Commemorated on October 4
Hierotheus was a companion of Saint Dionysios the Areopagite and received the Christian Faith from the Apostle Paul a short time after Dionysios did. Later, the Apostle appointed him bishop of Athens. At the time of the Dormition of the Most-holy THeotokos, Hierotheus arrived in Jerusalem and took part in her burial.Â
With his divine chanting he inspired heartfelt worship in many, revealing himself as a man inspired from on high. He labored much in the work of evangelism, converted many pagans to the truth and governed well his rational flock. He finally died a martyr for Christ, Who granted him a twofold crown in His Heavenly Kingdom: the crown of a hierarch and the crown of a martyr.Â
Troparion & Kontakion
Troparion — Tone 1
We the faithful all praise Hierótheus, the disciple of Paul, / Hierarch of Athens, / the world’s teacher and a preacher of the Faith, / who revealed to us Christ’s Mysteries / and poured forth streams of godly doctrine. / His life was well-pleasing to God, who is greatly merciful.
Kontakion — Tone 8
Hierarch of Athens, we praise you for you have instructed us in awesome and ineffable things, / and you were revealed to be a divinely-inspired writer of hymns. / Pray that we be delivered from every kind of sin, so that we may cry to you: / “Rejoice, divinely-wise Father Hierótheus.”