Thursday Sept. 18 / Oct 1 ns 2026 • St. Evménios, Bishop of Gortyna; St. Romýlos the Hagiorite ~ ON THE REMEMBRANCE OF DEATH

Rejoice, Key to the Kingdom of Christ; 

Rejoice, Hope of eternal good things.

Thursday

September 18 / October 1 ns 2026

 • St. Evménios, Bishop of Gortyna

St. Romýlos the Hagiorite

From his youth, Evménios wholeheartedly followed Christ, freeing himself of two heavy burdens: the burden of wealth and the burden of the flesh. He freed himself of the first burden by distributing his entire estate to the poor and needy, and the second burden by strict fasting. In this way he first healed himself, and then began to heal others. 

Passionless and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, Evménios shone with a light that could not be hidden. As it is written, A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid (St Matthew 5:14), so the holy Evménios could not be hidden from the world. Witnessing his goodness, the people chose him as Bishop of Gortyna, and he governed the flock of Christ as a good shepherd. He was a father to the poor, wealth to the needy, consolation to the sorrowful, a healer of the sick and a most wonderful miracle-worker. By his prayers, he worked many miracles: he subdued a poisonous serpent, cast out demons and healed many of the sick-and he did this not only in his own town, but also in Rome and in the Thebaid. In a time of drought in the Thebaid, he obtained rain from God by prayer. There, in the Thebaid, his earthly life ended, and he took up his habitation in the eternal home of his Lord. He lived and labored in the seventh century.

Ephesians 5:33-6:9 KJV

33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

2 Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;

3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;

6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:

8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

Saint Mark 7:24-30 KJV

24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.

25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:

26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.

29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

On the Remembrance of Death

or

[Forgetful of physical death, we die a spiritual death]

by Saint Ignaty Brianchaninov 

ONE should remember every day, and several times a day, that he is faced with inevitable death, and eventually he should even attain to the unceasing remembrance of death. Our mind is so darkened by the fall that unless we force ourselves to remember death we can completely forget about it. When we forget about death, then we begin to live on earth as if we were immortal, and we sacrifice all our activity to the world without concerning ourselves in the least either about the fearful transition to eternity or about our fate in eternity. Then we boldly and peremptorily override the commandments of Christ; then we commit all the vilest sins; then we abandon not only unceasing prayer but even the prayers appointed for definite times—we begin to scorn this essential and indispensable occupation as if it were an activity of little importance and little need.

Forgetful of physical death, we die a spiritual death. On the other hand, he who often remembers the death of the body rises from the dead in soul. He lives on earth like a stranger in an inn or like a prisoner in jail, constantly expecting to be called out for trial or execution. Before his eyes the gates into eternity are always open. He continually looks in that direction with spiritual anxiety, with deep sorrow and reflection. He is constantly occupied with wondering what will justify him at Christ’s terrible judgment and what his sentence will be. This sentence decides a person’s fate for the whole of eternity. No earthly beauty, no earthly pleasure draws his attention or his love. He condemns no one, for he remembers that at the judgment of God such judgment will be passed on him as he passed here on his neighbors. He forgives everyone and everything, that he may himself obtain forgiveness and inherit salvation. He is indulgent with all, he is merciful in everything, that indulgence and mercy may be shown to him. He welcomes and embraces with joy every trouble or trial that comes to him as a toll for his sins in time, which frees him from paying a toll in eternity. If the thought comes to him to be proud of his virtue, at once the remembrance of death rushes against this thought, puts it to shame, exposes the nonsense and drives it away.

Wednesday September 17 / 30 ns 2026 • Holy Martyrs Sophía, Faith, Hope, and Charity ~ Fast day ~ SAYINGS OF THE HOLY DESERT FATHERS

Diseased is my body and my soul, do thou make me worthy of Divine guidance and thy care, O thou who alone art God’s Mother, for thou art good and the Birthgiver of the Good.

Wednesday

September 17 / 30 ns 2026

~ Fast day ~

 • Holy Martyrs Sophía,

Faith, Hope, and Charity

 

Sophia, Faith, Hope and Charity all lived and suffered in Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. Sophia was wise, as her name implies. She was left a widow, and had established herself and her daughters well in the Christian Faith. 

When the persecuting hand of Hadrian extended even over the virtuous home of Sophia, Faith was only twelve years old; Hope, ten years old; and Charity (Love), nine years old. Brought before the emperor, these four held each other's hands "like a woven wreath," humbly but steadfastly confessed their faith in Christ the Lord and refused to offer sacrifices to the pagan idol Artemis. Before their suffering, the mother encouraged her daughters to endure to the end: "Your heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, is eternal health, inexpressible beauty and eternal life. When your bodies are slain by torture, He will clothe you in incorruption and the wounds on your bodies will shine in the heavens as stars.'' One by one the torturers inflicted cruel torments, first on Faith, then on Hope, and then on Love. They beat them, slashed them, cast them into fire and boiling pitch, and finally beheaded them with the sword one after another. 

Sophia took the dead bodies of her daughters outside the town and honorably buried them. She remained at their grave for three days and three nights, praying to God. Then she gave her spirit to God, flying off to Paradise, where the blessed souls of her glorious daughters awaited her.

Ephesians 5:25-33 KJV

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Saint Mark 7:14-15, 17-24 KJV

14 And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:

15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

17 And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;

19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?

20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.

SAYINGS OF THE

HOLY DESERT FATHERS

A certain brother went to Abba Poemen on the second Sunday in the Fast of Forty Days and repeated to him his thoughts, and sighing over what the old man had told him, he said to him, "I had almost kept myself from coming here today"; and the old man said, " Why?" Then the brother said, " I said in my mind, Peradventure during the fast the door will be closed against you"; and Abba Poemen said to him, " We do not learn to shut a door made of wood, but to close the door of the tongue."

Neighbors

Tuesday Sept. 16 / 29 ns 2026 • Holy Great Martyr Evphemía the All-Praised; Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage; Holy Martyr Ludmilla, Grandmother of St. Wenceslaus ~ THE MIRACLE OF THE SARCOPHAGUS ~ THE VENERATION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD by St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco

Before offering our love and affection, we are held captive by our Ever-Virgin Mother's inexpressible beauty.

 • Holy Great Martyr Evphemía the All-Praised; 

Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian,

Bishop of Carthage

Holy Martyr Ludmilla,

Grandmother of St. Wenceslaus

Saint Evphemía is commemorated on September 16, the day on which she was martyred but on this day, however, is also commemorated the miracle surrounding her honorable relics, which was manifested at the time of the Fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon.

This Council was convened during the reign of Emperor Marcian and the Empress Pulcheria in the year 451 A.D., after the death of Emperor Theodosius the Younger. The reason for summoning this Council was the heresy of Diascoros, the Patriarch of Alexandria and Evtychés, an Archimandrite from Constantinople, who spread the false teaching that in Christ the Lord there were not two natures, divine and human, but only one, a divine nature.

At this Council Anatólios, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, played the most prominent roles. Because a conclusion could not be reached through debates and testimonies from either side, Patriarch Anatólios motioned that the Orthodox and the heretics write down their confessions of faith and then place them in the sarcophagus where the relics of St. Evphemía reposed. They all agreed to this.

Due to the dispute, the two confessions of faith, the Orthodox Confession of Faith: Christ exists in two distinct natures—fully divine and fully human—united in one person, and the Monophysite Confession of Faith: authored by the followers of Dioscorus and Eutyches, claimed that Christ possessed only one single, divine nature, were written and placed on the bosom of the Great Martyr Evphemía. The sarcophagus was closed, sealed with the emperor's seal and military guards were appointed. All of them spent three days in prayer and fasting.

When they opened the sarcophagus on the fourth day, they saw the Orthodox confession of faith in the right hand of the saint and the heretical confession of faith under her feet. Thus the dispute, through the power of God, was decided in favor of Orthodoxy.

During the reign of Emperor Heraclius, the relics of St. Evphemía were translated from Chalcedon to Constantinople to the church dedicated to her near the Hippodrome. The iconoclastic Emperor Leo the Isaurian ordered that these relics be tossed into the sea but, in a miraculous manner, the sarcophagus was translated to the island of Lemnos and placed in the church of the great female martyr Glykería.
Then, during the reign of the Empress Irene, the sarcophagus with the relics of St. Evphemía was again returned to Constantinople to its former place. Blood flowed from these relics from time to time which helped those who were ill or in misery.

2 Corinthians 6:1-10 KJV

6 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:

4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;

6 By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirt, by love unfeigned,

7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

8 By honour and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;

9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;

10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Saint Luke 7:36-50 KJV

36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat.

37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.

40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.

41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.

42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?

43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.

44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

THE VENERATION

OF THE

MOTHER OF GOD

by Saint John Maximovitch

St. John as a hieromonk in 1927, at the

time he was writing the present work.

During Her Earthly Life FROM APOSTOLIC TIMES and to our days all who truly love Christ give veneration to Her Who gave birth to Him, raised Him and protected Him in the days of His youth.  If God the Father chose Her, God the Holy Spirit descended upon Her, and God the Son dwelt in Her, submitted to Her in the days of His youth, was concerned for Her when hanging on the Cross—then should not everyone who confesses the Holy Trinity venerate Her? 

Still in the days of Her earthly life the friends of Christ, the Apostles, manifested a great concern and devotion for the Mother of the Lord, especially the Evangelist John the Theologian, who, fulfilling the will of Her Divine Son, took Her to himself and took care for Her as for a mother from the time when the Lord uttered to him from the Cross the words: “Behold thy mother.” The Evangelist Luke painted a number of images of Her, some together with the Pre-eternal Child, others without Him. When he brought them and showed them to the Most Holy Virgin, She approved them and said: “The grace of My Son shall be with them,” and repeated the hymn She had once sung in the house of Elizabeth: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and My spirit hath rejoiced in God My Savior.” However, the Virgin Mary during Her earthly life avoided the glory which belonged to Her as the Mother of the Lord. She preferred to live in quiet and prepare Herself for the departure into eternal life. To the last day of Her earthly life She took care to prove worthy of the Kingdom of Her Son, and before death She prayed that He might deliver Her soul from the malicious spirits that meet human souls on the way to heaven and strive to seize them so as to take them away with them to hades. The Lord fulfilled the prayer of His Mother and in the hour of Her death Himself came from heaven with a multitude of angels to receive Her soul. Since the Mother of God had also prayed that She might bid farewell to the Apostles, the Lord gathered for Her death all the Apostles, except Thomas, and they were brought by an invisible power on that day to Jerusalem from all the ends of the inhabited world, where they were preaching, and they were present at Her blessed translation into eternal life. The Apostles gave Her most pure body over to burial with sacred hymns, and on the third day they opened the tomb so as once more to venerate the remains of the Mother of God together with the Apostle Thomas, who had arrived then in Jerusalem. But they did not find the body in the tomb and in perplexity they returned to their own place; and then, during their meal, the Mother of God Herself appeared to them in the air, shining with heavenly light, and informed them that Her Son had glorified Her body also, and She, resurrected, stood before His Throne. At the same time, She promised to be with them always. 

The Apostles greeted the Mother of God with great joy and began to venerate Her not only as the Mother of their beloved Teacher and Lord, but also as their heavenly helper, as a protector of Christians and intercessor for the whole human race before the Righteous Judge. And everywhere the Gospel of Christ was preached, His Most Pure Mother also began to be glorified.