Tuesday, 10 December 2024

Tuesday of the 25th week after Pentecost

219 days after Pascha · Tone 7 · Liturgy · Nativity Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Holy Martyr Gemellus of Paphlagonia

The Holy Martyr Gemellus suffered for Christ at Ancyra in the time of the apostate emperor Julian (361-363). A native of Edessa in Mesopotamia, he confessed Christ openly and was seized while travelling, being brought before the emperor himself, who was then in Cappadocia. Gemellus rebuked the emperor for his apostasy and refused all entreaties to offer sacrifice. He was scourged, his sides torn with iron hooks, and his body lacerated, but he persevered without yielding. Finally he was crucified at Ancyra in Galatia, becoming, as the Greek synaxarion records, the only martyr to be crucified after the death of Christ. By this death he received a crown like that of the holy thief, and the Church honours his memory each year on this day.

Holy Martyrs Menas Kallikelados, Hermogenes and Eugraphus

Menas was an Athenian, a courtier of the Emperor Maximinus, and a secret Christian. Once there was an outbreak of civil unrest in Alexandria, brought about by various political factions, and by the increasing success of Christian missionaries in turning the Alexandrian people from the idols. The Emperor sent Menas to reconcile the parties and settle the dispute. On his arrival, Menas quickly resolved the political troubles and restored peace to the city; but instead of putting down Christianity as the Emperor had desired, he did everything in his power to protect the Christians and encourage the spread of the Gospel. When word of this came to the Emperor, he sent another trusted courtier, Hermogenes, to re-establish Imperial authority and to execute Menas if he would not renounce Christ. Hermogenes followed these orders scrupulously: he subjected the godly Menas to various horrid tortures in the public arena. But Menas was miraculously preserved through them all, and when he finally appeared in the arena, flanked by two shining Angels, Hermogenes repented and confessed Christ. He in turn became such a fervent advocate for the Gospel that he was soon made a Bishop (!). Finally the Emperor decided that the only solution was to come to Alexandria himself. There he had both Menas and Hermogenes cruelly tortured to death in secret, lest they perform any public miracles; but when the Emperor presented himself before the people at the arena the following day, the two Saints, miraculously preserved, appeared there also, causing the people to cry out “Christ is the only true God!” At the sight, Menas’ scribe Eugraphus declared himself a Christian, leaped into the arena and publicly demanded the honor of dying with them. All three were beheaded. Their precious relics were later taken to Constantinople, where they worked many miracles.

Saint Joasaph, Bishop of Belgorod

Saint Joasaph of Belgorod was born Joachim Andreyevich Gorlenko at Priluki in Little Russia on 8 September 1705 to a noble Cossack family. From his early youth he longed for the monastic life, and at the age of sixteen he secretly entered the Kiev Caves Lavra, where he was tonsured a rasophore in 1725 and then to the great schema with the name Joasaph in 1727. He served as teacher and preacher at the Kiev Theological Academy and as abbot of several monasteries before being raised in 1748 to the episcopate as Bishop of Belgorod and Oboyan. As bishop he was unsparing of himself in his pastoral labours, travelling continually about his vast diocese, examining clergy, ordering the proper celebration of the divine services, restoring churches and demanding strictness of life from priests and monks alike. He was famed for his hidden almsgiving and care for the poor, often giving away even his own clothes. Foreseeing his repose, he set out for his native Priluki to bid farewell to his parents, fell ill on the return journey and reposed at Grayvoron on 10 December 1754. His relics were uncovered incorrupt and have been a wellspring of healings; he was glorified by the Russian Church in 1911.

Saint Thomas the New of Bithynia

Saint Thomas, called Dephourkinos and "the New," was a Byzantine ascetic of the tenth century who laboured on Mount Kyminas in Bithynia. From childhood he was drawn to the things of God, and after a brief period of life in the world entered a monastery, where he distinguished himself by humility and obedience. Seeking deeper solitude, he withdrew to a cave on the slopes of Mount Kyminas, where he lived for many years in silent prayer and severe asceticism, struggling with the assaults of demons. The Lord granted him the gifts of clairvoyance, healing and discernment of spirits, and many came from afar for his counsel, including the renowned Saint Michael Maleinos. He gathered a small brotherhood about himself and reposed in peace, leaving a memory of strict ascetic order on the holy mountain that would later nourish Athanasius the Athonite and the founders of organised cenobitic life on Mount Athos.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Thessalonians — 2 Thessalonians 1.10-2.2

¹⁰When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. ¹⁰when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day. ¹¹Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: ¹¹To which end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfil every desire of goodness and every work of faith, with power; ¹²That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. ¹²that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him;

¹Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, ²That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. ²to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand;

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 8.22-26

²²And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.

²²And they come unto Bethsaida. And they bring to him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him. ²³And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. ²³And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Seest thou aught? ²⁴And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. ²⁴And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking. ²⁵Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked stedfastly, and was restored, and saw all things clearly. ²⁵After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. ²⁶And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town. ²⁶And he sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village.