SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020, THE 8TH SUNDAY OF ST. MATTHEW.
THE TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY RELICS OF SAINT STEPHEN THE FIRST MARTYR AND ARCHDEACON,
whose memory we commemorate today and all the saints, have mercy on us and save us, as a Good and Loving and Merciful God.

Tone grave. Eothinon 8.
HYMNS FOR THE SMALL ENTRANCE.

APOLYTIKION OF THE RESURRECTION, GRAVE TONE. Thou by Thy cross didst abolish death; Thou didst open Paradise to the thief; Thou didst transform the myrrh-bearers’ weeping and didst bid Thine Apostles to preach that Thou art risen, O Christ our God, granting great mercy to the world.

APOLYTIKION OF SAINT STEPHEN, FOURTH TONE. The crown of the Kingdom hath adorned the brow of thy head * because of the contests that thou hast endured for Christ God, thou first of the martyred Saints; * for when thou hadst censured the Jews’ madness, thou sawest * Christ thy Saviour standing at the right hand of the Father. * O Stephen, ever pray to Him for us, that He would save our souls.

APOLYTIKION OF THE DORMITION THEOTOKOS, FIRST TONE. In giving birth, thou didst preserve thy virginity; in thy dormition, thou didst not forsake the world, O Theotokos. Thou wast translated unto life, since thou art the Mother of Life; and by thine intercessions dost thou redeem our souls from death.

APOLYTIKION OF THE CHAPEL, STS. RAPHAEL, NICHOLAS AND IRENE, FOURTH TONE. On Lesbos, ye strove in contest for the sake of Christ God; * ye also have hallowed her with the discovery of your relics, O blessed ones. * O God-bearer Raphael, with thee, we all honor * Nicholas the deacon and Irene the chaste virgin, * as our divine protectors, who now intercede with the Lord.

KONTAKION OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST OUR LORD, GRAVE TONE. On the mount Thou wast transfigure and Thy disciples, as much as they could bear, beheld Thy glory, O Christ our God; that when they should see Thee crucified, they would know Thy Passion to be willing and would preach to the world that Thou, in truth, art the radiance of the Father.

After the First Martyr and Deacon Stephen had been stoned to death, Gamaliel, his teacher, encouraged certain of the Christians to go by night and take up the Saint’s body and bury it in his field, which was at a distance of some twenty miles from Jerusalem and was called by his name, “Kaphar-gamala, “ that is , “the field of Gamala,” where Gamaliel himself was later buried. About the year A.D. 427, a certain pious man called Lucian, who was the parish priest of a church near to that field, received from God a revelation in a dream concerning the place where the 1st Martyr was buried. He immediately made this known to John, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Thus, coming to the place indicated and digging there, they found a box with the word “Stephen” in Aramaic letters. On opening it, they took these most sacred relics and transferred them to Jerusalem with great honour and in the company of a very great multitude of the faithful. SAINT STEPHEN PRAY FOR US. AMEN.

SUNDAY, August 2:

Removal of Relics of 1st Martyr & Archdeacon Stephen.

MONDAY, August 3:

Righteous Dalmatos, Faustos & Isaakios.
Paraklesis 7 p.m. Chapel.

TUESDAY, August 4:

7 Youths of Ephesus, Martyr Eudokia.
Paraklesis 7 p.m. Chapel.

WEDNESDAY, August 5:

Martyr Eusignios & Righteous Nonna.
Vespers 6:30 p.m. Church.

THURSDAY, August 6:

Transfiguration.
Orthros 9 a.m. Liturgy 10 a.m. Church.

FRIDAY, August 7:

Dometios of Persia, Wonderworker Nikanor.
Paraklesis 7 p.m. Chapel.

SATURDAY, August 8:

August 8: Emilianos of Kyzikos, Myron of Crete.

SUNDAY, August 9:

 Apostle Matthias, Psoes of Egypt.