My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and Savior JESUS CHRIST,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!
RESURRECTION ODE
Let us who have beheld the Resurrection of Christ, worship Our Holy Lord Jesus,
Who is alone without sin. We worship, Thy Cross, O Christ, and praise and glorify
Thy Holy Resurrection. For Thou art Our God, and we know none other beside
Thee, and we call upon Thy Name. Come, all you faithful, let us worship Christ’s
Holy Resurrection, for behold, through the Cross, joy has come to the whole
world. We praise His Resurrection, and forever glorify the Lord. He endured the
Cross for us, and by death destroyed Death.
Jesus, having risen from the grave, as He foretold, has given to us Eternal Life
and the Great Mercy.
Christ has risen from the dead, by death trampling upon Death,
and has bestowed life to those in the tombs.
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THE FEAST DAY OF THE HOLY APOSTLES JASON AND SOSIPATER
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Third Tone
O Holy Apostles, intercede with the Merciful God that He grant
unto our souls forgiveness of offenses
Kontakion Hymn. Plagal of Second Tone
Being illuminated with the teachings of Paul, ye became luminaries
unto the whole world, O thrice-blessed ones; for ye ever shine upon
the world with miracles, O Jason, thou fountain of healings, and
Sosipater, thou glory of the Martyrs of Christ. O God-bearing Apostles,
ye protectors of them that be in need, entreat God that our souls be
saved.
The holy Apostles, Jason, and Sosipater were of the secret Seventy (70) holy Apostles and celebrate with them on the 4th of January. From the beginning were genuine Disciples and followers of the blessed Apostle Paul.
Introduction
We read in the Acts of the Holy Apostles that Saint Paul and Silas, having traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, came to Thessaloniki, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. "And according to what was customary to Saint Paul, he went in to them, and for three sabbaths was discoursing with them from the Scriptures, laying open and setting forth that it was needful for the Christ to have suffered, and to have risen from the dead, and that ‘this Jesus Whom I proclaim to you IS THE CHRIST." And some of them were persuaded and were allotted to Paul and Silas–both of the Greeks who were reverent, a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But those Jews who were not persuaded became jealous, and took to themselves certain evil men of the market-loungers, and formed a crowd, and made an uproar in the city; and having taken a stand against the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. But not having found them, they were dragging Jason and certain brethren before the rulers of the city, crying out: "These who have upset the inhabited world are present here also, whom Jason hath received…"
The Life and Martyrdom of Saints Jason and Sosipater
Jason and Sosipater lived at the time when Kerkyllinos reigned over the Ionian island of Kerkyra (Corfu), a tributary of Rome. There were many then who were believing in the Lord, though punishment followed such a profession of faith. Many entered the struggle for deathlessness and were counted worthy of THE CROWN OF MARTYRDOM. Such were the Glorious Apostles JASON and SOSIPATER who entered these lists.
During the time of the missionary activity of the blessed Paul–that precious vessel of election, the mouth of Christ, the Light of the World–Who, to the very end, traversed the inhabited world and sowed the word of Truth in every place, he banished the devil through the planting of the knowledge of the Faith of Jesus Christ. His tours also brought him to the city of Thessaloniki, where he spread his mystical nets of the Lord’s Teaching. Among those who were caught was JASON, and with him SOSIPATER who hailed from Achaia Greece. They proved to shine forth as ever lit beacons illuminating all of the inhabited world. A passage from the Epistle to the Romans serves as the original encomium of these two Apostles, woven by Saint himself who comments: "Timothy my fellow worker, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, greet you" (Romans 16:21). (please note: Achaia, a Roman Province during New Testament times, included the whole Peloponnesos, and most of Greece (Hellas) proper, with the islands. This Province, with Macedonia, comprehended all of Greece.) Though there were no consanguineal ties, yet they were identified with Saint Paul by reason of coinciding virtues and love and obedience to his directions.
These divine and most excellent men, JASON and SOSIPATER, from the start, as we said, were fruit-bearing fields of the divine Paul. In the West, they enlightened those in darkness, by the Light of the Truth of Christ, undergoing for themselves no small perils. Their lives were irreproachable as they taught the divine word in every quarter into which they passed. The thrice-blessed Jason, initially, had taken up the governance of the Metropolis of Tarsus, whereas the blessed Sosipater fulfilled his duty toward the protection o the Iconium Church. For a considerable time, after they served and shepherded the flocks of these cities by the grace of Christ, blessing many by their teachings, divine zeal and moved both Apostles to travel further West.
JASON and SOSIPATER came to the city of Kerkyra, the chief city, port, and capital that lies on a Peninsula on the East Coast of the island. The Apostles constructed a very beautiful church outside of the walls of the city, which they dedicated to the Protomartyr Stefanos (Stephen). In that sanctified place, they offered glorification to God both night and day. God blessed their endeavors, as they guided multitudes to the True Faith. One night, as the Saints were praying and extending their supplication, some of the idolaters entered within and questioned them, saying, "Tell us, O foreigners, what is this new teaching? What kind of belief is this? What should we expect of you? Forasmuch as it appears that great and wondrous are these tidings of which you speak so that these things transcend the mind of man." The Apostles replied, "Certainly, those things which we preach are mysteries of the True God, even as the Faith which we proclaim is True and blameless." The Holy Apostles then showed them the Cross of the Christ and the Gospel, saying, "the faith of Christians is not apprehended through demonstrative speeches, as you think, but RATHER THROUGH WORKS, MANIFEST AND WITHOUT DECEIT. FROM TIMES OF OLD, FULLNESS OF ASSURANCE WAS GIVEN BY WAY OF DEEDS RATHER THAN A SHOW OF WORDS. AND WHERESOEVER THE FAITH APPEARS, IT ENERGIZES, THEREBY GIVING PROOF OF THE WORDS."
These and many other EDIFYING COUNSELS were uttered by the Holy Apostles. Those who had been attracted by God were persuaded and came to believe in the Savior Christ. Each one of them was baptized, thus adding to the faithful of the Lord both men and women. Now the king of the island, who was named Kerkyllinos, when he heard of these events and was informed about the Saints, became indignant. He dispatched his men, who were commissioned to bring Jason and Sosipater before him. He addressed them and said: "Tell me, from what parts do you come? And who is the one who delivered such teachings to you, which not only oppose the customs of the fathers but also prevent sacrifices to the great gods? Why do you seek to expand and magnify worship for the Crucified One?" The Holy Apostles answered, "…We have been ordained Disciples of the Apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, we pre and bach the gladsome news to all men! They, thereby, have the opportunity to shun the vain and falsely named gods, so that they also may turn to the True God, THE LIVING One, Who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and all that is therein."
The king, hearing these things, said to the men of God, ‘Be obedient to me. Once you renounce that Christ Whom you took up, then you can offer sacrifice to the gods before whom all the inhabited world sacrifices, and thus will your souls live in honor. Come now! You know what I mean unless you prefer to be put to the test by diverse tortures, the like of which have been neither heard nor seen so that your bodies would be left as prey for carnivorous beasts and birds. The Saints answered, "…Hear, O king, on the one hand, thou have authority over our bodies and have the power to punish them as thou hast said, whether it be by scourging, burning to fire, casting us into the sea…but on the other hand, thou have no authority over our souls, only God has such power as the One Who exercises authority over every creature that has breath…"
The Holy Apostles JASON and SOSIPATER suffered many tortures for Christ’s Name, drew many souls to salvation, and finished the course of their life there. As a result of their martyric account, there are holy icons depicting both of the Holy Apostles within a fiery cauldron, as shown in the Thessalian icons from the monasteries of Doussikon (16th Century) and Transfiguration of the Great Meteoron. In the ancient city of Kerkyra (Corfu), a church from the first centuries built in their honor and bearing inscriptions that mention the Saints by name, verify the historical account concerning them. [ Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chryspstomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy and Glorious Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 