Saturday, 13 February 2027

Saturday of the 37th week after Pentecost

307 days after Pascha · Tone 3 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Apostle Aquila of the Seventy

Aquila was one of the apostles of the Seventy chosen by our Lord Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel and establish His Church. He was a faithful disciple who travelled and preached the faith, bringing many souls to salvation through his witness and teaching. Aquila worked alongside his wife Priscilla, and together they served the Church with great devotion. They were known for their hospitality and their willingness to risk their lives for the Gospel. Aquila is remembered as a faithful apostle who laboured in the early Church to spread the Good News of salvation in Christ.

Apostle Priscilla of the Seventy

Priscilla was one of the apostles of the Seventy, a woman of great faith and learning who shared her faith with her husband Aquila. She was renowned for her knowledge of Scripture and her ability to explain the way of God more accurately to those she encountered. Priscilla exemplified the role of women in the early Church as teachers, witnesses, and evangelists. She risked her life for the Gospel and worked alongside her husband to establish Christian communities. She is remembered as a faithful apostle whose courage and faithfulness to Christ served as an inspiration to the early Church.

Saint Eulogius of Alexandria

Eulogius was a patriarch of Alexandria and one of the great Fathers of the Church in Egypt. He lived during the Islamic period and worked to preserve the Orthodox faith and the ecclesiastical tradition among the Coptic Christians. Eulogius was known for his theological writings, his pastoral wisdom, and his defence of Orthodox doctrine. He worked to maintain church discipline and to guide the faithful in holiness and righteousness. He is remembered as a great patriarch and theologian whose contributions to the Church continue to be valued in the Eastern Christian tradition.

Saint Martinian, Monk of Caesarea

“The life of this saint is wonderful beyond measure and is worth reading in full. What did he not endure to fulfil the Law of God? At the age of eighteen, he went off into a mountain in Cappadocia called the Ark and spent 25 years in fasting, vigils and prayer, and struggling with manifold temptations. When a woman came to tempt him and he saw that he would fall into sin with her, he leapt barefoot into the fire and stood in it until the pain brought forth tears from his eyes and he had killed all lust within himself. When other temptations arose, he fled to a lonely rock in the sea and lived there. When, though, in a shipwreck, a woman swam to the rock, he leapt into the sea intending to drown himself. But a dolphin took him upon its back and brought him, by God’s providence, to the shore. He then decided to make nowhere his permanent home but to travel incessantly. Thus he passed through 164 towns in two years, exhorting and advising the people. He finally arrived in Athens, where he died in 422.” (Prologue)

Saints Zoe and Photina

Zoe and Photina were holy women martyrs of the early Church who gave their lives in witness to Christ. According to tradition, they were imprisoned and endured severe tortures for refusing to deny their Christian faith and to participate in pagan sacrifices. Their commitment to Christ was so steadfast that they remained unmoved by the threats and suffering inflicted upon them. They eventually achieved martyrdom and entered into the Kingdom of Heaven. Their memory is venerated in the Orthodox Church as witnesses to the power of faith in Christ and the willingness of the faithful to endure all things for the sake of the Gospel.

Holy Apostles and Martyrs Priscilla and Aquila

Aquila and his wife Priscilla (or Prisca) were Jews from Pontus who settled in Rome, where they worked as tent-makers. When the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome in 49-50, they moved to Corinth. (They may already have been Christians; at that time the Empire made no distinction between Christians and Jews.) In Corinth they hosted the Apostle Paul, who lived and worked with them for awhile (Acts 18:1-3). They worked diligently with the Apostle, traveled with him, and were considered worthy to bring Apollos (December 8) to a full knowledge of the Faith (Acts 18:26) Priscilla and Aquila returned to Rome around 58, and later went to Ephesus; they were living there when St Paul asked his disciple Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, to greet them (2 Tim. 4:19). It was probably in Ephesus that they were martyred by the pagans.

St Symeon the Myrrh-streamer, founder of the Chilandar Monastery

1200

He was born in 1114. In the world, he ruled the kingdom of Serbia as Stephen Nemanja; after ruling wisely and mercifully for many years, he renounced all worldly wealth and glory in 1196 to become a monk. Traveling to the Holy Mountain, he took for his spiritual father his own son Sava, who had preceded him in renouncing royal honor for a life of prayer. Together Symeon (as he was named in monastic life) and his son founded Hilandar monastery. His wife Anna became a nun, taking the name Anastasia; she is also commemorated as a saint of the Church. After his repose, St Symeon’s relics exuded a fragrant and healing myrrh. Saint Sava brought his father’s holy relics back to Serbia. The Synaxarion says “From Saint Symeon’s empty tomb at Chilandar, a vine miraculously sprang up whose dried grape seeds are to this day sent all over the world as a blessing for childless married couples.”

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Thessalonians — 1 Thessalonians 5.14-23

¹⁴And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all. ¹⁴Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. ¹⁵See that none render unto any one evil for evil; but always follow after that which is good, one toward another, and toward all. ¹⁵See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. ¹⁶Rejoice always; ¹⁶Rejoice evermore. ¹⁷pray without ceasing; ¹⁷Pray without ceasing. ¹⁸In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. ¹⁸in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward. ¹⁹Quench not the Spirit. ¹⁹Quench not the Spirit; ²⁰Despise not prophesyings. ²⁰despise not prophesyings; ²¹prove all things; hold fast that which is good; ²¹Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ²²abstain from every form of evil. ²²Abstain from all appearance of evil.

²³And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²³And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 17.3-10

³Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. ³Take heed to yourselves: if thy brother sin, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. ⁴And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. ⁴And if he sin against thee seven times in the day, and seven times turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. ⁵And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

⁵And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. ⁶And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. ⁶And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye would say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea; and it would obey you. ⁷But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? ⁷But who is there of you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say unto him, when he is come in from the field, Come straightway and sit down to meat; ⁸And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? ⁸and will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? ⁹Doth he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded? ⁹Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. ¹⁰So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. ¹⁰Even so ye also, when ye shall have done all the things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do.