Saturday, 15 February 2025

64 days before Pascha · Tone 8 · Liturgy · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

Holy Apostle Onesimus of the Seventy

He was a Phrygian by birth, a slave of Philemon, to whom the Apostle Paul addressed his epistle. Onesimos escaped from Philemon and fled to Rome, where he was converted to the Faith by St Paul. St Paul sent him back to his master, who at St Paul’s urging gave him his freedom. He served the Church for many years before dying a martyr, beaten to death with clubs.

Saint Onesimos is also commemorated on November 22, with Sts Philemon, Archippus and Aphia; and on January 4 at the Synaxis of the Seventy Disciples.

Saint Anthimus of Chios

Saint Anthimus of Chios was venerated in the Orthodox Church for his faithful witness to Christ. He lived during a period of persecution and remained steadfast in his Orthodox faith despite the pressures and dangers of his time. Through his prayers and intercessions, he became known as a protector and intercessor for those who called upon him. His life exemplified the courage of the Christian martyrs and the hope of the resurrection. Saint Anthimus is remembered and honoured by the faithful as a defender of the Orthodox faith.

Venerable Eusebius of Asia Minor

Saint Eusebius was a venerable monastic ascetic who lived in Asia Minor and devoted himself entirely to the spiritual struggle. Through fasting, prayer, and labour, he pursued the Orthodox path of monasticism and became a beacon of virtue and holiness. His life exemplified the Christian virtues of humility, obedience, and unceasing prayer. Eusebius spent his years in the desert seeking communion with God and became known for his spiritual wisdom. He remains venerated by the Church as a model of monastic dedication and sanctity.

Our Venerable Father Dalmatius of Siberia

1697

Saint Dalmatius is venerated as a pioneer of the movement that took many ascetics to dwell in the wilderness of Siberia, establishing a new company of Desert Fathers and causing the Russian Far North to be called the ‘Northern Thebaid.’ He was born in Tobolsk and reared in piety by his family, recently-converted Tatars. When grown, he entered the imperial army as a Cossack and served with such distinction that the Tsar awarded him a noble title. He married and lived in Tobolsk in comfort and prosperity. One day — after the destruction of Tobolsk in a great fire in 1643 — struck by a realization of the vanity of worldly things, he left family, wealth and property and went to a monastery in the Ural Mountains, taking with him only an icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos. He was tonsured a monk with the name of Dalmatius, and devoted himself to prayer and ascesis with such fervor that, a short time later, the brethren elected him Abbot. Fearing pride and fleeing honor, Dalmatius fled with his icon of the Theotokos to a remote cave, where he lived a life of silence and continual prayer. His presence did not long remain secret in that sparsely-settled region, and soon Christians were coming from far and wide to ask his prayer and counsel; many pagans came to him for holy Baptism. Soon his habitation became too small for those who had chosen to stay as his disciples, and the Saint received a blessing from the Bishop of Tobolsk to build a wooden chapel and some cells. This was the beginning of the great Monastery of the Dormition (also called the Monastery of St Dalmatius). Over the years the brethren endured many tribulations. Once the Tatar Prince of the region, provoked by false rumors, planned to destroy the monastery and kill all the monks. The night before the attack, the holy Mother of God appeared to the prince in resplendent clothes, holding a flaming sword in one hand and a scourge in the other. She forbade the Prince to harm the monastery or the brethren, and commanded him to give them a permanent concession over the region. Convinced by this vision, the Prince made peace with the monks and became the Monastery’s protector, though he was a Muslim. In the succeeding years the Monastery was repeatedly burned down by the fierce pagan tribes which inhabited the area; once all the monks except St Dalmatius himself were butchered, but always the monastery was rebuilt. The Saint reposed in peace in 1697, and was succeeded as abbot by his own son Isaac, who built a stone shrine at the Monastery to house the relics of the Saint and the icon of the Mother of God which he had kept with him throughout his monastic life.

Our Venerable Father Anthimos of Chios

1960

He was born in 1869 to devout peasants on Chios; he left elementary school early to become a shoemender. At the age of nineteen he visited a monastery (founded by the monk Pachomios, who had been the spiritual counsellor of St Nektarios); he was so moved by the monks’ ‘angelic life’ that on returning home he built himself a small hut and dwelt in it. His only ‘help’ in his spiritual contests was an icon of the Mother of God, which soon began to work miracles, drawing many to his hermitage. After a time he retired to a monastery where he was tonsured under the name Anthimos. He fell ill there, and his abbot sent him home to his parents for the sake of his health. At home, despite the fact that he was caring for his aged parents and practicing his shoemender’s trade, he continued to live as a monk, spending nights on end in prayer and sometimes living only on bread and water for extended periods. Increasing numbers of visitors came to his hermitage and wonder-working icon of the Theotokos, and in 1910 he received the Great Schema. The people of Chios wanted him to be ordained to the priesthood, but his bishop refused due to the Saint’s lack of education. At the prompting of Anthimos’ godfather, the Bishop of Smyrna ordained him instead. After a pilgrimage to Mt Athos, he returned to Chios, where he became chaplain to a leper hospital. Soon the hospital, which had fallen into corruption, became a spiritual center, as much like a monastery as a hospital. Saint Anthimos tended many of the sickest with his own hands, working many miracles of healing; some of his recovered patients became monks or nuns. With the notorious ‘Exchange of Populations’ of 1922-1924, refugees poured into Chios, many of them destitute nuns and girls. In response to a vision of the Mother of God, St Anthimos built a monastery, which opened with thirty nuns and grew rapidly, despite the opposition of many who said that setting up such a community was out of date (in 1924!). The monastery soon housed eighty nuns and was known througout Greece as a model of monastic life. Father Anthimos served as priest to the nuns, and continued to receive the many faithful — often sixty or seventy per day — who came to him for prayer or counsel. He carried on this ministry for more than thirty years, working many miracles of healing. When he was too old to work with his hands, he retired to his cell and prayed that he be enabled to serve his neighbor until his last breath. He reposed in peace at the age of ninety-one, mourned and revered by the whole island of Chios.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

2 Timothy — 2 Timothy 3.1-9

¹But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come.

¹This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. ²For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ²For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, ³Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, ⁴traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; ⁴Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; ⁵holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof: from these also turn away. ⁵Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ⁶For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ⁶For of these are they that creep into houses, and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by divers lusts, ⁷Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁷ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸And even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also withstand the truth; men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith. ⁸Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. ⁹But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be evident unto all men, as theirs also came to be. ⁹But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 20.46-21.4

⁴⁶Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; ⁴⁶Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues, and chief places at feasts; ⁴⁷Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation. ⁴⁷who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater condemnation.

¹And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.

¹And he looked up, and saw the rich men that were casting their gifts into the treasury. ²And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. ²And he saw a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. ³And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: ³And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than they all: ⁴For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had. ⁴for all these did of their superfluity cast in unto the gifts; but she of her want did cast in all the living that she had.