Holy Martyr Nicetas

Don't be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they don't sow, they don't reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height? If then you aren't able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? Don't seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek God's Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.

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	Holy Martyr Nicetas

Nicetas was a Goth by birth, and a disciple of Bishop Theophilus of the Goths, who took part in the First Ecumenical Council. When Athenarik, Prince of the Goths, began to persecute the Christians, St. Nicetas stood before the prince and denounced him for his paganism and inhumanity. The more strongly Nicetas was tormented by terrible tortures, the more strongly Nicetas confessed his faith in Christ, and prayed to God with thanksgiving. His mind was unceasingly lifted up to God and immersed in Him, and in his hand beneath his robe he held an icon of the holy Mother of God with the pre-eternal Christ Child standing and holding the Cross in His hands. St. Nicetas carried this icon because the holy Mother of God had appeared to him and comforted him. Finally, the torturer threw Christ's martyr into the flames, in which St. Nicetas breathed his last; but his body remained untouched by the fire. His friend Marianus took his body from the land of the Goths (Wallachia and Bessarabia) to Cilicia, to the town of Mopsuestia, where he built a church dedicated to St. Nicetas and placed the wonderworking relics of the martyr in it. Nicetas suffered and was glorified in 372.

Troparion, Tone 3:
Thou didst defeat error and triumph in martyrdom,/ Nicetas namesake of victory:/ for thou didst conquer the ranks of the enemy/ and end thy contest by fire./ Pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

Kontakion, Tone 2:
Thou didst stand firm and defeat delusion and hast received thy Martyr's crown,/ O Nicetas, namesake of victory;/ thou art rejoicing with the Angels./ Together with them pray unceasingly to Christ our God to save our souls.

Source: http://www.fatheralexander.org

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