Pray
The Synaxarium
The saints the Church commemorates today, the Katameros readings appointed for the day, and the season it is kept in.
Commemorated today
The Commemoration of the Archangel Michael.
On this day we celebrate, commemorating the honorable, the intercessor of mankind. His intercession be with us. Amen.
Read it at copticchurch.net →The Departure of St. Gelasius.
Also on this day, St. Gelasius, the struggling ascetic, departed. He was born of Christian parents, who brought him up in the Christian faith. They taught him the church subjects, and then he was ordained a deacon in the church. He labored in his obedience to Christ and in carrying His yoke. He went to the wilderness of Shiheet and became a monk. Afterwards, he was ordained a priest, and the angel of the Lord guided him to a distant place where many monks gathered around him, and he was a great example for them. He considered himself as one of them. He was patient and long suffering to the point that he transcribed the Holy Bible and placed it in the church for the other monks to read. One day a stranger visited him and stole the transcribed Bible and went to try to sell it to someone. That person wanted to know its value, so he went to St. Gelasius and showed him the Bible. St. Gelasius knew that it was his book and asked him, "For how much did he sell it to you?" He answered, "For sixteen Dinari." The saint said to him that it was cheap, and so the man took it and went to his home. When the seller came back to him to pick up the price, he said to him, "I have shown the Bible to Father Gelasius and he said that the price was too high." The seller asked, "Did the father tell you anything else?" The buyer replied, "No." The man who stole the Bible said, "I do not want to sell it." He took the book and went to Father Gelasius and gave it to him weeping and regretting what he did. The saint did not accept it from him. However, after the man had insisted with many tears, the saint at last accepted it from him. God granted this saint the gift of performing miracles. One day, the monastery was presented with an amount of fish. After they were cooked, the cook asked one of the servants to guard it, but the servant ate a great part of it. When the cook knew what had happened, he was angry at that servant, for he ate before the time of eating and before the elders had blessed it. The cook beat him with a deadly hit that killed him. The cook was afraid of what he had done and went to St. Gelasius and told him what had happened. The saint told him to take the body and put it in the church in front of the altar and to leave it there. The saint and the monks came to the church, prayed the Vespers prayer, and then the saint departed from the church, and the boy rose up and followed him. The monks did not know of this miracle until the saint had departed. When this father finished the course of his life in a good old age, the Lord wanted him to rest from the labors of this world, and he departed leaving us with this good memory. His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
Read it at copticchurch.net →
The feasts and fasts ahead
- Tout 14, 1743 AMCoptic New Year (Nayrouz)
- Tout 17, 1743 AMFeast of the Cross
- Tout 29, 1743 AMAnnunciation, Nativity, and Resurrection
- Hatour 16, 1743 AMAdvent Fast
- Kiahk 1, 1743 AMKiahk
- Kiahk 26, 1743 AMNativity Paramoun
- Kiahk 29, 1743 AMNativity Feast
- Touba 6, 1743 AMCircumcision Feast
- Touba 8, 1743 AMTheophany Paramoun
- Touba 11, 1743 AMTheophany Feast
- Touba 13, 1743 AMWedding of Cana of Galilee Feast
- Amshir 8, 1743 AMEntrance into the Temple Feast
Synaxarium accounts are credited to copticchurch.net. The calendar is computed from the Coptic Paschalion; readings are cited, not reproduced. Supplemented entries are marked local where the Church keeps a commemoration the published Synaxarium predates.