On Wednesday, July 8, 2020, Saint Procopius the Great Martyr is celebrated. But why is the great saint and martyr of our Church commemorated in the wedding ceremony?
St. Procopius the Great Martyr is presented according to his name, as the embodiment of precopision and wish for precopision. That which is said in words in the last wish of blessing.
“The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary of the Trinity…give you…the gift of life and faith…”, is said at the dismissal in a more observant and popular way, with the commemoration of the Saint’s Gift.
We are perhaps alienated by the folk style of the thing, but divine worship is not without this folk element. It is not intended only for the scholars, but also for the many people of God. There is room for wiser people to see it with more sympathy and understanding.
On the other hand, the case of Saint Procopius is special and particularly impressive. According to his synaxarion, the name “Prokopios” was given to him by the Lord when He appeared to him during his martyrdom:
“Uk etii si Neanias (that was the name of the witness), but Procopius years feronym called. May they fight and be men, prokoptes gar prokopes…”
It is praised by the sacred hymn writers as “prokopton en Theo” (doxastic ainos) or “the faith of prokopton” (kontakio-ikoos) or “feronymos prokopton” (hexapostelario). And in the first idiom of the hymns, it is characteristically related to the advance of the faithful:
“as a priest in God, he was an ambassador, a sportsman, a priest in her…in holy ways and divine deeds pleasing to him”.
In other words, all the above reasons come together to consider Saint Procopius identical with the prokopius: his name, his synaxario, popular piety and sacred hymnography…
