Synaxarium

On this day, the holy ascetic and hermit Anba Phenouthius departed. This father became a monk from his youth and followed the most difficult paths of asceticism. Then God inspired him to wander in the inner desert. There he saw many holy wandering saints who struggled, and he inquired about their stories and recorded them. Among these were Saint Timothy and Saint Abou Nefr, the wanderers. In his early wanderings, he endured many hardships of hunger and thirst, but the angel of the Lord appeared to him and strengthened him. When he completed his struggle, he departed in peace.

May his prayers be with us. And to our Lord be glory forever and ever. Amen.

On this day is the commemoration of the consecration of the Church of the Forty Martyrs who were martyred in Sebaste by Licinius Caesar. It is the first church built in their name and was consecrated by Saint Basil the Great, who wrote their history and established a great feast for them. May their intercession be with us. Amen.

On this day, Saint Zechariah the Prophet, son of Berechiah, one of the twelve prophets and from the tribe of Levi, departed. He was born in the land of Gilead and was taken captive to the land of the Chaldeans. There he began his prophecy in the second year of King Darius, which is the year 520 B.C. He prophesied about Joshua son of Jehozadak and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, that they would build the temple. He also prophesied about the Lord entering Jerusalem riding on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He foretold about the thirty pieces of silver that Judas Iscariot took as the price for delivering his master to the Jews, and about the sorrow of the children of Israel who did not believe in him. He prophesied many other things besides these. He is the prophet who was killed between the temple and the altar and was buried in Jerusalem in the cemetery of the prophets. May his prayer be with us, Amen.