Nativity Fast, day 28
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
St Spyridon the Wonderworker
Spyridon of Trimythous (c. 270–348) was a married Cypriot shepherd who became bishop of the small town of Trimythous and one of the most beloved wonderworkers of the Orthodox Church. Unlettered and utterly plain in manner, he is remembered above all for the disarming simplicity through which God worked abundant miracles — healing the sick, raising the dead, commanding the elements, and, at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325), confounding an Arian philosopher and, by tradition, demonstrating the Holy Trinity with a single clay tile that burst into fire and water. His incorrupt relics rest on the island of Corfu, where he is venerated as the island's protector and patron.
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Saint of the day
Our Holy Godbearing Father Spyridon the Wonderworker (348).
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St Herman, Wonderworker of Alaska (1836)
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St Finian of Clonard (549)
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Alexander of Jerusalem
Alexander of Jerusalem (died c. 251) was a bishop of the early third century, remembered as a disciple of Clement of Alexandria and fellow-student of Origen, as the founder of the first great Christian theological library, and as a confessor who twice suffered imprisonment for the faith. First bishop in Cappadocia and then, uniquely for his age, coadjutor and successor to the aged Narcissus of Jerusalem, he governed that Church for nearly four decades before dying in prison at Caesarea during the persecution of Decius.
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Peter the Aleut
Peter, whose native name was Cungagnaq, was a Kodiak Aleut of the Russian-American mission territory, baptised into the Orthodox faith, who about the year 1815 was seized with a party of Alaskan hunters by the Spanish authorities in California and, refusing under torture to renounce Orthodoxy for the Roman Catholic faith, was put to death. He is the first-glorified martyr of the Americas; the account of his suffering was carried to St Herman of Alaska, who blessed his memory, and he is honoured among the Saints of Alaska on September 24 (in Antiochian usage on December 12).
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Synetus of Rome
Synetus of Rome (died c. 270–275) was a reader of the Roman Church in the third century who was tortured and beheaded for his confession of Christ under the emperor Aurelian. His Greek name, meaning "a man of understanding," is rendered in the Slavonic books as Razumnik.
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Therapon of Monza
Therapon of Monza (died 1597) was a Russian monk of the Kostroma region, an ascetic of great hiddenness who laboured at the small monastery founded on the River Monza, north of Galich. He withdrew each day to pray alone in the forest and spent his nights copying spiritually profitable books, was granted the gift of wonderworking in his lifetime, and foretold the great famine of 1601. The monastery took his name after his repose.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Finnian, bishop of Clonard and founder of Skellig Michael (c.549)
- St. Colman of Glendalough (659)
- St. Columba of Leinster (548)
- St. Cormac, abbot (6th C)
- St. Agatha of Wimborne (790)
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
Mark 8.11-21
11And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. 12And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. 13And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side. 14Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. 15And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. 16And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. 17And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? 18Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? 19When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. 20And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. 21And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 2
Wounded with love for Christ, O most sacred one, and winged in mind by the radiance of the Spirit, thou didst find action through practical contemplation, O God-possessed one, becoming a divine altar and entreating for all the illumination of God.
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a new-martyr)
Thy martyr Peter, O Lord, in his contest received an incorruptible crown from Thee, our God; for possessing Thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and shattered the feeble insolence of the demons. By his intercessions save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 1
Thou wast shown forth as a champion of the First Council and a wonderworker, O God-bearing Spyridon our father. Wherefore thou didst speak to the dead woman in her grave, and didst turn a serpent into gold; and as thou didst chant thy holy prayers, thou hadst the angels concelebrating with thee, O most sacred one. Glory to him who glorified thee; glory to him who crowned thee; glory to him who through thee works healings for all.