FOREFEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

Wednesday August 5/18

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FOREFEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION
HOLY MARTYR EVSIGNIOS
SAINT NONNA

Troparion of the Forefeast Tone 4
Come, you faithful, let us welcome the Transfiguration of Christ/ and let us joyfully cry as we celebrate the forefeast:/ The day of holy gladness has come./ The Lord has ascended Mount Tabor/ to radiate the beauty of His Divinity.

Troparion of St Evsignios Tone 4
Thou wast filled with the faith of Christ,/ and in old age possessed a godly, youthful firmness./ Thou didst confess God the Word as transcendent in Essence/ and didst boldly rebuke the apostate's audacity./ Wherefore thou art glorified with the martyrs, O Evsignios, soldier of Christ.



Kontakion of the Forefeast Tone 4
All mortal nature is shining today with the divine Transfiguration/ and is crying with exultation:/ Christ the Savior of all is transfigured.

Kontakion of St Evsignios Tone 8
Today the Church glorifies the holy contests of wise Evsignios, the witness of godliness/ and she cries unceasingly: Preserve Thy servants by his intercessions, O most Merciful One.

1. THE HOLY MARTYR EUSIGNIUS

Eusignius served as a soldier under Emperor Maximian, Emperor Constantine the Great and under Constantine's sons. He was present during the torturing of the holy female martyr Basiliscus [May 22]. He saw myriads of angels and the Lord Jesus Himself as He received the soul of this holy martyr from the angels. Eusignius fought under Emperor Constantine and saw the Cross which appeared to the emperor. He served in the army for sixty full years and during the reign of Constantine's sons resigned from military service and settled in Antioch, the place of his birth. There, he lived a god-pleasing life in fasting, prayer and good works. During the time of Julian the Apostate, two men who were arguing on the street asked him to be their judge. He dispensed justice to the correct one and the man at fault became angry and went to the emperor and accused Eusignius of being a Christian. The emperor summoned Eusignius to court but he strongly denounced the emperor for his apostasy from the Faith and reproached him with the shining example of Constantine the Great. The enraged Julian ordered that he be beheaded. Eusignius was martyred at a ripe old age in the year 362 A.D. and took up habitation in the Kingdom of Heaven.

2. SAINT NONNA

Nonna was the mother of St. Gregory the Theologian. As a Christian, she possessed powerful and miracle-working prayer. By her prayer to God, she converted her husband from heathen stupidity to the Christian Faith. Her husband Gregory later became a bishop in the town of Nazianzus. By prayer Nonna saved her son Gregory the Theologian from a storm. She died peacefully as a deaconess in the year 374 A.D.

(The Prologue of Ochrid)