Orthodox Calendar

Friday, August 11, 2051
Afterfeast of the Transfiguration

Dormition Fast — Abstain from meat, fish, dairy, eggs, wine, and oil

Scripture Readings

Commemorations

Scripture Readings

1 Corinthians 7.35-8.7 (Epistle)

35This I say for your own benefit, not that I may ensnare you, but for that which is appropriate, and that you may attend to the Lord without distraction.

36But if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn’t sin. Let them marry. 37But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no urgency, but has power over his own will, and has determined in his own heart to keep his own virgin, does well. 38So then both he who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and he who doesn’t give her in marriage does better.

39A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord. 40But she is happier if she stays as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I also have God’s Spirit.

1Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know. 3But anyone who loves God is known by him.

4Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one. 5For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.

7However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of an idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

Matthew 15.29-31 (Gospel)

29Jesus departed from there and came near to the sea of Galilee; and he went up on the mountain and sat there. 30Great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them, 31so that the multitude wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the injured healed, the lame walking, and the blind seeing—and they glorified the God of Israel.

Commemorations

Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Euplus of Catania

He was a deacon from Catania in Sicily during the reign of Diocletian. During a persecution of Christians there, Euplus presented himself to the governor and proclaimed himself a Christian. While he was being tortured on the rack, the governor ordered him to worship Mars, Apollos, and Aeculapius, but he answered that he worshipped the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He was beheaded in 304. His wonderworking relics are preserved in the village of Vico della Batonia near Naples.

The Holy Martyr Susanna the Virgin, and those with her (295-296)

She was the daughter of Gavinius, a Christian priest in Rome, and the niece of Pope Gaius. The Emperor Diocletian’s adopted son Maximian wished to marry Susanna, but she had no desire to marry any one, least of all a pagan. The patricians Claudia and Maxima were sent to Susanna by the Emperor to present Maximian’s suit; but instead she turned both of them, and all their households, to the Faith. The enraged Emperor had Claudia, Maxima and their families executed, then had Susanna herself beheaded. The Emperor’s wife, Serena, was a secret Christian, and took Susanna’s body secretly and buried it. Soon after this Susanna’s father Gavinius and her uncle Pope Gaius also met martyrdom.

Saint Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople (1508)

He was born in Greece and became a monk at a young age, spending many years in asceticism on the Holy Mountain. Against his desire, he was made Bishop of Thessalonika, then Patriarch of Constantinople. He was banished by the Sultan (the Prologue does not say why), served as archbishop in Wallachia for a time, then returned to Dionysiou monastery on the Holy Mountain, where he reposed at the age of ninety. He composed the ‘Prayer at Departing’ used in the funeral service.