Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Special Commemorations

The Sunday Before the Nativity of Christ: The Commemoration of the Holy Fathers.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 328]. Brethren:

For Gk. usage, read Heb. 11:9, 10, 32-40; for Sl. usage, read Heb. 11:9, 10, 17-23, 32-40.

11 ⁹By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of the promise, as in a foreign land, having dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the joint-heirs of the same promise; ¹⁰for he was waiting for the city which hath the foundations of which the artificer and maker is God....

Sl. usage adds Heb. 11:17-23, and then verses 32-40, but Gk. usage skips to Heb. 11:32-40.

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, ¹⁸as to whom it was said “for in Isaac thy seed shall be called [Gen. 21:12],” ¹⁹reckoning that God was able to raise even from the dead; from which also he received him for himself in a type. ²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning coming things. ²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and “did reverence upon the top of his staff [Gen. 47:31].” ²²By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention concerning the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave command concerning his bones. ²³By faith Moses, after he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because “they saw the little child was fair [cf. Ex. 2:2],” and they were not afraid of the edict of the king....

Both Gk. and Sl. usages conclude with Heb. 11:32-40.

³²And what more shall I say? For the time will fail me narrating about Gideon and Barak and also Samson and Jephthae, and about David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³who through faith struggled against kingdoms, wrought righteousness, attained to promises, stopped mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edges of the sword, were empowered out of weakness, became strong in battle, turned back encampments of aliens. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. And others were tortured, not accepting release, that they might attain a better resurrection. ³⁶And others received trial of mockings and of scourgings, and, moreover, of bonds and of imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted; they died, murdered by the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in need, afflicted, ill-treated— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They were made to wander in deserts, and in mountains, and in caves, and in the holes of the earth. ³⁹And these all, having been approved by testimony through faith, received not for themselves the promise, ⁴⁰God having foreseen some better thing concerning us, that they should not be made perfect without us.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 1].

1 ¹The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

²Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren, ³and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar, and Phares begat Esrom, and Esrom begat Aram, ⁴and Aram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begat Naasson, and Naasson begat Salmon, ⁵and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab, and Booz begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse, ⁶and Jesse begat David the king. And David the king begat Solomon of her who had been the wife of Urias, ⁷and Solomon begat Roboam, and Roboam begat Abia, and Abia begat Asa, ⁸and Asa begat Josaphat, and Josaphat begat Joram, and Joram begat Ozias, ⁹and Ozias begat Joatham, and Joatham begat Achaz, and Achaz begat Ezekias, ¹⁰and Ezekias begat Manasses, and Manasses begat Amon, and Amon begat Josias, ¹¹and Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, in the time of the deportation to Babylon. ¹²And after the deportation to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel, and Salathiel begat Zorobabel, ¹³and Zorobabel begat Abiud, and Abiud begat Eliakeim, and Eliakeim begat Azor, ¹⁴and Azor begat Sadok, and Sadok begat Acheim, and Acheim begat Eliud, ¹⁵and Eliud begat Eleazar, and Eleazar begat Matthan, and Matthan begat Jacob, ¹⁶and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus Who is called Christ.

¹⁷Then all the generations from Abraham until David are fourteen generations, and from David until the deportation to Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was thus: For His Mother, Mary, having been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹But Joseph her husband, being just, and yet not willing to make her an example, wished to divorce her secretly. ²⁰And after he pondered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not become afraid to take to thee Mariam thy wife; for that which is in her was begotten of the Holy Spirit. ²¹“And she shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. ²²“Now all this came to pass, in order that it might be fulfilled that which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, ²³“‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel [cf. Is. 7:14],’” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.” ²⁴And Joseph, having been awakened from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took to him his wife, ²⁵and was not knowing her until she brought forth her Son, the firstborn; and he called His name Jesus.

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Sunday of the Twenty-Ninth Week

Mode Four — Seventh Eothinon

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Colossians [§ 257]. Brethren:

3 ⁴Whenever the Christ, Who is your life, should be made manifest, then also ye shall be made manifest with Him in glory.

⁵Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶On account of which things cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience, ⁷among whom ye also walked once, when ye used to live in them. ⁸But now ye also put off from yourselves all these things: wrath, anger, malice, blasphemy, foul language out of your mouth. ⁹Cease lying to one another, since ye have put off the old man with his practises, ¹⁰and have put on the new that is being renewed toward full knowledge according to the image of the One Who created him, ¹¹where there is no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all things and in all.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke [§ 91]. At that time:

18 ¹⁸A certain ruler came to Jesus and questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, by doing what shall I inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to him, “Why callest thou Me good? No one is good except One: God. ²⁰“Thou knowest the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, be honoring thy father and thy mother [cf. Ex. 20:13, 15, 14, 16, 12].’” ²¹And he said, “All these I kept for myself from my youth.” ²²And after Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “Yet one thing is wanting to thee: sell all, as much as thou hast, and distribute to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and keep on following Me.” ²³And after he heard these things, he became deeply grieved, for he was exceedingly rich. ²⁴And after Jesus saw him become deeply grieved, He said, “How with difficulty shall they who have riches enter into the kingdom of God! ²⁵“For it is easier for a camel to enter through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶And they who heard it said, “And who is able to be saved?” ²⁷And He said, “The things impossible with men are possible with God.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Martyr Boniface at Tarsus in Cilicia, and Righteous Aglais of Rome.

No readings given.

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

January 1st – Civil Calendar
December 19th – Church Calendar

1. The Holy Martyr Boniface.

Martyrdom for Christ makes sinners into saints. This is shown by the example of St. Boniface. He was at first servant to a wealthy and dissolute woman, Aglaïs, in Rome, and had unclean and unlawful relations with her. Aglaïs evinced the desire to have the relics of some martyr in her house as a blessing so that God would forgive them for their sinful life through the prayers to the martyr, so she sent her servant to Asia to find and buy for her what she desired. Boniface took some slaves with him and a fair amount of money, and at the moment of parting, said to Aglaïs: ‘If I can’t find any martyrs and if they bring you back my body, martyred for Christ, will you receive it with honor?’ Aglaïs rebuked him, saying that this is serious business. Coming to the city of Tarsus, Boniface saw many Christians undergoing torture: some were having their legs cut off, some their hands, others their eyes put out, yet others were dying on the gallows and so forth. Boniface’s heart was changed, and he repented of his sinful life with tears. He called out among the Christian martyrs: ‘I too am a Christian!’ The judge took him for interrogation and ordered that he be harshly flogged, then that boiling lead be poured into his mouth, and as this did him no harm, that he be beheaded. The slaves then took his body back to Rome. An angel of God appeared to Aglaïs and said: ‘Take him who was at one time your servant, but is now our brother and fellow-servant; he is the guardian of your soul and the protector of your life.’ Aglaïs went in wonder to meet them at the dock, took Boniface’s body, built a church for his relics and placed them there. She then repented, gave away all her goods to the poor and withdrew from the world, living a further fifteen years in bitter penitence. St. Boniface suffered in the year 290.

2. St. Gregory, Bishop of Omir.

He was at first a deacon in the church in Mediolanum (Milan), and had many visions. By God’s providence, he was taken to the city of Alexandria, where Patriarch Proterios, in response to a heavenly revelation, consecrated him bishop of the land of Omir in southern Arabia, which the holy King Elesbaan (Oct. 24th) had already freed from the tyranny of Dunaan the Jew. He was a good shepherd and a great wonder-worker. He organized the Church in Omir, with the help of the Christ-loving King Avram, built many churches and baptized a great number of the Jews. He performed great and terrible wonders by his prayers, even bringing about a revelation of Christ the Lord before the unbelieving Jews, which led to their Baptism. Having governed the Church for thirty years, he entered peacefully into eternal life in the late fifth century.

3. St. Boniface the Merciful, Bishop of Ferentino.

He had a rare compassion from childhood, being scolded for this by his mother. But, helped by prayer, he received a hundredfold from the Lord. He died peacefully in Italy in the sixth century.

4. Our Holy Father Elias of Murom.

He was a monk of the Kiev Caves, and died in 1188. His incorrupt relics have wonder-working power. Three fingers of his right hand are to this day raised in prayer, whence it is seen that he died at prayer. This is a commentary on those who do not make the sign of the Cross with three fingers.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Can faith remove mountains (Matt. 17:20)? Yes, undoubtedly, and it can do more than that: faith can move God Himself to compassion towards us sinners. In the Omirian town of Aphar, the majority of the inhabitants were Jews. St. Gregory strove to bring them to the Christian Faith. Then the Jews suggested to him and to King Avram that they should have a debate on faith, with the assurance that, if they were defeated, they would all embrace the Christian Faith. The debate lasted several days, in the presence of several thousand people, both Jews and Christians. The Jews, seeing that they would be defeated by the irrefutable reasons and proofs brought by Gregory, demanded that he in some way show them Christ alive, that they might see Him with their own eyes, and they would then believe. Having utter confidence in the Lord because of the purity of his heart, St. Gregory knelt, facing east, before them all and prayed to God. When he had finished his prayer, the earth quaked and there was a clap of thunder, and the heavens opened to eastward. A luminous cloud appeared from the east, aflame with brilliant rays, and slowly descended to earth at the spot where the people were gathered. In the midst of the cloud stood a Man of unspeakable beauty, with a radiant face and raiment like lightning. He walked across the cloud till He stood above Bishop Gregory. All saw Him in unsurpassable glory and beauty, and fell on their faces in fear. Gregory cried out: ‘One only is holy, One only is Lord: Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Amen!’ At this, there came a voice to the Jews from the Lord’s glory: ‘For the sake of the bishop’s prayers, the Crucified heals you of the unbelief of your forefathers,’ and the cloud slowly disappeared as it had come. The Jews were then baptized.

Daily Scripture Readings taken from The Orthodox New Testament, translated and published by Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado, copyright © 2000, used with permission, all rights reserved.

Daily Prologue Readings taken from The Prologue of Ochrid, by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic, translated by Mother Maria, published by Lazarica Press, Birmingham, England, copyright © 1985, all rights reserved. Edited by Dormition Skete.