Thursday, 12 November 2026

St John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria

Thursday of the 24th week after Pentecost

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

Saints commemorated

Blessed John the Hairy, fool for Christ of Rostov

Blessed John, surnamed "the Hairy" because of his long unkempt locks, was a fool for Christ of the sixteenth century in the Russian city of Rostov the Great. Of his early life little is known, except that he was a man of education who, in pursuit of total humility before God, took on the strange and despised vocation of holy folly, hiding the gifts of grace under outward foolishness in order to escape the praise of men. He spent his days wandering through the streets of Rostov in a single ragged garment, in cold and heat alike, going barefoot, sleeping where he found himself, and bearing patiently the insults and beatings of the worldly. He kept always with him a copy of the Psalms in Latin, which he read attentively, and he was known to converse with priests and learned men with great spiritual insight, hiding from the rest. He worked many miracles in secret, foretelling future events to those who came to him with faith, and exhorting the people to repentance. Worn out by a life of asceticism in the open air, he was received in his last illness into the home of one of the priests of the city, where he reposed in peace on 3 September 1580. He was buried, by his own request, near the church of Saint Vlasios, in a place where rain water from the eaves fell on his grave. His relics were soon manifested as wonderworking, and his shrine became a place of healing for the sick. The Russian Orthodox Church commemorates Blessed John the Hairy of Rostov on 12 November as well as on 3 September.

Holy prophet Ahijah of Shiloh

The Holy Prophet Ahijah lived in the tenth century before Christ during the reign of Solomon and Jeroboam. He came from the priestly city of Shiloh, where the Tabernacle of the Lord had once stood, and was raised in the knowledge of the Law of Moses and the prophetic tradition of Samuel. His name in Hebrew means "brother of the Lord", and he is numbered among the prophets of the Old Testament who foresaw the kingdom of Christ. In the latter days of King Solomon, when the wisest of kings had departed from the Lord and built altars to foreign gods at the bidding of his pagan wives, the Lord raised up Ahijah to announce the punishment that would fall upon his house. Meeting Jeroboam the son of Nebat in the open country, the prophet took the new mantle that he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces, and gave ten of them to Jeroboam, declaring that the Lord would take ten of the twelve tribes from the line of Solomon and give them into his hand (1 Kings 11:29-39). The prophecy was fulfilled after the death of Solomon, when the kingdom was divided. Later, when Jeroboam himself had set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan and turned Israel away from the worship of the true God, the prophet, by then aged and blind, foretold the death of the king's son and the eventual destruction of Jeroboam's house (1 Kings 14:1-18). Saint Ahijah served the Lord faithfully to the end of his days and reposed in peace, having shepherded the people of God by his words and prayers. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 12 November.

Our Father among the Saints Martin, Bishop of Tours

397

This holy and beloved Western Saint, the patron of France, was born in Pannonia (modern-day Hungary) in 316, to a pagan military family stationed there. Soon the family returned home to Italy, where Martin grew up. He began to go to church at the age of ten, and became a catechumen. Though he desired to become a monk, he first entered the army in obedience to his parents. One day, when he was stationed in Amiens in Gaul, he met a poor man shivering for lack of clothing. He had already given all his money as alms, so he drew his sword, cut his soldier’s cloak in half, and gave half of it to the poor man. That night Christ appeared to him, clothed in the half-cloak he had given away, and said to His angels, “Martin, though still a catechumen, has clothed me in this garment.” Martin was baptised soon afterward. Though he still desired to become a monk, he did not obtain his discharge from the army until many years later, in 356. He soon became a disciple of St Hilary of Poitiers (commemorated January 13), the “Athanasius of the West.” After traveling in Pannonia and Italy (where he converted his mother to faith in Christ), he returned to Gaul, where the Arian heretics were gaining much ground. Not long afterward became Bishop of Tours, where he shone as a shepherd of the Church: bringing pagans to the faith, healing the sick, establishing monastic life throughout Gaul, and battling the Arian heresy so widespread throughout the West. Finding the episcopal residence too grand, he lived in a rude, isolated wooden hut, even while fulfilling all the duties of a Bishop of the Church. His severity against heresy was always accompanied by love and kindness toward all: he once traveled to plead with the Emperor Maximus to preserve the lives of some Priscillianist heretics whom the Emperor meant to execute. As the holy Bishop lay dying in 397, the devil appeared to tempt him one last time. The Saint said, “You will find nothing in me that belongs to you. Abraham’s bosom is about to receive me.” With these words he gave up his soul to God. He is the first confessor who was not a martyr to be named a Saint in the West. His biographer, Sulpitius Severus, wrote of him: “Martin never let an hour or a moment go by without giving himself to prayer or to reading and, even as he read or was otherwise occupied, he never ceased from prayer to God. He was never seen out of temper or disturbed, distressed or laughing. Always one and the same, his face invariably shining with heavenly joy, he seemed to have surpassed human nature. In his mouth was nothing but the Name of Christ and in his soul nothing but love, peace and mercy.” Note: St Martin is commemorated on this day in the Greek and Slavic Synaxaria; his commemoration in the West, where he is especially honored, is on November 11.

Saint John the Merciful, patriarch of Alexandria

611

He was the son of a noble family in Cyprus. He married and had several children, but when his wife and children all died at nearly the same time, he took his loss as a call to forsake worldly cares, and committed his life entirely to God. In time he was consecrated Archbishop of Alexandria, where he became known for his zeal for the Orthodox faith and his struggles against the various heresies that prevailed in Egypt at that time. Most of all, though, he was known for the amazing purity of his generosity and compassion toward all.

On the day of his elevation to the Patriarchate, he ordered a careful census of his “masters,” as he called the poor and beggars. It was found that there were 7,500 indigents in the city, and St John ordered that all of them be clothed and fed every day out of the Church’s wealth. In his prayers he would say “We will see, Lord, which of us will win this contest: You, who constantly give me good gifts, or I, who will never stop giving them away to the poor. For I have nothing that does not come to me by Thy mercy, which upholds my life.”

His lack of judgment in giving to the poor sometimes dismayed those around him. Once a wily beggar came to John four times in four different disguises, receiving alms each time. When the holy Patriarch was told of this, he ordered that the man be given twice as much, saying “Perhaps he is Jesus my Savior, who has come on purpose to put me to the test.” Still, the more generously he gave, the more generously God granted gifts to the Church, so that money was never lacking either for the poor or for the Church’s own real needs. One of the clergy once gave only a third of what the Patriarch instructed to a rich man who had fallen into poverty, thinking that the Church’s treasury could not afford to give so much. Saint John then revealed to him that a noblewoman who had planned to give an enormous gift to the Church had, shortly thereafter, given only a third of what she originally planned.

Once, when he was serving the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral, the Patriarch stopped just before the consecration, instructed the deacon to repeat the litanies, and sent for one of his clergy who bore a grudge against him and would not come to church. When the man came, the Patriarch prostrated himself before him and, with tears, begged his forgiveness. When they were reconciled, he returned to the altar and proceeded with the service.

Though the Patriarch lived in a well-appointed palace befitting his rank, he owned no property and lived in a humble cell within the palace. A godly citizen, knowing his poverty, once gave him a fine blanket. The Saint immediately sold the blanket and gave the proceeds to the poor. The donor, however, found his gift for sale in a shop, bought it, and gave it again to the Patriarch. The Patriarch again sold it, and the donor again found it and gave it. The Synaxarion says, “As neither of them would give in, the bed-cover passed through their hands a good many times and was the means whereby John indirectly prevailed on the rich man to give away a great fortune to the poor.”

Despite his generosity, the Patriarch was firm with the Monophysite heretics. Though he gave them all that he could whenever they were in need, he instructed the Orthodox faithful never to worship or pray with them.

At his own request, the Patriarch returned to Cyprus where, in 619, he died at the age of 64. In his last hours, he gave thanks to God that nothing remained of the riches of which he had been given stewardship for the sake of the poor.

Venerable Nilus the Faster of Sinai

Saint Nilus was born in Constantinople in the latter half of the fourth century, of a noble family, and received an excellent education. He married a pious Christian woman, by whom he had a son, Theodulos, and a daughter. While still a young man he was made eparch of the imperial city. Drawn from his earliest years to a life of prayer and contemplation, he became the disciple of Saint John Chrysostom, who directed him in the study of holy scripture and in the practice of the virtues, and exerted a profound influence over both Nilus and his wife. Around the year 390 the couple, by mutual consent, parted to embrace the monastic life. Nilus took his son Theodulos with him to Mount Sinai, where they settled in a cave on the holy mountain and lived for many years in great asceticism, while his wife and daughter entered a women's monastery in Egypt. Father and son devoted themselves to prayer, fasting, the study of scripture, and the writing of spiritual letters and treatises which were sought after throughout the empire, even by the emperor himself. About the year 410 a band of Saracen raiders descended on the desert of Sinai, killing many of the monks and carrying off Theodulos as a slave. Nilus searched for his son for a long time, and at last found him at Elusa in Palestine, where he had been bought by the local bishop. The bishop, recognising the holiness of the elder, ordained both father and son to the priesthood and permitted them to return to Sinai, where they continued their ascetic labours. Saint Nilus reposed in peace at Sinai about the year 430. He left behind a great body of writings on the spiritual life, on prayer, on the eight evil thoughts, and a vast correspondence on practical questions of faith and conduct. He is honoured as one of the great teachers of monastic life in the East, and his memory is celebrated on 12 November.

Our Holy Father Nilus the Ascetic of Sinai

430

He served as Prefect of Constantinople during the reign of the Emperor Theodosius. He was married and had two children, a son and a daughter. Despising their eminent worldly position, Nilus and his wife agreed to take up the monastic life in Egypt, she taking their daughter to a women’s monastery, he taking their son to Mount Sinai. Together Nilus and his son Theodoulos lived in hesychia on the slopes of the mountain with the other monks, who spent their lives in solitude, only gathering once a week to partake of the Mysteries. One day some Saracen raiders attacked the monks, killing many and capturing others; Nilus’ own son Theodoulos was among those taken. Nilus, to overcome his sorrow at losing his son, redoubled his prayers and ascetical labors, and became widely-known for his gifts of prophecy and discernment. He wrote more than a thousand letters and spiritual treatises, including some defending his spiritual father St John Chrysostom, who had been unjustly exiled. After many years at Mt Sinai, St Nilus found his long-lost son alive. Father and son together were ordained to the priesthood by the Bishop of Elusas, who had been caring for Theodoulos. Saint Nilus reposed in peace around the year 430. His relics were later returned to Constantinople and venerated at the Church of the Orphanage.

St Nilus the Myrrh-Gusher of Mt Athos

1651

He was born around the end of the sixteenth century in southern Greece. At an early age he entered into monastic life and in time found an isolated cave on the southern cliffs of Mt Athos, devoting his days to prayer, unknown to almost everyone. He reposed in peace in 1651 and was buried near his cave. A fragrant myrrh flowed from his body so copiously that it formed a stream flowing into the sea below; many people came in boats to collect the myrrh, which healed many ailments. One of his disciples, disturbed by the steady procession of visitors, complained in prayer to the Saint, and the flow of myrrh instantly stopped, never to resume.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Thessalonians — 1 Thessalonians 5.1-8

¹But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. ²For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. ³For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. ⁴But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. ⁶Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. ⁷For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. ⁸But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 13.1-9

¹There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they suffered such things? ³I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. ⁴Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? ⁵I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

⁶He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. ⁷Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? ⁸And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: ⁹And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.