Orthodox Calendar

20. септембар 2027.
Monday of the 14th week after Pentecost

No Fast

Commemorations

  • Great Martyr Eustathius (Eustace) Placidas, with his family (118)
  • Holy Martyrs Hypatius and Andrew, Confessors of the Holy Icons (8th c.)
  • Sts Anastasius, Theodore, Euprepius and Anastasius the Younger, confessors and disciples of St Maximos the Confessor (7th c.)

Scripture Readings

2 Corinthians 12.10-19 (Epistle)

10Zato sam dobre volje u slabostima, u ruženju, u nevoljama, u progonjenjima, u tugama za Hrista: jer kad sam slab onda sam silan. 11Postadoh bezuman hvaleæi se: vi me natjeraste: jer je trebalo da me vi hvalite; jer ni u èemu nijesam manji od prevelikijeh apostola, ako i jesam ništa. 12Jer znaci apostolovi uèiniše se meðu vama u svakom trpljenju, u znacima i èudesima i silama. 13Jer šta je u èemu ste manji od ostalijeh crkava, osim samo što vam ja sam ne dosadih? Bacite na mene ovu krivicu. 14Evo sam gotov treæi put da vam doðem, i ne dosaðujem vam; jer ne tražim što je vaše nego vas. Jer djeca nijesu dužna roditeljima imanja teæi nego roditelji djeci. 15A ja dragovoljno potrošiæu i biæu potrošen za duše vaše, ako i ljubim ja vas odviše, a vi mene manje ljubite. 16Ali neka bude, ja ne dosadih vama, nego lukav buduæi dobih vas prijevarom. 17Eda li vas što zakidoh preko koga od onijeh koje slah k vama? 18Umolih Tita, i s njim poslah brata: eda li vas Tit što zakide? Ne hodismo li jednijem duhom? ne jednijem li stopama? 19Mislite li opet da vam se odgovaramo? Pred Bogom u Hristu govorimo, a sve je, ljubazni, za vaše popravljanje.

Luke 3.19-22 (Gospel)

19Iroda pak èetverovlasnika koraše Jovan za Irodijadu, ženu brata njegova, i za sva zla što uèini Irod; 20I svrh svega uèini i to te zatvori Jovana u tamnicu. 21A kad se krsti sav narod, i Isus pošto se krsti i moljaše se Bogu, otvori se nebo, 22I siðe na nj Duh sveti u tjelesnome obliku kao golub, i èu se glas s neba govoreæi: ti si sin moj ljubazni, ti si po mojoj volji.

Commemorations

Great Martyr Eustathius (Eustace) Placidas, with his family (118)

Before baptism he was a renowned military commander under Trajan. While hunting in the woods, he met a great stag with a shining Cross between his antlers. Through the stag, the Lord spoke to Placidas (his pagan name) and told him to find a priest and be baptized into Christ. Returning home, he found that his wife Tatiana had also had a vision in which she was told to become a Christian. They were baptized, Placidas receiving the name Eustathius, and Tatiana the name Theopiste; their two sons were baptized with them. Eustathius and his family were almost immediately subjected to a series of grievous trials, in which all were separated from one another. After years of hardship they were re-united, and returned to Rome with honor when the Emperor sought out Eustathius to command his army once again. But when the Emperor Hadrian (who had succeeded Trajan) commanded them to worship the idols, all of them refused. They were put together into a large bronze ox which was heated white-hot in a fire. When their bodies were removed, they were found to be dead but intact. The Prologue concludes, ‘Thus this glorious general gave to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s, and entered into the eternal Kingdom of Christ our God.’

Holy Martyrs Hypatius and Andrew, Confessors of the Holy Icons (8th c.)

They were friends from childhood, fellow-strugglers for holiness. Their godly way of life attracted the attention of the Bishop of Ephesus, who made Hypatius a bishop and Andrew a deacon and itinerant preacher. During the reign of Leo the Isaurian (714-41) they were both imprisoned for confessing the Orthodox faith and defending the veneration of the holy icons. They were subjected to various tortures, including having icons set afire on their heads in mockery of their faithfulness. They were executed near Constantinople and their bodies thrown to the dogs.

Sts Anastasius, Theodore, Euprepius and Anastasius the Younger, confessors and disciples of St Maximos the Confessor (7th c.)

These saints were disciples of St Maximos the Confessor (January 21) and suffered with him for their condemnation of the Monothelite doctrine promoted by the Emperor Constans II. Anastasius the elder (who had been the Papal representative to Constantinople) and Anastasius the younger were present at the Lateran Council called by St Martin, Pope of Rome (April 13), which condemned the Monothelite heresy. For this the Pope himself, and the two confessors named Anastasius, were seized by the Emperor. Along with St Maximos, the two endured many tortures; when St Maximos had his right hand cut off and his tongue cut out, Anastasius the elder suffered the same punishment. They, along with their fellow-disciples Euprepius and Theodore and St Maximos himself, were sent into exile to Lazica in the Caucasus, where all of them died. Euprepius died after one year; Saint Maximos after three years; Anastasius the younger a few days before St Maximos; Anastasius the elder after seven years of exile; and Theodore after twenty years. All remained steadfast until the end, and all are proclaimed as Confessors of the Faith.