Tuesday, 17 December 2024

Tuesday of the 26th week after Pentecost

226 days after Pascha · Tone 8 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · Nativity Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Holy prophet Daniel

The Holy Prophet Daniel, of the royal tribe of Judah, was carried away as a youth into Babylonian captivity around 600 BC during the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah. With his three companions Ananias, Azarias and Misael, he was chosen for service in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar and was given the Chaldean name Belshazzar. Refusing to defile himself with food and drink from the royal table, he was nourished only on vegetables and water, and excelled in wisdom and the interpretation of dreams. He revealed to Nebuchadnezzar the meaning of his dream of the great image, foretelling the succession of kingdoms and the eternal kingdom of God. Under King Belshazzar he interpreted the writing on the wall, and under Darius the Mede he was cast into a den of lions, but was preserved unharmed by an angel. He was granted prophetic visions of the four beasts, of the Ancient of Days, and of the seventy weeks announcing the coming of the Messiah. He survived into great old age and reposed in captivity, leaving behind the prophetic book that bears his name.

Saint Dionysius of Zakynthos, archbishop of Aegina

1622

Saint Dionysius was born in 1547 on the island of Zakynthos to noble and pious parents, Mocius and Paulina Sigouros. From childhood he was drawn to prayer and the reading of Scripture, and following the death of his parents he was tonsured a monk at the monastery of the Strophades, taking the name Daniel. He was later ordained priest and elected archbishop of Aegina in 1577, where he laboured for the Christian people who suffered under Ottoman rule. Wearied by the cares of the episcopate, he resigned his see and retired to the Strophades, then to a hermitage on Zakynthos. He is best remembered for an act of mercy when he gave shelter to a man who confessed to him that he had killed the saint's own brother; rather than seek vengeance, Dionysius forgave him and helped him escape his pursuers. He reposed in 1622, and his incorrupt relics, which work many miracles, are preserved on Zakynthos.

The three holy youths Ananias, Azarias and Misael

Their wonderful story is told in the Book of Daniel, in which the coming of Christ is prophesied and prefigured in several places. Large portions of the book are missing from the protestant Bible: make every effort to obtain and read the full version. The Prayer and Song of the Three Youths in the Furnace have become the Seventh and Eighth of the Old Testament Odes of the Matins Canon; the Odes are sung in full only in monasteries during Lent. The Three Youths’ sojourn in the fiery furnace is prominent in Orthodox hymns and devotions, for their passage through the flames unharmed is a type of the holy Virgin’s incorrupt birth-giving: receiving the divine Fire within her womb, she was not consumed but remained ever-virgin.

According to the Synaxarion, Daniel reposed in peace at the age of eighty, two years after the return of the Hebrew people from their captivity in Babylon. The Three Youths also reposed in peace. But St Cyril of Alexandria writes that all of them met a martyr’s end, by beheading.

According to tradition these four were among the righteous dead who rose at Christ’s Crucifixion and were seen by many (Matthew ch. 27).

The Three Holy Youths were named, in Hebrew, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael; the names given above are Greek renderings of the Hebrew names. Their captors also gave them Babylonian names, by which they are also called: Shadrach, Abed-nego, and Meshak, respectively. Daniel was given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar.

Our Holy Father Dionysius the New of Zakinthos

1624

He was born to pious and wealthy parents on the island of Zakinthos. Early in life he renounced his wealth and worldly honors to enter monastic life. His virtue became so well known that he was appointed Archbishop of Aegina, where he served for many years. In time, in order to retire to a life of solitude and struggle, he resigned and returned to his homeland where he entered a monastery in the mountains. Here he received the grace of performing miracles, and worked many healing and saving wonders among the people of Zakinthos. A story from the Synaxarion reveals his character as one truly united to Christ: “He excelled above all in love of neighbour and in meekness. One day the murderer of the Saint’s own brother, fleeing the law and the members of his victim’s family, arrived at the monastery and begged Dionysius for asylum, little knowing to whom he was speaking. On gathering the reason for his flight and that his own brother was the victim, the man of God resisted with all his strength his natural grief and the temptation to avenge the crime. Imitating Christ, who pardoned his enemies and prayed for his persecutors, he received the fugitive with compassion, comforted him, exhorted him to repent and hid him in an out-of-the-way cell. When his pursuing kinsmen reached the monastery with the dreadful news, the Saint did not reveal that he knew it already, but did his best with words of peace to allay the wrath of his relatives and their desire for vengeance. As soon as they moved off, he let out the murderer (who was amazed and terror-struck before such superhuman goodness) and having provided him with victuals and money for his journey, he sent him away to work freely at the salvation of his soul.” The holy bishop reposed in 1622 after a long and painful illness. He has continued to work signs and miracles and to appear from time to time to the people of Zakinthos, who venerate him as their protector and patron.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Timothy — 1 Timothy 1.8-14

⁸But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully, ⁸But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; ⁹as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ⁹Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ¹⁰for fornicators, for abusers of themselves with men, for menstealers, for liars, for false swearers, and if there be any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine; ¹⁰For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; ¹¹according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. ¹¹According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

¹²I thank him that enabled me, even Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me to his service; ¹²And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; ¹³though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: howbeit I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief; ¹³Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴and the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 10.2-12

²And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.

²And there came unto him Pharisees, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? trying him. ³And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? ³And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? ⁴And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. ⁴And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. ⁵And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. ⁵But Jesus said unto them, For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. ⁶But from the beginning of the creation, Male and female made he them. ⁷For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; ⁷For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; ⁸and the two shall become one flesh: so that they are no more two, but one flesh. ⁸And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. ⁹What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. ⁹What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. ¹⁰And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. ¹⁰And in the house the disciples asked him again of this matter. ¹¹And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. ¹¹And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her: ¹²And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. ¹²and if she herself shall put away her husband, and marry another, she committeth adultery.