3rd Finding of the Head of St John the Baptist
Polyeleos. Kept with the Polyeleos at Matins.
Commemorated today
- Third Finding of the Precious Head of St John the Baptist (c. 850)d. c. 850
What is known
The title places them at Precious Head. The year given is about 850.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- Holy Hieromartyr Therapon, Bishop of Cyprus (4th century)Hieromartyr — a bishop or priest killed for the faith · 4th century
What is known
A hieromartyr was a bishop, priest or deacon killed for the faith. The clergy were often taken first in a persecution, because removing them scattered the community that depended on them.
The title places them at Cyprus. The year given is the 4th century.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- Holy Martyrs Pasicrates, Valentian, Julius and those with them (302)Martyr · d. 302
What is known
A martyr died rather than deny Christ. The word is Greek for witness, and the Church uses it in that sense: the death is testimony, not merely a fate. Most of these deaths fall in the Roman persecutions before 313, though the title is not restricted to them.
The year given is 302.
They are kept together rather than separately, and for most of them the number, the place and the manner of death are the whole of what is recorded.
- Aldhelm, Bishop of SherborneHierarch
What is known
A hierarch is a bishop — including patriarchs, metropolitans and archbishops. The Church commemorates bishops in this rank whether they are remembered chiefly for teaching, for governing, or for holding a see through a difficult century.
The title places them at Sherborne. Kept in the Greek tradition.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
Appointed readings
- Composite 8 – Isaiah 40, 41, 45, 48, 54
- Composite 9 – Malachi 3, 4
- Composite 3 – Wisdom of Solomon 4, 5
- Luke 7:17–30
- 2 Corinthians 4:6–15
- Matthew 11:2–15
About this page. This is the Menaion date — the fixed calendar. Parishes on the New Calendar keep it on May 25 by the civil calendar. On the Julian calendar this same commemoration is kept on June 7 by the civil calendar. The movable cycle, which turns on the date of Pascha and changes every year, is on the calendar page. Where a life has been written on this site the name links to it; where it has not, only what the commemoration itself attests is shown, and nothing is added to it.