{"id":11801,"date":"2023-10-28T17:12:10","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T21:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/?p=11801"},"modified":"2023-10-28T17:12:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T21:12:10","slug":"st-peter-news-october-231-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/st-peter-news-october-231-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Peter News October 31, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
\nFifth Sunday of Luke<\/h2>\n

Martyrs Galaktion and Episteme of Emmes; Apostles Hermas, Linus, Gaius, Patrobas and Philologos of the Seventy<\/h4>\n

Who Are the Martyrs Galaktion and Episteme of Emmes?<\/h4>\n
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By St. Nikolai Velimirovich<\/p>\n

Both Galaktion and Episteme were born in the city of Edessa, in Phoenicia. Galaktion’s mother was barren until she was baptized. After her baptism, she converted her husband, Cleitophon, to the true Faith, baptized her son Galaktion, and raised him in the Christian Faith [they had been catechized by a monk named Onouphrios]. When Galaktion was old enough to marry, his good mother, Leukippa, entered into rest, and his father betrothed him to a pagan-born maiden named Episteme. By no means did Galaktion want to enter into marriage, and convinced Episteme to be baptized, then to be tonsured a nun at the same time that he became a monk.<\/p>\n

Both of them withdrew to Mount Publion (near Mount Sinai) – Galaktion to a monastery and Episteme to a convent. They proved to be shining lights in their monasteries. They were first in labor, first in prayer, first in humility and obedience, and first in love. They neither left their monasteries nor did they see one another until just before their death. A fierce persecution began and both of them were brought before the tribunal [in Alexandria under the governor Ursus]. When the pagans mercilessly whipped Galaktion, Episteme wept. Then they whipped her. After that, they cut off their hands, their feet and then their heads. Their friend Eutolmios took their bodies and honorably buried them. Eutolmios had been a slave of Episteme’s parents, and then a monk with Galaktion. He also wrote the life of these wonderful Martyrs of Christ who suffered and received their wreaths in heaven in the year 253. [Galaktion was 30 years old at his martyrdom, while Episteme was 16 years old].<\/p>\n

Read the entire biography on the Mystagogy<\/a> website.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Services and Events This Week<\/h2>\n