The nine holy martyrs of Cyzice burned with a love for Christ. These martyrs refused to offer sacrifice to idols or deny Christ as their Lord. They were cruelly tortured and finally beheaded in the third century.
Our venerable father Memnon the Wonderworker was from early days devoted to fasting and prayer, and became a great wonder-worker for his people. He was a Roman centurion, converted to the faith by St. Severus, and was martyred in the days of Diocletian and Maximian in the third century.
O Lord our God, your holy martyrs have deserved the crown of immortality on account of their good fight. Armed with your strength, they have vanquished their persecutors and crushed Satan’s dreadful might. Through their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
In you, O holy father Memnon, the faithful image of God shone forth, for you carried your cross and swallowed Christ. You taught by your deeds how to spurn the body, for it passes away; and how to value the soul, for it is immortal. Therefore, your soul is forever in happiness with the angels.
See the strong and glorious choir of nine martyrs, the men who professed the Trinity of triple glory. As their trial began they exclaimed: We offer You our bodies and souls as a sacrifice poured out in our blood, O Master. Since You are merciful, O Master, number us among the saints.
We praise you as a brilliant star, O blessed Memnon. You brighten the world by your virtue and miracles. You approached the Unapproachable, and so we praise the Savior as we keep your memory.
Acts 4: 1-10
In those days, while Peter and John were still addressing the crowd, the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees came up to them, angry because they were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection of the dead in the person of Jesus. It was evening by now, so they arrested them and put them in jail for the night. Despite this, many of those who had heard the speech believed; the number of men came to about five thousand.
When the leaders, the elders, and the scribes assembled the next day in Jerusalem, Annas the high priest, Caisphas, John, Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly class were there. They brought Peter and John before them and began the interrogation in this fashion: “By what power or in whose name have men of your stripe done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke up: “Leaders of the people! Elders! If we must answer today for a good deed done to cripple and explain how he was restored to health, then you and all the people of Israel must realize that it was done in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead. In the power of that name this man stands before you perfectly sound.”
John 3: 16-21
The Lord said, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him avoids condemnation, but whoever does not believe is already condemned for not believing in the name of God’s only Son. The judgment of condemnation is this: the light came into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were wicked. Everyone who practices evil hates the light; he does not come near it for fear his deeds will be exposed, But he who acts in truth comes into the light, to make clear that his deeds are done in God.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Monday, April 28 –
