Daily Calendar – April 28

The 119th day of the year, 247 days left until the New Year.

Church Calendar

The 70 Apostles: Aristarchus, Pudes and Trophimus (67); The Martyrs of Mesucaea, Suchias and 18 of his Companions: Lucian, Polyeuctus, Quadrates, Ikdiokis, Svikirion, Menas, Phocas, Svirgis, Domentis, Andrianus, Zosimas, Victor, Thales, Jordanes, Anastasias, Theodotus, James and Theodosius (100-130); The Martyrs Basilisas and Anastasias (68); Martyr Sabas of Guthelia (372).

The Holy Martyrs Sukia and her sixteen companions were noble servants of the Georgian prince of the Albanians.

Once they followed the daughter of the Albanian prince, Satenika, as retinues to Armenia. They arrived in the city of Artashat, the ancient capital of Armenia, where the Greek confessor of Christ Chrysos had come to preach Christianity. Through his preaching, these Georgian nobles were also converted to the true faith and followed him to Mesopotamia. There, having received baptism in the Euphrates River, which the priest Chrysos performed on them, they were found worthy to see the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ.

At the place of their baptism, the martyrs erected an honest cross and called it the "Cross of the Gospel." Soon they all secluded themselves in a deserted place and led a strict ascetic life.

When the new ruler of pagan Albania, Datian, learned that his former noble officials had become Christians, he sent his close friend Barnabas to them and ordered them to convert to the pagan faith. The saints firmly rejected his proposal and remained faithful to serving God, for which they were arrested and tortured.

The holy relics of these martyrs lay unburied in the open air for a long time and remained incorrupt until the 4th century, when Christianity was declared the state religion in Georgia.

The holy Hieromartyr Gregory, the enlightener of Armenia, built a church on the site of the martyrs' martyrdom. And he founded a monastery with it. Later, healing water appeared in that place.

Of the 70, the holy apostles Aristarchus, Pudis and Trophimus were martyred in Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero, together with the holy apostle Paul.

Born:

1758 – James Monroe, fifth president of the United States. Died in 1831.

1900 – Bruno Apicius, German anti-fascist writer. Died in 1979.

1924 – Kenneth Kaunda, President of Zambia.

1949 – Aleksandr Mindadze, Georgian film screenwriter working in Russia.

Died:

1813 – Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian commander.

1945 – Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator.

Events:

1770 – English sea captain James Cook and his expedition landed on Australian territory.

1838 – French artist Daguerre invented a simple camera, which was called the daguerreotype.

1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo, which led to the outbreak of World War I.

1920 – The Bolsheviks seized power in Azerbaijan.

1920 – The Central Scientific Archive of Georgia was established.

1953 – Vasily Stalin was arrested.

Memorable days:

International Day of Twinning Cities.

Afghanistan – Victory Day of the Islamic Nation.