Nativity Fast, day 24
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
Ven. Patapius of Thebes
Patapius (7th century, by the common Greek reckoning) was an Egyptian ascetic from Thebes who withdrew as a young man into the desert, and — when his renown for holiness broke his solitude — travelled to Constantinople, where he lived as a recluse in a cell by the city wall near the Blachernae church. There a gift of healing made him one of the great wonderworkers of the capital; the tradition remembers in particular a woman freed of a devouring cancer at his word. He reposed in peace and was buried in a church of Saint John the Baptist. His relics, later carried to a cave in the Geraneia mountains above Loutraki near Corinth, were found incorrupt there and remain the treasure of the monastery that bears his name. He is commemorated on December 8, within the forefeast of the Conception of the Theotokos by Anna.
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Holy Apostles Sosthenes, Apollos, Tychicus and Epaphroditus, Cephas and Caesar
On December 8 the Church commemorates a company of apostles of the Seventy, all named in the letters of the New Testament: Sosthenes, once ruler of the synagogue at Corinth and afterwards a bishop; Apollos, the eloquent Alexandrian of the Book of Acts; Cephas of Colophon; Tychicus, Paul's trusted messenger; Epaphroditus, whom Paul called his fellow-soldier; and Caesar, bishop of Dyrrhachium — together with the Apostle Onesiphorus, who is commemorated with them but whose principal feast and full entry stand under his own name. Chosen and sent by Christ among the Seventy (Luke 10), they laboured beside the Apostle Paul and became shepherds of the young Churches. Their memory is kept also on March 30 and, with all the Seventy, on January 4.
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Onesiphorus of the Seventy
Onesiphorus (1st century) is the disciple whom the Apostle Paul blesses by name in his last letter: "he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain, but when he was in Rome he sought me out diligently and found me" (2 Timothy 1:16–17). Counted among the Seventy Apostles, he is held by tradition to have served Paul at Ephesus, to have become bishop of Colophon in Asia Minor and afterwards of Corinth, and to have died a martyr at Parium on the Hellespont, where he had gone to preach Christ. He is commemorated on September 7 with the Apostle Evodus, on December 8 with six fellow apostles of the Seventy, and on January 4 with all the Seventy.
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Sophronius of Cyprus
Sophronius (6th century, by the usual reckoning) was a bishop of the Church of Cyprus, honoured by the tradition as an ascetic hierarch — learned, austere in his own life, and open-handed toward the poor and the oppressed. The Greek synaxaria remember him for having "quenched every fleshly passion" and for a pastorate marked by mercy; he reposed in peace. He is commemorated on December 8, on the same day as Patapius of Thebes, chiefly in the Greek tradition.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Gunthild of Wimborne (748)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 3
Finding thy church, O holy one, to be a hospital of the spirit, the peoples come to it in haste and ask to receive the healing of their sicknesses and the loosing of the transgressions of their life; for thou, O venerable Patapius, hast been shown to be a protector of all who are in need.
Troparion — Tone 3
Holy Apostle Onesiphorus, intercede with the merciful God, that he grant to our souls the forgiveness of offences.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O Father, was the divine image preserved with exactness; for taking up thy cross, thou didst follow after 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, O venerable Patapius, thy spirit rejoiceth together with the Angels.
Troparion — Tone 3
Holy Apostles, intercede with the merciful God, that he grant to our souls the forgiveness of offences.
Readings
Epistle
1 Timothy 5.1-10
1Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; 2The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. 3Honour widows that are widows indeed. 4But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. 5Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. 6But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. 7And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless. 8But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. 9Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, 10Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.
Gospel
Luke 20.27-44
27Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him, 28Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 29There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children. 30And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. 31And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died. 32Last of all the woman died also. 33Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife. 34And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: 35But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: 36Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. 37Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. 39Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said. 40And after that they durst not ask him any question at all. 41And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David’s son? 42And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 43Till I make thine enemies thy footstool. 44David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?