Nativity Fast, day 12
Saints commemorated
-
Ven. Alypius the Stylite
Alypius the Stylite (c. 522–640) was the great pillar-saint of Adrianopolis in Paphlagonia, who is said to have stood upon his column for more than six decades until his repose at a very great age. A deacon of his native city, he founded a church over a haunted pagan burial-ground and there raised his pillar, driving off the demons of the place by his endurance and drawing to himself two monasteries — one of men, one of women — which he governed from the column. The foremost stylite of the middle Byzantine period, he continued in his own person the way of life inaugurated by Symeon the Stylite, and is commemorated on November 26 within the Nativity Fast.
-
Our Holy Father Innocent, Bishop of Irkutsk (1731)
Innocent of Irkutsk (c. 1680–1731), in the world John Kulchitsky, was the first bishop of the Siberian see of Irkutsk and is honoured as a wonderworker and enlightener of Siberia. Educated at the Kiev Academy and appointed to lead the Russian ecclesiastical mission to Peking, he was refused entry by the Chinese and left to years of hardship and uncertainty on the Mongolian frontier; named bishop of Irkutsk in 1727, he governed his vast and impoverished diocese for barely four years, maintaining its schools and toiling amid extreme want until his early death. His incorrupt relics, discovered later in the century, made him the first canonised saint of Siberia; he is commemorated on November 26.
-
St Nikon Metanoite ("Repent!") (ca. 1000)
-
Holy New Martyr George of Chios (1897)
George the Trophy-bearer (†303) is the most universally venerated of the martyrs of the East, honoured from Ethiopia to England as Μεγαλομάρτυς and Τροπαιοφόρος — "great-martyr" and "trophy-bearer," the soldier who carried off the prize. Born in Cappadocia of a martyred father and a Palestinian mother from Lydda, he rose young to the rank of comes in the guard of Diocletian, and when the persecuting edict was published at Nicomedia in 303 he gave away his goods, freed his slaves, and denounced the emperor's decree to his face before the council. There followed the long cycle of tortures for which his passion is famous — the spiked wheel, the pit of quicklime, the red-hot iron shoes, the poison of the magician Athanasius — through which the martyr was preserved, so that the sorcerer himself, and the Empress Alexandra, and many of the court confessed Christ. He was beheaded on 23 April 303 and buried at Lydda (Diospolis) in Palestine, where his shrine became one of the great pilgrimage places of Christendom. To him the later tradition attached the celebrated miracle of the dragon, and he is the patron of Georgia, England, Greece, Ethiopia, Portugal and Catalonia, of the city of Beirut and of Christian soldiers everywhere.
-
James the Hermit of Syria
James the Hermit of Syria was a solitary of the fifth century who struggled on a mountain near Cyrrhus in northern Syria, a disciple of the great teacher of hermits Maron. Wearing iron chains, eating only after nightfall and praying without ceasing, he attained through these labours to a high measure of spiritual perfection, receiving from the Lord power over demons, the gift of healing, and even, it is said, the raising of the dead. He fell asleep in peace, and is commemorated on November 26.
-
Nikon Metanoeite
Nikon Metanoeite (c. 930–998) — "Preach Repentance" — was the great missionary monk of the tenth-century Byzantine world, whose whole preaching was compressed into the one cry with which he opened every sermon, "Repent!" (μετανοεῖτε). Born in Pontus and tonsured at the monastery of the Golden Rock, he travelled through Armenia, Crete newly recovered from the Arabs, Euboea, Aegina and the whole Peloponnese, recalling Christians to the Church and confirming the faith. He settled at last at Lacedaemon (Sparta), where he built a church of Christ the Saviour and a monastery, and where his relics remained a source of healing. He is commemorated on November 26.
-
Stylianos of Paphlagonia
Stylianos of Paphlagonia was a hermit of Asia Minor, honoured across the Orthodox world — and most warmly in the Greek tradition — as the patron and protector of children. Having given away the fortune he inherited from his parents, he became a monk and then withdrew to a cave in the wilderness, where his holiness drew the sick and the troubled to him for healing. The Lord granted him a special grace toward the young: mothers brought their ailing children to him and he cured them, and after his death the pious continued to invoke him for sick children and for the gift of offspring. He is commemorated on November 26.
Readings
4th Matins Gospel
Luke 24.1-12
1Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8And they remembered his words, 9And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. 10It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. 11And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. 12Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
Epistle
Ephesians 5.8-19
8For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 13But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Gospel
Luke 13.10-17
10And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. 12And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. 13And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. 15The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 16And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? 17And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Troparia & kontakia
Apolytikion — Tone 4
As the deliverer of captives and defender of the poor, physician of the sick and champion of kings, O Trophy-bearer and Great-martyr George, intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion — Tone 4
As a ground of the virtues and an adornment of ascetics, the Church glorifies thee this day and hymns thee, O Alypius; by thy prayers grant unto those who honour with longing thy noble deeds and thy struggles deliverance from grievous transgressions, O thou who art free of grief, true to thy very name.
Kontakion — Tone 4
Tilled by God, thou wast shown forth as the most honoured husbandman of true religion, gathering for thyself the sheaves of the virtues; for having sown in tears, thou reapest with rejoicing, and having contended even unto blood, thou hast won Christ. By thine intercessions, O holy one, thou grantest to all forgiveness of their offences.
Kontakion — Tone 4
Let us the faithful praise with love the shepherd who bears the name of innocence, the preacher of the faith among the Mongol peoples, the glory and adornment of the flock of Irkutsk; for he is the guardian of the Siberian land and an intercessor for our souls.
Kontakion — Tone 6
Imitating the angelic way of life, thou didst reckon the delights of the world as refuse, showing unto us the path of repentance, O God-bearing venerable Nikon. Therefore we honour thee, keeping now thy memory; for thou art truly a well-spring of healings.
Kontakion — Tone 4
From thy mother's womb wast thou sanctified, like the divine Samuel, O God-bearer, and in the ascetic life thou didst glorify Christ God; wherefore thou becamest a well-spring of healings and a holy guardian of children and of infants, for Christ, whom thou didst glorify from thy tender years, hath gloriously glorified thee, O Stylianos.
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 Alypius our father, entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 3
O most radiant lamp of the Church, who didst illumine this land with the rays of thy virtues, and by the many healings of those who come to thee in faith didst glorify God: we pray thee, O hierarch and father Innocent, guard this city by thy prayers from every evil and sorrow.
Troparion — Tone 3
Lacedaemon rejoiceth, possessing the sacred shrine of thy relics, which poureth forth fountains of healing and delivereth from every affliction all who run to thee in faith, O father. O venerable Nikon, entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy.
Troparion — Tone 3
A living pillar of self-restraint and an unshaken pillar of the Church didst thou become, O blessed Stylianos; for having from thy youth entrusted thyself to the Lord, thou wast shown to be a dwelling-place of the Spirit. O venerable father, entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy.