Friday July 23 / August 5 ns 2022 • Translation of the Relics of the Holy Hieromartyr Phocás; Holy Prophet Ezekiel; St. Pelagía of Tinos; Holy Hieromartyr Joseph the new of Desphina (link below) ~ Fifty Spiritual Homilies of Saint Macarios the Great of Egypt • Fast day

Translation of the Relics of the Holy Hieromartyr Phocás, 

Holy Prophet Ezekiel, 
Saint Pelagía of Tinos, 
Holy Hieromartyr Joseph the new of Desphina

On this day we commemorate the translation of the relics of St. Phocas from Pontus to Constantinople about the year 404 A.D. The primary feast of this saint is celebrated on September 22 and on that day a brief hagiography (holy writing) of his life and his sufferings is recorded.

1 Corinthians 11:8-23 KJV

8 For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man.

9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.

16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.

18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.

21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? what shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

Saint Matthew 17:10-18 KJV

10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.

13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,

15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

Taken from

Fifty Spiritual Homilies of Saint Macarios the Great of Egypt

Question:  What can this man tell me that I don't already know.

Answer:  Read it and find out.

But first, know this:  Saint Macarios lived to the age of ninety years. Sixty of these he spent in the desert, having retired to it as a young man of thirty. He was gifted with such discernment as to be called ‘Age-in-Youth,’ because he made such swift progress. At the age of forty he received the grace of conquering evil spirits, and of healings and predictions.

17. If it seems to us difficult, because the practice of virtue is hard, and still more because of the insidious counsel of the adversary, behold, He is pitiful and longsuffering, waiting for our conversion; and when we sin, He holds His hand, in expectation of our repentance; and when we fall, He is not ashamed to take us back, as the prophet says, Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? Only let us be on the watch, making sure of a good intention, and let us be converted straight and fair, seeking help from Him, and He is ready to save us. He is looking for our will to turn to Him with a fervent impulse, to the best of our power, and for faith and zeal that springs from a good purpose; the whole success of the endeavor is His own work in us. Let us then endeavor, beloved, like children of God, putting away all preoccupation, and carelessness, and sloth, to be courageous and ready to follow after Him. Let us not put off from day to day, without observing how sin is injuring us. We do not know when we are to depart out of the flesh. The promises made to Christians are great and unspeakable, so great, that all the glory and beauty of sky and earth, and all the other adornment and variety, the wealth and comeliness and delight, of things visible, bear no proportion to the faith and wealth of a single soul. 

18. How can we then refuse to accept heartily such persuasions and promises of the Lord, and to yield ourselves over to Him, denying, as the Gospel says, all other things and our own souls also, and to love Him only and nothing else besides Him? But behold, in spite of all these things, and of the great glory that has been given, and of all the dispensations of the Lord from the times of patriarchs and prophets—what great promises have been made, what persuasions offered, what compassion of the Master shown to us from the beginning! and lastly, in His own sojourn here He displayed His inexpressible kindness towards us by His crucifixion, to convert us and bring us round to life—and we, we will not part with our own wills, and with the love of the world, and with our bad inclinations and customs. Thus we prove ourselves men of little faith, or of none; and yet for all this, He continues to be kind, invisibly protecting and cherishing, not giving us over, according to our iniquities, to the power of sin for ever, nor letting us perish by the deceitfulness of the world, but in His great kindness and longsuffering watching fixedly for the moment when we shall be converted to Him.

The Holy New Hieromartyr Joseph of Desphina

Link to St. Joseph's life