37 ὁ δὲ εἶπεν, ὁ ποιήσας τὸ ἔλεος μετ' αὐτοῦ. εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ ἰησοῦς, πορεύου καὶ σὺ ποίει ὁμοίως.
38 ἐν δὲ τῷ πορεύεσθαι αὐτοὺς αὐτὸς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς κώμην τινά: γυνὴ δέ τις ὀνόματι μάρθα ὑπεδέξατο αὐτόν.
39 καὶ τῇδε ἦν ἀδελφὴ καλουμένη μαριάμ, [ἣ] καὶ παρακαθεσθεῖσα πρὸς τοὺς πόδας τοῦ κυρίου ἤκουεν τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ.
40 ἡ δὲ μάρθα περιεσπᾶτο περὶ πολλὴν διακονίαν: ἐπιστᾶσα δὲ εἶπεν, κύριε, οὐ μέλει σοι ὅτι ἡ ἀδελφή μου μόνην με κατέλιπεν διακονεῖν; εἰπὲ οὖν αὐτῇ ἵνα μοι συναντιλάβηται.
41 ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὁ κύριος, μάρθα μάρθα, μεριμνᾷς καὶ θορυβάζῃ περὶ πολλά,
42 ἑνὸς δέ ἐστιν χρεία: μαριὰμ γὰρ τὴν ἀγαθὴν μερίδα ἐξελέξατο ἥτις οὐκ ἀφαιρεθήσεται αὐτῆς.

Κυριακή 12 Δεκεμβρίου 2010

Spyridon the Wonderworker of Trymithous

Reading from the Synaxarion:

Spyridon, the God-bearing Father of the Church, the great defender of Corfu
and the boast of all the Orthodox, had Cyprus as his homeland. He was
simple in manner and humble of heart, and was a shepherd of sheep. When
he was joined to a wife, he begat of her a daughter whom they named
Irene. After his wife's departure from this life, he was appointed
Bishop of Trimythus, and thus he became also a shepherd of rational
sheep. When the First Ecumenical Council was assembled in Nicaea, he
also was present, and by means of his most simple words stopped the
mouths of the Arians who were wise in their own conceit. By the divine
grace which dwelt in him, he wrought such great wonders that he
received the surname 'Wonderworker." So it is that, having tended his
flock piously and in a manner pleasing to God, he reposed in the Lord
about the year 350, leaving to his country his sacred relics as a
consolation and source of healing for the faithful.

About the middle of the seventh century, because of the incursions made
by the barbarians at that time, his sacred relics were taken to
Constantinople, where they remained, being honoured by the emperors themselves.
But before the fall of Constantinople, which took place on May 29,
1453, a certain priest named George Kalokhairetes, the parish priest of
the church where the Saint's sacred relics, as well as those of Saint
Theodora the Empress, were kept, took them away on account of the
impending peril. Travelling by way of Serbia, he came as far as Arta in
Epirus, a region in Western Greece opposite to the isle of Corfu. From
there, while the misfortunes of the Christian people were increasing
with every day, he passed over to Corfu about the year 1460. The
relics of Saint Theodora were given to the people of Corfu; but those of
Saint Spyridon remain to this day, according to the rights of
inheritance, the most precious treasure of the priest's own descendants, and
they continue to be a staff for the faithful in Orthodoxy, and a
supernatural wonder for those that behold him; for even after the passage of
1,500 years, they have remained incorrupt, and even the flexibility of
his flesh has been preserved. Truly wondrous is God in His Saints!
(Ps. 67:3 5)

Apolytikion in the First Tone
O Father, God-bearer, Spyridon, you were proven a champion and
Wonder Worker of the First Ecumenical Council. You spoke to the girl in
the grave and turned the serpent to gold. And, when chanting your
prayers, most sacred One, angels ministered with you. Glory to Him who
glorified you; glory to Him who crowned you; glory to Him who, through you,
works healing for all.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
Wounded by your love for Christ, O holy One, your mind given wings by the
radiance of the Spirit, you put the practice of theory into deeds,
becoming a sacred altar, O Chosen by God, and praying for the divine
illumination of all.

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