Nativity Fast, day 11
Leavetaking of the Entry
Saints commemorated
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Holy Great Martyr and Most Wise Catherine of Alexandria and those with her (305)
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Great Martyr Mercurius (ca. 259)
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Clement of Ohrid
Clement of Ohrid (c. 840 – 916) was the chief of the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, the first bishop of the Slavs to preach, serve and write in the Slavonic tongue, and the founder of the Ohrid Literary School. Driven out of Great Moravia after Methodius's death in 885, he came down into Bulgaria, was set by prince Boris I over the region of Kutmichevitsa in south-western Macedonia, and there in some seven years is said to have taught three and a half thousand pupils, of whom the ablest were ordained. In 893 Tsar Symeon made him bishop of Drembica (Velitsa) — the first Slav to hold a Bulgarian see. He built the monastery of St Panteleimon at Ohrid, wrote the first original body of Slavonic Christian literature — sermons, panegyrics, lives, and hymns — and reposed there on 27 July 916, in a coffin he had made with his own hands. With Naum, Gorazd, Sabbas and Angelar, and with the two brothers themselves, he is one of the Seven Enlighteners of the Slavs, the Sedmochislenitsi.
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Clement of Rome
Clement was bishop of Rome at the end of the first century (episcopate c. 92–101) and one of the Apostolic Fathers — the generation taught directly by the Apostles. The tradition makes him a disciple of the Apostle Peter, who is said to have ordained him, and reckons him the third or fourth bishop of the Roman church. His enduring monument is the Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Clement, c. 96), written in the name of the Roman church to quell a schism at Corinth: the earliest datable Christian writing outside the New Testament, and for centuries read aloud in the churches. A later passio relates that Trajan exiled him to the marble quarries of Chersonesus in the Crimea and had him drowned with an anchor about his neck; his relics, recovered there by Cyril and Methodius in the ninth century, were carried in part to Rome and in part to Kyiv. He is commemorated on November 25.
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Peter of Alexandria
Peter was archbishop of Alexandria from about 300 until his martyrdom in 311, the last of the great bishop-martyrs of the Egyptian church under the Roman persecutions — the tradition names him "the seal and the completion of the martyrs." Trained in and then head of the famous catechetical school of Alexandria, he governed his church through the fiercest years of the Great Persecution, largely from hiding, and left in his Canonical Epistle the Church's classic measure for restoring those who had lapsed under torture. He was the first to condemn and excommunicate the deacon Arius, before the Arian controversy had fully broken; the tradition tells of his vision of Christ as a boy in a torn robe, warning him not to receive the heretic back. Beheaded at Alexandria on November 25, 311, at the very spot of Saint Mark's martyrdom, he is venerated as a champion of Orthodoxy and a theologian whose writings were still cited at the Ecumenical Councils.
Troparia & kontakia
Apolytikion — Tone 4 (common of a hierarch)
A rule of faith and an icon of gentleness, a teacher of self-restraint: so did the truth of things show thee to thy flock. Therefore hast thou gained by lowliness the things on high, and riches by poverty. O father and hierarch Clement, intercede with Christ our God, that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion — Tone 2
As a branch of the divine Vine you were shown forth, all-holy Clement, bearing the clusters of true worship and distilling upon us the sweetness of salvation; therefore we honour your all-venerable memory, and we cry to you: intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion — Tone 4
O unshakeable and God-minded towers of the Church, and truly firm pillars of the true worship, all-praised Clement and Peter: by your intercessions preserve us all.
Troparion — Tone 4
O God of our Fathers, who ever deal with us according to Your forbearance: take not Your mercy from us, but by the supplications of the holy hierarchs Clement and Peter, govern our life in peace.
Troparion — Tone 4
O God of our Fathers, who ever deal with us according to Your forbearance: take not Your mercy from us, but by the supplications of the holy hierarchs Clement and Peter, govern our life in peace.
Readings
Epistle
1 Thessalonians 5.9-13, 24-28
9For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 12And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 24Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 25Brethren, pray for us. 26Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. 27I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. 28The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Hebrews 9.1-7 (Theotokos)
1Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. 2For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. 3And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; 4Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. 6Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 7But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Gospel
Luke 19.12-28
12He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 13And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. 14But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. 15And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. 17And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. 18And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. 19And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. 20And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: 21For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. 22And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: 23Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? 24And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. 25(And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) 26For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. 27But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. 28And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.
Luke 10.38-42, 11.27-28 (Theotokos)
38Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. 40But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. 27And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. 28But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.