Tuesday September 10/23 ns • Holy Martyrs Menodóra, Metrodóra, and Nymphodóra ~ Day: Gal. 5:11-21; Forefeast: St. John 3:16-21 ~ VENOM by Saint Hesychios the Priest

Most Glorious,
Ever-Virgin Blessed Theotokos

offer up our prayer to thy Son and our God,
and entreat Him, that through thee
He may save our souls.

Tuesday September 10

Sept. 23 ns
2025

We honor in love

• The Holy Martyrs Menodóra, Metrodóra,
and Nymphodóra

Read, and call their names, from your heart,

so they may hear you and thereby know

that their martyrdom has increased your

love for Christ and neighbor!

NEXT SATURDAY

September 14 / 27 ns

THE ELEVATION OF THE PRECIOUS CROSS

Holy Martyrs Menodóra, Metrodóra, and Nymphodóra were sisters by birth and grew up somewhere in Asian Bithynia. Reared in the spirit of Christianity, they withdrew from the city to the wilderness, wishing to elevate their minds to God and to free themselves of everything in this deceitful world, and to live this life in purity and virginity as true brides of Christ. They dedicated themselves to great labor, fasting and prayer, until God adorned them with the gift of miracle-working. When people began to bring the sick to them for healing, they became well known against their will.

A certain governor, Fronton, heard of them and brought them to trial. Upon seeing them, the governor was amazed at the beauty of their faces. For, even though they were great fasters and their bodies were withered, their faces were radiant, illumined by inward peace and the grace of God. At first, the governor flattered them and promised to send them to the emperor, who would give them in marriage to his noblemen. But when he was convinced that all of his flattery and promises had no effect on these brides of Christ, he ordered that Menodóra be tortured first, and her sisters thrown into prison.

After cruel tortures, the governor cried out to Menodóra, who was wounded and bloody: "Offer sacrifice to the gods!'' To this the holy martyr replied: "Do you not see that I am offering my entire self as a sacrifice to my God?'' When St. Menodóra was slain by the tortures, the governor then brought out the remaining two sisters, and stood them by the dead body of Menodóra. Pointing to the body of their sister, he counseled them to deny Christ. Since they remained steadfast, he slew them by harsh tortures. Just then, a thunderbolt struck from heaven, and killed the soulless Fronton and his servants.

Christians honorably buried the bodies of these holy martyrs of God. They suffered between the years of 305 and 311, during the reign of Maximian Galerius, and found rest in the Kingdom of Christ.

QUOTES

BELOW

FROM THE SAINTS

FOLLOWING THE

HOLY GOSPEL

ON

VENOM

AND

HOW THE TRUE FAITH

HAS COME DOWN TO US

ALSO

KNOWING GOD

Holy Epistle to the Galatians 5:11-21 KJV

11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.

12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The Holy Gospel of Saint John 3:16-21 KJV

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

by Saint Hesychios the Priest

St. Hesychios being tempted

There is no venom more poisonous than that of the asp or cobra, and there is no evil greater than that of self-love.
The winged children of self-love are self-praise, self-satisfaction, gluttony, unchastity, self-esteem, jealousy and the crown of all these, pride. 

Pride can drag down not men alone, but even angels from heaven, and surround them with darkness instead of light.

HOW THE TRUE FAITH HAS

COME DOWN TO US

and

KNOWING GOD

St. Silouan of the

Holy Mountain Athos

The soul of all peoples always felt

that God exists, even though they

didn't know enough to worship the

true God. The Holy Spirit, however,

taught the Prophets first, then the

Apostles, after them the Holy Fathers

and our bishops and so the true faith

has come down to us. We knew the Lord

through the Holy Spirit. And once

we knew him, our soul became fixed in him.

Know, you peoples, that we were made

in order to glorify God in heaven, and

don't attach yourselves to the earth.

Because God is our Father and He loves

us, His greatly desired children. People

who don't know grace, don't seek it.

People have become attached to the earth

and this is why most of them don't know

that there's nothing earthly which can

compare with the sweetness of the

Holy Spirit.

TO BELIEVE OR TO KNOW

St. Silouan of the

Holy Mountain Athos

To believe that God exists is one thing;

To know God is another. 

The soul that

comes to know God fully, not longer

desires anything else. Nor does it

attach itself to anything on the earth;

and if you put before it a Kingdom,

it would not desire it. For the love

of God gives such sweetness and joy

to the soul that even the life of a king

can no longer give it any sweetness.

In wisdom hast Thou made them all

Glory to Thee, O our God, Glory to Thee!