Nativity Fast, day 27
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
Ven. Daniel the Stylite
Daniel the Stylite (c. 409–493) was the great pillar-saint of the Bosphorus and the foremost heir of Symeon the Stylite, whose leather mantle he received. A Mesopotamian monk drawn to Constantinople, he mounted a pillar at Anaplus on the European shore and stood upon it for thirty-three years, until his repose in his mid-eighties. Ordained priest upon the column by the Patriarch Gennadius, he became the oracle and conscience of the capital: emperors Leo I and Zeno sought his counsel, he foretold the great fire of the city, and he descended from his pillar only once — to march into Constantinople and confront the usurper Basiliscus in defence of the Council of Chalcedon. His feast is December 11, within the Nativity Fast.
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Saint Nikon the Dry of the Kiev Caves (1101)
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Our Venerable Father Luke the New Stylite (979)
Luke the New Stylite (c. 879–979) was a soldier of the Byzantine army who became the last of the great pillar-saints of the East. Having survived unhurt the catastrophic defeat of the imperial forces by the Bulgarians at Anchialos in 917, he laid down his arms for the monastic life, was ordained priest, and took up the ascesis of the stylites. After brief pillars in Anatolia and near the capital he settled at Chalcedon, on the Asian shore opposite Constantinople, where he stood upon a column for forty-five years and was renowned for the gift of wonderworking, until his repose about the year 979 at a very great age. He is commemorated on December 11, the same day as the elder pillar-saint Daniel the Stylite, within the Nativity Fast.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Cian the Hermit (6th C)
- St. Peris of Llanberis (c.6th C)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 4
Like a star of many lights didst thou ascend upon the pillar, O blessed one, and enlighten the world by thy holy works; the darkness of error thou didst drive away, O father. Wherefore we beseech thee: shine now also in the hearts of thy servants with the unsetting light of knowledge.
Synaxarion
The pillar raised Luke on high; and Luke raised his mind to God, toward whom he runs.
Troparion — Tone 1
Thou didst become a pillar of patience, O venerable one, rivalling the forefathers: Job in his sufferings, Joseph in his temptations, and the life of the bodiless powers while yet in the body. O Daniel our father, entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 1
Thou didst become a pillar of patience, O venerable one, rivalling the forefathers: Job in his sufferings, Joseph in his temptations, and the life of the bodiless powers while yet in the body. O Luke our father, entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Readings
Epistle
2 Thessalonians 2.1-12
1Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Gospel
Mark 8.30-34
30And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. 31And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. 33But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. 34And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.