Thursday, 4 January 2024

Forefeast of Theophany

Thursday of the 31st week after Pentecost

263 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Liturgy · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Zosimas

Hieromartyr Zosimas was a holy priest and martyr of the early Church who suffered persecution and death for his unwavering confession of the Christian faith. He endured torment at the hands of pagan persecutors and sealed his witness with the shedding of his blood. The title "hieromartyr" signifies his status as both a priest and a martyr, one who had been ordained to serve the holy liturgy of the Church and yet was called to lay down his life in testimony to Christ. Saint Zosimas stands in the communion of the holy martyrs who "conquered the kingdoms, wrought righteousness, and obtained the promises".

Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Euphemia

Saints Chrysanthus and Euphemia were holy martyrs who suffered for their confession of Christ. According to tradition, they were persecuted during the age of pagan emperors and sealed their faith through martyrdom. Chrysanthus, a young man of noble birth and exceptional learning, was converted to the Christian faith and became fervent in his love of God. His companion Euphemia shared his steadfast devotion and together they endured trials and tribulations for the sake of Christ. Their memory is venerated in the Orthodox Church as a witness to the saving power of faith in the face of suffering.

Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles

The Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles is a feast day established by the Orthodox Church to honour and glorify the seventy disciples whom Jesus Christ Himself chose and commissioned for the work of the Gospel. These seventy apostles are distinct from the Twelve Apostles who remained with Christ constantly. According to the Gospel of Saint Luke, our Lord Jesus Christ chose seventy more disciples and sent them forth two by two before His face into every city and place whither He Himself would come. He commissioned them to announce the coming Kingdom of God and to heal the sick, saying, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest." Following the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Seventy Apostles went forth into all lands, preaching the Gospel to every creature. Some accompanied the Twelve Apostles in their missionary journeys; others became evangelists in their own right. Among them were the holy Evangelists Mark and Luke, the disciple Timothy who was a companion of the Apostle Paul, and Prochorus, a disciple of the holy Evangelist John. Many of the Seventy suffered imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom for Christ's sake. The Church commemorates them collectively on 4 January to indicate the equal honour and dignity of each. The Canon for this synaxis was composed in the ninth century by Saint Joseph the Hymnographer.

Venerable Theoctistus, Abbot of Cucomo in Sicily

800

The Venerable Theoctistus was an abbot and founder of the Cucomo (also known as Coucouma or Coucoumis) Monastery on the island of Sicily. He lived in the second half of the eighth century, during a period of widespread iconoclastic heresy when the Orthodox faith was under severe persecution by iconoclastic emperors in the Byzantine Empire. During this turbulent time, many monks fled the Empire to escape the persecution of those who opposed the veneration of holy icons. The Venerable Theoctistus founded his monastery as a refuge where Greek monks fleeing the iconoclastic persecutions could come to pray undisturbed and preserve the Orthodox tradition and the veneration of sacred icons. As the founder and Igoumen (Abbot) of the Cucomo Monastery, he provided spiritual guidance and stability to the monks who gathered under his leadership. His monastery became a centre of Orthodox monastic life and spiritual witness during a dark period in the Church's history. The Venerable Theoctistus laboured faithfully in his abbatial ministry, guiding his monks in prayer, ascetical practice, and the preservation of Orthodox doctrine and piety. He reposed in the Lord in the year 800, having spent his life in service to God and His Church. The Venerable Theoctistus of Sicily should not be confused with another Venerable Theoctistus of Palestine (commemorated on 3 September), the companion of the great ascetic Saint Euthymios the Great.

The Ethiopian Eunuch of Queen Candace

His baptism by the holy Apostle Philip is told in Acts ch. 8. He was already seeking out the things of God — the story shows him reading the Book of Isaiah, and specifies that he was going to Jerusalem to worship. He returned home (“rejoicing”, say the scriptures) and proclaimed the Gospel of Christ in his native land; the ancient Church of Ethiopia traces its beginnings to his mission. He died a martyr’s death.

Venerable Apollinaria

5th c.

She was a maiden of high rank, the daughter of a magistrate named Anthimus in the city of Rome. Filled with love for Christ, she prevailed on her parents to allow her to travel on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In Jerusalem she dismissed most of her attendants, gave her jewels, fine clothes and money to the poor, and went on to Egypt accompanied only by two trusted servants. Near Alexandria she slipped away from them and fled to a forest, where she lived in ascesis for many years. She then made her way to Sketis, the famous desert monastic colony, and presented herself as a eunuch named Dorotheos. In this guise she was accepted as a monk. Anthimus, having lost his elder daughter, was visited with another grief: his younger daughter was afflicted by a demon. He sent this daughter to Sketis, asking the holy fathers there to aid her by their prayers. They put her under the care of “Dorotheos”, who after days of constant prayer effected the complete cure of her (unknowing) sister. When the girl got back home it was discovered that she was pregnant, and Anthimus angrily ordered that the monk who had cared for her be sent to him. He was astonished to find that “Dorotheos” was his own daughter Apollinaria, whom he had abandoned hope of seeing again. After some days the holy woman returned to Sketis, still keeping her identity secret from her fellow-monks. Only at her death was her true story discovered.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

James — James 1.19-27

¹⁹Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

¹⁹Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: ²⁰for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. ²⁰For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. ²¹Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²¹Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. ²²But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. ²²But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ²³For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: ²³For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: ²⁴For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ²⁴for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ²⁵But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. ²⁵But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing. ²⁶If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man’s religion is vain. ²⁶If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. ²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. ²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — 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.

¹And he said also unto the disciples, There was a certain rich man, who had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he was wasting 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. ²And he called him, and said unto him, What is this that I hear of thee? render the account of thy stewardship; for thou canst 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. ³And the steward said within himself, What shall I do, seeing that my lord taketh away the stewardship from me? I have not strength to 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. 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? ⁵And calling to him each one of his lord’s debtors, he said to the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? ⁶And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bond, and sit down quickly and write fifty. 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, A hundred measures of wheat. He saith unto him, Take thy bond, and write fourscore. 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. ⁸And his lord commended the unrighteous steward because he had done wisely: for the sons of this world are for their own generation wiser than the sons of the 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. ⁹And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.