Thursday, 1 February 2024

Thursday of the 35th week after Pentecost

291 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Forefeast of the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple

The first day of February is kept by the Orthodox Church as the forefeast of the Meeting of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Temple, one of the twelve great feasts, celebrated on the following day. The Meeting recalls the bringing of the forty-day-old Christ Child to the temple in Jerusalem by his Mother and the righteous Joseph, where he was received in the arms of the elder Symeon and acknowledged by the prophetess Anna. On the forefeast the Church begins to sing the hymns of the great feast, summoning the faithful to make ready their hearts to receive Christ as Symeon received him. The hymnography presents Symeon, "the receiver of God", going up to the temple in spirit, the angelic choir descending to behold the firstborn of all creation borne into the temple as a babe, and Sion adorning herself to welcome her king. The forefeast is older than the eighth century and is mentioned in the early Constantinopolitan typika. When the forefeast falls on a Sunday or together with another feast, the hymns are appointed to be combined with those of the day according to the Typikon. Together with the forefeast, the holy martyr Tryphon of Lampsacus is commemorated on this day.

Holy Martyr Tryphon of Lampsacus

The Holy Martyr Tryphon was born in Lampsacus, a village in Phrygia in Asia Minor. From his early years, the Lord granted him the power to cast out demons and heal various maladies. He tended geese in his youth but became known throughout his native city for his miraculous gifts, asking only faith in Jesus Christ from those he healed. Saint Tryphon gained particular fame by casting out an evil spirit from the daughter of the Roman emperor Gordian (238-244). His gift of healing became so renowned that many came to him seeking aid. On one occasion, he saved the inhabitants of his native city from starvation by the power of his prayer, turning back a devastating plague of locusts that threatened the grain harvest and the fields. During the fierce persecution of Christians under the emperor Decius (249-251), Saint Tryphon was reported to the commander Aquilinus for boldly preaching faith in Christ and leading many to baptism. He was arrested, subjected to torture, and ultimately martyred. The holy martyr was beheaded around the year 251 in Nicaea, Bithynia, Asia Minor (modern Iznik, Turkey), receiving the crown of martyrdom. In later centuries, the relics of Saint Tryphon were transferred from Nicaea to Constantinople, and subsequently to Rome, where they were venerated by the faithful. In Russia and Eastern Europe, Saint Tryphon is particularly regarded as the patron saint of birds and animals.

Venerable Brigid of Kildare

523

The Venerable Brigid of Kildare, also known as Brigid of Ireland, was born around the year 451 into a noble Irish family. She became one of the three patron saints of Ireland, alongside Saint Patrick (17 March) and Saint Columba of Iona (9 June). Brigid received her monastic training in the Celtic church and devoted herself entirely to the service of Christ and the establishment of Christian communities.

Saint Brigid founded a monastery on land given to her by the King of Leinster at a place called Cill Dara, which means "the church of the oak." This monastery became one of the most influential centres of monastic life in Ireland and marked the beginning of women's cenobitic monasticism in the Irish church. The community she established flourished, and Brigid became known for her holiness, wisdom, and pastoral care of her monastic sisters.

Her reputation for sanctity and wisdom spread throughout Ireland and beyond. As Irish missionaries were sent to rescue Western Europe from the pagan invasions and to bring the light of the Gospel to those lands, they carried with them devotion to Saint Brigid. In time, seventy churches and monasteries on the Continent were named in her honour, testifying to the wide reach of her spiritual legacy.

Saint Brigid received Holy Communion from Saint Ninnidh of Inismacsaint, one of the Twelve Apostles sent out by Saint Patrick, and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord on 1 February in the year 523. Her feast day is observed throughout the Orthodox Church on 1 February, and she is venerated as a great ascetic and mother of monastic women.

Venerable Vendemianus the hermit of Bithynia

Saint Vendemianus, also called Bendemianus, was born in Mysia in the fifth century. In his youth he came to Constantinople and there became a disciple of Saint Auxentius the wonderworker, one of the Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council. When his teacher withdrew to a small cave on Mount Oxia near Chalcedon in Bithynia, Vendemianus followed him and remained at his side until the elder reposed. After Saint Auxentius fell asleep in the Lord, Vendemianus would not leave the place hallowed by his master's labours. He shut himself up in the same crevice in the cliff and lived there in silence, fasting and prayer for forty-two years. He endured grievous assaults from the demons and bore them with patience, refusing to abandon his rule. By his ascetic struggle he received the gifts of healing, prophecy and the casting out of unclean spirits, and many came to him from the surrounding country to be helped in body and soul. Saint Vendemianus reposed peacefully in extreme old age in the early sixth century, around the year 512.

Holy Martyr Tryphon

250

He was the son of humble, pious parents in Phrygia, and as supported himself keeping geese. At a very early age he was granted the gift of healing illnesses of man and animals, and driving out unclean spirits. The daughter of the Emperor Gordian (238-244) was possessed by a demon, which no physician or pagan sorcerer had been able to drive away. One day the demon shouted, ‘Only Tryphon is able to drive me out!’ Gordian sent servants to scour the Empire in search of the unknown healer; eventually their inquiries led them to the teenaged goose-keeper, and they brought him to Rome, where his prayers immediately drove out the demon. The Emperor showered Tryphon with gifts, which he gave away to the poor on his journey homeward. When the persecution of Christians under Decius (250) broke out, Tryphon was denounced to the regional government as a dangerous promoter of Christianity (though he had continued to live as a humble peasant, his miracles and healings had made him known). His former service to the Emperor was either forgotten or of no account to the governor, who had him viciously tortured, then sent to Nicaea for further interrogation. There, when no torment would persuade him to deny Christ or worship the idols, he was beheaded outside the city gates. His relics were returned to Lampsacus, near his home, where he continued to work many miracles of healing. Saint Tryphon is especially invoked for the protection of gardens and farmland against locusts, reptiles, and all small pests.

Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity, and those with them at Carthage

203

Perpetua, Felicity, Saturus, Saturninus, Secundus and Revocatus were all young catechumens living near Carthage. Perpetua was of noble birth; Felicity (Felicitas) was her slave. All were arrested under Emperor Valerian’s persecution and sent to Carthage. Perpetua had a young child still at the breast, which she asked to take with her. The holy martyrs appeared before the tribunal and joyfully received their sentence of condemnation to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. Felicity, who was eight months pregnant, was concerned that her martyrdom might be postponed because of her pregnancy, but at the prayers of her friends, she went into labor three days before the games. As she groaned in labor, a jailer mocked her, telling her that the pain she felt was nothing to the pain that she would feel in the arena. The Saint replied, ‘Here I suffer for myself; then there will be Another with me, who will suffer with me; and my sufferings will be for Him!’ When she gave birth, she entrusted her newborn child to the care of a Christian couple and prepared for her end. On the day of the games, the brothers and sisters in Christ entered the arena together. The men were soon killed by the beasts, but Perpetua and Felicity, though mauled, remained alive. The impatient persecutors ordered that they be beheaded. Walking to the center of the arena, the two spiritual sisters exchanged the kiss of peace and gave up their souls to God.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Hebrews — Hebrews 10.35-11.7

³⁵Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward. ³⁵Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. ³⁶For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise. ³⁶For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. ³⁷For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. ³⁷For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. ³⁸But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. ³⁸Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. ³⁹But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

³⁹But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul.

¹Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.

¹Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ²For by it the elders obtained a good report. ²For therein the elders had witness borne to them. ³By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear. ³Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. ⁴By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaketh. ⁴By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. ⁵By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: for he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-pleasing unto God: ⁵By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. ⁶But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. ⁶and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him. ⁷By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. ⁷By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 9.10-16

¹⁰And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. ¹⁰And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean.

¹¹And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? ¹¹And they asked him, saying, How is it that the scribes say that Elijah must first come? ¹²And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. ¹²And he said unto them, Elijah indeed cometh first, and restoreth all things: and how is it written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things and be set at nought? ¹³But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him. ¹³But I say unto you, that Elijah is come, and they have also done unto him whatsoever they would, even as it is written of him.

¹⁴And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.

¹⁴And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great multitude about them, and scribes questioning with them. ¹⁵And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. ¹⁵And straightway all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. ¹⁶And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? ¹⁶And he asked them, What question ye with them?