apostles.

Holy apostles Patrobus, Hermas, Linus, Gaius and Philologus of the Seventy

The five holy apostles commemorated on this day were among the Seventy chosen by the Lord and sent out to preach the Gospel, and all are greeted by name by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans. Saint Patrobus, mentioned in Romans 16:14, was appointed bishop of Pottole near Naples in Italy, where he baptized many pagans and built up the Church. Saint Hermas, also greeted in Romans 16:14, became bishop of Philippopolis in Thrace, where he preached the faith and ended his life as a martyr; he is sometimes identified by tradition with the Hermas to whom is ascribed the early Christian work "The Shepherd." Saint Linus, mentioned by Paul in 2 Timothy 4:21, succeeded the Apostle Peter as bishop of Rome, where he laboured and was eventually martyred. Saint Gaius, named in Romans 16:23 as Paul's host at Corinth, became bishop of Ephesus after the Apostle Timothy. Saint Philologus, greeted in Romans 16:15, was consecrated by the Apostle Andrew the First-Called as bishop of Sinope on the Black Sea. All five reposed in the Lord after fruitful apostolic labour, and the Church honours them together as faithful labourers in the first Christian mission.

Holy martyrs Galaction and Episteme of Emesa

A pagan couple, Cleitophon and Leucippe, who lived in Emesa in the reign of the Emperor Decius, were grieved that they were unable to have children. One day a monk named Onuphrius came to their door seeking alms to give to the poor, and seeing Leucippe’s downcast face, asked her what was wrong. When she replied that she was barren, Onuphrius told her that this was by God’s providence, to prevent their child from being given over to idolatry, and that if they accepted Christ she would bear a child. Leucippe was baptized into the Faith and bore a son not long after, which in turn brought her husband to faith in Christ. The son was named Galaction in baptism.

Years later, Galaction’s father, now widowed, decided that Galaction should marry a pagan maiden named Episteme. Galaction married out of obedience, but would not approach Episteme’s bed since she was a pagan. In time, he convinced her of the truth of the Faith and baptised her himself. Not long after she was told in a dream of the glory that awaits those who consecrate themselves wholly to God. When she told her husband of the dream, they both resolved to remain in virginity, settling in separate monastic communities near to one another.

In one of the Emperor’s persecutions of Christians, Galaction was seized by imperial soldiers and taken away to be killed. Episteme, told in a vision of his arrest, asked the blessing of her abbess to join him in martyrdom. Receiving it, she hurried to Galaction’s place of imprisonment, boldly announced her faith in Christ, and after many tortures and humiliations husband and wife were beheaded together.

Saint Jonah, archbishop of Novgorod

Saint Jonah, archbishop of Novgorod, was born in Novgorod the Great early in the fifteenth century and orphaned in childhood. Raised by a pious widow who provided for his Christian formation, he received an unusual blessing in his boyhood from the holy fool Michael Klopsky, who prophesied that he would one day be archbishop of Novgorod. Tonsured a monk at the monastery of Saint Onuphrius on the Volkhov, he advanced to the priesthood and eventually to the office of hegumen, ruling his community with humility and gentleness. In 1458 he was elected archbishop of Novgorod and consecrated by Saint Jonah of Moscow. As archbishop he was a vigorous defender of Orthodox piety, a builder of churches and monasteries, and a peacemaker who repeatedly interceded with the grand prince of Moscow on behalf of his city. He was the spiritual father of Saint Zosima of Solovki, whom he supported in founding the great northern monastery. After fifteen years of fruitful labour, he reposed in peace on 5 November 1470, and his incorrupt relics were uncovered some years later, granting healings to many.

Our Holy Father Gregory the Confessor, Patriarch of Alexandria

early 9th c.

This much-loved shepherd of the Church at Alexandria was unanimously elected to the Patriarchate by the Bishops and people of that city. Though meek and humble, he was a fierce defender of holy Orthodoxy, which was then under attack by the Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). For his fearless defense of the holy Icons, Gregory was arrested at the Emperor’s orders and brought in chains to Constantinople. Brought before Leo, the holy Patriarch told him clearly that he was a heretic and an enemy of the Church. The enraged Emperor had Gregory scourged, then sent into exile, where he reposed three years later.

Also commemorated: Repose St Jonah of Novgorod

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Thessalonians — 1 Thessalonians 2.9-14

⁹For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. ¹⁰Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: ¹¹As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, ¹²That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

¹³For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. ¹⁴For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 11.47-12.1

⁴⁷Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. ⁴⁸Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. ⁴⁹Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: ⁵⁰That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; ⁵¹From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. ⁵²Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. ⁵³And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: ⁵⁴Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

¹In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.