06/07/2026
The FIRST SUNDAY after PENTECOST
The SUNDAY of ALL SAINTS
The first Sunday after Pentecost is always All Saints’ Day. It follows logically: sainthood – holiness - is possible only through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Every day of the year, we commemorate multiple saints and reflect on their lives, some well-known and popular, some less so; by established tradition, a saint’s “day” is usually the day he or she reposed and began new life in the Kingdom. This is the case for the saints formally glorified by the Church.
This day originated as a day to commemorate all the martyrs known only to God. In the first three centuries, there were periods of persecution against the church so fierce that it was impossible to keep track of all those who lost their lives for their Faith in Jesus Christ. Once St. Constantine the Great ended the era of persecution, this day was expanded over the centuries to include “all the Righteous, the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Shepherds, Teachers, and Holy Monastics, both men and women alike, known and unknown, who have been added to the choirs of the Saints and shall be added, from the time of Adam until the end of the world, who have been perfected in piety and have glorified God by their holy lives. All these, as well as the orders of the Angels, and especially our most holy Lady and Queen, the Ever-virgin Birth-Giver of God Mary, do we honor today, setting their life before us as an example of virtue, and entreating them to intercede in our behalf with God, Whose grace and boundless mercy be with us all.” This is the explanation the Church gives in The Synaxarion, the guide for the calendar. All Saints’ Day, as the 1st Sunday after Pentecost, has been observed since about the year 890. In western Christianity, it was transferred to November 1st about a century later
As we reflect on the concept of sainthood today, we need to remember that the ranks of the saints of the Church are not just hierarchs, priests, monks and nuns – the “professional Christians” – but also include “regular people” - soldiers, farmers, merchants, homemakers, government workers, former thieves and prostitutes, the elderly and children; anyone who chose to take up the struggle to be transformed by the Grace of the Holy Spirit in the unique circumstances of their individual lives, and achieved a higher level of holiness. This higher level of holiness the Church recognizes as Sainthood. In venerating the saints, we are actually worshipping God, acknowledging the great things He did through them - in the words of Psalm 89 (Septuagint) “God is glorified in His Saints”
Why do we pray to the saints? We need to understand; we are not asking them to do things for us because of some special power or Grace they have; rather we are asking them to join with us in our own prayers to our Lord Jesus Christ. As Orthodox Christians, we affirm that that Church exists here in this world, with us who are still working out our Salvation (the Church militant), and in the Kingdom with those who have already fought their good fights and run their races (the Church triumphant). Just as we ask to pray for one another here in this world, we continue to ask for the prayers of those who have gone on to the next, because we are all one in Christ. The saints are alive in Christ and close to Christ, and in the words of St. Paul we hear today, they are that “great cloud of witnesses” – the Communion of Saints - who encourage us from their glorified existence now at the foot of the throne of our Heavenly King.
This day also serves as a reminder that we are all called to imitate the lives of the saints. By virtue of our Baptism and Chrismation, we are called to holiness. What is holiness? Holiness means being set apart and dedicated, consecrated for a special purpose. Holiness is living according to the commandments of God and His Holy Church, and this is the invitation give to all of us. In the Old Testament, God challenged His people “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44) and in the New Testament our Lord said “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) These are intimidating words, but we know that by cooperating with the Grace of the Holy Spirit, men and women can accomplish great things. They can become saints!
The Saints are our heroes, our role models. For this reason, the Church requires that everyone receive the name of a glorified saint at Holy Baptism – a patron who can inspire us and intercede for us, who understand the trials, tribulations and temptations of life in this world, but who by the Grace of the Holy Spirit has overcome them. The saints were once where we are now; God grant that in the age to come we will be with them where they are now.
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Troparion, Tone 4:
As with fine cloth and royal purple, Your Church has been adorned with the blood of the martyrs shed throughout the world. Christ God, she cries out to You: Send Your goodness to Your people; grant peace to Your world and great mercy to our souls.
Kontakion, Tone 8:
The universe offers You Lord, as the Planter of Creation, the God-bearing martyrs as the first-fruits of nature. By their prayers, Most Merciful One, through the Mother of God keep You Church, Your community, in deep peace.
The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles (Chapter 2)
Brethren, 33 (The saints by) faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented- 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. 1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew (Chapter 10, 19)
The Lord said 32“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” 27Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” 28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”