THE HOLY MARTYRS JULIAN AND MARCIAN AND OTHERS WITH THEM

August 9

From the Prologue

They all suffered at the hands of the wicked Emperor Leo the Isaurian in defense of icons in the year 716 A.D. and were crowned with unfading glory.

HYMN OF PRAISE

SAINT MATTHIAS, THE APOSTLE

Matthias, the Apostle, spoke about Christ

And openly witnessed, before the Jews:

He is that Messiah, about Whom the Scripture writes,

He is the Son of God, Who from on High descended,

He is the Word of God, Divine Hypostasis,

About Him the prophets clearly spoke:

Moses prophesied: A prophet as I

From God, with radiance will shine among you.

And King David said: All the generations of the earth

By Him, will be glorious and blessed.

Isaiah, with a courageous spirit, toward heaven flies

And saw and said: "A virgin shall conceive

And give birth to a Son and a name to Him give,

Emmanuel, will He be called 'God is with us' ".

Still Jonah, the prototype of His burial was,

As the burial, so also the resurrection

When, in the belly of the whale, for three days, he lay

And by God again, made worthy of life,

The shadows have past and the prophecies fulfilled,

The promised words, in the flesh, came.

But, in vain does the awake man speak to the one who sleeps,

He who sleeps throughout the entire day, in the day, does not believe.