Daily Reading:
THE HOLY MARTYR SOPHIA AND HER
THREE DAUGHTERS
FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:
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Thursday
LITURGY
Ephesians 5:33-6:9
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Luke 4:16-22
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"
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THE HOLY MARTYR SOPHIA AND HER THREE DAUGHTERS FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY
HOLY MARTYRS SOCRATES AND STEPHEN
Troparion of the Feast Tone 1
O Lord, save Thy people/ and bless Thine inheritance./ Grant Victory over their enemies to Orthodox Christians,/ and protect Thy people with Thy Cross.
Troparion of St Sophia and her Three Daughters Tone 5
Thou didst blossom in the courts of the Lord/ as a fruitful olive tree,/ O holy Martyr Sophia;/ in thy contest thou didst offer to Christ/ the sweet fruit of thy womb,/ Love, Hope and Faith./ With them, intercede for us all.
Troparion of Ss Socrates and Stephen Tone 1
Thou didst win the crown of martyrdom,/ O noble Socrates and Stephen,/ when thou, following in the footsteps of both our nation's Patron and our protomartyr,/ didst resist the edict of the God-hating Diocletian./ Pray to God that we also may be given strength to be faithful, even unto death,/ that we too may inherit eternal life.
Kontakion of the Feast Tone 4
O Christ our God/ Who wast voluntarily lifted up on the Cross,/ grant Thy mercies to Thy new people named after Thee./ Gladden with Thy power Orthodox Christians/ and give them victory over their enemies./ May they have as an ally/ that invincible trophy, Thy weapon of peace.
Kontakion of St Sophia and her Three Daughters Tone 1
Faith, Hope and Love, holy branches of noble Sophia,/ by grace made Greek wisdom foolishness./ They have contested and won the Victory/ and have been crowned by Christ the Master of all.
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Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope and Charity and Their Mother Sophia
In the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138) there lived a widow called Sophia which in Greek means "wisdom". She was a Christian, and in accordance with her name, she lived her life wisely. She had three beautiful daughters whom she called by the names of the three Christian virtues: the first was called Faith, the second Hope, and the youngest Charity. She taught her daughters to live in a way pleasing to God by prayer, fasting and helping the poor. As the children grew in age, so also they grew in virtue, being obedient to their mother. They read diligently and knew well the books of the Prophets and Apostles; they were fervent in prayer and house-work. Their beauty combined with their virtuous lives attracted the attention of many.
When the fame of their lives reached the pagan Emperor Hadrian, he sent for them to come to him. The wise mother warned her daughters that the Emperor persecuted Christians and would tempt them to worship the pagan idols by promising them great gifts, riches and honor and all the things of beauty and pleasure in this vain world She begged them to choose rather their beloved Lord Jesus Christ and the heavenly beauty such as human eyes have never seen and which God has promised to those who love Him. "0 my dear daughters," she said, “to remember my words with which I taught you the fear of God and comfort your mother in her old age by your good and courageous confession of faith in Christ." Encouraging and supporting one another, they promised their mother that with Christ's help they would put into practice all her valuable advice
When the Emperor's servants came for them, all four-mother and daughters-protected themselves with the sign of the Cross saying: "Help us, O God, our Saviour, for the glory of Thy holy Name."
On reaching the palace, they were presented to the Emperor. Seeing their beauty and their bright and fearless faces, the Emperor began to ask them their names, they answered that they were all Christians and wished to live for Christ alone Who is to be worshipped by all generations.
Hearing this, the Emperor grew angry. Just as the mother had warned he asked the girls to be as his children and worship his gods, promising them glory and honor; but if they would not obey he threatened to torture and kill them. The holy virgins answered him with one voice:
"Our Father is God Who lives in heaven. He takes care of us and our life. We want to be loved by Him and we wish to be called His true children. Worshipping Him and keeping His laws and commandments, we spit on your gods, and we are not afraid of your threats."
The Emperor was very surprised at the courage of these young girls. At this time Faith was 12 years old, Hope was 10, and Charity was just 9.
The Emperor again tried to force them to worship his false gods. He commanded Faith to offer sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. When she refused she was beaten and tortured. Faith endured all of this evil bravely by calling upon her Lord, and when she was put in a cauldron of boiling tar and oil she remained unharmed. She sat in it as if it were cool water and sang praises to God. Seeing that no amount of torture could force the girl to give up her faith in Christ, the cruel Emperor ordered her to be beheaded before the very eyes of her mother and younger sisters.
When the second sister Hope also refused to worship the false gods, she was thrown into a fire, but she too remained unharmed and glorified the true God. The torturer was furious that he could not hurt her and ordered her to be thrown into the boiling cauldron, but it at once melted like wax, and the tar and oil poured out and burnt the bystanders. Ashamed that he was unable to shake the faith of such a young girl, the torturer ordered Hope to be beheaded. Knowing that the same cruel torture awaited her younger sister, Hope encouraged her and said, "Do not be left here, sister. Let us stand together be- fore the Holy Trinity." Then she bent her head and was beheaded with a sword.
When the torturer called the youngest sister, Charity, to worship the false gods, she also, even after seeing her sisters' tortures, did not hesitate to confess her faith in Jesus Christ. She was ordered to be thrown into a stove, but just like the three youths in the Old Testament, Charity remained in the stove unharmed; walking about as if in a cool place, singing and praising God. The Emperor ordered still more cruel tortures, but the young girl proved true to her name for love "endureth all things" (I Cor 13:7). Finally, she too was beheaded and went to join her sisters who stood before the throne of their beloved Lord Jesus Christ.
Their mother rejoiced, knowing that each of her daughters had received a heavenly crown. Soon she too passed on to the Lord and shared with her daughters in the heavenly kingdom. St. Sophia also received a martyr's crown, for, if not in body, at least in her heart, she too suffered for Christ.
(http://www.roca.org/OA/13/13g.htm)
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