Christmastide, day 5
Sunday after Nativity
Saints commemorated
-
Saint of the day
Holy Innocents Slain by Herod
The Holy Innocents are the male children of Bethlehem and its districts, two years old and under, whom Herod the Great ordered killed after the Magi failed to return and disclose to him the newborn King (Matthew 2:16–18). Deceived and enraged, the tyrant sought to destroy the one Child by destroying many; the Christ-child himself was already borne into Egypt at the angel's warning, and so the slain infants died in his place and for his sake. Though they could not confess Christ in words, the Church honours them as her first martyrs — "baptised in their own blood," the buds of the martyr-host cut down before they could flower. Matthew reads over them the prophecy of Jeremiah, "Rachel weeping for her children." Byzantine tradition numbers them fourteen thousand. They are kept on December 29, within the afterfeast of the Nativity, and in the West on December 28 (Childermas).
-
Our Venerable Father Marcellus, Abbot of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones (485)
Marcellus (c. 400 – c. 485) was the third abbot of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones (the Akoimetoi), the Constantinopolitan community whose monks, divided into relays of choirs, kept the praise of God ascending day and night without ceasing. A well-born Syrian of Apamea, orphaned young and educated at Antioch and Ephesus, he gave away his inheritance, supported himself as a copyist that he might give the more to the poor, and entered the Akoimetoi under their founder Alexander. Chosen abbot against his will, he governed the community for some sixty years, raised it to its greatest flourishing, and supplied the first monks for the famed Monastery of Stoudios. A staunch upholder of the Chalcedonian faith and a man of attested miracles, he reposed about 485 and is kept on December 29, within the afterfeast of the Nativity.
-
Benjamin of Nitria
Benjamin (†c. 392) was an ascetic of the Nitrian desert in Egypt, one of the desert fathers whose memory is preserved chiefly through the Lausiac History of Palladius. After many years of monastic labour he received from God the gift of healing: by the laying-on of hands or by a little blessed oil he cured those who came to him of every sickness. In his last months he was himself afflicted with a grievous dropsy that swelled his body to an enormous size, yet he continued to heal others and bore his own suffering with such serenity that his brethren marvelled — asking only that they pray his inner man take no hurt. He reposed about the year 392 and is commemorated on December 29, within the afterfeast of the Nativity, together with the ascetic Athenodorus.
-
James the Brother of the Lord
James the Brother of the Lord (died c. 62) — styled by the Greek Church Adelphotheos, "Brother of God," and by the whole tradition "James the Just" — was the first bishop of Jerusalem and head of the mother church of Christendom for some thirty years. The Orthodox tradition knows him as a son of Joseph the Betrothed by an earlier marriage, and so the Lord's brother in the household of Joseph; Paul calls him simply "the Lord's brother" and counts him among the apostles and the "pillars" of the Church. He presided over the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), gave his name to the most ancient complete eucharistic liturgy still in use, and by his ascetic holiness and ceaseless prayer for his people earned the surname "the Just." According to Hegesippus he was cast down from the pinnacle of the Temple and clubbed to death; according to Josephus he was stoned by order of the high priest Ananus. His feast is October 23. He is distinct from James the son of Zebedee (April 30) and James the son of Alphaeus (October 9).
-
Thaddeus the Confessor
Thaddeus (†818) was a monk of the great Monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople and a disciple of Theodore the Studite, who suffered as a confessor for the holy icons in the second iconoclast persecution under the emperor Leo V the Armenian. Brought to trial and ordered to trample an icon of the Saviour set beneath his feet, he protested that he had been forced upon it against his will and openly cursed the impiety of the iconoclasts; for this he was beaten with cudgels, dragged by the feet, and cast outside the city walls. Cared for by a compassionate Christian, he lived three days more and reposed of his wounds in the year 818. The Church keeps him on December 29, within the afterfeast of the Nativity.
Readings
6th Matins Gospel
Luke 24.36-53
36And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. 38And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 40And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. 41And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? 42And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43And he took it, and did eat before them. 44And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48And ye are witnesses of these things. 49And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 50And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
Epistle
Galatians 1.11-19 (Sunday after Nativity)
11But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. 13For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. 15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, 16To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 17Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. 18Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. 19But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.
Gospel
Matthew 2.13-23 (Sunday after Nativity and Theotokos)
13And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 15And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. 16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. 19But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. 21And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: 23And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 4
A star sent the Magi to the newborn Child, and Herod sent forth an unjust army in vain, imagining that he could slay the One who lay within the manger.
Kontakion — Tone 4
The Only-begotten God the Word of the Father, when He came to sojourn among us in these last days, O divinely-eloquent James, declared thee the first shepherd and teacher of Jerusalem, and a faithful steward of the spiritual Mysteries; wherefore we all honour thee, O Apostle.
Troparion — Tone 4
As a disciple of the Lord, O Just one, thou didst receive the Gospel; as a martyr, thou art unturning; as the Brother of God, thou hast boldness; as a hierarch, thou canst intercede. Entreat Christ God to save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O Father, was preserved unfailingly that which is according to the image; for taking up thy cross thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou hast taught us to despise the flesh, for it passeth away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal. Wherefore, O venerable Marcellus, thy spirit rejoiceth with the angels.