Monday, 22 February 2027

69 days before Pascha · Tone 5 · Liturgy · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

Holy Martyrs Maurice and Photinus of Apamea

305

Maurice was a distinguished military commander of the Syrian city of Apamea who held considerable authority and respect among the soldiers under his command. When the imperial authorities learned that Maurice was proclaiming the faith in Christ and converting his subordinates to the Orthodox Christian religion, he was brought before the authorities to answer charges of apostasy from the imperial pagan gods. Maurice, together with his beloved son Photinus and the seventy soldiers under his military command, stood firm in their confession of Christ, neither yielding to persuasion nor succumbing to threats against their lives. They endured systematic and cruel torture, being beaten mercilessly, burned with fire and torn with iron implements. The young man Photinus, who had heroically borne the torments inflicted upon him, was eventually beheaded by the sword before the very eyes of his father. The sight of his son's martyrdom did not break Maurice's resolve but rather strengthened his faith, knowing that his child had been granted the crown of martyrdom. The remaining confessors were subsequently led to a swampy place infested with mosquitoes, wasps and gnats, where they were bound to trees and covered with honey to enhance their suffering. Weakened by hunger and thirst, these holy martyrs endured this terrible torment for ten days, yet they never ceased their prayers and praises of God. Finally the Lord granted them relief from their earthly struggles in the year 305, during the reign of the emperor Maximian Galerius.

Saint Athanasius the Confessor of Constantinople

821

Saint Athanasius was born in Constantinople to pious and affluent parents who ensured he received both a classical education and thorough grounding in Holy Scripture and the spiritual life. From his earliest years he felt called to dedicate himself entirely to the service of God. Upon reaching maturity, he retired to the Pavlopetrios monastery in Nicomedia, a community dedicated to the memory of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, where he embraced the monastic vocation. During the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820), Saint Athanasius endured severe persecution for his steadfast defence of the veneration of holy icons. He was subjected to vicious torture and subsequently exiled, suffering imprisonment, grief and anguish for his Orthodox faith. Despite the ferocity of imperial opposition and the horrors inflicted upon his body, he remained unwavering in his confession of the Orthodox teaching, never wavering in his witness to the sacred tradition. Saint Athanasius continued to confess the Orthodox Faith until the very end of his earthly existence, and he fell asleep in the Lord peacefully in the year 821, departing to the eternal rest that awaits the faithful.

Uncovering of the relics of the Holy Martyrs at the gate of Eugenius at Constantinople

c. 423

“At the time of the holy Patriarch Thomas I of Constantinople (607-610), the relics of some unknown holy Martyrs were discovered buried in the district of Eugenius. As soon as the Patriarch exposed them for the veneration of the people who gathered from all over the city, numerous healings took place. “Many years had gone by when a clergyman named Nicolas, who worked as a book copyist, learnt by divine revelation that among these anonymous relics were those of Saint Paul’s disciples, the holy apostles Andronicus and Junia, who are mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans (16:7). The Emperor Andronicus I (1183-5) built a beautiful church at the place where thise relics were venerated.” (Synaxarion)

Venerable Limnaeus, hermit of Syria

Venerable Limnaeus was a Syrian ascetic who devoted himself to monastic life under the spiritual direction of the great Saint Thalassius, dwelling with his elder for a considerable time. Through constant association with this accomplished master, Limnaeus acquired the virtues characteristic of his teacher, namely simplicity of manner, gentleness and profound humility. After establishing himself in these spiritual foundations, Limnaeus joined the venerable Saint Maron and together with him pursued a life of rigorous mortification atop a mountain, exposed to the elements without shelter or protection. He constructed a small stone enclosure without a roof, and through a narrow aperture cut into its walls, he conversed with those who approached seeking his counsel and prayers. After the death of Saint Thalassius, Limnaeus continued his labours with Saint Maron, witnessing to the power of monastic dedication and the grace of God throughout his long years of solitary struggle.

Venerable Thalassius, hermit of Syria

440

Venerable Thalassius was a fifth-century ascetic who withdrew from the world to practise strict monasticism in the deserts of Syria. At a young age he left secular life and established himself on a hill near the village of Targala, where he remained for thirty-eight years engaged in unceasing prayer and ascetic labour. Throughout this extended period of spiritual struggle, he neither possessed nor sought shelter, enduring the elements without roof or cell, relying entirely upon divine providence. He became renowned for his exceptional virtue and wisdom, attracting many who sought his spiritual guidance. His practice of profound silence as a form of ascetical discipline became widely known, and he served as an example to countless monks and ascetics who sought to emulate his unwavering commitment to prayer and mortification of the flesh. Saint Thalassius reposed peacefully in the year 440.

Also commemorated: Unc. Rel. Holy Martyrs at Gate of Eugenius

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Peter — 2 Peter 1.20-2.9

²⁰knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. ²⁰Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. ²¹For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit. ²¹For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

¹But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

¹But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. ²And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. ²And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. ³And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not. ³And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. ⁴For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; ⁴For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; ⁵And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁵and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly; ⁶And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; ⁷and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked ⁷And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: ⁸(for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds): ⁸(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) ⁹the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment; ⁹The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 13.9-13

⁹But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

⁹But take ye heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in synagogues shall ye be beaten; and before governors and kings shall ye stand for my sake, for a testimony unto them. ¹⁰And the gospel must first be published among all nations. ¹⁰And the gospel must first be preached unto all the nations. ¹¹But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. ¹¹And when they lead you to judgment, and deliver you up, be not anxious beforehand what ye shall speak: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit. ¹²And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child; and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. ¹²Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. ¹³And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. ¹³And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.