THE MONTH OF AUGUST
[It has 31 days. The day has 13 hours and the night 11]
1. The procession of the precious and life-giving Cross, and commemoration of the seven holy youths, the Maccabees, and their mother Solomoni, and of their teacher Eleazar.
During the month of August, as diseases were particularly frequent, it was formerly the custom in Constantinople for the precious Wood of the Cross to be carried through the streets and squares of the city during these days to sanctify the place and to drive away diseases. On the thirty first of July they brought the Cross from the royal treasury and placed it on the Holy Table of the Great Church (of the Holy Wisdom). On the next day and on each subsequent day until the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God they processed with it throughout the whole city and exposed it for the veneration of the people. This is what is called the ‘Progress of the Precious Cross’.
The holy Maccabees, whose names are, Aveim, Antony, Gourias, Eleazar, Efsevonas, Acheim and marcellus, were Jews by race and strict observers of the ancestral laws. They flourished in the days of Antiochus, known as ‘Epiphanes’, king of Syria and a merciless enemy of the Jews. He enslaved their whole nation and committed many evil deeds, even against the sacred acts of their religion itself. Among other things he compelled them to eat swine’s flesh, which is forbidden by the law. It was then that these devout youths, who had been arrested with their mother and their teacher and ordered to abandon the precepts of the law, were subjected to ten thousand torments, as many as a tyrannical and savage imagination could think up. When they had nobly endured all these and shown through their deeds that reason is the ruler of the passions and can conquer them, if it wills to, they met their end gloriously in the midst of torments, giving up their lives for the observance the law of God; first their aged teacher Eleazar, then all the brothers in order of age. Their wonderful mother, Solomoni, filled with noble thoughts and rousing her woman’s mind with manly fervour (2 Maccabees 7,21), stood by the triumph of her children over the tyrant, encouraging each of them to the struggle for the faith and bravely enduring their pains through her hope in the Lord. When she saw that her youngest son had met his end, she threw herself last of all into the fire and was granted the same blessed end along with her children, in the year 168 before Christ.
From today we begin the fast of the Mother of God.
Apolytikia.
Of the Saints. Tone 1. Model Melody. [Common]
Be entreated by the sufferings, which the Saints endured for you, O Lord; and heal all our pains, we beg, O Lover of mankind.
Of the Cross. Tone 1.
Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance, granting to faithful Christians victories over their enemies, and protecting your commonwealth by your Cross.
Kontakion of the Saints. Tone 2. Seeking things on high.
O seven pillars of the Wisdom of God and seven lampstands of the divine Light, all-wise Maccabees, greatest of Martyrs before the Martyrs, with them ask the God of all that those who honour you may be saved.
2. The translation of the relics of the holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen.
After the stoning of the Protomartyr by the Jews who had killed Christ (27 December), Gamaliel, his teacher, encouraged some of the Christians to come by night, rake the Saint’s body and bury it in his own field, which after fifteen miles distant from Jerusalem and called after him ‘Kaphar-Gamaliel’, that is, ‘ Gamaliel’s field’, where Gamaliel himself was later buried. In the year 427 a devout man, named Lukianos, who was a priest and the one in charge of a church beside this field, received through a vision a revelation from God that the place was where the Protomartyr was buried, and he at once informes John, who was then patriarch of Jerusalem. They went to the place indicated and after digging found a coffin inscribed in Hebrew, ‘Stephen’. They opened it and taking the most sacred remains transferred them to Jerusalem with great pomp.
Apolytikion. Tone 4. Speedily anticipate.
Your head was crowned with a royal diadem for the contests you endured for the sake of Christ God, O first Champion of Martyrs; for having refuted the folly of the Jews, you saw your Saviour at the right hand of the Father. Ever entreat him therefore on behalf of our souls.
Kontakion. Tone 8. Model Melody.
You were the first to be sown on the earth by the heavenly husbandman, O all-praised. You were the first to shed your blood on the earth for Christ, O blessed one. You were the first to be wreathed by him with the crown of victory in heaven, beginning of champions, the crowned First Champion of the Martyrs.
3. Of our venerable fathers Isaakios, Dalmatos and Faustus.
Of these Isaakios, whose name is also found written as Isakios and Isakes and who is celebrated in particular on 30 May, became a monk from his youth, a worker of every virtue and a zealot for the Orthodox faith. He was granted the gift of prophecy. He dwelt in a small hut near Constantinople. When Vales, the Arian sympathiser, led a expedition in person against the Goths around the Danube, the Saint came out to meet him and with bold freedom of speech told him that God had stirred up the barbarians against him because he in turn had stirred up many voices to blasphemy against God and had driven those who sang God’s praise from the churches; and that, if he stopped making war on God through heresy and returned the noble shepherds to Christ’s flock, he would easily gain the victory. But if he did not do this, so not having God as his ally, and joined battle , the disaster of him and his army was certain. ‘You will learn’, he said, ‘that it is hard to kick against the goad, for you will not return and you will lose the army.’ But the emperor was enraged and shut the Saint in prison so that he might punish him and put him to death when he returned after defeating the barbarians. But he was comprehensively defeated and burned alive in a certain village in 378 (Theodore of Cyrrhus, Ecclesiastical History 4,31-32). The Saint was let out of prison and was a source of wonder because of his prophecy, but even more so because of his zeal for Orthodoxy, which he displayed at the Second Ecumenical Council in 381. After this, a monastery having been erected in Constantinople for his sake, he shepherded his fellow ascetics devoutly, and, having given them a model of the monastic way of life, his own example, he fell asleep in peace around the end of the fourth century, leaving Dalmatos as his successor.
Dalmatos had originally been a soldier, enlisted with the 2nd Company of the soldiers called Scolarii. Later he gave up everything and, taking his son Faustus, he left for the above mentioned monastery of Isaakios, where he was clothed with the monastic habit and become revered by all for his virtue. He was present at the 3rd Ecumenical Council, called in Ephesus in 431. There he displayed his orthodox zeal against Nestorios and was elected by the fathers of the Synod as archimandrite of the monasteries in Constantinople. He lived for 80 years and rested in the Lord.
Apolytikion. Tone 4. God of our Fathers. [Common]
God of our Fathers, who always deal with us in your forbearance, do not deprive us of your mercy, but at their intercessions guide our life in peace.
Kontakion. Tone 2.
With hymns let us praise as servants of Christ Isaakios and Faustus with Dalmatos, who shone out in the world by their ascetic lives and routed heresies by the faith, for they cry out on behalf of us all.
4. Of the Seven Holy Youths at Ephesus (See 22 October).
Tone 4. Your Martyr, O Lord. [Common]
Your Martyrs, O Lord, by their struggles obtained the crowns of incorruption from you, our God; for with your might they destroyed tyrants, and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons: at their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.
Kontakion. Tone 4. Lifted up on the Cross.
Despising as corrupt the things of the world and receiving incorruptible gifts, when dead they remained free from corruption, therefore after many years they arose, burying all the unbelief of the ill-intentioned. As we believers celebrate them with praise, let us raise our song to Christ.
5. Forefeast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, and commemoration of the holy Martyr Efsignios.
The Martyr was from Antioch, a soldier by rank from the time of Constantine Chlorus, father of Constantine the Great, until that of Julian the Apostate. He upbraided the latter for his impiety and reminded him that he was the nephew of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, that from his tenderest years he had been nourished with the milk of true religion, had been taught the Christian faith, had been the fellow student of Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen and had become a reader in the church of Nikomedia; and that, having already abandoned all this and become an apostate, he offered to idols the worship that was due to God alone. When he had reminded the apostate of all this by way of reproach, he was beheaded around 381, having lived altogether for 110 years and more than 60 as a soldier.
Apolytikion. Tone 4. Speedily anticipate.
Let us believers, radiantly celebrating the Forefeast, go out to meet Christ’s Transfiguration, and let us cry, ‘The day of joy inspired has come; the Master ascends Mount Thabor to make the beauty of his Godhead blaze forth.
Kontakion. Tone 4. Today you have appeared.
In the divine Transfiguration all mortal nature shines out today, as with gladness it cries, ‘Christ is transfigured, saving all.’
6. The holy Transfiguration of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Since the Lord had often spoken beforehand to his Disciples not only about his own Passion, Cross and death, but also about the persecutions and afflictions that awaited the Disciples themselves; and since, on the one hand, these terrible events were imminent, but on the other so was the coming and hoped for enjoyment of blessings instead of them, he therefore, in order to let them see with their own eyes the glory that had been prepared for those who endured to the end, he took his three chosen Disciples, Peter, James and John, and led them apart up Mt Thabor, where he was transfigured in their presence. His face shone like the sun and his garments became white like light. Suddenly amid this outpouring of supernatural and remarkable light, there appeared the leading Prophets, Moses and Elias, talking with Jesus about his coming saving passion, and revealing at the same time that he is the Lord of both the living and the dead, for they had come to stand in his presence like servants, Moses from Hades, as he had died many ages before (Cf. 4 September), while Elias as though from heaven, to which he had been taken up alive (Cf. 20 July). After a little while a cloud of light overshadowed them and from the cloud the same voice that had been heard in the Jordan (Cf. 6 January) was heard, testifying to Jesus’ divinity and saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Hear him.’ (Matt. 17,1-5). These are the divine and wondrous events of the present feast, which is an icon and foreshadowing of the condition of the just that is to come, whose splendour the Lord revealed when he said, ‘The just will shine out like the sun’ (Matt. 13,43).This is why the Kontakion of this feast is sung every day at the Hours [in the Typika], as a permanent reminder of that glory.
No work, and permission for fish.
Apolytikion. Tone 7.
You were transfigured on the mountain, O Christ God, showing your Disciples your glory, as far as they could bear it. At the prayers of the Mother of God make your everlasting light shine also on us sinners. Giver of light, glory to you.
Kontakion. Tone 7.
You were transfigured on the mountain, and your Disciples beheld your glory, O Christ God, as far as they were able; that when they saw you crucified they might know that your suffering was voluntary, and might proclaim to the world that you are truly the brightness of the Father.
7. Of the holy Martyr Dometios.
He was a Persian by race and lived in the time of Constantine the Great. He was at first an idolater, but, having been instructed by a Christian named Avaros, he left for Nisibis, a town in Mesopotamia, where he was baptised and clothed in the monastic habit in a certain monastery. Later he climbed a mountain and there led an austerely ascetic life, performing miracles for those who came to him and converting many unbelievers. When he learnt this, Julian the Apostate, during his expedition against the Persians in 363, sent and had him stoned together with his two disciples as they were singing the Third Hour.
Apolytikion and Kontakion of the Transfiguration.
8. Of Saint Aimilianos the Confessor, Archbishop of Cyzicus.
He lived in the days of Leo the Armenian, the Iconoclast, around 815. Having endured at his hands many exiles and afflictions because of his worship of the holy icons, he rested in the Lord.
Apolytikion and Kontakion of the Transfiguration.
9. Of the holy Apostle Matthias.
After the traitor Judas had received the reward for his treachery, he hanged himself out of despair and so ended his life by a miserable and shameful death — he fell from where he was hanging, his stomach split open and all his entrails were poured out. Then, to make up the number of the Twelve, all the Saviour’s Disciples, who were all together after the Ascension, men and women together, about 120, chose two men from among them, Joseph called Barsbabas, who was surnamed ‘Justsus’, that is ‘Just’, and Matthias. They stood them the midst and when they had prayed to God the drew lots and the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven Apostles (Matt. 17,5. Acts 1,15-26). An so Matthias, having filled Judas’s empty place and the work of his apostolate, fulfilled the prophecy which the Holy Spirit had made through David’s mouth, ‘Let his quarters become empty and let another take his office’ (Psalm 68,25. 108,8). After this, it is said, Matthias preached the Gospel in Ethiopia, where he met a martyr’s death.
Apolytikion. Tone 3. [Common]
Holy Apostles, Matthias, intercede with the merciful God to grant our souls forgiveness of sins.
Kontakion. Tone 4. Today you have appeared.
Shining with light as the sun, your sound has gone out into all the world and enlightens the nations with grace, O wonder-bearing Apostle Matthias.
10. Of the holy Martyr and Archdeacon Laurence.
He was Archdeacon of the Church of Rome and had charge of its treasures and of distributing money to the poor. When Valerian launched a ferocious persecution against the Christians and Xystos, or Sixtus II, Pope of the elder Rome, had died by crucifixion, Laurence was arrested and led before the magistrate. When he was questioned about the Church’s treasures he asked leave for three days grace to assemble them. He then assembled all destitute and presented them to the magistrate, ‘There’, he said, ‘are the Church’s treasures’. At this the magistrate was enraged and ordered him to be stretched out on a red hot grid iron. When Christ’s noble champion had endured this without a sound and was being burnt on one side, he said, ‘Turn me over, so that I may be well and truly roasted’. When this had been done, the Martyr said to the tyrants, ‘Taste then and see ifthe flesh of the Christians is sweeter roasted rather than raw. When he had said this and prayed like Christ for his persecutors and executioners, he gave up his spirit on 10 August, 258.
Apolytikion. Tone 4. [Common]
Your Martyr, O Lord, by his struggle obtained the crown of incorruption from you, our God; for with your might he destroyed tyrants, and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons: at his prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.
Kontakion. Tone 2. Seeking things on high.
You heart aflame with divine fire, you finally reduced the fire of the passions to ashes, foundation of champions, God-bearing Martyr Laurence, and your struggles you cried out, ‘Nothing will separate me from the love of Christ’.
11. Of the holy Martyr and Archdeacon Evplos.
He was from Catana in Sicily. He suffered under Diocletian. Having endured the most savage torments he was beheaded in the year 296.
Apolytikion. Tone 4. [Common]
Your Martyr, O Lord, by his struggle obtained the crown of incorruption from you, our God; for with your might he destroyed tyrants, and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons: at his prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.
Kontakion. Tone 1. The angelic choir.
Bearing Christ’s laws in your hands, you stood forth and cried to your enemies in the stadium, ‘I am here at my own summons and I compete most valiantly’. And so, have joyfully bent your neck, you received the sword’s fatal blow and finished your race.
12. Of the holy Martyrs Photios and Akinetos.
They suffered in Nikomedia in the year 288 in the reign of Diocletian. Photios was Akinetos’s nephew.
Today the office of St Maximos is sung together with that of the Martyrs, because tomorrow is the Leave-taking of the Transfiguration.
Apolytikion. Tone 4. [Common]
Your Martyrs, O Lord, by their struggle obtained the crowns of incorruption from you, our God; for with your they destroyed tyrants, and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons: at their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.
13. Of our venerable Father Maximos the Confessor (See 21 January).
Today is the Leave-taking of the Transfiguration, and the whole office is that of the feast.
Apolytikion. Tone 8. [Common].
Orthodoxy’s guide, teacher of piety and reverence, beacon of the world, fair ornament of monks, inspired by God, O wise Maximos, by your teaching you have enlightened all, O harp of the Spirit; intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion. Tone 2. Nor tomb nor death.
Inspired Champion of the Church, safeguard and splendour of Orthodoxy, harp and instrument of true religion, godlike and sacred glory of monks, do not cease to intercede for us all.
14. Forefeast of the Dormition of the most holy Mother of God, and commemoration of the holy Prophet Micheas.
According to the title of his own prophecy he was a Morasthite from the land of Juda and prophesied for more than fifty years in the days of Joatham, Achaz and Ezekias, kings of Juda. Joatham reigned around 758 bc , and Ezekias died in 698 bc. From this it is clear that he is not the Micheas, son of Jemblaa, or Jembla [3 Reigns 22], who rebuked Achab and was slain by his son Joram, according to the Synaxaristes, because this Joram reigned in 896 bc, while Micheas, as has been said, was still prophesying in the days of Ezekias, who was a contemporary of Osee, last king of the twelve tribes of Israel, in whose reign that kingdom was overthrown by Salmanasar, king of Assyria [4 Reigns 17,1-16 and 18,1]. This Micheas is the sixth of the twelve Minor Prophets and his prophecy contains seven chapters.
Apolytikion. Tone 4. Speedily anticipate.
Peoples, leap for joy and clap your hands. Gather with love today as you all rejoice and shout radiantly with joy and gladness. For God’s Mother is about to leave in glory things of earth for those on high. As Mother of God we ever glorify her.
Kontakion. Tone 4. Today you have appeared.
At your glorious memory the inhabited world today leaps for joy, as with gladness it mystically cries out, O Mother of God, ‘Hail, Virgin, boast of Christians!’
15. The Dormition of our most holy and glorious Lady, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.
Concerning the Dormition of the Mother of God the Church has received the following from the ancient tradition of the Fathers. When the time drew near when it was our Saviour’s good pleasure to take to himself his own Mother, he informed her through an Angel, three days before hand, of her passing from this temporary life to that which is eternal and blessed. When she heard this, she went in haste to the mount of Olives, where it was her custom to go and pray, and when she had given thanks to God, she returned to her house and prepared for her burial. Meanwhile clouds had snatched up the Apostles from the ends of the earth, wherever each of them was preaching, and set them down together at the house of the Mother of God. She quickly explained to them the reason for their coming together and like a mother she consoled them in their distress. Then she raised her hands to heaven, prayed for the peace of the world, blessed the Apostles and then, when she had lain down on the bier and disposed her body as she has intended, she placed her all-holy soul into the hands of her Son and God.
The Apostles with devotion and great pomp took up the bier of that body which had received God and chanting funeral hymns they took it to the grave, when Angels from heaven began to sing with them, as they escorted her who is higher than the Cherubim. One of Jews, out of envy, audaciously placed his hands on the bier and at once received the punishment of his rashness, for his hands were cut off by an invisible blow. When they reached the village called Gethsemane, they buried there with honour the all-pure body, source of life, of the Mother of God. But on the third day after the burial, as they were consoling one another together, they raised the loaf that had been set out, as was their custom, in the name of Jesus, when the Mother of God appeared in the air and said them, ‘Hail!’. From this they understood that the Mother of God had been translated bodily into heaven.
This is what the Church has received from the traditions of the Fathers, and having set down many things from them in hymns, as a proof of true devotion, it chants them this day to the glory of the Mother of our God.
No work, and permission for fish.
Apolytikion. 1st Tone.
In giving birth you retained your virginity; in falling asleep you did not abandon the world, O Mother of God; you passed over into life, for you are the Mother of Life; and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death.
Kontakion. 2nd Tone. Model Melody.
Nor tomb nor death overpowered the Mother of God, unsleeping in her prayers, unfailing hope in intercession; for as Mother of Life she has been taken over into life by him who dwelt in her ever-virgin womb.
16. The Translation from Edessa [Urfa] of the icon of our Lord Jesus Christ ‘Not made by hands’, or the holy Mandilion, and commemoration of the holy Martyr Diomede.
Apolytikion. Tone 2.
We venerate your most pure icon, loving Lord, as we ask pardon of our offences, Christ God. For by your own choice you were well-pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh, to deliver from the slavery of the enemy those whom you had fashioned; therefore with thanksgiving we cry to you: You have filled all things with joy, our Saviour, by coming to save the world
And of the Dormition.
17. Of the holy Martyr Myron.
Apolytikion and Kontakion of the Feast.
18. Of the holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus.
Apolytikion and Kontakion of the Feast.
19. Of the holy Martyr Andrew the General and his 2593 Companions.
Apolytikion and Kontakion of the Feast.
20. Of the holy Prophet Samuel.
This most holy man was God’s prophet from his youth and the last of Israel’s judges. He was from the city of Armathaim, of the tribe of Levi, son of Eleazar and Anna and was born about 1155 bc. H was given the name Samuel, which means ‘requested from God’, by his mother, because she was previously barren and had asked God for a child with many prayers and fervent tears. After she had given birth to him and weaned him, she brought him at once to the town of Silom, where the divine Ark then was. Having offered him to God’s ministry as an infant, in accordance with her promise, she gave him thanks by chanting the Third canticle of the Old Testament, ‘My heart has been established in the Lord.’ Then she returned to her home and gave birth subsequently to three more sons and two daughters. But Samuel remained in Silom under the protection of Eli, who was then the High Priest of the Jews, serving at God’s tabernacle and by his most holy way of life being well-pleasing to both God and men, according to the testimony of holy Scripture, ‘And the boy Samuel advanced and grew up and was in favour with both the Lord and men’ [1 Reigns 2,26]. This virtuous boy was sleeping in the temple where the Ark of God was, and he heard a voice calling him by name three and four times, ‘Samuel, Samuel.’ It was God’s voice informing Samuel of his sentence concerning the impending disaster of Eli, because he, having two sons called Ophni and Phineas, a pair of lawless youths who despised God, had done nothing at all to correct them. This divine sentence was fulfilled in due time and the family of Eli was destroyed in one day; a fearful warning to those who neglect the proper upbringing of their own children and the necessary correction of their offences.
After this Samuel was chosen as the protector of the people, whom he judged with holiness and justice, becoming for them a model of good works and considering the one great sin to be ceasing to pray for them and entreating God for the forgiveness of their transgressions, as he said himself in the presence of them all, ‘Far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. And I will serve the Lord and show you the good and upright way’ [1 Reigns 12,23]. All confessed to his justice and lack of love of gain, with which he governed the people and judged the lawsuits of each, when he asked them, with God as his witness, that they tell him in conscience if he had ever wronged anyone, or taken from anyone either property, money or bribe even so much as a cheap sandal. They answered with one voice and said, ‘You have not wronged us, you have not oppressed us, you have not afflicted us and you have not taken anything from anyone, [1 Reigns 12,2-4]. When the people asked for a king in his old age, he anointed Saul, but when, shortly after, he disobeyed God’s command, he deposed him from the Lord’s presence and went and anointed David, at God’s bidding. Having lived without blame in anything for 89 years and become a model to the fathers of a life pleasing to God, he died in about 1075 bc. By the majority the books of Judges and Ruth and the first 24 chapters of 1 Reigns are attributed to him.
Apolytikion and Kontakion of the Feast.
21. Of the holy Apostle Thaddaeus, and of the holy Martyr Vassa.
The Martyrs were from the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia and were martyred under Maximianos in 290. The Apostle was also from Edessa, a Jew by race, who came to Jerusalem and became a disciple of Christ, whom he followed until the Passion. After the Ascension, in around 36 ad, he returned to his fatherland, where he instructed and baptised the local ruler Abgar and healed him of an incurable disease, by he was suffering greatly. Having preached in Mesopotamis, he met a martyr’s death. Some people say of him that he was one of the Twelve, the one whom Matthew calls Lebbaios, surnamed Thaddaios [Matt. 7,31]. Eusebios, however, says that he was one of the Seventy and writes this about him, ‘After the Christ’s resurrection and ascent into heaven, Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, by a prompting from God, sent out Thaddaios, who had been one of the seventy disciples of Christ, to Edessa as preacher and evangelist of Christ’s teaching, [History of the Church 1,13]. He writes the name ‘Agbar’, which others give as ‘Avgar’.
Apolytikion. Tone 3. [Common]
Holy Apostles, Thaddaeus, intercede with the merciful God to grant our souls forgiveness of sins.
22. Of the holy Martyr Agathonikos and his Companions.
Today the office of St Lupus is sung with that of the Martyrs, because tomorrow is the Leave-taking of the Dormition. [But according to the older Typikon, followed on the Holy Mountain, the Leave-taking is not celebrated until the 28th.]
Tone 4. Your Martyr, O Lord. [Common]
Your Martyrs, O Lord, by their struggles obtained the crowns of incorruption from you, our God; for with your might they destroyed tyrants, and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons: at their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.
And of the Feast.
Kontakion. Tone. The angelic choir.
Having gained the good [agathos] calling, O wise in God, you abandoned the cult of evil men, nor did you quail at torments, glorious Agathonikos. Therefore you have become the heir to good [agathos] things and with your fellow champions you have received the incorruptible crown.
23. Of the holy Martyr Luppus.
Today is the Leave-taking of the Dormition, and the whole office is that of the feast. [But see above.]
24. Of the holy Bishop and Martyr Eftyches, disciple of John the Theologian.
Apolytikion. Tone 4. [Common]
You shared their way of life and you succeeded to the Apostles’ thrones; you found the practice, O God-inspired, to climb the heights of contemplation; rightly proclaiming the word of truth; and in faith you struggled to shedding of blood, Bishop and Martyr Eftyches; intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
25. Return of the relics of the holy Apostle Bartholomew, and commemoration of the holy Apostle Titus.
For Bartholomew see 11 June. Titus was a Greek by race and an idolater by religion. He came to believe in Christ through the apostle Paul and became his disciple and follower and worked hard with him in preaching the Gospel. Paul ordained him bishop of Crete and later wrote the epistle which bears his name. Titus shepherded the flock entrusted to him like a true apostle and being full of years he died in peace at the age of 94.
Apolytikion. Tone 3. Holy Apostle.
Holy Apostles, intercede with the merciful God to grant our souls forgiveness of sins.
Kontakia:
Of Saint Bartholomew. Tone 1. The soldiers watching.
The return of your most holy relics has become for us the reason for a most radiant festival, Apostle of the Lord. As we reverence it, with devout minds we honour you, Bartholomew, the lamp that does not set, as we magnify Christ.
Of Saint Titus. Tone 2. Seeking things on high.
Revealed as Paul’s companion, O Apostle, with him you proclaimed the Word to us, honoured Titus, initiate of divine grace. Therefore we cry you, ‘Do not cease to intercede for us all.’
26. Of the holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalia.
Tone 4. Your Martyr, O Lord. [Common]
Your Martyrs, O Lord, by their struggles obtained the crowns of incorruption from you, our God; for with your might they destroyed tyrants, and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons: at their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.
Kontakion. Tone 4. Today you have appeared.
Having placed in your heart the godly words of a woman wise in God, you ran forward to the torments, Adrian, Martyr of Christ, receiving with your wife the crown of victory.
27. Of our venerable Father Poimen.
[According to the old Typikon the office of St Moses is sung together with that of St Poimen, because tomorrow is the Leave-taking of the Dormition.]
Apolytikion. Tone 8. [Common]
With the streams of your tears you cultivated the barren desert, and with your deep groans you made your toils bring forth fruit a hundredfold, and you have become a beacon, shining in all the world by your wonders: Venerable Father Poimen, intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion. Tone 4. Today you have appeared.
The holy memory of your shining struggles, venerable Father, has come, making the souls of the devout rejoice, our venerable Father Poimen, wise in God.
28. Of our venerable Father Moses the Ethiopian.
[According to the old typikon today is the Leave-taking of the Dormition and the whole office is that of the feast. See above on the 22nd.]
Apolytikion. Tone 1. [Common]
Citizen of the desert and Angel embodied, and wonder-worker you have been declared, O God-bearing Father Moses; by fasting and by vigil and by prayers receiving gifts of grace from heaven, you heal the sick and the souls of those who have recourse to you in faith. Glory to him who gave you strength; glory to him who crowned you; glory to him who through you works healing for all!
Kontakion. Tone 3. Your confession.
Enriched with enlightenment from God, you banished the darkness of passions, all-blest Father, and by you sleepless prayers you quenched the rebellious thoughts of the flesh and ascended to the citadel on high. Venerable Father, implore Christ our God to grant us his great mercy.
29. The Beheading of the holy, glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John.
The godlike Baptist, the prophet and son of a prophet, the seal of the prophets and the beginning of the apostles, the intermediary between the old and new covenants, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the Messenger [Angel] of the incarnate Messias and his forerunner and the one who was to prepare for his coming [Isaias 4,3. Malachy 3,1], conceived and born through many wonders, filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, advancing like a second zealous Elias, whose desert life and ascetic clothing of a leather belt round his loins and inspired zeal for the maintenance of the law he imitated [see 23 September, 25 March, 24 June, 20 July], from the time he preached the baptism of repentance to the people by divine command [6 January], from the time he taught both private citizens and those with rank what they should do, and showed them the duties of their calling, from the time that he struck those baptised by him with the fear of God, because no one can escape the wrath to come if they do not produce worthy fruits of repentance, from the time that by such preaching he prepared their hearts to receive the gospel teaching of the Saviour, from the time, last of all, that he himself pointed out the Saviour and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes the sin of the world’ [Luke 3,2-18. John 1,29], he later sealed with his own blood the truth of his words, become a sacred sacrificial victim on behalf of God’s law at the hands of a lawless man.
This was Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, the son of Herod the Great, surnamed Antipas, who, having a lawful wife the daughter of Arethas, or Aretas, king of Arabia, shamelessly divorced her and seized, in violation of every commandment of the law, his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, who had a daughter by him named Salome. The preacher of repentance did not cease to denounce this rape and unlawful union and became an outspoken and severe denouncer of the offenders. ‘It is not permitted you, he said to him, to have your brother’s wife’ [Mark 6,18]. Herod added to his other impious actions that of arresting John and shutting him up in prison. He would have had him murdered at once had the tyrant’s resolve not wavered because of the profound reverence of the crowd for John and also his own respect for him, which he had from the beginning entertained for this holy and just man. But in the end, goaded by the sting of his passion for a woman, he laid foul hands on the teacher of purity on the festive day of his birthday. When Salome had danced to his satisfaction and that of his fellow banqueters, he made a promise to her, more senseless than all senselessness, with an oath that, even were she to ask for half his kingdom, he would give it her as a reward for her dance. The dancer consulted her mother and at once asked for the head of John the Baptist on a dish. The transgressor of God’s law, feigning his keeping the law with regard to the oath, put the condition of his soul into action and filled his polluted banquet with streams of a prophet’s blood. That all-honoured head, revered also by the Angels, he gave as a prize for a lascivious dance and it became a toy for a licentious daughter and an adulterous mother. The godly Baptist’s disciples came and took his most sacred body and buried it in a grave [Mark 6,21-29].
Permission for wine and oil.
Apolytikion. Tone 2.
The just is remembered with praises; but for you, O Forerunner, the Lord’s testimony suffices. For you were revealed as more praiseworthy than the Prophets, because you were found worthy to baptise in running streams the One they had proclaimed. Therefore you struggled bravely for the truth with joy, and preached to those in Hell a God who had appeared in flesh, who takes away the sin of the world and grants us his great mercy.
Kontakion. Tone 5.
The glorious Beheading of the Forerunner became a divine dispensation, so that he might to those in Hades also the coming of the Saviour. Let Herodias lament for demanding a lawless murder, for she did not love the law of God or a living age, but one artificial and temporary.
30. Of our Fathers among the Saints Alexander, Paul and John the New, archbishops of Constantinople.
Apolytikion. Tone 4. [Common]
God of our Fathers, who always deal with us in your forbearance, do not deprive us of your mercy, but at their intercessions guide our life in peace.
31. The Laying up of the precious Girdle of our most holy Lady the Mother of God.
Permission for wine and oil.
Apolytikion. Tone 8.
Ever-Virgin Mother of God, protection of mortals, you have given the Apparel and the Girdle of your most pure body as a mighty bulwark to your City, for by your giving birth without seed they have remained incorrupt. For in you both nature and time are made new. Therefore we implore you to grant peace to the inhabited world, and to our souls God’s great mercy.