Nativity Fast, day 1
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
Begin Nativity Fast
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Our Venerable Father Paisius Velichkovsky (1794)
Paisius Velichkovsky (1722–1794) was the Ukrainian-born, Athonite and Moldavian elder who, more than any other single figure, revived Orthodox hesychasm and the tradition of eldership (starchestvo) on the eve of the modern age. Born Peter Velichkovsky at Poltava and formed on Mount Athos and in the sketes of Moldavia and Wallachia, he gathered a great multilingual brotherhood at the monasteries of Dragomirna, Secu and Neamț, where he restored obedience to a spiritual father, unceasing practice of the Jesus Prayer, and the disciplined copying and correcting of the patristic texts of prayer. His crowning labour was the translation of the Greek Philokalia into Church Slavonic — the Dobrotolyubie, printed at Moscow in 1793 — whose diffusion through Russia seeded the Optina eldership and the whole nineteenth-century spiritual renewal.
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Gurias, Samonas and Abibus
Gurias, Samonas and Abibus are the three great martyr-confessors of Edessa in Syria (Mesopotamia), venerated together though they died sixteen years apart: the laymen Gurias and Samonas, preachers of the word, were tortured and beheaded about 306 in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, while Abibus, a deacon of the same city, was burned alive about 322 under Licinius. Buried in one tomb, they became the patrons of Edessa. The most famous of their posthumous wonders — the deliverance of the maiden Euphemia, betrayed by a Gothic soldier who had sworn faithfulness to her over their graves — made the three the guardians of oaths and the heavenly patrons of honourable marriage, under which title they are invoked to this day.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Machell, founder of the monastery of Llanfechell (7th C)
- St. Fintan, monk and hermit (879)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 2
Having received grace from on high, O all-praised and wise ones, ye stand by those who are in trials; wherefore ye delivered a maiden from a bitter death. For ye are in truth the glory of Edessa and the joy of the world.
Troparion — Tone 5
Having granted us the wonders of Thy holy Martyrs as an unassailable wall, O Christ God, by their entreaties scatter the counsels of the heathen and strengthen Thy holy Church, for Thou alone art good and the Lover of mankind.
Readings
Epistle
2 Thessalonians 2.13-3.5
13But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. 16Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. 1Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: 2And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. 3But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. 4And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. 5And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
Gospel
Luke 16.1-9
1And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 3Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 4I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 6And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. 8And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 9And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.