Saturday February 22, 2025 / February 9, 2025

The Saturday of the Dead. Tone one.

Martyr Nicephorus of Antioch (ca. 257).
Uncovering of the relics (1805) of St. Innocent of Irkutsk (1731).
Uncovering of the relics of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus (1992).
New Hieromartyr Basil priest (1930).
New Hieromartyr John priest (1938).
Venerable Pancratius, hieromonk of the Kiev Caves (13th c.).
Venerables Gennadius (1516) and Nicephorus (1557), monks, of Vazhe Lake (Vologda).
Hieromartyrs Marcellus, bishop of Sicily; Philagrius, bishop of Cyprus; and Pancratius, bishop of Taormina; disciples of Apostle Peter (1st c.).
Venerables Aemilianus and Bracchio of Tours (6th c.) (Gaul).
St. Teilo, bishop (Llandaff in Wales) (6th c.) (Celtic & British).
Martyr Apollonias of Alexandria (249).
St. Romanus the Wonderworker of Cilicia (5th c.).
Hieromartyr Peter Damascene, bishop of Damascus (743).

The Scripture Readings

1 Corinthians 10:23-28
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 (Departed)
Luke 21:8-9, 25-27, 33-36
John 5:24-30 (Departed)

Troparia

Meatfare or Relative's Suturday, Troparion, Tone VIII —
O Thou Who with wisdom profound orderest all things with love, and Who givest to all what is needful, O only Creator, give rest, O Lord, to the souls of Thy servants, for on Thee they have set their hope, our Maker and Builder, and our God.

Kontakion. Tone VIII —
With the Saints give rest, O Christ, to the souls of Thy servants, where there is no pain, no sorrow, no sighing, but life everlasting.

Holy Martyr Nicephorus, Troparion, Tone IV —
In his suffering, O Lord,/ Thy martyr Nicephorus received an imperishable crown from Thee our God;/ for, possessed of Thy might,/ he set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons.// By his supplications save Thou our souls.

Kontakion, of the Martyr, Tone I "The choir of the angels" —
Bound by the bond of love, O Nicephorus, thou didst manifestly destroy the malice of hatred, and wast beheaded by the sword, as a divine martyr of the incarnate Savior. Him do thou entreat, in behalf of us who hymn thy glorious memory.

And this Kontakion, Tone III "Today the Virgin" —
Soaring aloft in the love of the Lord, O glorious one,/ and taking His glorious Cross upon thy shoulder,/ thou didst put to shame the wiles of the devil,/ didst suffer even unto death,/ and hast been shown to be a bearer of the trophy of truth,// a warrior and initiate of the mysteries of the grace of God.