From the calendar 2026

Friday, July 3

Martyr Hyacinth

Appointed readings

2 passages

Epistle

Romans 16:1–16

1I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea,

2that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.

3Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,

4who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

5Likewise greet the church that is in their house.

6Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia to Christ. Greet Mary, who labored much for us.

7Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

8Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.

9Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved.

10Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.

11Greet Herodion, my countryman. Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

12Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who labored much in the Lord.

13Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

14Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them.

15Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.

16Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you.

Gospel

Matthew 13:3–9

Open Reader ↗

3Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: 'Behold, a sower went out to sow.

4And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.

5Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.

6But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.

8But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

9He who has ears to hear, let him hear!'

The rhythm of the day

Fasting: Strict fast
Weekly tone: Tone 3

In remembrance

The saints commemorated this day

Martyr HyacinthRead the life

He was a young courtier to the Emperor Trajan, and a secret Christian. When the Emperor and his court were offering sacrifice to the idols, Hyacinth stood apart; he was noticed and brought before the Emperor where, when interrogated, he proclaimed himself a Christian and refused to make sacrifice to the pagan gods. For this he was brutally whipped, then thrown into prison, where the Emperor ordered that he be given only food that had been sacrificed to idols. This Hyacinth refused to eat and, after eight days, died in prison.

Trans. Rel. Philip, Metr. Moscow

Our Holy Father Isaiah the Solitary (491)Read the life

One of the Desert Fathers, he lived in asceticism first at Scetis in Egypt, then in Palestine; he died in Gaza. His instructive writings are often quoted by the Fathers.

Abba Isaiah said: The crown of all good works consists in this: that a man place all his hope in God, that he flee to Him once and for all with all his heart and strength, that he be filled with compassion for all and weep before God, imploring His help and mercy.

Our Holy Father Alexander, founder of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones (430)Read the life

“Born in Asia and educated in Constantinople, he went into the army after completing his studies and became an officer. Reading the Holy Scriptures, he came upon the Saviour’s words: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me’ (Matt. 19:21). These words made such an impression on him that he sold and gave away all that he had, and went off to the desert. After long asceticism and striving for purification, he founded the community of the ‘Wakeful Ones’ (Acoemetae) with a special rule. According to this rule, the services in the church continued day and night in unbroken sequence. The brethren were divided into six groups, each having its appointed hours of day or night to go to church and take over the reading and singing from the previous group.

Read the full life

Our Father among the Saints Anatolios, Archbishop of Constantinople (458)Read the life

He was a priest from Alexandria. At the ‘Robber Council’ at Ephesus in 449, Dioscoros, the monophysite who occupied the Patriarchal throne in Alexandria, had Anatolios installed as Patriarch of Constantinople, thinking that he would prove an ally. But Anatolios quickly emerged as a fervent champion of Orthodoxy: he convened a council of bishops just before the Council of Chalcedon in 451, at which Pope Leo’s Orthodox “Tome” (see February 18) was approved, though Dioscoros had not allowed it to be read at the Robber Council. At the Council of Chalcedon, Anatolios condemned Nestorius, Eutyches, and his frustrated patron Dioscoros. He reposed in peace in 458.

Anatolios is believed to be the author of the ‘Anatolian Stichera’ found in the weekly Vespers and Matins services; but these may have been composed by another Anatolios, a monk and a disciple of St Theodore the Studite.