Saturday, 14 December 2024

Saturday of the 25th week after Pentecost

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

Saints commemorated

Holy Martyr Drusus and his companions Zosimus and Theodore

The Holy Martyrs Drusus, Zosimus and Theodore suffered for Christ at Antioch in Syria during the early persecutions of the Church. Drusus is named in the Greek synaxaria of this day together with Zosimus and Theodore as those who, refusing to offer sacrifice to idols, were brought before the magistrates and confessed Christ openly. They were subjected to fierce tortures, beaten and cast into prison, and finally, persevering in the Faith, gave up their souls to God by the sword. Their memory has been preserved by the Church together with the more famous martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius and Callinicus on this day, joining them in the chorus of those who through suffering at the hands of pagan authorities bore witness to the Lord at the dawn of the third century.

Holy Martyrs Philemon, Apollonius, Arianus and Theotychus

“During the reign of Diocletian (284-305), the Governor of Antinoe in the Thebaid of Upper Egypt was Arian, a fierce persecutor who had sent many Christians to a violent death, among them Saints Timothy and Maura (see May 3) and Saint Sabine (Mar. 16). When he had imprisoned thirty-seven Christians for their confession of faith, one of them, named Apollonius, a reader of the Church, lost his courage at the sight of the instruments of torture, and thought how he might escape torments without denying Christ. He gave money to Philemon, a flute-player and a pagan, that he might put on Apollonius’ clothes and offer sacrifices before Arian, so that all would think Apollonius to have done the Governor’s will, and he might be released. Philemon agreed to this, but when the time came to offer sacrifice, enlightened by divine grace, he declared himself a Christian instead. He and Apollonius, who also confessed Christ when the fraud was exposed, were both beheaded. Before beheading them, Arian had commanded that they be shot with arrows, but while they remained unharmed, Arian himself was wounded by one of the arrows; Saint Philemon foretold that after his martyrdom, Arian would be healed at his tomb. When this came to pass, Arian, the persecutor who had slain so many servants of Christ, himself believed in Christ and was baptized with four of his body-guards. Diocletian heard of this and had Arian and his body-guards brought to him. For their confession of Christ, they were cast into the sea, and received the crown of life everlasting.” (Great Horologion)

Holy Martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius and Callinicus

The Holy Martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius and Callinicus suffered for Christ at Apollonia in Bithynia about 250 under the emperor Decius and his governor Cumbricius. Saint Leucius, a noble citizen, came forward of his own accord to rebuke the governor for the cruelty of the persecution; for this he was tortured and beheaded. Saint Thyrsus, who was not yet baptised, was so moved by his courage that he too professed Christ openly. He endured many torments, being scourged, sawn at and cast into the sea, but each time he was preserved by the power of God; brought to the temple of Apollo by the persecutors, he prayed and the idol fell down and was shattered. After his prayer he was found worthy of holy baptism and chrismation by the bishop Phileas. He was finally martyred by being placed in a coffer and sawn through with a great saw, but the saw, though dragged by many hands, would not cut him; at his prayer he gave up his soul. Saint Callinicus, a pagan priest, witnessing these wonders confessed Christ before all and was beheaded for his confession. Their memory is kept on this day in both East and West.

Saint Hybald of Lindsey

Saint Hybald, also called Higbald or Hygbald, was a holy abbot of Lindsey in Anglo-Saxon England in the seventh century. The Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History records him as a man of great holiness and abstinence, friend of Saint Egbert and Saint Chad, and abbot of an unnamed monastery in the kingdom of Lindsey, the western part of present-day Lincolnshire. After the manner of the Celtic-Northumbrian fathers he laboured in solitude, prayer and the strict observance of the monastic rule, was famed for his spiritual discernment and was sought out for counsel by his contemporaries. He reposed in peace about 690 and was buried at the place that bears his name to this day, Hibaldstow ("Hybald's tomb") in Lincolnshire, where his shrine became a centre of pilgrimage. Several other Lincolnshire churches are dedicated to him, witness to his veneration in the region, and his memory is preserved among the Orthodox saints of the British Isles on this day.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Galatians — Galatians 1.3-10

³Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, ³Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father: ⁴Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: ⁵to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. ⁵To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

⁶I marvel that ye are so quickly removing from him that called you in the grace of Christ unto a different gospel;

⁶I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: ⁷which is not another gospel: only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁷Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema. ⁸But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. ⁹As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. ⁹As we have said before, so say I now again, If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema. ¹⁰For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? or am I striving to please men? if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.

¹⁰For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 14.1-11

¹And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

¹And it came to pass, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him. ²And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. ²And behold, there was before him a certain man that had the dropsy. ³And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? ³And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or not? ⁴And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; ⁴But they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go. ⁵And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? ⁵And he said unto them, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will not straightway draw him up on a sabbath day? ⁶And they could not answer again unto these things. ⁶And they could not answer him again to these things.

⁷And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them,

⁷And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, ⁸When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; ⁸When thou art bidden of any man to a marriage feast, sit not down in the chief seat; lest haply a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him, ⁹And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. ⁹and he that bade thee and him shall come and say to thee, Give this man place; and then thou shalt begin with shame to take the lowest place. ¹⁰But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. ¹⁰But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that hath bidden thee cometh, he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have glory in the presence of all that sit at meat with thee. ¹¹For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. ¹¹For every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.