Thursday, 7 November 2024

Thursday of the 20th week after Pentecost

186 days after Pascha · Tone 2 · Liturgy · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy 33 martyrs of Melitene

The holy thirty-three martyrs of Melitene suffered for Christ in the Armenian city of Melitene around the year 290 during the persecution of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Their leader was Saint Hieron, a Christian husbandman from Tyana in Cappadocia, raised by his pious mother and renowned for his physical strength as much as for his goodness. When Roman officers came to recruit men for the imperial army, Hieron refused to serve in a force used to persecute his fellow Christians, and when they sought to compel him he drove them off with a wooden club. He fled to a cave with eighteen kinsmen and friends, but his mother and a fellow believer eventually persuaded him to accept arrest, lest others suffer in his place. With thirty-two companions, all soldiers or close friends, he was brought before the persecutor Lysias and ordered to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. The whole company refused, openly confessing Christ. After cruel beatings and the cutting off of Hieron's right arm at the elbow, they were cast half-dead into prison and four days later beheaded together. A noble Christian named Chrysanthus ransomed Hieron's head from the tyrant; after the persecutions ceased he built a church on the place of execution and enshrined the venerable head within it.

Holy martyrs Auctus, Taurion and Thessalonica of Amphipolis

The Holy Martyrs Auctus, Taurion and Thessalonica suffered for Christ at Amphipolis in Macedonia in the early Christian centuries. Saint Thessalonica was the only daughter of a pagan priest of Amphipolis. Having received the faith of Christ, she refused to take part in her father's idolatrous sacrifices, and when he discovered her conversion he beat her cruelly and drove her from the family home. Two pious Christian neighbours, Auctus and Taurion, came to her defence and rebuked her father for his cruelty, whereupon they were denounced to the local authorities and arrested. After enduring fearful tortures for confessing Christ, all three were beheaded together and so received the crown of martyrdom. The Church honours them on this day for their joint witness, in which the bonds of Christian charity proved stronger than ties of blood.

Saint Willibrord, enlightener of the Frisians

Saint Willibrord was born around 658 in Northumbria in the north of England, the son of the holy hermit Wilgis. As a small child he was offered by his father to the monastery of Ripon under the abbacy of Saint Wilfrid of York, where he received his early monastic and scholarly formation. When Saint Wilfrid was driven into exile in 678, Willibrord travelled to Ireland and spent twelve years in the schools of Saint Egbert and Saint Wigbert, deepening his learning and ascetic life. In 690, with eleven companions, he was sent by Saint Egbert to evangelize the pagan Frisians, who had recently come under the protection of the Frankish ruler Pippin II of Heristal. Travelling to Rome to seek the blessing of Pope Sergius I, he returned to preach with apostolic zeal among the Frisians, baptizing many and overthrowing pagan shrines. In 695 he was again sent to Rome and consecrated by Pope Sergius as the first archbishop of the Frisians, with his see at Utrecht; on this occasion the Pope renamed him Clement. In 698 he founded the great monastery of Echternach in Luxembourg as a missionary base, and from there he laboured for forty more years among the peoples of the Low Countries and Lower Germany, even preaching among the Danes. He reposed at Echternach on 7 November 739, and his shrine there remains a place of pilgrimage, marked each Whit Tuesday by the celebrated dancing procession in his honour.

Venerable Lazarus the wonderworker of Mount Galesius

Saint Lazarus the Wonderworker was born around 968 in the city of Magnesia in Lydia of Asia Minor, the son of devout parents named Niketas and Irene. From childhood he was drawn to prayer and church, and at the age of seven he was given to be educated by his uncle, a monk. Filled with longing for the Holy Land, he secretly left home in his youth and after many adventures reached Palestine, where he was tonsured a monk at the great monastery of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified. There he spent some ten years in obedience and ascetic struggle, gaining the love and respect of the brethren, and was eventually ordained priest by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. When the Saracen persecutions made life in Palestine impossible, he returned to his native country and settled near Ephesus on the desolate Mount Galesius, where he beheld a vision of a fiery pillar surrounded by angels and built a church in honour of the Resurrection of Christ. Following the example of Saint Symeon the Stylite, he embraced the feat of pillar-dwelling, mounting a column where he laboured for many years exposed to wind, sun and frost, while around him grew up three monasteries which he governed and to which he gave the typikon. Renowned during his lifetime for the gifts of healing, prophecy and discernment, he reposed in great old age on 7 November 1053 in the reign of Constantine Monomachos, having foretold the day of his death.

Saint Willibrord, first Bishop of Utrecht and Apostle of Holland

739

He was born in Northubria in England around 638. At the age of seven he was sent to the monastery at Ripon for education under St Wilfrid (April 24), the abbot. At the age of twenty he traveled to Ireland to live among the holy monks of that land; he spent twelve years there as the spiritual child of St Egbert (also April 24). In 690 St Egbert sent Willibrord as head of a company of twelve monks to take the Gospel to the pagan lands around Frisia. The holy missionary first went to Rome to receive the blessing of Pope Sergius, then with his fellow-monks preached the Gospel throughout Holland and Zealand. In 695 Pope Sergius consecrated Willibrord Archbishop of Utrecht, instructing him to organize the Church throughout that area. As Archbishop, Willibrord continued to labor tirelessly for the spread of the Gospel in those pagan lands; his missionary travels took him as far as Denmark. He reposed in peace in 739 at Echternach Monastery (located in present-day in Luxembourg), having served for forty-four years as a bishop and for most of his life as a monastic. His tomb soon became a place of pilgrimage.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Philippians — Philippians 3.1-8

¹Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe.

¹Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. ²Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision:

²Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. ³for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh: ³For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. ⁴though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: ⁴Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: ⁵circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; ⁵Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; ⁶as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. ⁶Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. ⁷But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. ⁷Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. ⁸Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, ⁸Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 13.1-9

¹There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

¹Now there were some present at that very season who told him of the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they suffered such things? ²And he answered and said unto them, Think ye that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they have suffered these things? ³I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. ³I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all in like manner perish. ⁴Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? ⁴Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them, think ye that they were offenders above all the men that dwell in Jerusalem? ⁵I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. ⁵I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

⁶And he spake this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none.

⁶He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. ⁷And he said unto the vinedresser, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why doth it also cumber the ground? ⁷Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? ⁸And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: ⁸And he answering saith unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: ⁹And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. ⁹and if it bear fruit thenceforth, well; but if not, thou shalt cut it down.