16 May 2026 (MIA)

Macedonian Orthodox Church Calendar

The Holy Martyrs Timothy and Maura

Strange was the destiny of these wonderful martyrs, husband and newly wedded wife. Twenty days after their wedding, they were taken for trial for their Christian faith before Arrianus, governor of the Thebaid, in the time of the Emperor Diocletian.

Timothy was a reader in the church where he lived. `Who are you?’, the governor asked him. Timothy replied: `I am a Christian and a reader in the Church of God.’ The governor said to him further: `You see, don’t you, the instruments prepared for torture?’ Timothy replied: `But you don’t see the angels of God, which are strengthening me.’ Then the governor commanded that he be pierced through the ears with iron rods, so that the pupils of his eyes leapt out with the pain. They then suddenly hanged him by the feet and stuffed his mouth with wood. Maura was at first afraid of torture but, when her husband gave her courage, she also confessed her steadfast faith before the governor. He commanded that, first, her hair to be torn out, then all her fingers cut off. After many other tortures, to which they would quickly have succumbed had they not been strengthened by the grace of God. They were both crucified, one in sight of the other. And thus, hanging on their crosses, they remained alive for nine full days, counselling each other and encouraging each other in endurance.

On the tenth day they gave their spirits into God’s hands, the God for whom they had suffered crucifixion, and thus became worthy of His Kingdom. They suffered with honour for Christ in 286.

Catholic Calendar

John of Nepomuk; John Wolflin; Martyr of the Confessional

While a child, the prayers of his parents cured him; they then consecrated him to God.

Great preacher who converted thousands. Vicar general of Prague. Counsellor and advocate of the poor in the court of King Wenceslaus IV. Refused several bishoprics. Confessor to the queen, and taught her to bear the cross of her ill-tempered husband the king. Imprisoned for refusing to disclose the queen’s confession to the king. When he continued to honour the seal of the confessional, he was ordered executed. Symbol of Bohemian nationalism. His image has been used in art as a symbol of the sacrament of Confession, and many bridges in Europe bear his likeness as their protector.

He was born in 1340 as John Wolflin at Nepomuk, Bohemia. He died burned, then tied to a wheel and thrown off a bridge into the Moldau River on March 20, 1393. On the night of his death, seven stars hovered over the place where he drowned. He was canonised in 1729.