[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

Wed Oct 17 05:00:15 CDT 2007

Scripture Readings and Saints for Wed Oct 17 2007

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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Colossians 1:18-23
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the
preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should
dwell,
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether
things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the
blood of His cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now He has reconciled
22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and
blameless, and above reproach in His sight-
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and
are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which
was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became
a minister.
Scripture Reading 1 of 4

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Colossian 1:24-29  (Thursday)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His
body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God
which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations,
but now has been revealed to His saints.
27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory.
28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all
wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which
works in me mightily.
Scripture Reading 2 of 4

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Luke 9:44-50
44 Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is
about to be betrayed into the hands of men.
45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from
them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him
about this saying.
46 Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be
greatest.
47 And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little
child and set him by Him,
48 and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name
receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he
who is least among you all will be great."
49 Now John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out
demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow
with us."
50 But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not
against us is on our side."
Scripture Reading 3 of 4

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Luke 9:49-56  (Thursday)
49 Now John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out
demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow
with us."
50 But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not
against us is on our side."
51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received
up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,
52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered
a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.
53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the
journey to Jerusalem.
54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord,
do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume
them, just as Elijah did?"
55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what
manner of spirit you are of.
56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save
them. And they went to another village.
Scripture Reading 4 of 4

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Prophet Hosea
The Holy Prophet Hosea the first of the minor prophets, belonged to
the tribe of Issachar. He lived during the ninth Century before
Christ, in the kingdom of Israel. He was a contemporary of the holy
Prophets Isaiah, Micah and Amos. During this time, many of his fellow
Israelites had forgotten the true God, and worshipped idols. The holy
Prophet Hosea attempted to turn them again to the faith of their
Fathers by his wise counsels. Denouncing the iniquities of the people
of Israel (i.e. the northern kingdom Israel), the prophet proclaimed
to them great misfortunes from a foreign people and their removal into
captivity by Assyria.
Almost a thousand years before the coming of the Savior, and through
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophet foretold the end of
sacrificial offerings and of the priesthood of Aaron (Hos. 3:4-5), and
that the knowledge of the True God would spread through all the earth
(Hos. 2:20-23). Hosea spoke also about Christ, how He would return
from out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1; compare Mt. 2:15), that He would be
resurrected on the third day (Hos. 6 and especially Hos.6:2; compare
with 1 Cor.15:4), and that He would conquer death (Hos.13-14. Compare
1 Cor.15:54-55).
The prophesies of St Hosea are included in the book that bears his
name. The prophetic service of St Hosea continued for more than sixty
years. The God-inspired prophet died in deep old age, having devoted
all his life to fulfilling the Will of God.
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Monkmartyr Andrew of Crete
The Hieromartyr Andrew of Crete lived during the reign of the
iconoclast emperor Constantine Kopronymos (741-775), who ordered
Christians, under penalty of death, to remove the holy icons from
their churches and homes. Believers, who fearlessly resisted the
impious iconoclast, and held firmly to the traditions of the holy
Fathers, were locked in prison. When the venerable Andrew heard that
the emperor was throwing virtuous and pious Christians into prison
instead of thieves and robbers, he went to the Church of the Great
Martyr Mamas (September 2) in Constantinople and in front of everyone,
denounced the heretic for persecuting the true Faith.
In an attempt to justify himself the emperor said that it was folly to
bestow veneration on wood and paint. To this the monk replied that
whoever suffers for holy icons suffers for Christ, but whoever reviles
the icon upon which Christ is depicted, offers insult to Christ
Himself. The enraged iconoclast gave orders to torture St Andrew
without mercy.
As he was being dragged through the streets to the place of execution,
someone cut off the saint's feet. As a result, St Andrew was freed
from his torments by death. A hundred years later a Canon was written
to the saint by St Joseph the Hymnographer (April 4). The saint heals
those afflicted with seizures.
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Venerable Anthony the Abbot of Leokhnov, Novgorod
Saint Anthony of Leokhnov, Novgorod, was from the Tver lineage of the
Veniaminov nobles. The monk lived as a hermit not far from Novgorod,
in the Rublev wilderness at the River Perekhoda. In about the year
1556 he resettled with the wilderness-dweller Tarasius, who lived
beyond Lake Ilmen at Leokhnov, near Stara Rus, and received monastic
tonsure from him. Thus began the wilderness monastery in honor of the
Transfiguration of the Lord, afterwards called the Leokhnov or
Ivetsk-Antoniev monastery. St Anthony lived to old age, having
acquired the gift of clairvoyance.
In the year 1611, when the Swedes had laid waste the area around
Novgorod, the monk on the invitation of Metropolitan Isidore moved to
Novgorod. He died on September 14, 1611 at age 85 and was buried near
the church of the holy Evangelist Luke, on the side towards the church
of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia). Before his death, and in the presence
of many of the monks, he said that his body would rest in his
wilderness-monastery. A disciple of the monk, named Gregory, returned
to the site of the monastery that had been laid waste and burned by
the Swedes, built a cell and a chapel, and remained there to live.
St Anthony appeared to him three times in a dream and said, "Brother
Gregory, go to Novgorod, tell Metropolitan Cyprian and the elders of
the city that they should put me in the place of my monastery." After
Gregory's report, the Metropolitan led a church procession to the
grave of St Anthony. The incorrupt relics were transferred to the
Leokhnov monastery on July 13, 1620. At the uncovering of the relics,
a blind man named Joseph gained his sight, and many other miracles
occurred.
There is a special order of commemorations, celebrated by the churches
in the name of St Anthony of Leokhnov, both in the village of Leokhnov
and in the Rublev wilderness-monastery. On the second Friday after the
Feast of the Foremost Apostles Peter and Paul (June 29), we celebrate
the Uncovering and Transfer of the Relics of St Anthony from Novgorod
to the Leokhnov monastery. On the Ascension of the Lord, the coming of
St Anthony from the Rublev wilderness to Leokhnovo is remembered. On
October 17 the Repose of the saint, who died on the Feast of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in the ninth hour of the evening, is
commemorated. At the Rublev wilderness monastery the memory of the
Consecration of the church in the name of the venerable Anthony on
August 30 (1873) is also celebrated.
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Martyr and Unmercenary Cosmas and his brother in Cilicia
The Martyrs and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in Cilicia (Arabia),
and the Martyrs Leontius, Anthimus and Eutropius. The holy brothers
Cosmas and Damian were physicians in Arabia, who believed in Christ.
They traveled through the cities and the villages, preaching Christ
and healing the sick. The saints would not take any sort of payment
for the help they rendered. In Cilicia, pagans seized the holy
physicians and led them before the governor, Lysias. Since they
refused to renounce Christianity, the governor ordered the saints to
be brutally beaten, and then cast into the sea.
An angel of God rescued them from the sea and brought them to shore.
Then the pagans beheaded the saints and three other Christians:
Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius.
The Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian of Arabia should not be
confused with the Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor
(November 1), or the Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian of Rome
(July 1).
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Martyr and Unmercenary Damian and his brother in Cilicia
The Martyrs and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in Cilicia (Arabia),
and the Martyrs Leontius, Anthimus and Eutropius. The holy brothers
Cosmas and Damian were physicians in Arabia, who believed in Christ.
They traveled through the cities and the villages, preaching Christ
and healing the sick. The saints would not take any sort of payment
for the help they rendered. In Cilicia, pagans seized the holy
physicians and led them before the governor, Lysias. Since they
refused to renounce Christianity, the governor ordered the saints to
be brutally beaten, and then cast into the sea.
An angel of God rescued them from the sea and brought them to shore.
Then the pagans beheaded the saints and three other Christians:
Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius. (The Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and
Damian of Arabia should not be confused with the Unmercenary Saints
Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor (November 1), or the Unmercenary
Saints Cosmas and Damian of Rome (July 1).
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Martyr Leontius With Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in
Cilicia
Saint Anthimus was beheaded in Cilicia (Arabia) with Sts Cosmas and
Damian, Leontius and Eutropius. The holy brothers Cosmas and Damian
were physicians in Arabia, who believed in Christ. Sts Cosmas and
Damian were arrested in Cilicia, and brought before the governor,
Lysias. Since they refused to renounce Christianity, the governor
ordered the saints to be brutally beaten, and then cast into the sea.
An angel of God rescued them from the sea and brought them to shore.
Then the pagans beheaded the saints and three other Christians:
Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius.
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Martyr Anthimus with Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in
Cilicia
Saint Anthimus was beheaded in Cilicia (Arabia) with Sts Cosmas and
Damian, Leontius and Eutropius. The holy brothers Cosmas and Damian
were physicians in Arabia, who believed in Christ. Sts Cosmas and
Damian were arrested in Cilicia, and brought before the governor,
Lysias. Since they refused to renounce Christianity, the governor
ordered the saints to be brutally beaten, and then cast into the sea.
An angel of God rescued them from the sea and brought them to shore.
Then the pagans beheaded the saints and three other Christians:
Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius.
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Martyr Eutropius with Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in
Cilicia
Saint Eutropius was beheaded in Cilicia (Arabia) with Sts Cosmas and
Damian, Leontius and Anthimus.
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Translation of the relics of St Lazarus "of the Four Days in
the Tomb" the Bishop of Kiteia on Cyprus
The Transfer of the relics of Righteous Lazarus of the Four Days,
Bishop of Kiteia on Cyprus, took place in the ninth century. The
Righteous St Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary (Magdalene),
lived in the village of Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. During His
earthly life the Lord Jesus Christ often visited the house of Lazarus,
whom He much loved and called His friend (John 11:3,11), and when
Lazarus had died and lain four days already in the grave, the Lord
raised him from the dead (John 11:1-44). (The Church remembers St
Lazarus on the Saturday of the Sixth Week of Great Lent, "Lazarus
Saturday.")
Many of the Jews, when they heard about this, came to Bethany. Being
persuaded of the reality of this most remarkable wonder, they became
followers of Christ. Because of this the High Priests also wanted to
kill Lazarus. Righteous Lazarus is mentioned in the Holy Gospel once
more: when the Lord had come again to Bethany six days before the
Passover, Lazarus was also there (John 12:1-2, 12:9-11). After his
raising, St Lazarus lived another thirty years as a bishop on the
island of Cyprus, where he spread Christianity and peacefully fell
asleep in the Lord.
The holy relics of St Lazarus were discovered in Kiteia. They were
within a marble coffin, upon which was inscribed: "Lazarus of the
Four-Days, the friend of Christ." The Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise
(886-911) gave orders to transfer the relics of St Lazarus to
Constantinople in the year 898 and place them within the church of the
Righteous Lazarus.
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Icon of the Mother of God "In Giving Birth, you Preserved
your Virginity"
The Icon of the Mother of God "In Giving Birth, You Preserved Your
Virginity" ("A Virgin Before Birth and After Birth") was transferred
to the Nikolaev Peshkov monastery of Moscow diocese by the Moscow
merchant Alexis Grigorievich Mokeev. Around the year 1780 Alexis
joined the brethren of the monastery. He had given all of his wealth
to the igumen of the monastery, Archimandrite Macarius, and the holy
icon remained in his cell.
After Alexis's death, the icon was brought to the archimandrite, who
observed that the icon was painted in oil on canvas and not according
to the prescribed rules of iconography (using egg tempera on wood),
and he installed it over the exit door of the chapel of St Methodius,
which was on a street not far from the monastery.
The glorification of the holy icon began in 1827, when Captain Platon
Osipovich Shabashev, going past the chapel at night, saw an
extraordinary light coming from the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Another time he had a vision of the icon at a time when he found
himself in difficult circumstances. In a dream, Platon beheld the
radiant icon of the Mother of God in the clouds above the chapel of St
Methodius and heard a voice say, "If you wish to be delivered from
temptation, pray before this icon." Platon obeyed the guidance of the
Mother of God, and the sorrow passed him by.
The pious Platon told the Superior of the monastery about the
miracles. He then transfered the holy image into the monastery. When
they went to put the icon in a ornamental case, the image of the Most
Holy Virgin, painted on canvas, stiffened taut upon a board, on which
was concealed a depiction of the Mother of God of finest quality.
Numerous miracles are recorded to have taken place from this icon in
1848 during an outbreak of cholera, when many praying before it were
healed.
This icon of the Mother of God is of the Hodigitria type.
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Icon of the Mother of God the "Deliveress"
The "Deliverer" Icon of the Mother of God, before being brought to the
New Athos Simono-Kananitsk monastery in the Caucasus, was on Mount
Athos with a brother of the Russian St Panteleimon monastery,
Schemamonk Martinian (+ 1884). The pious schemamonk had received this
icon from the ascetic Theodoulus. The holy icon was glorified by
miracles for many centuries. After praying before this icon the
inhabitants of Sparta, Greece were delivered from locusts in 1841.
>From the Monastery of St Panteleimon, according to the final wishes of
Schemamonk Macarius, this icon was given to the New Athos monastery on
July 20, 1889, and the festal celebration in its honor was designated
as October 17.
When the Feastday in honor of this icon was first celebrated at the
Simono-Kananitsk monastery, a storm cast more than a ton of fish
ashore at the monastery. On the icon the Most Holy Theotokos holds the
Divine Infant in Her left arm, and He blesses with His right hand.
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St Joseph the Catholicos of Georgia
Saint Joseph (Jandierishvili) received his spiritual education at
David-Gareji Monastery. He was endowed by the Lord with the gift of
wonder-working. His prayers healed the terminally ill and
demon-possessed. For his wisdom and virtue, he was consecrated bishop
of Rustavi, and in 1755 enthroned as Catholicos-Patriarch. St. Joseph
remained a monk-ascetic in spite of his hierarchical rank.
In 1764 Holy Catholicos Joseph, like St. Gregory the Theologian,
humbly stepped down from the archpastors throne and withdrew to
Akhmeta in northeastern Georgia. With his own hands he cultivated a
vineyard and distributed his harvest to the poor. The climate in that
region was capriciousdroughts were frequent, and hail would devastate
the fragile crops, laying waste to the farmers labors. But while St.
Joseph was laboring there, the region suffered neither drought nor
hail.
Through St. Josephs prayers, the sick were healed and the blind
received sight. Those who dwelt near him loved him deeply and put
their hope in him. St. Gabriel the Lesser remarked joyfully in one of
his writings: Once I saw and two times I kissed the hand of this holy
man.
Having lived in godliness to a ripe old age, Catholicos Joseph reposed
peacefully in the year 1770.
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Martyr Kozman
The Life of St. Kozman has not been preserved. In the commemorations
for this day it is mentioned only that he died a martyrs death in the
region of Kartli.
Here it is fitting to note that, due to its geopolitical
circumstances, Georgia has throughout history been a constant victim
of foreign aggression. To give ones life for his motherland and Faith
became so customary for the Georgian people that the Georgian Church
is unable to commemorate all of its martyrs by name. Unfortunately,
errors of faith and time have erased from the pages of history the
lives and virtues of many of the elect. Today, the Church calendar and
the prayers with which the faithful honor the martyrs remain the sole
means for the Church to acknowledge the lives of these holy men and
women.
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