Wednesday, 4 December 2024

Hieromartyr Alexander Hotovitzky

Wednesday of the 24th week after Pentecost

213 days after Pascha · Tone 6 · Liturgy · Nativity Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Holy Great Martyr Barbara

The Holy Great Martyr Barbara lived and suffered during the reign of the emperor Maximian (305-311). Her father, the pagan Dioscorus, was a rich and illustrious man in the Syrian city of Heliopolis. After the death of his wife he devoted himself to his only daughter, and seeing her extraordinary beauty, built a tower in which to hide her from the eyes of strangers, allowing only her pagan teachers to approach her. Beholding from her tower the mountains and rivers, the meadows and the harmonious vault of heaven, the maiden began to ponder upon the First Cause and Creator of the world. Through conversation with Christian women of the city she came to the knowledge of the true God and was secretly baptised. While her father was away she ordered the workmen who were preparing a bath-house for her to make a third window, that the light might come in honour of the Holy Trinity, and on the marble wall she traced a Cross with her finger which was deeply etched as if cut by iron. When Dioscorus returned and learned the truth, he fell into a fury and dragged her before the prefect Martianus. Saint Barbara confessed Christ steadfastly, and a fellow martyr Juliana came forward to share her confession. They were beaten with rawhide whips and their wounds rubbed with hair cloth; but in the night the Saviour Himself appeared and healed them. The next day they were paraded naked through the city and beheaded, the unnatural father Dioscorus himself striking the blow against his own daughter. Both he and Martianus were straightway destroyed by lightning. The relics of Saint Barbara were translated to Constantinople in the sixth century and to Kiev in the twelfth. She is venerated as a protector against sudden death and the patroness of artillerymen, miners and architects.

★ Venerable John of Damascus

760

Saint John of Damascus was born about the year 676 into a wealthy Christian family of Damascus. His father Sergius held high office in the court of the Umayyad Caliph, an office to which John himself succeeded. Together with his foster brother, the future Saint Cosmas the Hymnographer, he was educated by a learned monk also named Cosmas, who instructed him deeply in theology, philosophy, music, astronomy and the natural sciences. When the Iconoclast persecution erupted under the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, John, who was outside the reach of the imperial power, took up his pen in defence of the holy icons, composing his three Apologetic Treatises against those who attack the divine images. Tradition relates that the emperor, by means of a forged letter, brought about the cutting off of John's right hand, which was miraculously restored by the Most Holy Theotokos through the icon known thereafter as "Of the Three Hands." Distributing his goods to the poor, John retired with Cosmas to the Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified near Jerusalem. There he was tonsured a monk and later ordained priest. In stillness and obedience he produced a vast body of writings: the Fount of Knowledge, of which the third part, On the Orthodox Faith, became the principal manual of dogmatic theology in the Christian East; commentaries on Scripture; sermons; and a great treasury of hymnody, including the Octoechos, the Paschal Canon, and many other canons of the Church. Saint John reposed in peace at the Monastery of Saint Sabbas around the year 749. He is honoured as a Father and Doctor of the universal Church, and his feast is kept on 4 December.

Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim, Archbishop of Phanarion and Neochorion

Saint Seraphim was born to pious parents Sophronios and Maria in the village of Mpezila in the Agrapha region of central Greece in the mid-sixteenth century, when Greece lay under Ottoman rule. From his youth he embraced the monastic life at the Monastery of the Mother of God in Korona, and was given the name Seraphim. Distinguished by his ascetic labour, prayer and learning, he was elected in 1587 archbishop of Phanarion and Neochorion, succeeding the late incumbent. He laboured zealously to comfort and strengthen his Christian flock under the heavy burden of Turkish oppression, building churches and supporting his people in the faith. When Dionysius "the Skylosophos" of Larissa rose in revolt against the Turks, Seraphim was unjustly accused of complicity. Going to Phanarion to pay the tribute owed to the Ottoman authorities, he was seized, beaten and tortured. Though urged to apostatise to save his life, he replied that he would never deny Christ, his God and Creator. He was put to death by impalement on 4 December 1601. From that day his sacred skull, preserved at the Monastery of Korona, has remained fragrant and a source of healing for those who entreat his intercessions.

Saint John the Wonderworker, Bishop of Polybotus

Saint John lived in the eighth century and was bishop of Polybotus in Phrygia Salutaris in Asia Minor. From his youth he gave himself to the love of God, and by ascetic struggle and prayer attained great purity of heart. As bishop he shepherded his people in piety and was a fearless defender of the Orthodox veneration of the holy icons during the iconoclast persecution unleashed by the Emperor Leo the Isaurian. By his prayers he wrought numerous miracles, healing the sick, casting out demons, and turning aside the army of the Saracens that had attacked his city. He reposed in peace around the year 716, and his relics continued to work wonders for those who approached them with faith. His memory is kept on 4 December together with that of Saint Barbara and Saint John of Damascus.

Saint Gennadius, Archbishop of Novgorod

1505

He was of noble birth, but entered monastic life at Valaam. He lived as a hermit on the island of Solovki from 1430 until 1447, when he was appointed abbot of the Chudov Monastery in Moscow. In 1484 he became Bishop of Novgorod. He found that the Tatar invasions had so disrupted the Church that a complete text of the Holy Scriptures could hardly be found in all of Russia. He ordered and oversaw the publication of the first printed Slavonic edition of the Holy Scriptures, set up schools for the instruction of the clergy, re-established order in the divine services, and fought various heresies. His devotion earned him enemies, and he resigned his episcopate to withdraw once again to a monastery. He reposed in peace in 1505.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Thessalonians — 1 Thessalonians 4.1-12

¹Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

¹Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, even as ye do walk,—that ye abound more and more. ²For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. ²For ye know what charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: ³For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication; ⁴That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; ⁴that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God; ⁵Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: ⁶That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. ⁶that no man transgress, and wrong his brother in the matter: because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. ⁷For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. ⁷For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. ⁸He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit. ⁸Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you.

⁹But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another; ⁹But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. ¹⁰for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more; ¹⁰And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; ¹¹and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; ¹¹And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; ¹²that ye may walk becomingly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing. ¹²That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

Epistle

— St Alexander

Hebrews — Hebrews 13.7-16

⁷Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.

⁷Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. ⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever. ⁸Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. ⁹Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. ⁹Be not carried away by divers and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace; not by meats, wherein they that occupied themselves were not profited. ¹⁰We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle. ¹⁰We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. ¹¹For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned without the camp. ¹¹For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. ¹²Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered without the gate. ¹²Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. ¹³Let us therefore go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. ¹³Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. ¹⁴For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. ¹⁴For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city which is to come. ¹⁵Through him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name. ¹⁵By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. ¹⁶But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. ¹⁶But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 21.5-7, 10-11, 20-24

⁵And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said,

⁵And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, he said, ⁶As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. ⁶As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in which there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. ⁷And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? ⁷And they asked him, saying, Teacher, when therefore shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when these things are about to come to pass? ¹⁰Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:

¹⁰Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; ¹¹And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. ¹¹and there shall be great earthquakes, and in divers places famines and pestilences; and there shall be terrors and great signs from heaven. ²⁰And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.

²⁰But when ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand. ²¹Then let them which are in Judæa flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. ²¹Then let them that are in Judæa flee unto the mountains; and let them that are in the midst of her depart out; and let not them that are in the country enter therein. ²²For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. ²²For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. ²³Woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days! for there shall be great distress upon the land, and wrath unto this people. ²³But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. ²⁴And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. ²⁴And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all the nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Gospel

— St Alexander

Luke — Luke 12.32-40

³²Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³²Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. ³³Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ³⁵Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;

³⁵Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; ³⁶And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. ³⁶and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord, when he shall return from the marriage feast; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto him. ³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them. ³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. ³⁸And if he shall come in the second watch, and if in the third, and find them so, blessed are those servants. ³⁸And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. ³⁹And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. ³⁹But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not have left his house to be broken through. ⁴⁰Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. ⁴⁰Be ye also ready: for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.