The holy great martyr Nicetas the Goth was a disciple of Theophilus, Bishop of the Goths, who participated in the First Ecumenical Council [Nicaea 325]. When the Gothic prince Athenarik began to torture Christians, St. Nicetas stood before the prince and denounced him for his paganism and inhumanity. Subsequently harshly tortured, Nicetas confessed his faith in Christ even more strongly, and prayed to God with thanksgiving. His mind was unceasingly raised up to God, and on his breast under his robe he bore an icon of the Theotokos with the Pre-eternal Christ Child standing and holding the cross in His hands. Finally, the tortures threw the soldier of Christ into the fire, where the holy martyr breathed his last, but his body remained untouched by the fire. His companion Marian took his body from the land of the Goths (Wallachia and Bessarabia) to the town of Mopsuestia, in Cilicia. There, he built a church dedicated to St. Nicetas. (372)
Troparion
You lovingly took up the cross for armor, and you advanced to fight the enemy. You were burnt to death for Christ, and thus you offered up your priestly soul to the Lord. You have been rewarded with the gift of healing, O great-martyr Nicetas; now beg Christ our God to save our souls.
Kontakion
O glorious Nicetas, you crushed the power of deception by your perseverance in the faith and earned the crown of victory by your struggles; therefore, you now enjoy the company of angels in heaven. With them, do not cease to intercede with Christ our God that He many save all of us.
Epistle
Galatians 2: 11-16
Brothers and sisters: When Cephas came to Antioch I directly withstood him, because he was clearly in the wrong. He had been taking his meals with the Gentiles before others came who were from James. But when they arrived he drew back to avoid trouble with those who were circumcised. The rest of the Jews joined in his dissembling till even Barnabas was swept away by their pretense. As soon as I observed that they were not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I had this to say to Cephus in the presence of all: “If you who are a Jew are living according to Gentile ways rather than Jewish, by what logic do you force the Gentiles to adopt Jewish ways?”
We are Jews by birth, not sinners of Gentile origin. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by legal observance but by faith in Jesus Christ, we too have believed in him in order to be justified by faith in Christ, not by observance of the law; for by works of the law no one will be justified.
Gospel
Mark 5: 24-34
At that time a large crowd followed, pushing against Jesus. There was a woman from the area who had been afflicted with a hemorrhage for a dozen years. She had received treatment at the hands of doctors of every sort and exhausted her savings in the process, yet she got no relief; on the contrary, she only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and put her hand on his cloak. “If I just touch his clothing,” she thought, “I shall get well.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up and the feeling that she was cured of her affliction ran through her whole body. Jesus was conscious at once that healing power had gone out from him. Wheeling about in the crowd, he began to ask, “Who touched my clothing?” His disciples said to him, “You can see how this crowd hems you in, yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” Despite this, he kept looking around to see the woman who had done it. Fearful and beginning to tremble now as she realized what had happened, the woman came and fell in front of him and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, it is your faith that has cured you. Go in peace and be free of this illness.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Sunday, September 14 –
