Wednesday, 20 November 2024

Wednesday of the 22nd week after Pentecost

199 days after Pascha · Tone 4 · Liturgy · Nativity Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Forefeast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple

On this day the Orthodox Church keeps the eve, or Forefeast, of the great feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the year, which is celebrated on the morrow. The hymns of the divine office and of the Liturgy on this day are filled with the joy of the Church at the approaching mystery, calling upon the faithful to make ready their souls as a temple for the receiving of the Mother of the King, and rehearsing in expectant tones the events of the third year of the life of the holy Virgin, when, fulfilling the vow of her parents Joachim and Anna, she was led with rejoicing and the lighting of lamps to the temple at Jerusalem and entered into the Holy of Holies, there to dwell in prayer until the time of her betrothal to the righteous Joseph. The Forefeast is the only one of the prefestal days that falls within the Nativity Fast, and it joins together the themes of preparation for the Incarnation and of the consecration of the holy Virgin from her infancy to be the living temple of the Word.

Saint Edmund the Martyr, King of East Anglia

869

Saint Edmund was born about the year 841 of the royal line of the East Angles and was crowned king of his people on Christmas Day in 855, at the age of fourteen, having been raised in piety and trained in the Scriptures from his infancy. For some fifteen years he ruled his kingdom as a Christian king, defending it from the incursions of the heathen Danes and showing great care for the poor and the churches. In the year 869 the great army of the Danes under Ingvar and Hubba descended upon East Anglia, and after a battle in which his forces were defeated Edmund was taken at Hellesdon, or by other accounts at Hoxne. Refusing the demand of Ingvar that he renounce Christ and rule as a vassal under the heathen, he was bound to a tree, scourged, set at as a target by the archers until he was bristling with arrows like a holy hedgehog, and at last beheaded on 20 November 869. His head, cast into the wood, was miraculously preserved and reunited to his body, which afterwards was enshrined at the place that came to be called Bury Saint Edmunds, where his uncorrupt relics worked many miracles, and he was reckoned for centuries the patron saint of England before being supplanted by Saint George.

Saint Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople

Saint Proclus was born at Constantinople in the latter half of the fourth century and from his youth was a disciple and reader of Saint John Chrysostom, by whom he was ordained deacon and then presbyter, and from whom he received the love of preaching and the careful study of the Scriptures. Consecrated bishop of Cyzicus by the patriarch Sisinnius about 426, he was unable to take possession of his see on account of opposition there, and remained at Constantinople preaching in the great church. It was Proclus who, on the feast of the Theotokos in 429, delivered in the presence of the patriarch Nestorius his celebrated homily on the holy Virgin, in which he confessed her to be truly Theotokos, the loom upon which the garment of union was wrought, the sacred shrine of the divinity, thereby publicly opposing the new heresy. After the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus he was at last raised to the patriarchal throne in 434. As patriarch he ruled the imperial church for some twelve years with peace and gentleness, brought back from Comana the relics of his master Saint John Chrysostom in 438 amid the rejoicings of the city, instituted the singing of the Trisagion as it is still sung in the Liturgy after a great earthquake, and reposed in peace in 446, leaving many homilies and dogmatic letters which remain among the treasures of the Greek Fathers.

Venerable Gregory the Decapolite

He was born in Irenopolis, one of the “Ten Cities” of Asia Minor. Though his parents wanted him to marry, he entered monastic life as a young man, and struggled for many years, living in reclusion under the guidance of a wise spiritual father. One day, while in prayer, he was carried away to Paradise and experienced the blessedness that the redeemed will know at the general Resurrection. The vision seemed to him only to last for an hour, but he learned from his disciple that he had been in ecstasy for four days.

Aware that the Enemy can appear as an angel of light, and that we should be suspicious of seeming revelations, he sought the counsel of his Abbot, who reassured him, and told him to give thanks to God by continuing in his ascetic labors.

Soon, he was told by revelation that he was to go forth into the world, living without an earthly home, to uphold the Orthodox faith, which was then under attack by the Iconoclasts. He traveled through Ephesus, Constantinople, Corinth, Rome, Sicily, Thessalonica, and Constantinople again, laboring in defense of the Faith and working many miracles. Usually he would stay with poor people who welcomed him into their houses, though it was forbidden by law to receive an Orthodox monk (that is, one who defended the Icons). In his last few years, afflicted by illness, he settled in Constantinople, where he reposed in peace in 832, just before the end of iconoclasm and the restoration of Orthodoxy. Since 1490, his incorrupt relics have dwelt at the Monastery of Bistritsa in Romania, where they continue to be a source of miracles for the many pilgrims who come to venerate them.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Colossians — Colossians 3.17-4.1

¹⁷And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. ¹⁷And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

¹⁸Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

¹⁸Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. ¹⁹Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. ¹⁹Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. ²⁰Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord. ²⁰Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. ²¹Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. ²¹Fathers, provoke not your children, that they be not discouraged. ²²Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: ²²Servants, obey in all things them that are your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord: ²³And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; ²³whatsoever ye do, work heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men; ²⁴knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance: ye serve the Lord Christ. ²⁴Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. ²⁵For he that doeth wrong shall receive again for the wrong that he hath done: and there is no respect of persons. ²⁵But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

¹Masters, render unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

¹Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 18.15-17, 26-30

¹⁵And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

¹⁵And they were bringing unto him also their babes, that he should touch them: but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. ¹⁶But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. ¹⁶But Jesus called them unto him, saying, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God. ¹⁷Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. ¹⁷Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein. ²⁶And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? ²⁶And they that heard it said, Then who can be saved? ²⁷And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. ²⁷But he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. ²⁸Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. ²⁸And Peter said, Lo, we have left our own, and followed thee. ²⁹And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or wife, or brethren, or parents, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, ²⁹And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, ³⁰Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. ³⁰who shall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the world to come eternal life.