O
Almighty Lord, Thou has made the memory of those who suffered martyrdom
for Thee to shine most brightly. Thou didst strengthen them to emulate
Thy sufferings and they bravely conquered the power of the devil, and
therefore received the grace of healing.
By their prayers, O Christ God, grant peace to Thy people.
Sessional Hymn for Saturday Matins in Tone 3
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PATRON SAINTS
The Grimsby Orthodox Community is dedicated to St. Marina and St. Kenelm.
They were young Christians from the time when there was one universal Christian Church;
St
Marina representing the early centuries of the Eastern Church, and St
Kenelm representing the treasury of British saints before the
split between east and west.
They suffered violent deaths and are seen as sources of inspiration and
help for Orthodox Christians.
Their Feast Day is on July 17th.
The Holy Great Martyr Marina (known
in the West as St. Margaret) was born in Antioch of Pisidia (north of
Konya in modern day Turkey) in the third century. She lost her mother
in infancy and was raised as a Christian by her nurse, to the
disapproval of her pagan father who disowned her. She grew and remained
true to her faith during the reign of the emperor Diocletian (284-305)
when many Christians were being persecuted. As a teenager, her beauty
and piety brought her to the attention of the pagan Governor
Olymbrios who wanted her to renounce the Christian faith and become his wife. Her refusal led to her being horribly treated: she was imprisoned
and repeatedly tortured, but each time she was granted heavenly healing
and deliverance. Once, when taunted by the devil in the form of a
serpent, she was protected by the sign of the Cross and in a heavenly
light, a white dove appeared, greeting her as ‘dove of Christ’. Further
torture by fire and water followed until the Governor, enraged by the
inspiration she was giving to newly-converting Christians, finally
ordered her to be beheaded around the year 289. Most of her relics are in a church in Athens, but her venerable hand is at the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos.
 Troparion to the Holy and Great Martyr Marina in Tone 5O glorious Marina betrothed to God the Word,Thou didst abandon all things earthlyAnd contest victoriously as a virgin.For thou didst trample on the invisible foe when he appeared,O holy trophy-bearer,And thou dost now bestow gifts of healing on the world. Troparion to the Passion-Bearer Prince Kenelm in Tone 2O passion-bearer and follower of Christ;Young and guileless Kenelm.When thou wast murdered by thine own kin,The secret iniquity could not be hidden.A miracle revealed the truth to all the world,And justice was restored.Pray to Christ our GodTo save our souls.
The Passion-Bearer Prince Kenelm (or Cynehelm) was an Anglo-Saxon prince from the royal family of
Mercia.
On the death of his father in 819, he was chosen to succeed to the
throne, to the anger of one of his older sisters. She persuaded her
lover to kill him and a hunting trip in the Worcestershire forests
provided an opportunity. The night before, the child dreamed of the
disloyalty of some of his subjects and of his flight to safety as a
white bird. When up on the Clent Hills, the boy king was beheaded and
buried where he fell. The murder was revealed when a dove, bearing a
scroll, dropped it at the feet of the Pope. This told of the cruel
death of the little king, and the Pope ordered that his body should be
searched for. A party set out from the Mercian capital of Winchcombe in
Gloucestershire, and as they searched a shining light led them to the
spot where the body was found. As it was lifted from the earth, a
flowing spring of health-giving water burst from the ground. The body
was taken to the Abbey at Winchcombe where his shrine became a centre
of pilgrimage and healing for hundreds of years. It is mentioned in
Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ and in the 12thcentury it was said that
more pilgrims travelled to Winchcombe on his feast day than to anywhere
else.
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