15 September 2024 (MIA) 

Macedonian Orthodox Church Calendar

The Holy Martyr Mamas

He was born in Paphlagonia of eminent Christian parents, Theodotus and Rufina, thrown into prison for the name of Christ. In prison, Theodotus was the first to die, and Rufina, after giving birth to a son soon followed her husband, and the newborn child was left in the prison beside the bodies of his parents.  God the Provider sent His holy angel to a noble widow, Ammia, whom the angel told in a dream to go to the prison and take the child. Ammia asked the city governor’s permission to bury the dead and take the child into her own home. The child was dumb until the age of five, and then his first word was Mama, because of which he was given the name Mamas.  At school, he showed an unusual brightness, and, being brought up at home in a Christian spirit, did not conceal his faith but confessed it before his contemporaries. In the time of Emperor Aurelian, there was vicious persecution of Christians, and the pagans did not spare even Christian children. Mamas was fifteen years old when he was taken before the Emperor. The Emperor told him to deny Christ only with his lips. To this, Mamas replied: ‘I shall not deny my God and King Jesus Christ either in my heart or with my lips.’ The Emperor ordered that he be beaten, burned with torches and finally thrown into the sea, but an angel of God saved him and took him to a high mountain near Caesarea.  There he lived in solitude and prayer, and his holiness tamed fierce wild beasts. He was eventually found there by the persecutors and put again to torture, to eventually be stabbed with a trident by a pagan priest. He thus gave his holy soul to the God to whom he had remained faithful in all his sufferings. His relics have healed many of the sick.

Catholic Calendar

Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

Mother of Jesus. Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Betrothed of Saint Joseph. The feast originated in Jerusalem. In the 7th century, in the Byzantine Rite and at Rome, the Birth of the Blessed Virgin was celebrated on this day. The feast is also celebrated on Sept. 8 in the Syriac Rite and on Sept. 7 in the Coptic Rite. The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows was originally granted to the Order of the Servants of Mary in 1667; it was introduced into the Roman Calendar in 1814 and assigned to the third Sunday in September.  In 1913 the date of the feast was assigned to Sept. 15. Born unknown, perhaps 20 BC; celebrated on Sept. 8 and died unknown; assumed into heaven, date unknown.