Orthodox Calendar

April 2, 2022
Fourth Saturday of Lent

Lenten Fast — Wine and Oil are Allowed

Feasts

  • Memorial Saturday

Commemorations

  • Ven. Titus the Wonderworker
  • Holy Martyrs Amphianus and Aedesius (ca. 306)

Scripture Readings (KJV)

Hebrews 6.9-12 (Epistle)

9But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. 10For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: 12That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

1 Corinthians 15.47-57 (Epistle, Departed)

47The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mark 7.31-37 (Gospel)

31And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 32And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. 33And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; 34And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 36And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; 37And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

John 5.24-30 (Gospel, Departed)

24Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 25Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 26For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 28Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. 30I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Commemorations

Our Holy Father Titus the Wonderworker (9th c.)

Very little is known of him. He took up the monastic life while still very young, and gave himself without reserve to the ascetical struggle, so much so that in the virtues of humility and obedience it was said that he exceeded ‘not only the brethren, but all men.’ In time, he became abbot of a monastery. During the iconoclast heresy, he stood unswervingly for the holy icons. Both in his own lifetime and after his death he was endowed with the gift of wonderworking. He reposed in peace sometime in the ninth century.

Holy Martyrs Amphianus and Aedesius (ca. 306)

They were brothers from an eminent pagan family. While studying in Beirut, they embraced the Faith of Christ. Returning home, they found that they could no longer live with their pagan kinsmen, and fled to Caesarea in Palestine, placing themselves under the care of Pamphylus, a holy priest who instructed them in the teachings of the Faith and in the ascetical life.

Amphianus entered a pagan temple while the governor, Urbanus, was offering sacrifice. Seizing the governor’s hand, he begged him to abandon his service to dead idols and to come to knowledge of the one God. For this he was put to torture, then cast into the sea with a stone around his neck.

Aedisius was sent to a copper mine in Palestine, then to Egypt. In Alexandria, Hierocles the governor was persecuting Christians by capturing Christian nuns and pious virgins and selling them into prostitution. Filled with holy zeal, Aedesius confronted the governor, denounced him, and struck him. For this he, like his brother, was tortured, then drowned.