October 25 / October 12

1. The Holy Martyrs Tarachus, Probus and Andronicus, at Tarsus in Cilicia (304)

Tarachus was born in Syrian Claudiopolis, Probus was from Perga of Pamphylia, and Andronicus was the son of an eminent citizen of Ephesus. All three were martyred together by the Proconsul Numerian Maximus, in Emperor Diocletian’s time. Tarachus was sixty-five years old when he was tortured. The proconsul asked him for his name, and he answered: “I am a Christian.” The proconsul asked thrice, and received the same answer each time. These martyrs were beaten with rods, then were cast into pris- on bloodied and wounded. After this, they were brought out again for torture. When the proconsul advised Probus to deny Christ, promising him imperial honors and his own friendship, holy Probus replied: “Neither the emperor’s honors do I desire, nor your friendship do I wish.” When Andronicus was threatened with even greater bodily tortures, the young martyr of Christ replied: “My body is before you, do with it what you will.” After prolonged tortures in various locales, the three holy martyrs were thrown into an arena with wild beasts. Other prisoners in the same arena were torn apart by the beasts, but they would not harm the saints; a bear and a ferocious lioness fawned around them. Seeing this, many believed in Christ the Lord and cried out against the proconsul. Crazed with anger, and more furious than the beasts, the proconsul ordered his soldiers to enter the arena and chop the soldiers of Christ into pieces with their swords. Their bodies were mingled with the dead bodies of other prisoners. Three Christians, Macarius, Felix and Berius, who were present at the slaying of the holy martyrs, came that night to remove their bodies. But as the bodies were heaped in confusion, and the night was very dark, they prayed to God to help them find the saints; and suddenly three candles were manifested over the bodies of the martyrs. Thus, they were able to remove the saints’ bodies and honorably bury them.

2.  Saint Martin the Merciful, bishop of Tours (397)

Martin was born of pagan parents in the Pannonian town of Sabaria in the year 316. His father was a Roman officer, and the young Martin was given over to military service against his will. By then, however, he was already a catechumen in the Christian Church. From early childhood, he had loved the Church with all his heart. One winter, while traveling with his companions to the town of Amiens, he saw a beggar before the town gates, almost naked and shivering from the cold. Martin felt sorry for him, and fell behind his companions. He then removed his military cloak and cut it in two with his sword. He gave one half to the beggar and wrapped the other around himself, and left. That night, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream, wrapped in the other half of his cloak, and said to His angels: “Martin is only a catechumen, yet behold: he has clothed Me with his garment!” Leaving the army, Martin was immediately baptized, and then baptized his mother. He was then tonsured a monk in the diocese of St. Hilary of Poitiers and led a life of true asceticism. Martin was exceptionally humble, for which God endowed him with an abundant gift of working miracles, such that he raised the dead and drove out evil spirits. Martin was appointed Bishop of Tours against his will. After abundant labor in the vineyard of the Lord, and after a difficult struggle with pagans and Arian heretics, St. Martin gave his holy soul into the hands of his Lord in the year 397.

3.  The Venerable Cosmas the Hymnographer, bishop of Maiuma (787) He was born in He was a friend of St. John Damascene, whose parents took him in as an orphan and raised him. As a monk, he assisted John in compiling the Octoechos, and he himself composed many canons to the saints. His canons on Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday, and Passion Week are particularly distinguished by their beauty and profundity. He was Bishop of Maiuma, near Palestinian Gaza. He outlived St. John Damascene, and died in deep old age.

• Hieromartyr Maximilian, bishop of Noricum (284).
• Martyr Domnina of Anazarbus (286).
• Mobhi of Glasnevin (Ireland) (544).
• Martyr Edwin, king of Northumbria (633).
• Wilfrid, bishop of York (709).
• Amphilochius (1452), Macarius (1480), and Tarasius (1440), abbots, and Theodosius (15th c.), monk, of Glushitsa Monastery (Vologda), disciples of St. Dionysius of Glushitsa.
• Arsenius, archimandrite, of Svyatogorsk Monastery (1859).
• Euphrosyne the Faster, schema-abbess, of Siberia (1918).
• New Hieromartyrs Juvenal, archbishop of Ryazan (1937) and Lawrence, hieromonk, of Optina Monastery (1937).
• New Hiero-confessor Nicholas, metropolitan of Alma-Ata (1955).
• Translation of the relics (1965) of Sabbas the Sanctified (532) from Rome to Jerusalem.
• Glorification (2009) of Philaret, archbishop of Chernigov (1866).
• (Greek : Virgin-martyr Anastasia of Rome [ca. 250]. St. Theodotus, bishop of Ephesus. St. Jason, bishop of Damascus. St. Symeon the New Theologian [1022] [transferred from Great Lent, March 12]. St. Theosebius the God-bearer, of Arsinoe on Cyprus).
• “Jerusalem” (48) and “Kaluga” (1748) Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos.

HYMN OF PRAISE

Saint Martin, Bishop of Tours

St. Martin, a child of Pannonia,
And the great illuminator of Gaul,
Despised the earthly emperor’s honors,
And became a servant of the heavenly King.
The will of a powerful giant
Was in Martin’s merciful heart.
Martin sprinkled himself with ashes,
And on the ashes this humble one slept,
Out of love for his God—
Crucified for sinful men.
And Martin had crucified himself to the world
Solely to reach the goal!
Martin led the battle against demons,
Yielding to none of their temptations,
And led the battle against impudent men,
Against dark, dishonorable heresies.
Martin was a knight of Orthodoxy,
And a victor, wondrous and glorious.
With the battle won, the knight rests
With the angels close to Christ the King:
And yet even now he lifts up prayers,
And comes to the aid of those in peril.

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