Wednesday, 30 December 2026

Virgin Martyr Anysia at Thessalonica

Wednesday of the 31st week after Pentecost

262 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Liturgy · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

Holy Martyrs Philetaerus, Theonas, Eubulus, Theotimus, Hilarian, Jacob and Comasius of Nicomedia

Saint Philetaerus was a young nobleman of Nicomedia who suffered for Christ during the persecution under the emperor Diocletian (284 to 305). Brought before the imperial tribunal in his native city, he confessed Christ before the emperor himself and could not be turned aside from his confession by either flattery or torment. He was scourged, his face was beaten, and he was stretched upon a wheel of torture and cast into a fiery furnace, but in each ordeal he was preserved by the power of God. Beholding these wonders, several of his companions, including the soldiers Theonas and Eubulus, and the men Theotimus, Hilarian, Jacob and Comasius, came forward to confess Christ. They too were tortured and crowned with martyrdom, some by the sword and some by drowning. Saint Philetaerus himself, after long sufferings, was brought to a place of execution, where he prayed and quietly fell asleep in the Lord without a fresh blow being struck.

Holy Virgin Martyr Anysia of Thessalonica

She was born to a pious, noble and very wealthy family in Thessalonica. When both her parents died while she was an adolescent, Anysia consecrated herself to Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom. She cast off all her jewels and fine clothing, dressing herself as a commoner. She freed all her many slaves, giving each of them a generous sum of money to establish themselves. She gave away all of her inheritance, which included large estates. Thenceforth she spent her days visiting the sick, helping widows and orphans, and, especially, aiding Christians suffering under persecution. She would visit those in prison, bringing them food and water and tending their wounds. All the time not devoted to aiding the poor or oppressed she spent in prayer in a small cell. One of her prayers was that she, like those that she helped, would be granted the crown of martyrdom.

One day, while she was walking to church, an imperial soldier accosted her and roughly questioned her. When she plainly declared herself a Christian, the soldier seized her and dragged her to a temple of the idols, where he commanded her to make sacrifice. In response, she only spat in his face. The enraged soldier drew his sword and thrust it into her side, slaying her. Some pious Christians took her body and buried it outside the city. When the persecutions had ended, a church was built in her honor at the place of her burial.

Saint Egwin of Worcester, Bishop and Founder of Evesham

Saint Egwin was an Anglo-Saxon of royal Mercian descent, born in the seventh century. From his youth he was raised in the Christian faith and embraced the monastic life. In 692 he was consecrated the third Bishop of Worcester, where he laboured tirelessly to root out vice among clergy and people, to defend the rights of widows and orphans, and to enforce the canons of the Church on the sanctity of marriage. His strict pastoral discipline made him many enemies, who slandered him to the king and even to the Pope. According to the venerable tradition of his life, the saint went to Rome to clear his name, having first locked his feet in iron fetters and cast the key into the river Avon. While at Rome a fish was brought to him for his table, and within it was found the very key, by which God Himself bore witness to his innocence. Returning vindicated, Saint Egwin received from a swineherd named Eoves the report of a vision of the Mother of God in a forest clearing, and there in 701 he founded the great monastery of Evesham, dedicated to the Theotokos. He governed both the see of Worcester and the new monastery until shortly before his death, when he resigned his bishopric to live as a simple monk. He reposed at Evesham on 30 December 717 and was buried there. His tomb became a place of many miracles.

Venerable Melania the Younger, anticipated commemoration

Although the principal feast of Saint Melania the Younger of Rome falls on 31 December, in the Greek liturgical tradition her hymns are transferred to 30 December and chanted together with those of the Holy Virgin Martyr Anysia. This is because 31 December is the Apodosis, or Leavetaking, of the Nativity, on which day the festal hymns of the Lord's Nativity take precedence over the offices of any saint. Thus on 30 December the Church anticipates the memory of the great Roman ascetic, joining her to the witness of the virgin martyr Anysia of Thessalonica, so that her struggles and labours are not passed over in silence. Her full life and feast are kept on the following day, when the joy of the great feast of the Nativity is concluded.

Our Holy Father Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia

1563

He was born in Moscow in 1492. When his father died, his mother became a nun and he a monk, receiving the monastic name Macarius. He became an iconographer of rare talent. In 1523 he was ordained to the priesthood and made Abbot of the Monastery of Luchski; three years later he was consecrated Archbishop of Novgorod and Pskov, a see which had been vacant for many years. As Archbishop, he sent missionaries to the native peoples of the far north of Russia and, within his own diocese strove against the paganism still common among the people. He regularized life in the monasteries of his diocese, which had fallen into self-indulgence. In 1542 he was elected Metropolitan of Moscow and head of the Russian Church. Five years later he crowned the first Tsar of Russia, Ivan Vassilievich. In 1551 he summoned the Council of the Hundred Chapters, which condemned various heresies prevalent at that time, laid down principles of Christian conduct and education, and established rules for iconography and Church art. Throughout his time as a hierarch, he continued to paint icons, and in 1553 he brought about the production of the first books to be printed in Russian. When the Khanate of Kazan fell, he immediately sent missionaries to convert the Tatars. When the Tsar, who revered Saint Macarius, asked him for a spiritual book, he was surprised and displeased to be given a copy of the funeral service; but the Saint told him that anyone who read this book carefully and applied its words would never sin. Saint Macarius reposed in peace in Moscow in 1563, and his popular veneration began immediately. In 1988 he was officially glorified by the Church of Russia.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

James — James 1.1-18

¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

²My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; ³Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. ⁴But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. ⁵If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. ⁶But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ⁷For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. ⁸A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. ⁹Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: ¹⁰But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. ¹¹For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. ¹²Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. ¹³Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: ¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. ¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. ¹⁶Do not err, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. ¹⁸Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 11.22-26

²²And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. ²³For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. ²⁴Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. ²⁵And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. ²⁶But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.