Thursday, 12 December 2024

Thursday of the 25th week after Pentecost

221 days after Pascha · Tone 7 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · Nativity Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

★ St Herman, Wonderworker of Alaska

1836

He is also commemorated tomorrow, December 13. See his life there.

★ Our Holy Godbearing Father Spyridon the Wonderworker

348

He was a humble shepherd who lived on the island of Cyprus with his wife and his one child, a daughter named Irene. Though he was poor himself, his house and table were always open to travelers and those in need. He kept his money in a box which he left open and available to all, not concerning himself with who took from it or whether they were deserving or not. In time, his wife died and, with less worldly cares, he redoubled his prayers and his almsgiving. He became so well-loved on the island that, when the bishop of the town of Tremithos died, the faithful unanimously chose Spyridon to succeed him, and he thus became a shepherd of rational sheep as well as the beasts he had tended. Despite his sudden elevation in rank, he kept to his former manner of life, traveling everywhere on foot, tending his animals as before, while fulfilling all the duties of a bishop as well. (To portray this godly humility, his icon shows him wearing bishop’s vestments and a peasant’s woven straw hat.) His compassion for others was boundless. Though he was very strict with himself, he would always break a fast to give comfort to a traveler. Once a band of robbers broke into his sheepfold by night, but found themselves confined there by an invisible force. When Spyridon found them in the morning, he freed them, admonished them to live honestly, and gave them two sheep in compensation, he said, for their keeping an all-night vigil. Pages could be filled with stories of the miracles wrought by the holy bishop for the good of his flock: by his prayers he ended a drought, turned a snake to gold to help a poor man, and even raised the dead son of a poor widow. His radiant virtue touched the consciences of those he met so that many would spontaneously fall at his feet and confess their sins. When the Emperor Constantine summoned the First Ecumenical Council in 325, Spyridon attended, dressed in his simple peasant’s garb. At one of the sessions, a proud Arian philosopher challenged the Orthodox to a debate about the Holy Trinity, and was amazed when the simple Spyridon stepped forward to accept the challenge. He and all the other bishops were far more amazed when the uneducated peasant bishop confounded all the Arian’s arguments with his eloquent, Spirit-inspired words. The humbled philosopher admitted that he was convinced, embraced the Orthodox faith, and called upon the other Arians to abandon their human wisdom and embrace the true and life-giving Faith. The holy bishop always celebrated the Divine Liturgy with joy. Once, serving in a remote, almost empty church, he turned to the invisible congregation and said “Peace be unto all!”, and his disciple heard a choir of angels respond “And with thy spirit!” Saint Spyridon reposed in peace in 348 at the age of seventy-eight. His incorrupt and wonder-working relics poured forth miracles for the people of Cyprus until the seventh century, when they were moved to Constantinople to escape the Arab invasion; when the City fell to the Turks, the relics were again moved to Corfu, where they are venerated to this day. Even after 1,500 years, the holy relics remain incorrupt and work many life-giving wonders. Saint Spyridon is venerated as the Patron of Corfu.

Holy Hieromartyr Alexander, Archbishop of Jerusalem

Saint Alexander was born in the second century and studied with Origen and Saint Clement at the famous catechetical school of Alexandria. Consecrated bishop of a city in Cappadocia, he was imprisoned for the Faith during the persecution of the emperor Severus (193-211) but freed when peace returned to the Church. While on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places he was received by the aged bishop Narcissus, who, by direction received in a vision, made him his coadjutor; with the consent of a council of bishops Alexander thus became the first Christian bishop appointed during the lifetime of his predecessor, and afterwards succeeded him on the apostolic throne of Jerusalem. As bishop he founded a great library at Jerusalem, supported the work of Origen and welcomed many learned men, and shepherded his flock with patience and wisdom. During the persecution of Decius about 250 he was again seized for his witness, brought before the tribunal at Caesarea Maritima in extreme old age, and there reposed in chains, sealing his confession with martyrdom. He is also commemorated on 16 May.

Saint Finnian of Clonard

Saint Finnian, called the Tutor of the Saints of Ireland, was born about 470 in Myshall in the kingdom of Leinster. From childhood he was given to study and to prayer, and as a young man crossed to Britain, where he laboured at the monasteries of Saints Cadoc and Gildas in Wales for some thirty years, and according to certain accounts visited Tours in Gaul. Returning to Ireland about 520 he founded the great school and monastery of Clonard on the river Boyne in Meath, which under his guidance grew to host as many as three thousand students at a time. Among his disciples were the famous Twelve Apostles of Ireland, including Saints Brendan the Voyager, Columba of Iona, Ciaran of Clonmacnoise and Kevin of Glendalough, who carried his teaching across the island and beyond. He was a great expounder of the Scriptures, an austere ascetic who lived on bread and herbs, and a tireless builder of monastic life on the model of the desert fathers transmitted through the British saints. He reposed about 549, said to have given his life amid the great pestilence in the place of his disciples, and was buried at Clonard. He is honoured throughout the Orthodox calendars of the British Isles on this day.

Saint Herman of Alaska

Saint Herman was born about 1756 near Moscow and at sixteen entered the Trinity-Saint Sergius Hermitage near Saint Petersburg, where he was tonsured a monk. He later transferred to Valaam Monastery on Lake Ladoga under the great elder Nazarius and laboured there in profound humility and obedience. In 1793 he was chosen as one of ten missionaries dispatched by the Russian Holy Synod to bring the Orthodox faith to the native peoples of Alaska. The brotherhood arrived on Kodiak Island in September 1794. After the martyrdom of Saint Juvenaly and the loss at sea of Bishop-elect Joasaph and several others, Herman alone of the original mission remained, never being ordained but living as a simple monk on Spruce Island, which he called New Valaam. There he built a chapel and a small school for the orphans of the native Aleut people, defended them against the cruelties of the Russian-American Company, taught them, prayed for them and worked many hidden miracles, including the staying of a forest fire and a tidal wave. He reposed on 13 December 1837 and was glorified by the Orthodox Church in America on 9 August 1970 as the first canonised saint of America. He is commemorated together with the protomartyr Juvenaly and the first martyrs of the American land on this day, and again on 27 July (translation) and 13 December (repose).

Saint Spyridon the Wonderworker, Bishop of Tremithus

Saint Spyridon was born about 270 on the island of Cyprus to a humble family and from his youth tended sheep, distinguishing himself by simplicity of life, almsgiving and unwavering charity to strangers and the poor. He married and had a daughter, Irene, and on the death of his wife he gave himself entirely to the service of God, while continuing to live as a shepherd and to use all his substance for the needs of his neighbours. For his virtues he was chosen, in the reign of Constantine the Great, as bishop of Tremithus in Cyprus, yet he did not change his manner of life, continuing to herd his flock and to walk barefoot among his people. At the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325 the simple shepherd-bishop confounded a learned philosopher who was defending the Arian heresy: taking up a brick he squeezed it in his hand, and as fire flashed up, water dripped down and only dust remained, he proclaimed that the one brick yet bore three elements, just as the Holy Trinity is one God in three Persons. By his prayers droughts were broken and rains stayed, the dead were raised, demons cast out and incurable maladies healed; he is recorded to have spoken with his reposed daughter to recover a deposit entrusted to her, and to have changed a serpent into gold and back again to relieve a poor farmer. He reposed in peace about 348. After the Arab conquest his relics were translated to Constantinople and, on the fall of the City in 1453, to Corfu, where they remain incorrupt to this day at the church of Saint Spyridon and continue to work miracles, even to the wearing out of his slippers as he walks through the world to help those who call upon him.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Thessalonians — 2 Thessalonians 2.13-3.5

¹³But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

¹³But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: ¹⁴Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁴whereunto he called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. ¹⁵So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word, or by epistle of ours. ¹⁶Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

¹⁶Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, ¹⁷comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. ¹⁷Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

¹Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as also it is with you;

¹Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: ²and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for all have not faith. ²And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. ³But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. ³But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and guard you from the evil one. ⁴And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. ⁴And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command. ⁵And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. ⁵And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.

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?