συνοδικός
February 24 / February 11
2019 (7527)
Sunday of Prodigal Son
HIEROMARTYR BLAISE, BISHOP OF SEBASTE (316). ST. THEODORA, WIFE OF EMPEROR THEOPHILUS THE ICONOCLAST (867)
• Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of PARGA in Nikopolis (1603)
• Our Lady of Lourdes
• Hieromartyr Presbyter SATURNINUS of Abitine, and his 4 children: Nun VM MARIA (Mary), Lectors MM SATURNINUS and FELIX, and the younger son HILARION (Hilarianus); together with approximately 46 Christians: Martyresses THELICA, EVA, VICTORIA, REGIOLA (Regula), POMPONIA, SECUNDA, JANUARIA, SATURNINA, MARGARITA, HONORATA, MATRONA, CAECILIA, RESTITUTA, BEREDINA, PRIMA (Primäva); MM DATIVA (Dativus), ROGATIAN, Lector AMPELIUS, Lector EMERITUS, FELIX, ROGATIANUS, ROGATUS, JANUARIUS, CASSIANUS, VICTORIANUS, VINCENTIUS, CAECILIANUS, ROGATIANUS, JULIUS, ROGATUS, MARTINUS, DANTUS, FELIX, MAIOR, VICTORINUS, PELUSIUS, FAUSTUS, DACIANUS, QUINT, MAXIMIAN, GIVALIUS, CLAVT, FELIX and others; at Carthage (Albitina, Abitina or Abitine) in Africa (304)
Οἱ Ἅγιοι Πρίμα, Ἀμπλίας, Δάτιβος, Πλωτίνος, Σατορνίνος, Φάβιος, Φῆλιξ οἱ Μάρτυρες καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτοῖς
A group of 46 martyrs in Albitina in North Africa. They were arrested at the liturgy and sent to Carthage for examination. Saturninus was a priest, and with him suffered his 4 children, Saturninus and Felix, readers, Mary, a virgin, and Hilarion, a young child. Dativus and another Felix were senators. Other names from this group which have come down to us are: Thelica, Ampelius, Emeritus, Rogatian and Victoria, a holy virgin of undaunted courage. The child Hilarion, when threatened by the magistrates while his companions were being tortured, replied: "Yes, torture me too; anyhow, I am a Christian". They all died in prison.
• Hieromartyr Bishop BLAISE (also known as Blase, Blasien, Blasius, Biagio) 瓦莱西 of Sebaste in Armenia (316); Languished in prison with Hieromartyr Bishop Blaise: 7 Holy Women and 2 Children beheaded at Sebaste (316)
Ὁ Ἅγιος Βλάσιος ὁ Ἱερομάρτυρας Ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Σεβαστείας
Οἱ Ἅγιοι Δύο παῖδες καὶ Ἑπτὰ γυναῖκες οἱ συναθλητὲς τοῦ Ἁγίου Βλασίου
殉道司教瓦莱西
瓦莱西出生于卡帕多西亚省。从幼年时起他就非常畏惧上帝，且心存温顺。由于他伟大的美德而被选为塞瓦斯特（亚美尼亚）的主教。瓦莱西是这个异教城市中一盏伟大的精神和道德的明灯。在对基督徒进行大规模迫害的时候，圣瓦莱西鼓励他的属灵孩子们，并去监狱探望为基督受难的人，特别是探望最富有名望和荣耀的艾弗斯特拉提。当塞瓦斯特城的基督徒几乎绝迹的时候－有的被杀死，其他的都逃跑了，而当时圣瓦莱西隐退到了阿尔绝斯山，住在一个洞穴中。野兽认识这位圣人，聚集在他的周围，而这位圣人则轻轻地抚摸它们。迫害者发现了这位圣人在人烟罕见的地方，于是派人将他带回法庭受审。路上，一个喉咙里卡了一根骨头的男孩子被瓦莱西治愈；一个穷寡妇向他乞求，因为她的猪被一只狼抓走；圣人用他祷告的力量，命令狼将猪归还。阴险的法官对瓦莱西施以酷刑：鞭打他、并用一把铁梳子割刮他。由于他坚定不移的信仰，致使很多人皈依了基督。同他一起在监狱中的7名妇女和两个孩子都已很憔悴不堪。这7名妇女首先被斩首，而后瓦莱西和那两个孩子也遭到了斩首。瓦莱西于公元316年荣耀殉道。人们向圣瓦莱西祷告，以便乞求家畜平安免遭野兽的袭击。在西方，也有很多患有喉咙病症的人向圣瓦莱西乞求。
Saint Blaise, the Patron of wild animals, physicians, sick cattle, wax-chandlers, and woolcombers, invoked for diseases of the throat, the Bishop of Sebastea, Armenia, lived under Emperor Licinius. He had retired to a grotto on a mountain side where he lived peacefully amidst savage beasts tamed by his blessing. Very skilled in medicine, he performed numerous healings. He received the gift of miracles from God. He was captured and brought before President Agricola. He confessed Christ's name and for this was cruelly struck with rods, then suspended and thrashed... Seven women went along behind and gathered up the drops of blood. These they arrested and tried to compel them to worship the idols. The women in pretending to consent to this said, that they needed cleansing beforehand in the waters of a lake. They took along the idols and submerged them in a very deep portion of the lake, and after this the Christians were fiercely tortured. The saints stoically endured the torments, strengthened by the grace of God, their bodies were transformed and became white like snow, and together with the blood there flowed what seemed like milk. One of the women had two young sons, who implored their mother that she help them attain the Kingdom of Heaven and she entrusted them into the care of Saint Blaise. The seven holy women were then beheaded.
Cast to the bottom of a pond, Blaise was brought back to shore and beheaded at the same time as two children who were in prison with him.
• Hieromartyr LUCIUS Bishop of Adrianople, and Companions (350)
Lucius, who succeeded Eutropius as bishop of Adrianople, was driven from his see to Gaul for having opposed Arianism. He played a leading role in the Council of Sardica in 347. Under the protection of Pope Saint Julius I, he returned to Adrianople, but refused to be in communion with the Arian bishops condemned at Sardica. On this account he was arrested and died in prison. A group of his faithful Christians, who had been siezed with him, were beheaded by order of the Emperor Constantius.
• MM PRISCUS a bishop of Capua in North Africa, his priests CASTRENSIS, TAMMARUS, ROSIUS, HERACLIUS, SECUNDINUS, ADJUTOR, MARK, AUGUSTUS, ELPIDIUS, CANION and VINDONIUS (5th c.)
Priscus, a bishop in North Africa, and his priests were cast adrift in a boat by the Arian Vandals. They reached the south of Italy, where eventually Priscus became Bishop of Capua.
• Venerabless MARIA (Maria, Mary, Mariam, Marinus, Marinos, Marius or Maryana) 玛利亚 of Bithynia, who dressed in men’s attire as monk Marinos 玛利诺 (527); and her father EUGENE (Eugenius or Evgenios) 艾弗革尼 Monk of Alexandria (502)
• Hieromartyr Abbot BLAISE of Kiafa-Sklavena in Acarnania (1006) together with 2 Hieromonks and 3 Monks and others
Ὁ Ἅγιος Βλάσιος ὁ Ἱερομάρτυρας ἐξ Ἀκαρνανίας
• Repose of Archbishop SIMON Vinogradov, of Shanghai and Peking (1933)
Persecutors seized that marvelous aged virgin Apollonia, broke out all her teeth with blows on her jaws, and piling up a bonfire before the city, threatened to burn her alive if she refused to recite with them their blasphemous sayings. But she asked for a brief delay. . . . Because of the nature of her torments, Saint Apollonia is pictured holding a tooth (sometimes gold) with a pair of pincers or with a golden tooth hanging from a necklace. She may be shown after her teeth were pulled out or simply with a book and pincers. She is invoked by those suffering from toothache. If she does not have the pincers, she usually wears a necklace made of her own teeth. She is the patron of dentists.
• Venerable Abbot BENEDICT 文奈迪克特 of Aniane (750-821)
A Visigoth, by name Witiza, he was born in Languedoc in France. In 773 he became a monk at Saint-Seine near Dijon and in 779 founded a monastery in Languedoc by a stream called Aniane. The Emperor asked him to oversee monasteries in Languedoc, Provence and Gascony and eventually all those in French and Germany.
• BRIGID
• Monk CAEDMON 凯德蒙 of Whitby, Father of English Poetry (680) a Northumbrian, who worked at the monastery of Whitby in England as a farm-labourer. He was the first Englishman to write Orthodox hymns. Disciple of Saint Hilda
Let us now praise the Guardian of the Kingdom of Heaven and the might of the Creator,and the thought of His Mind, glorious Father of men; for He, Lord Eternal, did frame the beginning of every marvellous thing. He first made the heavens as a roof for the children of men, God, the Creator! Then the mid-earth did the eternal Lord, the Guardian of men, therewith provide, and earth for men, the Lord God Almighty! - Saint Caedmon
A layman cowherd, in his later years he came to work with animals at the double monastery of Whitby. One night in 657 he received a vision which commanded him to glorify God with hymns, and which gave him the poetic skills to do so. As he was illiterate, the brothers would read the Bible to Caedmon, and he would repeat it back to them as poetry. With the encouragement of Saint Hilda, Whitby's abbess, he became a Columban lay brother. First known poet of vernacular English. His story was recorded by Saint Bede. Miracles attributed to his intercession.
• CALOCERUS (130) a disciple of St Apollinaris, whom he succeeded as Bishop of Ravenna in Italy
• Venerable CASSIAN the Barefoot (in the world Kosmas) ascetic of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery (1532)
Ὁ Ὅσιος Κασσιανὸς ἐκ Ρωσίας
• Bishop CASTRENSIS of Capua (5th c.) Bishop exiled from Africa to Italy by Arian Vandals. Bishop of Capua, Italy
Saint Castrensis has a second feast day on September 1 together with Priscus, an African bishop, and his priests (Tamarus, Rosius, Heraclius, Secundinus, Adjutor, Mark, Augustus, Elpidius, Canion, and Vindonius) who were cast adrift in a rudderless boat by the Arian Vandals. They reached southern Italy, where eventually Priscus became bishop of Capua and several of the others were promoted to other sees. The Acta, however, are untrustworthy. It seems that the companions of Saint Priscus are Campanian (Italian) saints unconnected with the story in the Roman Martyrology. One opinion interprets Priscus Castrensis as meaning "Priscus formerly bishop of Castra in northern Africa".
• COGHNAT (Cognat) of Earnaidhe (Urney) in Tyrone, Cavan, King’s County
• DESIDERATUS (Désiré) (6th c.) successor of St Avitus as Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne in France
• DESIDERIUS (608) born in Autun he became Bishop of Vienne in France. He defended Orthodox values and was murdered for this at the place now called Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne
• Venerable DEMETRIUS 迪弥特里 monk of Priluki, Vologda (1392) // FEB 11 // JUN 3 //
Ὁ Ὅσιος Δημήτριος ἐκ Ρωσίας
• ETCHEN (Etchenius, Ecian or Echen) of Clonfad, bishop and patron of Clonfad, County Westmeath, Ireland
Monk. Founded a monastery in Clonfad, Leinster, Ireland, and served as its abbot. Bishop, based at the monastery. Ordained Saint Columba of Iona; legend says that Columba was so eager to start his vocation that Etchen had to stop in the middle of plowing a field to perform the ordination.
• Translation (879) of relics of Hieromartyr EUGENE 1st Bishop of Toledo (646) • GEORGE Abbot in Serbia
• Holy Martyr GEORGE 格奥尔吉 of Kratovo (1515) burned at the stake, suffered in Sofia, Bulgaria
Ὁ Ἅγιος Γεώργιος ὁ Νεομάρτυρας ἐκ Σερβίας
圣殉道者，克拉托佛的格奥尔吉
格奥尔吉是塞尔维亚人，来自克拉托佛城。他是个银匠，并且是一位虔诚的基督徒。当土耳其人欲将其皈依伊斯兰教时，格奥尔吉年仅18岁。格奥尔吉对信仰表现出了如同钻石般的坚定。土耳其人用很多酷刑残酷地折磨他，最后将他绑在木桩上被活活烧死。格奥尔吉于公元1515年2月11日为美好的基督信仰而荣耀殉道，地点是在保加利亚的索菲亚，当时正是苏丹谢里姆当政时期，由此他得到了天国不朽的荣耀。
• GOBNAIT 格博奈特 (Gobnat, Gobnata, Gopnat, Gobnet or Deborah) of Münster, Abs. of Ballyvourney (Burneagh), Co. Cork; Fndr. of Kilgobnet (Gobnait’s Church), as well as a monastery in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford; Pat. of Bees (5–6th c.) Patron Saint of beekeepers
Abbess of a convent in Ballyvourney in Co. Cork in Ireland. A holy well named after her still exists there.
St Abigail is an Irish saint from the 5th century. St Abigail gailic name is Gobnait, and in England she was known as St Deborah, denoting honeybee.
St Gobnata was born in County Clare, Ireland at the end of the fifth, or beginning of the sixth, century. An angel appeared to her one day and told her to leave and to keep walking until she found nine white deer. Eventually, she saw three white deer at Clondrohid, County Cork, and decided to follow them. Then, at Ballymakeera, she saw six white deer. Finally, at Ballyvourney, she came upon nine white deer grazing in a wood. There, she was given land for a women’s monastery by her spiritual Father, St Abban of Kilabban, and he installed her as abbess. St Gobnata was renowned for her gift of healing, and there is a story of how she kept the plague from Ballyvourney. She is also famous for her skill as a bee-keeper. One day, St Gobnata was watching from a hill overlooking a valley as an invading chieftain and his army came through, destroying crops and driving off cattle. She sent the bees to attack them, and the army was thrown into such confusion that they left without their plunder. The holy virgin St Gobnata fell asleep in the Lord on February 11. The exact year of her death is not known, but it probably occurred in the sixth century. Although she is regarded as the patron saint of Ballyvourney, she is venerated throughout southern Ireland. There are churches dedicated to her in Waterford and Kerry, and she is also revered in Scotland.
• GREGORY II Pope of Rome (669-731)
Born in Rome, he was librarian and archivist of the Roman Church, when he was chosen Pope in 715. He is famous for encouraging the spreading of the Gospel among the Germanic peoples, to whom he sent St Boniface and St Corbinian. He restored several Italian monasteries, notably Montecassino. He also opposed Iconoclasm and checked the advancing Lombards.
• Venerable GREGORY of Sinai (1346) a great neptic father and teacher of noetic prayer to Mount Athos and the Balkan people // NOV 27 // FEB 11 // APR 6 //
• Hermit JONAS the Gardener of Demeskenyanos (4th c.) of Muchon
Saint Jonas was an Egyptian monk of Demeskenyanos under Saint Pachomius. He was the gardener for the community for 85 years, working in this capacity during the day, and at night plaiting ropes and singing Psalms.
• LAZARUS of Milan (450) Archbishop of Milan in Italy, he defended his flock from the Ostrogoths
• Hieromartyr LUCIUS 路基 of Adrianopolis in Thrace (348)
Bishop of Adrianople. Spoke zealously against Arianism at the Council of Sardica in 343; the feelings against orthodox Christians were so strong that the Arian emperor Constantius agreed that Lucius was under the protection of Pope Julius before the bishop could return home after the Council. However, he and many of his flock were later martyred by Arians.
• PASCHAL I Pope of Rome (824) supported missionary activities in Denmark
Paschal loved religious art even though he lived at a time when many people in the Eastern churches were breaking up sacred pictures in the belief that these were idolatrous images. Fanatics would even murder those who supported the use of fine art to decorate Christian churches and foster the spirit of worship. Though he was unsuccessful in ending the iconoclast heresy of Emperor Leo V, Pascal did his best to help Eastern Christians who were fighting to stop this destruction of great religious art. He sent his aides to try to secure the release of Abbot Theodore the Studite, who had been imprisoned for defending sacred icons, and encouraged Saint Nicephorus. And Paschal gave shelter to many Greek monks who had fled from the east in fear of those who were destroying what they held to be precious aids to the Christian life. While Pascal did not succeed in ending this strife, the influence of Eastern artists can be seen in the work done between 817 and 824 (while he was pope) to embellish Rome. Pascal, for instance, rebuilt the Roman church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, and made it into a fitting shrine for the bones of Saint Cecilia. This church has been considerably rebuilt since then, but another church in Rome, Santa Maria in Domnica, remains substantially as it was after Pascal had restored it and shows his deeply held beliefs.
• Monk PORPHYRIOS Fool for Christ
• SEVERINUS of Agaunum (507) a Burgundian who became the Abbot of Agaunum in Switzerland
Born to the nobility, and taught orthodox Christianity during the period of the Arian heresy. Monk. Abbot in Agaunum (modern Saint-Maurice-en-Valais, Switzerland).
• Righteous THEODORA 妇德奥多拉 a Greek Empress of Constantinople (867) Restored the Veneration of Icons
Ἡ Ἁγία Θεοδώρα ἡ Βασίλισσα
圣德奥多拉
德奥多拉是希腊罪恶的皇帝德奥斐洛的王后，德奥斐洛是反对敬拜圣像者。在德奥斐洛去世后，德奥多拉同王子迈克尔三世统管国家。在君士坦丁堡举行的大公会议上（公元842年），德奥多拉立即恢复了圣像敬拜。借此机会，也确立了“正教胜利节日”，直至今日，这个节日仍在大斋期的第一个主日进行庆祝。这位神圣且有功的女圣人于公元867年2月11日魂归天国。出于上帝神圣且奇妙的天意，当正教战胜所有异端邪说之时，圣基里尔和圣麦托迪被派到斯拉夫人那里开始在他们当中传讲基督教的福音。
Theodora, a Greek empress, was the wife of the nefarious Emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast. After the death of Theophilus, Theodora became the ruling empress and reigned together with her son Michael III. At the Council in Constantinople (842 A.D.), she immediately restored the veneration of icons. This holy and meritorious woman of the Church gave up her soul to God on February 11, 867 A.D. It was at that time, by the divine and wonderful Providence of God, at the solemn triumph of Orthodoxy over all heresies, that St Cyril and St Methodius were sent as Christian missionaries to the Slavs. Together with Saint Methodius, Theodora instituted the Feast of Orthodoxy on the first Sunday in Lent, which celebrates the restoration of holy images for veneration.
There is a much-debated story that, when Theophilus was dying, the Empress, moved by compassion for him, brought an icon of the Mother of God out of hiding and laid it on his face; and that Theophilus, coming to himself, kissed the holy icon and confessed the true Faith before giving up his soul. Other accounts say that the Emperor died in heresy. It seems possible that the holy Empress circulated the story to ensure that her departed husband would be remembered in the Church's prayers.
• Holy Nobleborn VSEVOLOD 维塞佛洛德 (in holy baptism Gabriel 为加百列) Prince and Wonderworker of Pskov (1138) // FEB 11 // APR 22 //
Ὁ Ἅγιος Γαβριὴλ ὁ βασιλέας
• Uncovering (415) of the relics of Righteous Prophet ZECHARIAH (3) the father of St John the Baptist
Εὕρεσις Τιμίων Λειψάνων Ἁγίου Ζαχαρίου Πατρὸς Ἰωάννου Προδρόμου
• A Mother martyred in Sebaste (4th c.)
SYNAXARION FOR THE SUNDAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON
Since there are some who are conscious of having lived prodigally from a very early age, giving themselves over to drunkenness and licentiousness and falling thereby into a depth of evils, and have reached despair, which is the offspring of vaunting; and since, for this reason, they have no desire to devote themselves to the pursuit of virtue, putting forward the swarm of their evils as an excuse, and since they are forever falling into the same evils and worse than these, the Holy Fathers, wishing, in their paternal loving-kindness towards such people, to lead them away from despair, placed this parable here after the first one, pulling out the passion of despair root and branch and arousing them to acquire virtue, and, through the story of the Prodigal Son, showing God’s loving and exceedingly good mercies towards those who have sinned very greatly, proving from this parable of Christ’s that there is no sin which can overcome His love for mankind.
The man, that is, the Theanthropic Word, had two sons, the righteous and the sinners. The older of the two always abode by the commandments of God and adhered to what was good, and did not become estranged from Him in any way; but the younger one, who craved sin and rejected fellowship with God through his shameful deeds, frittered away God’s loving-kindness towards him and lived a prodigal way of life, since he did not preserve intact the image of God in himself, but followed after an evil demon, enslaved through pleasures to his evil volitions and unable to fulfill his own desire. For sin is something insatiable, habitually beguiling us through that which affords temporary pleasure; the parable likens this to the husks, the food of pigs, for husks initially taste sweet, but later feel rough and chaffy, which is always the case with sin. As soon as the Prodigal Son came to himself, perishing as he was from a deficit of virtue, he went to his Father, saying: “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” The Father received him in repentance, not chiding him, but embracing him, showing His Divine and paternal compassion; and He gave him a robe, that is, Holy Baptism, and a ring, that is, a seal and a pledge, the Grace of the All-Holy Spirit; in addition to this, He gave him shoes, so that his godly footsteps might no longer be wounded by serpents and scorpions, but rather, that he might be able to crush their heads. Thereafter, in His exceeding joy, the Father sacrificed the fatted calf for him, His Only-Begotten Son, granting him to partake of His Flesh and Blood. And yet, the elder son, marvelling at His boundless compassion, said all that he said in the parable. But the loving Father calmly restrained him with kind and gentle words: “Son, thou art ever with me, and it was meet for thee to make merry with thy Father, and be glad: for this my son was formerly dead in sin, and is alive again, after repenting of his wicked deeds; having been lost and become estranged from me by his life of pleasure, he was found again through me, for I felt compassion and called him back by my sympathetic disposition.” This parable can also be interpreted in terms of the Hebrew people and ourselves.
This is why this parable was placed here by the Holy Fathers: it uproots despair, as we have said, and faintheartedness in performing good deeds, and exhorts one who has sinned as the Prodigal Son to repentance and remorse. This is our greatest weapon for warding off the darts of the Enemy, and a strong defense.
By Thine ineffable love for mankind, O Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.
Wherefore, being sometimes at feasts, when all agreed for glee's sake to sing in turn, he no sooner saw the harp come towards him than he rose up from the board and went homewards. Once, when he had done this and gone from the feast to the stable, where he had that night charge of the cattle, he laid himself down to rest at the proper time and there appeared to him in his sleep one who said, greeting him by name, "Caedmon, sing some song to me."
"I cannot sing," he answered, "and for that reason I left the feast and came hither, because I could not sing."
He who talked with him answered, "However that may be, you shall sing to me." "What shall I sing?" rejoined Caedmon.
"Sing the beginning of created things," said the other. Having received this answer, the abbey's cowherd began to sing, to the praise of God the Creator, verses which he had never heard before, and afterwards awaking from his sleep, he remembered all that he had sung in his dream and added more to the same effect in verse worthy of the Deity. - Saint Bede
Now we should praise
the heaven-kingdom's guardian,
the measurer's might
and his mind-conception,
work of the glorious father,
as he each wonder,
eternal Lord,
instilled at the origin.
He first created
for men's sons
heaven as a roof,
holy creator;
then, middle-earth,
mankind's guardian,
eternal Lord,
afterward made
the earth for men,
father almighty. - translation of "Hymn of Creation" by Caedmon, the hymn he learned in his vision
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
愿上帝怜恤我罪人
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
for the sake of the prayers
of Thy most pure Mother,
our holy and God-bearing fathers and all the saints, have mercy on us.
Amen.
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Blessed be God.
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