Tarasios, Patriarch of Constantinople Reading from the Synaxarion: This Saint was the son of one of the foremost princes in Constantinople, and was originally a consul and first among the Emperor's private counselors. Then, in 784, he was elected Patriarch of Constantinople by the Sovereigns Irene and her son Constantine Porphyrogenitus. He convoked the Seventh Ecumenical Council that upheld the holy icons, and became the boast of the Church and a light to the clergy. He reposed in 806. Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, an icon of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; for this cause, thou hast achieved the heights by humility, riches by poverty. O Father and Hierarch Tarasios, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved. Kontakion in the Third Tone Thou didst make the Church to shine with thy most Orthodox doctrines, teaching all to venerate and worship Christ's sacred image; so didst thou convict the godless and hateful doctrine of all them that fought against Christ's ven'rable icon; O Tarasius our Father most wise and blessed, to thee we all cry: Rejoice.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone Far-reaching beacon of the Church and God, inspired Guide of the Orthodox, you are now crowned with the flowers of song. You are the divine words of the Spirit's harp, the strong adversary of heresy and to whom we cry, "Hail all-honorable Photius."

Photios, Patriarch of Constantinople

Reading from the Synaxarion:

As for the thrice-blessed Photius, the great and most resplendent
Father and teacher of the Church, the Confessor of the Faith and Equal
to the Apostles, he lived during the years of the emperors Michael
(the son of Theophilus), Basil the Macedonian, and Leo his son. He
was the son of pious parents, Sergius and Irene, who suffered for the
Faith under the Iconoclast Emperor Theophilus; he was also a nephew of
Saint Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople (see Feb. 25). He was born
in Constantinople, where he excelled in the foremost imperial
ministries, while ever practicing a virtuous and godly life. An upright and
honorable man of singular learning and erudition, he was raised to the
apostolic, ecumenical, and patriarchal throne of Constantinople in the year
857.

The many struggles that this thrice-blessed one undertook for the
Orthodox Faith against the Manichaeans, the Iconoclasts, and other
heretics, and the attacks and assaults that he endured from Nicholas I, the
haughty and ambitious Pope of Rome, and the great persecutions and
distresses he suffered, are beyond number. Contending against the Latin
error of the filioque, that is, the doctrine that the Holy Spirit
proceeds from both the Father and the Son, he demonstrated clearly with
his Mystagogy on the Holy Spirit how the filioque destroys the
unity and equality of the Trinity. He has left us many theological
writings, panegyric homilies, and epistles, including one to Boris, the
Sovereign of Bulgaria, in which he set forth for him the history and
teachings of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. Having tended the Church of
Christ in holiness and in an evangelical manner, and with fervent zeal
having rooted out all the tares of every alien teaching, he departed to
the Lord in the Monastery of the Armenians on February 6, 891.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
As a teacher to the world, being one with the Apostles, intercede
with the Lord of all, O Photius, that He may grant the world peace,
and to our souls His great mercy.

Paul the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople

Reading from the Synaxarion:

Saint Paul was from Thessalonica. He became the secretary of Alexander,
Patriarch of Constantinople (see Aug. 30), a deacon, and then the successor
of Saint Alexander in about 337. Because of his virtue, his
eloquence in teaching, and his zeal for Orthodoxy, the Arians hated and
feared him. When the Arian Emperor Constantius, who was in Antioch,
learned of Paul's election, he exiled Paul and proclaimed the Arian
Eusebius Patriarch. Saint Paul went to Rome, where he found Saint
Athanasius the Great also in exile. Provided with letters by Pope Julius,
Paul returned to Constantinople, and after the death of Eusebius in
342, ascended again his rightful throne; the Arians meanwhile elected
Macedonius, because he rejected the Son's con-substantiality with the Father
(and the divinity of the Holy Spirit besides). When Constantius, yet
at Antioch, learned of Paul's return, he sent troops to
Constantinople to drive Paul out. The Saint returned to Rome, where Saint
Athanasius also was again in exile. Constans, Emperor of the West,
Constantius' brother, but Orthodox, wrote to Constantius that if Athanasius
and Paul were not allowed to return to their sees, he would come with
troops to restore them him-self. So Paul again returned to his throne.
After the death of Constans, however, Constantius had Paul deposed.
Because of the love of the people for Saint Paul, Philip the Prefect, who
was sent for him, was compelled to arrest him secretly to avoid a
sedition. Paul was banished to Cucusus, on the borders of Cilicia and
Armenia; a town through which his most illustrious successor, Saint John
Chrysostom would also pass on his way to Comana in his last exile. In
Cucusus, about the year 350, as Saint Paul was celebrating the Divine
Liturgy in the little house where he was a prisoner, the Arians strangled
him with his own omophorion, so much did they fear him even in exile.
His holy relics were brought back to Constantinople with honour by
the Emperor Theodosius the Great.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
Thy confession of the one divine Faith showed thee to the Church to
be a new Paul and a zealot among priests, O holy one. The righteous
blood both of Abel and Zachary with thee doth cry out together unto the
Lord. Righteous Father, intercede with Christ God in our behalf that
His great mercy may be granted unto us.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
Thou shonest on earth, a star bright with celestial light, and now
thou dost shine enlightenment on all the Church, in behalf of which
thou didst struggle, laying down thine own life, O Paul, and like Abel
and Zachary, thy blood doth cry out most clearly to the Lord.