September 23 / September 10

The Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora, at Nicomedia (305)

They were sisters by birth and grew up somewhere in Asian Bithynia. Reared in the spirit of Christianity, they withdrew from the city to the wilderness, wishing to elevate their minds to God and to free themselves of everything in this deceitful world, and to live this life in purity and virginity as true brides of Christ. They dedicated themselves to great labor, fasting, and prayer, until God adorned them with the gift of miracle-working. When people began to bring the sick to them for healing, they became well known against their will. A certain governor, Fronton, heard of them and brought them to trial. Upon seeing them, the governor was amazed at the beauty of their faces. For, even though they were great fasters and their bodies were withered, their faces were radiant, illumined by inward peace and the grace of God. At first, the governor flattered them and promised to send them to the emperor, who would give them in marriage to his noblemen. But when he was convinced that all of his flattery and promises had no effect on these brides of Christ, he ordered that Menodora be tortured first, and her sisters thrown into prison. After cruel tortures, the governor cried out to Menodora, who was wounded and bloody: “Offer sacrifice to the gods!” To this the holy martyr replied: “Do you not see that I am offering my entire self as a sacrifice to my God?” When St. Menodora was slain by the tortures, the governor then brought out the remaining two sisters and stood them by the dead body of Menodora. Pointing to the body of their sister, he counseled them to deny Christ.

Since they remained steadfast, he slew them by harsh tortures. Just then, a thunderbolt struck from heaven, and killed the soulless Fronton and his servants. Christians honorably buried the bodies of these holy martyrs of God. They suffered between the years of 305 and 311, during the reign of Maximian Galerius, and found rest in the Kingdom of Christ.

2.  Saint Pulcheria the Empress (453)

She was the daughter of Emperor Arcadius. She vowed to remain a virgin for life, and, as a sign of this vow, she had an altar of gold and precious stones built in the cathedral church. She reigned with her brother, Theo- dosius the Younger. Pulcheria was a great zealot for the Orthodox Faith. At her insistence, the Third Ecumenical Council, which condemned the Nestorian heresy, was convened in Ephesus. She built the famous Church of the Holy Theotokos of Blachernae in Constantinople. Following the death of Theodosius, she married Marcian, the emperor-elect, but lived with him as with a brother. She discovered the relics of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. She reposed in the Lord on September 10, 453, at the age of fifty-five.

3. Holy Apostles Apelles, Luke and Clement, of the Seventy

Apostles Apelles, Luke (not the Evangelist), and Clement were numbered among the Seventy. Apollos (Acts 18:24–25) was bishop in Smyrna before St. Polycarp. St. Lucius (Romans 16:21) was bishop in Laodicea. St. Clement was bishop in Sardis.

4.  The Three Holy Women

A noblewoman from Constantinople, with her two servants, despised the vanity of the world and withdrew to solitude where, after eleven years of asceticism, they rested in the Lord.

• Martyr Barypsabas, in Dalmatia (2nd ).
• Finian, abbot, in Ulster (579).
• Salvius, bishop of Albi (Gaul) (584).
• Theodaard of Maastricht (668).
• Peter (826) and Paul (9th c.), bishops of Nicaea.
• Peter of Mozonzo, archbishop of Compostela (Spain) (1000).
• Paul the Obedient, of the Kiev Caves (13th c.).
• Ioasaph, monk, of Kubensk (Vologda) (1453).
• Cassian, abbot, of Spaso-Kamenny and White Lake Monasteries (1469).
• Theodoritus, archbishop of Ryazan and Murom (1617).
• New Hieromartyrs Meletius, hieromonk, of Kuzhba, and Gabriel, archimandrite, of Donskoy Monastery (Moscow) (1937), and Warus, bishop of Lipetsk (1938).

HYMN OF PRAISE

The Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora

Three virgins, sisters by birth,
Three glorious martyrs of Christ,
Glorified Christ before Fronton.
By their fearlessness, they frightened the governor;
And Governor Fronton, poor in wisdom,
Thought, as many others did,
That by force, fire and gallows
He would quickly change their Christian ways.
The governor thought:
“All women are alike;
They will quickly change their faith!”
But the governor had deceived himself bitterly,
And was shamed by these Christian women.
Christ discriminates not between women and men—
His gives strength to all who serve Him:
The miraculous power of faith and hope,
The power of suffering, without bitter lamenting.
This power outlived the empire,
And was employed for thousands of years—
Employed but remained whole—
Everything is as weak as clay before it.
Menodora, and with her Metrodora,
And the youngest sister, Nymphodora,
Conquered the governor by God’s might.
They gave their lives and glorified Christ;
They gave their lives,
and remained alive.

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