Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
Ven. George the Chozebite
George the Chozebite (mid-sixth century – c. 625) was one of the great ascetics of the Judean desert, abbot of the Monastery of Choziba in the gorge of the Wadi Qelt between Jerusalem and Jericho. Born on Cyprus and orphaned young, he followed his elder brother Heraclides into the monasteries of Palestine, passing from the lavra of Calamon by the Jordan to the coenobium of Choziba, where he spent the rest of his long life in humility, obedience, and unsparing labour, and where he became the community's revered elder and head. He lived through the catastrophe of the Persian invasion of 614, when Jerusalem fell and the desert monasteries were sacked, surviving to gather again the scattered brethren and to die in peace amid the ruins. His life is known in unusual detail because his own disciple, Antony of Choziba, wrote it down soon after his repose — a first-hand portrait of Palestinian monasticism in its last age before the Arab conquest. He is commemorated on January 8, within the afterfeast of the Theophany.
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Our Venerable Mother Domnica (Domnina) (ca. 474)
Domnica of Constantinople (fourth century – c. 474) was a venerable amma of the imperial city, remembered as a foundress of monastic life for women and a saint of extraordinary spiritual gifts. According to the tradition she came from Carthage in Roman Africa to Constantinople in the reign of Theodosius the Great, was baptised by the Patriarch Nectarius, and gave herself wholly to the ascetic life, gathering a community of women and reaching a rare height of prayer. The synaxaria credit her with healings, with power over the elements — stilling fires and storms that threatened the capital — and with foreknowledge of things to come, gifts by which she turned the citizens of Constantinople toward the care of their souls. She lived to a very great age and reposed a virgin about the year 474. She is commemorated on January 8, within the afterfeast of the Theophany.
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Saint Atticus, Patriarch of Constantinople (425)
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Saint Severinus (482)
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Abo of Tiflis
Abo of Tiflis (c. 756 – 786) was an Arab perfumer of Baghdad who embraced the Christian faith in Georgia and died a martyr for it — the patron saint of Tbilisi and one of the most beloved saints of the Georgian Church. Brought to Kartli in the household of the Georgian prince Nerse, Abo was drawn to the piety of the Georgian people, learned their language and worship, and was baptised. Returning to Tiflis (Tbilisi), then under Muslim rule, he openly confessed Christ and preached him, refusing every inducement to return to Islam; he was imprisoned and, in January 786, beheaded. His body was burned and his ashes cast into the Kura (Mtkvari) River beside the Metekhi cliff, over which a shining light was seen. His Passion, written soon after by Ioane Sabanisdze, is a monument of early Georgian literature. He is commemorated on January 8.
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Elias the Hermit of Egypt
Elias the Hermit was an Egyptian ascetic of the fourth century who spent seventy-five years in solitary struggle in a cave on a desolate mountain, and reposed in extreme old age at about a hundred and ten years. He belongs to the company of the great anchorites of the Egyptian desert, and is commemorated on January 8, within the afterfeast of the Theophany.
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Emilian of Cyzicus
Emilian the Confessor (died c. 820) was bishop of Cyzicus, on the Sea of Marmara, and a bold defender of the holy icons in the second iconoclast persecution under the emperor Leo V the Armenian. Summoned with the other bishops before the emperor when Leo moved to revive iconoclasm, Emilian refused to yield the veneration of the images and answered the emperor to his face, for which he was deposed, ill-treated, and sent into exile, where he died a confessor of the faith. He is numbered among the company of confessor-hierarchs who suffered in those years for the images of Christ and the saints. His principal feast is August 8; he is commemorated again on January 8, within the afterfeast of the Theophany.
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Gregory of Ohrid
Gregory of Ohrid was a saint of the church of Ohrid (Achris), in the region of the ancient archbishopric, remembered as a faithful teacher and shepherd of Christ's flock. An inscription in the cathedral church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) of Ohrid names him "Gregory the Wise." Beyond this the record is very thin; he is commemorated on January 8, within the afterfeast of the Theophany.
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Julian and Basilissa
Julian and Basilissa were a married couple of Antinoë in Egypt who, by mutual consent, lived together in perpetual virginity and, on the death of their parents, gave their wealth to found two monasteries — one for men under Julian, one for women under Basilissa. Basilissa reposed in peace after guiding her sisters; Julian remained, and in the persecution of the early fourth century he was arrested, tortured, and beheaded, together with a company won to Christ through his constancy: the youth Celsus (son of his persecutor), Marcionilla the boy's mother, the priest Anthony, a converted pagan baptised Anastasius, seven young brothers, and twenty soldiers. They are commemorated together on January 8, within the afterfeast of the Theophany.
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Paisius of Uglich
Paisius of Uglich (c. 1397 – 1504) was the founder and first abbot of the Protection (Pokrov) Monastery near Uglich on the Volga, and a wonderworker of the Russian north. Orphaned as a boy, he entered the monastery of his uncle, Saint Macarius of Kalyazin, at the age of eleven, and was formed there in obedience, fasting, and prayer, labouring at the copying of sacred books. At the wish of the Prince of Uglich, Andrew, he founded in 1464 the cenobitic Protection Monastery a few versts from the city, and served as its abbot; he founded a second monastery in 1489. He lived to a great age and reposed on June 6, 1504; his relics, glorified by miracles, rest in the monastery he built. He is commemorated on January 8, within the afterfeast of the Theophany, and on June 6, the day of his repose.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Ergnad of Ulster (5th C)
- St. Albert of Cashel (7th C)
- St. Pega, anchoress in Northamptonshire (c.719)
- St. Athelhelm, 20th archbishop of Canterbury (923)
- St. Wulsin, bishop of Sherborne (1002)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 4
In thee, O Father, was preserved unfailing the image; for taking up the Cross thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passeth away, and to have care for the soul, a thing immortal. Therefore doth thy spirit, O venerable George, rejoice together with the Angels.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy Martyr Abo, O Lord, in his contest received from thee our God an imperishable crown; for possessed of thy strength, he cast down the persecutors and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons. By his supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O Mother, was the image preserved with exactness; for taking up the Cross thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passeth away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal. Therefore doth thy spirit, O venerable Domnica, rejoice together with the Angels.
Troparion — Tone 1
Thou wast shown to be a citizen of the wilderness, an angel in the body, and a wonderworker, O our God-bearing Father Elias; by fasting, vigil, and prayer thou didst receive heavenly gifts, and thou healest the sick and the souls of those who run to thee in faith. Glory to him that gave thee strength; glory to him that crowned thee; glory to him that worketh healings for all through thee.
Troparion — Tone 4
O God of our Fathers, who dealest ever with us according to thy gentleness, take not thy mercy from us, but by the prayers of thy hierarch Emilian guide our life in peace.
Troparion — Tone 1
Thou wast shown to be a citizen of the wilderness, an angel in the body, and a wonderworker, O our God-bearing Father George; by fasting, vigil, and prayer thou didst receive heavenly gifts, and thou healest the sick and the souls of those who run to thee in faith. Glory to him that gave thee strength; glory to him that crowned thee; glory to him that worketh healings for all through thee.
Troparion — Tone 1
As a wise teacher and faithful shepherd of the flock of Christ, thou didst shine in the church of Ohrid, O venerable Father Gregory; wherefore, honouring thy holy memory, we entreat thee: intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4
Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their contest received imperishable crowns from thee our God; for possessed of thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons. By their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 4
Having lived on earth as a citizen of heaven, O Father Paisius, thou wast a teacher of the monastic life and an unshaken pillar of thy flock; by fasting, vigil, and prayer thou didst receive the gifts of the Spirit, to heal the sick and to guide the faithful. Wherefore we honour thy holy repose; intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Readings
Epistle
Hebrews 10.1-18
1For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Gospel
Luke 21.5-7, 10-11, 20-24
5And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, 6As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 7And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? 10Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: 11And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. 20And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21Then let them which are in Judæa flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. 22For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. 24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.