Feast Day: September 27th
The Life of Saint Aquilina: “O my mother, what else could I do except that which you instructed me? Behold, according to your command I have preserved my Confession of Faith inviolate.”…
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Prayers
Apolytikion – Tone 1: Let us praise the Divine Akylina, whom I behold as a Godly-minded girl and Champion of Christ, who watered the Faith with her love for Him, deposed the enemy through her Holy struggles, and was granted Divine Glory. She entreats Christ the Word that He be merciful to our Souls.
Apolytikion – Tone 1: Zagliveri rejoices in your struggle, the village that sprouted you as a fragrant flower, O most-comely virgin of Christ Akylina, for you struggled steadfastly, and received from God the Crown of incorruption. Entreat ceaselessly that He be merciful to our Souls.
Doxastikon – Tone 2: Today, as noetic spring, the Memory of the Neomartyr Akylina has dawned among the hardness [of hearts], making glad the faithful, for as a flower of the field, she bloomed amidst a perverse generation, as her athletic grace compels us to cry out: hail, you who deposed the ancient enemy in a fragile body, through the power of the Faith. Hail, O Glorious Virgin-Martyr, the newly-shining lamp of the Church of Christ. Hail, the sacred Blessing of your place of origin, and their protector and defender and Divine refuge. Intercede with your Bridegroom, that we who celebrate your Memory be saved from every need.
Kontakion – Tone 3: Though fragile in body, you deposed the enemy who greatly wars against us, through your radiant struggle, O Virgin, and you hastened, bearing a lamp, to your Bridegroom, Who Crowned you with the Crown of radiant incorruption. And you entreat, O Akylina, on behalf of those who praise you in faith.
Oikos: The All-Sacred Memory of the Champion has dawned as a moon-bearing star, calling together the Faithful to praise the Feast. Let us all gather on behalf of this, and bring to mind these paradoxical things that we behold of the Martyr Akylina, who for the Faith, and furthermore with bravery, and unconquerable endurance, through the power of Christ, and in a fragile and feeble body of infirmity, was shown as utterly radiant. Through her surpassing boldness, she trampled upon the enemies as upon the play-things of children. These unspeakable things and wondrous feats the Martyr worked through the Faith of Christ, as she overcame the false pretenses of the tyrannical kingdom. And she endured painful beatings, and lawfully struggled, offering herself to Christ the Saviour as a pure offering, Whom you entreat, O Akylina, on behalf of those who praise you in faith.
Saint Aquilina’s mother remained anchored in the Faith of Christ and never ceased every hour to exhort her child to stand firmly in the Faith of Christ and not to ever deny Jesus Christ.
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“Perhaps you think that I have the same little Faith as yourself to deny my Maker and Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ Who submitted to the Cross and death for our sake? I refuse. I am prepared to undergo the woeful torment, even death, for the love of Christ.”
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“Have no fear, my mother, for I have this intention. The All-kind God will be my help. Pray for me.”
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“No, I will not become one. Never will I forsake my belief and my Master Christ!… And what attraction does your faith have for me to deny my Christ, or what miracle of your religion shall I believe, since you have filthy and indecent lives?”
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“O my mother, what else could I do except that which you instructed me? Behold, according to your command I have preserved my Confession of Faith inviolate.”
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An Icon
