Wednesday, 15 January 2025

Wednesday of the 30th week after Pentecost

255 days after Pascha · Tone 4 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · Fast

Saints commemorated

Saint Ita, Hermitess of Killeedy

Saint Ita (c. 480 – c. 570), also known as Itha, Ida, Ide, Deirdre, or Dorothy, was an early Irish nun and saint of the fifth to sixth centuries. Born around 480 into a devout Christian family of nobility in County Waterford in the Munster province of southeastern Ireland, Ita was the daughter of a local chieftain. Her parents raised her in the Christian faith and provided her with an excellent education befitting her station. Responding to a monastic calling, Ita founded a convent school at Killeedy (Cille Ide), near Newcastle West in County Limerick, which bears her name to this day. She became known as the "Foster Mother of the Irish Saints" because of her role in educating and fostering numerous young men who would become prominent saints of Ireland. Among her most notable pupils were Saint Brendan the Navigator of Clonfert, Saint Mochoemoc (her nephew), Saint Cumian, and Saint Fachanan. Her school was famous throughout Ireland as a centre of learning, and parents from various regions sent their sons to be educated under her guidance. Ita is venerated as the patroness of Munster and celebrated for her natural gift for organisation and teaching. It is believed she may have been the abbess of a double monastery, overseeing communities of both men and women. Her feast day on 15 January is celebrated with solemn services and festive events in the surrounding churches of Limerick and beyond.

Saints Salome of Ujarma and Perozhavra of Sivnia

Saints Salome of Ujarma and Perozhavra of Sivnia were devoted disciples and closest companions of Saint Nino, the Enlightener of Georgia, during the fourth century. Both women came from noble Georgian families and played crucial roles in the establishment of Christianity throughout the kingdom of Kartli. Salome was the wife of Revi, son of King Mirian of Georgia, whilst Perozhavra was married to the ruler of the Kartli region. When Saint Nino arrived in Georgia with her holy mission to convert the kingdom to Christianity, these two noble women became her steadfast companions and helpers in spreading the Christian faith. After King Mirian's own conversion and the adoption of Christianity as the official faith of Georgia, Saint Salome, inspired by Saint Nino and under the orders of King Mirian, erected a cross at Ujarma in the Kakheti region—a symbol that stands to this day as a testament to early Georgian Christianity. When Saint Nino fell gravely ill in the village of Bodbe, both Salome and Perozhavra remained devoted at her bedside, weeping at the prospect of losing their beloved teacher and spiritual guide. In her final days, Saint Nino imparted sacred knowledge to them, which they faithfully recorded. Saints Salome and Perozhavra composed The Life of Saint Nino, Enlightener of Georgia, preserving for posterity the account of Georgia's apostolic evangelist. The Apostolic Orthodox Church of Georgia commemorates both saints on 15 January, the day following the commemoration of Saint Nino.

Venerable John the Hutdweller

Venerable John, known as the Kalyvitis or Hutdweller, was an ascetic monk whose spiritual struggle and unwavering devotion to Christ became a model for monastic practice. He dwelt in a small hut (kalyvi) in remote monasticism, pursuing a life of profound prayer, fasting, and contemplation. Through his intense ascetical discipline and mystical communion with God, he attained significant spiritual gifts, becoming known amongst the brethren as a guide to the hesychastic prayer tradition. His life exemplifies the Orthodox monastic commitment to withdrawal from the world in order to pursue union with God through perpetual prayer and contemplative practice. John's feast day is celebrated on 15 January in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is venerated as a holy father who illuminated the path of monastic struggle through his own example of steadfast devotion. His memory serves as a reminder of the power and necessity of solitary ascetical practice within the broader monasticism of the Church.

Venerable Paul of Thebes

Paul of Thebes (c. 227 – c. 341), commonly known as Paul the First Hermit or Paul the Anchorite, was an Egyptian saint regarded as the first Christian hermit and founder of monasticism. Born around 227 in the Thebaid of Egypt during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, Paul was left orphaned and suffered many injustices from a greedy relative who sought to seize his inheritance.

During the persecution against Christians under the emperor Decius (249–251), Paul learned of his brother-in-law's insidious plan to deliver him to the persecutors. He fled into the wilderness and settled in a mountain cave, where he dwelt for ninety-one years in continuous prayer. He sustained himself on dates and bread, which according to tradition a raven brought to him, and clothed himself with woven palm leaves. His life became a beacon for future ascetics, inspiring the development of monasticism throughout the Christian world.

Saint Anthony the Great, the founder of communal monasticism, had a divine revelation concerning Paul's sanctity and visited him in his cave. After Paul's repose in 341 at the age of 113, Anthony discovered his body and buried it with great reverence. Though Paul did not establish a monastery, the example of his solitary ascetic life inspired countless imitators who soon filled the Egyptian desert with monastic communities, earning him the title "Father of Monks" amongst solitary hermits.

His iconography depicts him as an elderly ascetic, often shown with a raven bringing him bread. The Coptic Orthodox Church also commemorates him on 2 Meshir (9 February).

Our Holy Father John Kalyvites

c. 450

He was the son of Eutropius, a prominent senator, and Theodora, who lived in Constantinople. At the age of twelve, he secretly fled his home, taking nothing but a Gospel book with him. Entering the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones in the City, he gave himself up with fervor to a life of prayer, self-denial and obedience. For three years he ate only on Sundays after taking communion, and became so thin and haggard that he bore no resemblance to the young nobleman who had entered the monastery. Tormented by longing to see his parents, but unwilling to give up the ascetic struggle, he left the monastery with his Abbot’s blessing, dressed in beggar’s rags, and took up residence in a poor hut near the gate of his parents’ house. Here he lived, mocked by those who had once been his servants and despised by his own parents, who no longer recognized him. After three years, Christ appeared to him and told him that his end was drawing near, and that in three days angels would come to take him home. John sent a message to his parents, asking them to visit his hut. In perplexity, they came, and John, showing them the Gospel book that they had given him as a child, revealed to them that he was their son, and that he was about to die. They embraced him, rejoicing at their reunion but weeping for his departure from this life. Immediately, he gave back his soul to God. The whole City of Constantinople was stirred by the story, and great crowds came to John’s burial service. A church was later built on the site of his hut, and many miracles were wrought there through the Saint’s prayers.

Saint Ita of Kileedy, Ireland

570

The gentle and motherly St. Ita was descended from the high kings of Tara. From her youth she loved God ardently and shone with the radiance of a soul that loves virtue. Because of her purity of heart she was able to hear the voice of God and communicate it to others. Despite her father’s opposition she embraced the monastic life in her youth. In obedience to the revelation of an angel she went to the people of Ui Conaill in the southwestern part of Ireland. While she was there, the foundation of a convent was laid. It soon grew into a monastic school for the education of boys, quickly becoming known for its high level of learning and moral purity. The most famous of her many students was St. Brendan of Clonfert (May 16). She went to the other world in great holiness to dwell forever with the risen Lord in the year 570. —from the 2003 Saint Herman Calendar

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Hebrews — Hebrews 10.1-18

¹For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

¹For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh. ²For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. ²Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ³But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. ³But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. ⁴For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. ⁴For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. ⁵Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; ⁵Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: ⁶In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. ⁶In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: ⁷Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. ⁷Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

⁸Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law), ⁸Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; ⁹Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. ⁹then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. ¹⁰By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹⁰By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹¹And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: ¹¹And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: ¹²but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; ¹²But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; ¹³From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. ¹³henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet. ¹⁴For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. ¹⁴For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. ¹⁵Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, ¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us; for after he hath said,

¹⁶This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, And upon their mind also will I write them; then saith he, ¹⁶This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; ¹⁷And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. ¹⁷And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. ¹⁸Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

¹⁸Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 8.30-34

³⁰And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. ³⁰And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. ³¹And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

³¹And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. ³²And he spake the saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. ³³But he turning about, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and saith, Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men. ³³But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

³⁴And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ³⁴And he called unto him the multitude with his disciples, and said unto them, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.