October 20 / October 7
1. The Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus, in Syria (290-303)
These holy and wonderful martyrs and heroes of the Christian Faith were at first noblemen at the court of Emperor Maximian. The emperor himself esteemed them greatly because of their courage, wisdom and fidelity. But when the emperor heard that his two noblemen were Christians, his love for them turned into rage. Once, when there was a great sacrificial offering to idols, the emperor demanded that Sergius and Bacchus offer sacrifices with him, but they openly refused to obey the emperor in this. Beside himself with rage, the emperor commanded that their military garments, rings and emblems be stripped from them and that they be dressed in women’s clothing. He then placed iron hoops around their necks and paraded them through the streets of the city of Rome, to be mocked by everyone. Afterward, he sent them to Antiochus, his deputy in Asia, for torture. Antiochus had risen to his position with Sergius and Bacchus’s help, as they had at one time recommended him to the emperor. When Antiochus implored them to deny Christ and save themselves from dishonorable suffering and death, these saints replied: “Both honor and dishonor, both life and death—all are the same to him who seeks the Heavenly Kingdom.” Antiochus cast Sergius into prison and ordered that Bacchusbetorturedfirst. His minions took turns beating the holy Bacchus until his whole body was broken. Bacchus’s holy soul departed his broken and bloodied body, and in the hands of angels was borne to the Lord. St. Bacchus suffered in the town of Barbalissos. Then St. Sergius was led out and shod in iron shoes with inward-protruding nails. He was driven, on foot, to the town of Rozapha, in Syria, and was beheaded there with the sword. His soul went to Paradise where, together with his friend Bacchus, he received a crown of immortal glory from Christ, his King and Lord. These two wondrous knights of the Christian Faith suffered in about the year 303.
2. The Holy Martyr Polychronius
Polychronius was born in the district of Gamphanitus, of peasant parents. As a young man, he worked as a day-laborer in the vineyard of a certain Constantinopolitan. But even as a day-laborer Polychronius devoted himself to the ascetic life of prayer and fasting day and night. Seeing his life, angelic in its purity and abstinence, the vintner was amazed, and gave him much more money than he earned. St. Polychronius took the money and built a church. At the time of the Nicaean Council (325), Polychronius was a church reader. He showed such zeal in the defense of Orthodoxy against the Arians that he was ordained a priest. Later, these evil heretics sought revenge, and attacked St. Polychronius inside the church itself, and chopped him into pieces. Thus, this great defender of the truth and purity of Orthodoxy suffered and received a wreath of glory from his Most-glorious Lord.
- Hieromartyrs Julian, presbyter, Caesarius, deacon, Eusebius, presbyter, and Martyr Felix, at Terracina (268).
- Virgin-martyr Pelagia of Tarsus in Asia Minor (287).
- Mark, pope of Rome (336).
- Dubtach, bishop of Armagh (Ireland) (513).
- Martyr Osyth, princess of Chich (England) (ca. 700).
- Sergius the Obedient, of the Kiev Caves (13th c.).
- Sergius, founder of Nurma Monastery (Vologda) (1412), disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
- Uncovering of therelics (1514) of St. Martinian, abbot, of Belozersk (White Lake) (1483).
- Joseph, elder and wonderworker, of Khevi, Georgia (1763).
- Jonah, bishop of Hankou, Manchuria (1925).
- New Hieromartyr Valentine, archpriest, of Moscow (1931).
- (Greek cal.: St. John the Hermit and 98 Fathers, of Crete, St. Leontius the governor).
In the Greek Synaxarion, the Ninety-nine Ascetics of Crete are also commemorated on this day. It is said that the hundredth one never joined them, which is interpreted that the hundredth one was Christ the Lord Himself, their head. The most renowned among them was St. John, a man of great prayer and a miracle-worker. He prayed on his knees so much that he was finally unable to stand on his feet, but walked on his knees. Seeing him walking thus, a certain shepherd thought that he was some kind of beast and shot him with an arrow. In a great miracle, all ninety-nine ascetics breathed their last that same day. The time of their asceticism is not known.
HYMN OF PRAISE
The Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus
The royal men, Sergius and Bacchus
Served the King, but not the earthly one—
Rather, Jesus, the Immortal King.
The earthly king mocked the saints
And removed the belts from their waists,
But the Lord girded them with strength.
The emperor removed their noblemen’s togas,
But the Savior clothed them more beautifully
In an incorrupt garment of immortality;
The emperor removed their rings from their right hands,
But the Lord gave them far more glorious ones,
In betrothing their souls to Himself.
The emperor banished them from his court,
But God welcomed them into the heavenly courts.
The earth tortured these knights of Christ,
The earth tortured them,
but heaven gave them repose.
Decay rejects purity,
Evil rejects goodness,
But Saints Bacchus and Sergius
Returned all earthliness to the earth,
And gave their holy souls over to God!
Though exiled from the earthly kingdom,
They illumine the earth even now;
By their suffering, they conquered malice;
By their death for the Cross, they are glorified.
As victors over the powers of darkness,
They show us the path to victory.
To read the Reflection, Contemplation, and Homily for this day,
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