My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 16th of September, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates
the Holy and Great EPHEMIA [EUPHEMIA].
Apolytikion [Dismissal] Hymn of the Holy Martyr. Fourth Tone
O LORD Jesus, unto Thee Thy lamb doth cry with a great voice:
O my Bridegroom, Thee I love; and seeking Thee, I now contest,
and with Thy baptism am crucified and buried. I suffer for Thy
sake, that I may reign with Thee; for Thy sake I die, that I may live
in Thee: accept me offered out of longing to Thee as a spotless
sacrifice. Lord, save our souls through her intercessions, since
Thou are great in mercy,
Kontakion Hymn of the Martyr. Fourth Tone
THOU strovest valiantly in thy sacred contest; and even after death,
thou makest us hol with streams of healings, O all-famed Ephemia. For
this cause we venerate thy most holy dormition and with faith we stand
before thine all-venerable relics, that we be freed from illness of the soul
and also draw forth the grace of thy miracles.
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Born in Chalcedon, her father was the Senator Philophronus and her mother’s name was Theodorisia, both devout Christians. Ephemia was a girl beautiful in both body and soul. When the Proconsul, Priscus, celebrated a festival of sacrifice to Ares in Chalcedon, forty-nine Christians absented themselves from the festivities and hid themselves. But they were discovered and brought before Priscus, holy Ephemia being among them. When the furious Priscus asked them why they had not carried out the imperial command, they replied: ‘Both the Emperor’s commands and yours must be obeyed if they are not contrary to the God of heaven. If they are, they must NOT only NOT be obeyed; they must be RESISTED.’ Then Priscus put them to various tortures for nineteen days, from day to day. On the twelfth day, he held Ephemia apart from the others and began to flatter her beauty, hoping to bring her thus to idolatry. When all his flattery proved fruitless, he ordered that she be tortured. First, she had her thrown into a fiery furnace, but she was preserved by God’s power. Seeing this, two soldiers, Victor and Sosthenes, came to faith in Christ, for which they were thrown to the wild beasts and thus finished their earthly course with glory. After that, Ephemia was thrown into a pit filled with water and all kinds of poisonous reptiles, but she made THE SIGN OF THE CROSS over the water as she went into the pit, and remained unharmed. She was finally thrown to the wild beasts and with a prayer of thanksgiving, gave her soul into God’s hands. Her parents buried her body. She suffered in the year 303 A.D., and entered into Eternal joy.
In 451 A.D., during the reign of the Sovereigns Marcian and Pulcheria, the Fourth Ecumenical Synod was convoked in Chalcedon against Eftyches and those of like mind with him. After much debate, the Holy Fathers of the Church who were the defenders of Orthodoxy, being 630 in number, agreed among themselves and with those who were of contrary mind, to write their respective definitions of faith in separate books, and to ask God to confirm the truth in this matter. When they had prepared these texts, they placed the two tomes in the case that held Saint Ephemia’s holy relics, sealed it, and departed. After three days of night-long supplications, they opened the reliquary in the presence of the Emperor, and found THE TOME OF THE HERETICS UNDER THE FEET OF THE HOLY MARTYR, AND THAT OF THE ORTHODOX IN HER RIGHT HAND. [The Prologue from Ochrid and The Great Horologion]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 