Fasting Guidelines
Third Week of Pascha. Tone two.
Today is fast-free!
Today’s Commemorations
- Apostle Simon the Zealot (1st. c.).
- St. Simon , bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal (Kiev Caves) (1226).
- Martyrs Philadelphus, Cyprian, Alphaeus, Onesimus, Erasmus, and 14 others , in Sicily (251).
- Martyr Hesychius of Antioch (4th c.).
- Venerable Isidora the Fool of Tabenna (Egypt) (365).
- Blessed Thais (Taisia) of Egypt (5th c.).
- Blessed Simon of Yurievits and Zharki, fool-for-Christ (1584).
- Icon of the Mother of God “Kiev-Bratsk” (1654).
- Venerable Laurence, monk, of Egypt (6th c.).
Venerable Dionisius of Radonezh (14-15th c.).
Translation of relics (1670) of Martyr Basil of Mangazea (Siberia) (1602).
St. Synesius of Irkutsk, friend of St. Sophronius (1787).
St. Conleth, hermit and bishop of Kildare (520) (Celtic & British).
Scripture Readings
John 21:15-25 (Matins Gospel)
So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.
Acts 8:26-39
Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
John 6:40-44
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
1 Corinthians 4:9-16 (Apostle)
For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
Matthew 13:54-58 (Apostle)
When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things? So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Saints and Feasts Celebrated Today
Apostle Simon the Zealot (1st. c.). 
The Holy Apostle Simon Zelotes hailed from Cana of Galilee. He was a son of Joseph the Betrothed, and hence a brother of the Lord after the flesh, and he was also one of the 12 Apostles. The first miracle which the Saviour worked, – the transforming of water into wine, occurred at the house of Simon: at the time of a wedding-feast there was insufficient wine for the guests. Then the Lord, at the prompting of the Most Holy Mother of God, transformed water into wine. Struck by the miracle, Simon with all his heart and soul believed in the Lord Jesus as the Promised Messiah and, having left behind everything, he followed after Him. Simon received the title “Zelotes”, i.e. a zealot, meaning a person who is zealous. On the day of Pentecost he received the gift of the Holy Spirit together with the other Apostles. The holy Apostle Simon preached the teaching of Christ at Judea, Egypt, Libya, Cyrenia and Britain. At Abkhazia he accepted a martyr’s death, and was crucified on a cross. He was buried at the city of Nikopsia around Sukhum. Afterwards (in the XIX Century), at the place where the holy Apostle Simon asceticised near Mount Iveria, there was established the Novoathonite monastery of Simon the Canaanite. To the present day is preserved the cave wherein the holy Apostle Simon asceticised.
St. Simon , bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal (Kiev Caves) (1226).
Sainted Simon, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal’, was an author of the Lives of the Kievo-Pechersk monastic fathers, and he became a monk at the Pechersk monastery, sometime in the second half of the XII Century. In the year 1206 he was appointed hegumen of the Vladimir Nativity of the Mother of God monastery, and in 1214, at the wish of prince Georgii Vsevolodovich (+ 1238), he was made the first bishop of Vladimir-on-the-Klyazma and Suzdal’. In 1218 a church was consecrated by him at the Nativity monastery, and in the year 1225 – a cathedral church at Suzdal’. The greatprince deeply respected Saint Simon and was prepared to open up a new bishop’s cathedra-chair at Suzdal’ for his friend, – the monk Polykarp of the Kievo-Pechersk monastery, who sought after spiritual vain-glory. But Sainted Simon, seeing into the spiritual condition of Polykarp, talked the greatprince out of his intent, and to Polykarp himself he wrote a deeply moving missive, in which he proffered his friend guidance against his defects of soul. The epistle of Simon was placed at the beginning of the Kievo-Pechersk Paterikon and presented the author under his name as a man of learning. On the eve of his repose in the year 1226, the saint took on the schema. Initially his body was buried at Vladimir, but later on, in accord with the last wishes of the saint himself, his body was transferred after several years to the Kievo-Pechersk Lavra, where it rests in the Antoniev Caves.
Martyrs Philadelphus, Cyprian, Alphaeus, Onesimus, Erasmus, and 14 others , in Sicily (251).
The Holy Martyrs Altheus, Philadelphus, Cyprian, Onysimus, Erasmus and 14 others suffering with them, lived during the III Century and came from Italy. Altheus, Philadelphus and Cyprian were sons of a governor in Italy, Vitelius. They were enlightened by faith in Christ and baptised by Saint Onysimus. During this period the emperor Licinius gave orders to seek out and hand over the Christians for torture. The brothers set off to Rome together with Onysimus, Erasmus and 14 other Christians. At Rome they crushed the chest of Saint Onysimus with an heavy stone, from which he died. Erasmus and the 14 Martyrs were beheaded. The brothers Altheus, Philadelphus and Cyprian suffered in Sicily, in the city of Mesopolis Leontii, where they had been dispatched to from Rome. This occurred in the year 251, under the emperor Decius. They cut out the tongue of Saint Altheus and he bled to death, Philadelphus they burnt over an iron lattice, and Cyprian they burnt on an hot pan. In the year 1517 their relics were discovered at Leontini (Lentini).
Martyr Hesychius of Antioch (4th c.).
The Holy Martyr Isykhios of Antioch lived during the reign of Maximian Galerius (305-311) in the city of Antioch, where he occupied a notable and high official position from the imperial court. Maximian issued an edict, by which all Christians were deprived of military rank and expelled from military service. Those that would not change from the Christian faith he ordered to be taken from them the soldier’s belt and insignia of military decoration, and have them degraded to the level of hired servants. In this number also was Saint Isykhios. Maximian ordered Isykhios to remove from himself the garb of a dignitary, put on vulgar attire and be amidst the women-servants. After several days he summoned Isykhios and asked: “Lo, art thou not ashamed to remain in such dishonour?” Saint Isykhios answered: “The honours which I had from thee were but temporal”. Then Maximian gave orders to drown Saint Isykhios in a river, with a millstone tied about his neck. The exact year of death of the martyr is not known.
Venerable Isidora the Fool of Tabenna (Egypt) (365).
The Nun Isidora, Fool-for-Christ, asceticised in the Tabenea monastery (Egypt) during the VI Century. The maiden Isidora took upon herself the feat of folly, she acted like one insane and did not partake of food together with the sisters of the monastery. Many of them regarded her with contempt, but Isidora bore all this with great patience and meekness, blessing God in everything. She toiled in the kitchen and fulfilled at the monastery the very dirty and hard tasks, cleansing the monastery of every impurity. The Nun Isidora covered her head with a plain dish-rag, and in place of cooked food she drank the soapy wash-water from the pots and dishes. She never became angry, never insulted anyone with a word, never grumbled against God or the sisters, and was given to silence. One time a wilderness monk, Saint Pitirim, had a vision. An Angel of God appeared to him and said: “Go to the Tabenea monastery. There thou wilt see a sister, wearing on her head a dish-rag. She doth serve them all with love and bears their contempt without grumbling. Her heart and her thoughts rest always with God. By comparison thou dost sit in solitude, but thine thoughts flit about all over the world”. The elder set out to the Tabenea monastery, but among the sisters gathered he did not see the one pointed out to him in the vision. Then they led Isidora to him, considering her a demoniac. Isidora fell down at the knees of the elder, asking his blessing. But the Monk Pitirim himself bowed down to the ground to her and said: ” Bless me first, venerable mother!” To the astonished questions of the sisters the elder answered: “Isidora before God is higher up than all of us!” Then the sisters began to repent, confessing all the insults hurled by them at Isidora, and they asked forgiveness of her. The saint, however, distressed over her fame, secretly hid herself away from the monastery, and her ultimate fate remained unknown. They presume that she died not later than the year 365.
Blessed Thais (Taisia) of Egypt (5th c.).
In Egypt in the V Century lived a young Christian by the name of Taisia. Left an orphan after the death of her rich parents, she led a pious life, her wealth she distributed to the destitute, and on her estate she gave shelter to a skete of monks. Afterwards, however, Taisia was allured by worldly temptations and began to lead a sinful life. Then the elders of the skete besought the ascetic John the Short-statured (Kolobos, Comm. 9 November) to go to Taisia and persuade her to repent. The elder set off on the pathway, and the monks began to pray. Taisia’s servant did not want to allow the elder into the house. Whereupon he said: “Tell the mistress, that I bring to her something very precious”. Taisia mirthfully came to meet the monk. But the monk, looking her in the face, began to cry. “I weep, – said he, – over thee, since thou hast forsaken thy bridegroom the Lord Jesus Christ and given thyself over to satan”. The words of the elder pierced the soul of Taisia like a fiery arrow, and her gaiety instantly vanished. In fright she implored the elder, whether repentance was possible for such a sinner as she. The elder answered, that the Saviour awaited her turnabout, since this is why He came, to seek out and to save the perishing. In the feeling of repentance that enveloped her, and hearing in the words of the elder a summoning of the Lord Himself to turn herself round to life eternal, Taisia stood up and went out from her house, not giving any sort of disposition over her property, such that even the monk marveled. In this very hour Taisia turned away from everything that connected her to her former, sinful life. Following after the elder into the wilderness, she hastened to re-union with God in penitence and in prayer. Night fell. The elder prepared for Taisia a place to lay down for sleep, having fashioned a pillow for her from the sand, and he himself went off somewhat farther, and fell asleep after making evening prayer. In the middle of the night he was wakened by a light coming down from the heavens to the place where Taisia was at rest. In the beams of the light the monk espied holy angels, ascending with the soul of Taisia. When he went over to Taisia, he found her already dead. Prayerfully giving the body of the saint over to burial, the Monk John returned to the skete and told the monks about what had happened; all offered up thanks to God for His mercy to Taisia, who repented in a single moment, like the wise repentant-thief.
Icon of the Mother of God “Kiev-Bratsk” (1654).
The Kievo-Bratsk Icon of the Mother of God was situated at first in the Borisoglebsk church in the city of Vyshgorod (Kiev), where it miraculously appeared in the year 1654. In 1662, during the time of war of Russia with Poland (1659-1667), the city was dealt heavy losses by the Crimean Tatars fighting on the side of the Polish. The temple of the holy Passion-Bearers Boris and Gleb was destroyed and defiled. But the Providence of God preserved the holy wonderworking icon of the Mother of God, which was taken out of the church beforehand in time and set off along the Dniepr, and the relics of the saints they hid beneathe a crypt. The river carried the icon to the Podola river-bank at Kiev, where it was joyfully taken up by the Orthodox and with due reverence transferred to the Bratsk monastery. In the records of church property of the Kievo-Bratsk monastery, made in the year 1807, was given its description. There existed a “Song about the wonderworking Kievo-Bratsk Icon of the Mother of God”, compiled soon after the year 1692.Celebration of the Kievo-Bratsk Icon of the Mother of God is made thrice within the year: 6 September, 10 May and 2 June. All these days are dedicated to the miraculous appearance of the holy icon in 1654. The original of the icon has not been preserved. The icon copy was written from it “measure for measure”, and is at present located in the Kiev monastery of the Pokrov (Protection) of the Mother of God.
Venerable Laurence, monk, of Egypt (6th c.).
Venerable Dionisius of Radonezh (14-15th c.).
Translation of relics (1670) of Martyr Basil of Mangazea (Siberia) (1602).
St. Synesius of Irkutsk, friend of St. Sophronius (1787).
St. Conleth, hermit and bishop of Kildare (520) (Celtic & British).
St Lawrence, monk, was tonsured in Egypt in the VI century, and was known for his unusual humility.
Additional Saints and Feasts Celebrated Today
Blessed Simon of Yurievits and Zharki, fool-for-Christ (1584).
Today’s Hymns
Holy Apostle Simon the Zealot, Troparion, Tone III
O holy apostle Simon
entreat the merciful God
that He grant to our souls
remission of transgressions.
Kontakion, Tone II: “The steadfast…”
In laudations let us all bless the divinely eloquent Simon,
who hath
diligently set the doctrines of wisdom in the hearts of the pious;
for he
standeth now before the throne of glory and dwelleth with the incorporeal
ones,
praying unceasingly for us all.
St. Isidora the Fool of Tabenna, Troparion in Tone VIII
In thee, O mother, that which was created according to the image of God was
manifestly saved; for, taking up thy cross, thou didst follow after Christ; and,
praying, thou didst learn to disdain the flesh, for it passeth away, but to care
for thy soul as a thing immortal. Wherefore, with the angels thy spirit doth
rejoice, O venerable Isidora.
Download today’s octoechos HERE.
Download today’s menaion HERE.
Courtesy of St. Sergius Church
Hymns, Readings, Feast Day, and Fasting Information provided by Holy Trinity Orthodox Church.
Aggregated and Formatted by OrthoBot OC.
If you benefit from this daily content, please consider Subscribing to my Substack.
Orthodox Daily Readings 