[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

[Daily Orthodox Readings and Saints]

Scripture Readings and Saints for Tue Apr 22 2008

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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Matthew 22:15-23:39  (Matins Gospel)
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in
His talk.
16 And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying,
"Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in
truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person
of men.
17 Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to
Caesar, or not?
18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test
Me, you hypocrites?
19 Show Me the tax money. So they brought Him a denarius.
20 And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"
21 They said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render
therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the
things that are God's."
22 When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and
went their way.
23 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came
to Him and asked Him,
24 saying: "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no
children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for
his brother.
25 Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had
married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.
26 Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.
27 Last of all the woman died also.
28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she
be? For they all had her.
29 Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the
Scriptures nor the power of God.
30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in
marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.
31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what
was spoken to you by God, saying,
32 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
33 And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His
teaching.
34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together.
35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and
saying,
36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.'
40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
42 saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?" They
said to Him, "The Son of David."
43 He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him
'Lord,' saying:
44 The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your
enemies Your footstool"'?
45 If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?
46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did
anyone dare question Him anymore.
1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples,
2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do,
but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.
4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's
shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their
fingers.
5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their
phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.
6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the
synagogues,
7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi,
Rabbi.'
8 But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the
Christ, and you are all brethren.
9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He
who is in heaven.
10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.
11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.
13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up
the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves,
nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour
widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you
will receive greater condemnation.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land
and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice
as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple,
it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is
obliged to perform it.'
17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that
sanctifies the gold?
18 And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever
swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'
19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that
sanctifies the gift?
20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all
things on it.
21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in
it.
22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him
who sits on it.
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of
mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of
the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done,
without leaving the others undone.
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the
outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and
self-indulgence.
26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that
the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like
whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside
are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you
are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build
the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30 and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not
have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'
31 Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of
those who murdered the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.
33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of
hell?
34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some
of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge
in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,
35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth,
from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of
Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this
generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were
not willing!
38 See! Your house is left to you desolate;
39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed
is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'
Scripture Reading 1 of 5


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Ezekiel 1:21-2:1  (6th Hour)
21 When those went, these went; when those stood, these stood; and
when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up
together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the
wheels.
22 The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living
creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal, stretched out over
their heads.
23 And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward
another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two
which covered the other side of the body.
24 When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of
many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise
of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings.
25 A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads;
whenever they stood, they let down their wings.
26 And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a
throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the
throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.
27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were,
the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it;
and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were,
the appearance of fire with brightness all around
28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was
the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the
appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. So when I saw it,
I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.
1 And He said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak
to you.
Scripture Reading 2 of 5


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Exodus 2:5-10  (Vespers, 1st Reading)
5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And
her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among
the reeds, she sent her maid to get it.
6 And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby
wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the
Hebrews children.
7 Then his sister said to Pharaohs daughter, Shall I go and call a
nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for
you?
8 And Pharaohs daughter said to her, Go. So the maiden went and called
the childs mother.
9 Then Pharaohs daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse
him for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the
child and nursed him.
10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaohs daughter, and
he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, Because I
drew him out of the water.
Scripture Reading 3 of 5


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Job 1:13-22  (Vespers, 2nd Reading)
13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and
drinking wine in their oldest brothers house;
14 and a messenger came to Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the
donkeys feeding beside them,
15 when the Sabeans raided them and took them awayindeed they have
killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have
escaped to tell you!
16 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, The fire
of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and
consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!
17 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, The
Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away,
yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone
have escaped to tell you!
18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, Your sons
and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brothers
house,
19 and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and
struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people,
and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to
the ground and worshiped.
21 And he said: Naked I came from my mothers womb, And naked shall I
return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be
the name of the Lord.
22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Scripture Reading 4 of 5


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Matthew 24:36-26:2  (Gospel)
36 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of
heaven, but My Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of
Man be.
38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the
ark,
39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so
also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other
left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the
other left.
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour
the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house
to be broken into.
44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an
hour you do not expect.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler
over his household, to give them food in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find
so doing.
47 Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his
goods.
48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying
his coming,'
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with
the drunkards,
50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not
looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the
hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
1 Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took
their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,
4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming;
go out to meet him!'
7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our
lamps are going out.'
9 But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough
for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for
yourselves.'
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were
ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to
us!'
12 But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know
you.'
13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which
the Son of Man is coming.
14 For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country,
who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another
one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on
a journey.
16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with
them, and made another five talents.
17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.
18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his
lord's money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled
accounts with them.
20 So he who had received five talents came and brought five other
talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have
gained five more talents besides them.'
21 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you
were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many
things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'
22 He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you
delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents
besides them.'
23 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you
have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many
things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'
24 Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I
knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and
gathering where you have not scattered seed.
25 'And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground.
Look, there you have what is yours.'
26 But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy
servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where
I have not scattered seed.
27 'So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at
my coming I would have received back my own with interest.
28 'Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten
talents.
29 'For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have
abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be
taken away.
30 'And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
31 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels
with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the
left.
34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world:
35 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave
Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
36 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I
was in prison and you came to Me.'
37 Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see
You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
38 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and
clothe You?
39 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you,
inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you
did it to Me.'
41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me,
you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels:
42 'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you
gave Me no drink;
43 'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not
clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'
44 Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You
hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did
not minister to You?'
45 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you,
inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did
not do it to Me.'
46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life.
1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that
He said to His disciples,
2 You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man
will be delivered up to be crucified.
Scripture Reading 5 of 5



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Great and Holy Tuesday
Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week
3. MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY: THE END These three days, which the
Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of
the Holy Week a very definite purpose. They place all its celebrations
in the perspective of End ; they remind us of the eschatological
meaning of Pascha. So often Holy Week is considered one of the
"beautiful traditions" or "customs," a self-evident "part" of our
calendar. We take it for granted and enjoy it as a cherished annual
event which we have "observed" since childhood, we admire the beauty
of its services, the pageantry of its rites and, last but not least,
we like the fuss about the paschal table. And then, when all this is
done we resume our normal life. But do we understand that when the
world rejected its Savior, when "Jesus began to be sorrowful and very
heavy... and his soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death," when
He died on the Cross, "normal life" came to its end and is no longer
possible. For there were "normal" men who shouted "Crucify Him [" who
spat at Him and nailed Him to the Cross. And they hated and killed Him
precisely because He was troubling their normal life. It was indeed a
perfectly "normal" world which preferred darkness and death to light
and life.... By the death of Jesus the "normal" world, and "normal"
life were irrevocably condemned. Or rather they revealed their true
and abnormal inability to receive the Light, the terrible power of
evil in them. "Now is the Judgment of this world" (John 12:31). The
Pascha of Jesus signified its end to "this world" and it has been at
its end since then. This end can last for hundreds of centuries this
does not alter the nature of time in which we live as the "last time."
"The fashion of this world passeth away..." (I Cor. 7:31).
Pascha means passover, passage. The feast of Passover was for the Jews
the annual commemoration of their whole history as salvation, and of
salvation as passage from the slavery of Egypt into freedom, from
exile into the promised land. It was also the anticipation of the
ultimate passage - into the Kingdom of God. And Christ was the
fulfillment of Pascha. He performed the ultimate passage: from death
into life, from this "old world" into the new world into the new time
of the Kingdom. And he opened the possibility of this passage to us.
Living in "this world" we can already be "not of this world," i.e. be
free from slavery to death and sin, partakers of the "world to come."
But for this we must also perform our own passage, we must condemn the
old Adam in us, we must put on Christ in the baptismal death and have
our true life hidden in God with Christ, in the "world to come...."
And thus Easter is not an annual commemoration, solemn and beautiful,
of a past event. It is this Event itself shown, given to us, as always
efficient, always revealing our world, our time, our life as being at
their end, and announcing the Beginning of the new life.... And the
function of the three first days of Holy Week is precisely to
challenge us with this ultimate meaning of Pascha and to prepare us to
the understanding and acceptance of it.
1. This eschatological (which means ultimate, decisive, final)
challenge is revealed, first, in the common troparion of these days:
Troparion - Tone 8
Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight, And blessed is the servant
whom He shall find watching, And again unworthy is the servant whom He
shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed
down with sleep, Lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut
out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy, Holy, Holy, are
You, O our God! Through the Theotokos have mercy on us!
Midnight is the moment when the old day comes to its end and a new day
begins. It is thus the symbol of the time in which we live as
Christians. For, on the one hand, the Church is still in this world,
sharing in its weaknesses and tragedies. Yet, on the other hand, her
true being is not of this world, for she is the Bride of Christ and
her mission is to announce and to reveal the coming of the Kingdom and
of the new day. Her life is a perpetual watching and expectation, a
vigil pointed at the dawn of this new day. But we know how strong is
still our attachment to the "old day," to the world with its passions
and sins. We know how deeply we still belong to "this world." We have
seen the light, 'We know Christ, we have heard about the peace and joy
of the new life in Him, and yet the world holds us in its slavery.
This weakness, this constant betrayal of Christ, this incapacity to
give the totality of our love to the only true object of love are
wonderfully expressed in the exapostilarion of these three days:
"Thy Bridal Chamber I see adorned, O my Savior And I have no wedding
garment that I may enter, O Giver of life, enlighten the vesture of my
soul And save me."
2. The same theme develops further in the Gospel readings of these
days. First of all, the entire text of the four Gospels (up to John
13: 31) is read at the Hours (1, 3, 6 and 9th). This recapitulation
shows that the Cross is the climax of the whole life and ministry of
Jesus, the Key to their proper understanding. Everything in the Gospel
leads to this ultimate hour of Jesus and everything is to be
understood in its light. Then, each service has its special Gospel
lesson
On Tuesday: At Matins: Matthew 22: 15-23, 39. Condemnation of
Pharisees, i.e. of the blind and hypocritical religion, of those who
think they are the leaders of man and the light of the world, but who
in fact "shut up the Kingdom of heaven to men."
At the Presanctified Liturgy: Matthew 24: 36-26, 2. The End again and
the parables of the End: the ten wise virgins who had enough oil in
their lamps and the ten foolish ones who were not admitted to the
bridal banquet; the parable of ten talents ". . . Therefore be ye also
ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh."
And, finally the Last Judgment.
3.These Gospel lessons are explained and elaborated in the hymnology
of these days: the stichiras and the triodia (short canons of three
odes each sung at Matins). One warning, one exhortation runs through
all of them: the end and the judgment are approaching, let us prepare
for them: '"
"Behold, O my soul, the Master has conferred on thee a talent Receive
the gift with fear; Lend to him who gave; distribute to the poor And
acquire for thyself thy Lord as thy Friend; That when He shall come in
glory, Thou mayest stand on His right hand And hear His blessed voice:
Enter, my servant, into the joy of thy Lord." (Tuesday Matins)
4. Throughout the whole Lent the two books of the Old Testament read
at Vespers were Genesis and Proverbs. With the beginning of Holy Week
they are replaced by Exodus and Job. Exodus is the story of Israel's
liberation from Egyptian slavery, of their Passover. It prepares us
for the understanding of Christ's exodus to His Father, of His
fulfillment of the whole history of salvation. Job, the Sufferer, is
the Old Testament icon of Christ. This reading announces the great
mystery of Christ's sufferings, obedience and sacrifice.
5. The liturgical structure of these three days is still of the Lenten
type. It includes, therefore, the prayer of St Ephrem the Syrian with
prostrations, the augmented reading of the Psalter, the Liturgy of the
Presanctified Gifts and the Lenten liturgical chant. We are still in
the time of repentance for repentance alone makes us partakers of the
Pascha of Our Lord, opens to us the doors of the Paschal banquet. And
then, on Great and Holy Wednesday, as the last Liturgy of the
Presanctified Gifts is about to be completed, after the Holy Gifts
have been removed from the altar, the priest reads for the last time
the Prayer of St Ephrem. At this moment, the preparation comes to an
end. The Lord summons us now to His Last Supper.
by THE VERY REV. ALEXANDER SCHMEMANN
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Holy Queen Tamara
St. Tamara is commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-beating Women in
addition to her regular commemoration on May 1. In 1166 a daughter,
Tamar, was born to King George III (11551184) and Queen Burdukhan of
Georgia. The king proclaimed that he would share the throne with his
daughter from the day she turned twelve years of age.
The royal court unanimously vowed its allegiance and service to Tamar,
and father and daughter ruled the country together for five years.
After King Georges death in 1184, the nobility recognized the young
Tamar as the sole ruler of all Georgia. Queen Tamar was enthroned as
ruler of all Georgia at the age of eighteen. She is called King in the
Georgian language because her father had no male heir and so she ruled
as a monarch and not as a consort.
At the beginning of her reign, Tamar convened a Church council and
addressed the clergy with wisdom and humility: Judge according to
righteousness, affirming good and condemning evil, she advised. Begin
with meif I sin I should be censured, for the royal crown is sent down
from above as a sign of divine service. Allow neither the wealth of
the nobles nor the poverty of the masses to hinder your work. You by
word and I by deed, you by preaching and I by the law, you by
upbringing and I by education will care for those souls whom God has
entrusted to us, and together we will abide by the law of God, in
order to escape eternal condemnation. You as priests and I as ruler,
you as stewards of good and I as the watchman of that good.
The Church and the royal court chose a suitor for Tamar: Yuri, the son
of Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal (in Georgia Yuri was
known as George the Russian). The handsome George Rusi was a valiant
soldier, and under his command the Georgians returned victorious from
many battles. His marriage to Tamar, however, exposed many of the
coarser sides of his character. He was often drunk and inclined toward
immoral deeds. In the end, Tamars court sent him away from Georgia to
Constantinople, armed with a generous recompense. Many Middle Eastern
rulers were drawn to Queen Tamars beauty and desired to marry her, but
she rejected them all. Finally at the insistence of her court, she
agreed to wed a second time to ensure the preservation of the dynasty.
This time, however, she asked her aunt and nurse Rusudan (the sister
of King George III) to find her a suitor. The man she chose,
Davit-Soslan Bagrationi, was the son of the Ossetian ruler and a
descendant of King George I (10141027).
In 1195 a joint Muslim military campaign against Georgia was planned
under the leadership of Atabeg (a military commander) Abu Bakr of
Persian Azerbaijan. At Queen Tamars command, a call to arms was
issued. The faithful were instructed by Metropolitan Anton of
Chqondidi to celebrate All-night Vigils and Liturgies and to
generously distribute alms so that the poor could rest from their
labors in order to pray. In ten days the army was prepared, and Queen
Tamar addressed the Georgian soldiers for the last time before the
battle began. My brothers! Do not allow your hearts to tremble before
the multitude of enemies, for God is with us. Trust God alone, turn
your hearts to Him in righteousness, and place your every hope in the
Cross of Christ and in the Most Holy Theotokos! she exhorted them.
Having taken off her shoes, Queen Tamar climbed the hill to the
Metekhi Church of the Theotokos (in Tbilisi) and knelt before the icon
of the Most Holy Theotokos. She prayed without ceasing until the good
news arrived: the battle near Shamkori had ended in the unquestionable
victory of the Orthodox Georgian army.
After this initial victory the Georgian army launched into a series of
triumphs over the Turks, and neighboring countries began to regard
Georgia as the protector of the entire Transcaucasus. By the beginning
the 13th century, Georgia was commanding a political authority
recognized by both the Christian West and the Muslim East.
Georgias military successes alarmed the Islamic world. Sultan Rukn
al-Din was certain that a united Muslim force could definitively
decide the issue of power in the region, and he marched on Georgia
around the year 1203, commanding an enormous army.
Having encamped near Basiani, Rukn al-Din sent a messenger to Queen
Tamar with an audacious demand: to surrender without a fight. In
reward for her obedience, the sultan promised to marry her on the
condition that she embrace Islam; if Tamar were to cleave to
Christianity, he would number her among the other unfortunate
concubines in his harem. When the messenger relayed the sultans
demand, a certain nobleman, Zakaria Mkhargrdzelidze, was so outraged
that he slapped him on the face, knocking him unconscious.
At Queen Tamars command, the court generously bestowed gifts upon the
ambassador and sent him away with a Georgian envoy and a letter of
reply. Your proposal takes into consideration your wealth and the
vastness of your armies, but fails to account for divine judgment,
Tamar wrote, while I place my trust not in any army or worldly thing
but in the right hand of the Almighty God and the infinite aid of the
Cross, which you curse. The will of Godand not your ownshall be
fulfilled, and the judgment of Godand not your judgmentshall reign!
The Georgian soldiers were summoned without delay. Queen Tamar prayed
for victory before the Vardzia Icon of the Theotokos, then, barefoot,
led her army to the gates of the city.
Hoping in the Lord and the fervent prayers of Queen Tamar, the
Georgian army marched toward Basiani. The enemy was routed. The
victory at Basiani was an enormous event not only for Georgia, but for
the entire Christian world.
The military victories increased Queen Tamars faith. In the daytime
she shone in all her royal finery and wisely administered the affairs
of the government; during the night, on bended knees, she beseeched
the Lord tearfully to strengthen the Georgian Church. She busied
herself with needlework and distributed her embroidery to the poor.
Once, exhausted from her prayers and needlework, Tamar dozed off and
saw a vision. Entering a luxuriously furnished home, she saw a gold
throne studded with jewels, and she turned to approach it, but was
suddenly stopped by an old man crowned with a halo. Who is more worthy
than I to receive such a glorious throne? Queen Tamar asked him.
He answered her, saying, This throne is intended for your maidservant,
who sewed vestments for twelve priests with her own hands. You are
already the possessor of great treasure in this world. And he pointed
her in a different direction.
Having awakened, Holy Queen Tamar immediately took to her work and
with her own hands sewed vestments for twelve priests.
History has preserved another poignant episode from Queen Tamars life:
Once she was preparing to attend a festal Liturgy in Gelati, and she
fastened precious rubies to the belt around her waist. Soon after she
was told that a beggar outside the monastery tower was asking for
alms, and she ordered her entourage to wait. Having finished dressing,
she went out to the tower but found no one there. Terribly distressed,
she reproached herself for having denied the poor and thus denying
Christ Himself. Immediately she removed her belt, the cause of her
temptation, and presented it as an offering to the Gelati Icon of the
Theotokos.
During Queen Tamars reign a veritable monastic city was carved in the
rocks of Vardzia, and the God-fearing Georgian ruler would labor there
during the Great Fast. The churches of Pitareti, Kvabtakhevi, Betania,
and many others were also built at that time. Holy Queen Tamar
generously endowed the churches and monasteries not only on Georgian
territory but also outside her borders: in Palestine, Cyprus, Mt.
Sinai, the Black Mountains, Greece, Mt. Athos, Petritsoni (Bulgaria),
Macedonia, Thrace, Romania, Isauria and Constantinople. The divinely
guided Queen Tamar abolished the death penalty and all forms of bodily
torture.
A regular, secret observance of a strict ascetic regimefasting, a
stone bed, and litanies chanted in bare feetfinally took its toll on
Queen Tamars health. For a long time she refrained from speaking to
anyone about her condition, but when the pain became unbearable she
finally sought help. The best physicians of the time were unable to
diagnose her illness, and all of Georgia was seized with fear of
disaster. Everyone from the small to the great prayed fervently for
Georgias ruler and defender. The people were prepared to offer not
only their own lives, but even the lives of their children, for the
sake of their beloved ruler.
God sent Tamar a sign when He was ready to receive her into His
Kingdom. Then the pious ruler bade farewell to her court and turned in
prayer to an icon of Christ and the Life-giving Cross: Lord Jesus
Christ! Omnipotent Master of heaven and earth! To Thee I deliver the
nation and people that were entrusted to my care and purchased by Thy
Precious Blood, the children whom Thou didst bestow upon me, and to
Thee I surrender my soul, O Lord!
The burial place of Queen Tamar has remained a mystery to this day.
Some sources claim that her tomb is in Gelati, in a branch of burial
vaults belonging to the Bagrationi dynasty, while others argue that
her holy relics are preserved in a vault at the Holy Cross Monastery
in Jerusalem.
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St Theodore the Sykeote the Bishop of Anastasiopolis
Saint Theodore the Sykeote was born in the mid-sixth century in the
village of Sykeon, not far from the city of Anastasiopolis (in
Galatia, Asia Minor), into a pious family. When his mother Maria
conceived the saint, she had a vision of a bright star overshadowing
her womb. A clairvoyant Elder, whom she consulted, explained that this
was the grace of God being poured forth on the infant in her womb.
When the boy reached the age of six, his mother presented him with a
golden belt, since she intended that her son should become a soldier.
That night the Holy Great Martyr George (April 23) appeared to her in
a dream, and he told her not to consider military service for her son,
because the boy was destined to serve God. The saint's father, Cosmas,
had served as a messenger of the emperor Justinian the Great
(527-565), and he died at an early age. The boy remained in the care
of his mother, and his grandmother Elpis, his aunt Dispenia and his
little sister Vlatta also lived with them.
In school, St Theodore displayed great apptitude in his studies, chief
of which was an uncommon ability for reasoning and wisdom. He was
quiet, mild, he always knew how to calm his comrades, and he did not
permit fights or quarrels among them.
The pious Elder Stephen also lived at his mother's house. Imitating
him, St Theodore at the age of eight began to eat only a small morsel
of bread in the evening during Great Lent. So that his mother should
not force him to take supper with everyone, the boy returned home from
school only toward evening, after he had partaken of the Holy
Mysteries with Elder Stephen. At the request of his mother, the
teacher began to send him home to supper at the end of his lessons. St
Theodore, however, ran to the church of the Great Martyr George, where
the saint appeared to him in the form of a youth, and ushered him into
the church.
When St Theodore turned ten, he fell deathly ill. They brought him to
the church of St John the Baptist and placed him in front of the
altar. The boy was healed by two drops of water that fell from the
face of the Savior in the dome of the temple. At this time the Great
Martyr George began appearing to the boy at night, and also leading
him to his own temple to pray until morning. His mother, fearing the
dangers of the forest at night, urged her son not to go at night.
Once, when the boy had already gone, she angrily followed him to the
church, and she dragged him out by the hair and tied him to his bed.
But that very night the Great Martyr George appeared to her in a
dream, and commanded her not to hinder the child from going to church.
Both Elpis and Dispenia had the same vision. The women then understood
St Theodore's special calling, and they no longer hindered him. Even
his little sister Vlatta began to imitate him.
At twelve years of age, the saint had a dream in which he saw Christ
on the Throne of Glory, Who said to him, "Struggle, Theodore, so that
you may obtain a perfect reward in the Kingdom of Heaven."
>From that time, St Theodore began to intensify his labors. He spent
both the First Week of Great Lent and the Week of the Veneration of
the Cross in complete silence.
The devil considered how to destroy him. He appeared to the saint in
the form of his classmate Gerontius, and urged him to jump off a
precipice, but the Great Martyr George saved the boy.
Another time, the boy went into the desert to obtain the blessing of
the Elder Glycerius. Then there was a terrible drought throughout the
land, and the Elder said, "Child, let us pray to the Lord on bended
knee, asking Him to send rain. Then we shall learn whether our prayers
are pleasing to the Lord." The old man and the boy began to pray, and
immediately it began to rain. Then the Elder said to St Theodore, that
the grace of God was upon him, and he blessed him to become a monk
when the time came.
When he was fourteen, St Theodore left home and lived near the church
of the Great Martyr George. His mother brought him food, but St
Theodore left everything on the stones by the church, and he ate only
a single prosphora each day. Even at such a young age, St Theodore was
granted the gift of healing. Through his prayers a demon-possessed
youth was restored to health.
St Theodore then fled human glory and he withdrew into complete
solitude. Under a large boulder not far from the church of St George,
he dug a cave and persuaded a certain deacon to cover over the
entrance with earth, leaving only a small opening for air. The deacon
brought him bread and water and he told no one,where the monk had
hidden himself.
For two years St Theodore lived in this seclusion and complete quiet.
His relatives mourned for the saint, thinking that he had been
devoured by wild beasts.
The deacon finally revealed the secret, since he was afraid that St
Theodore would perish in the narrow cave, and moreover he pitied the
weeping mother. They took St Theodore out of the cave barely alive.
The mother wanted to take her son home and nurse him back to health,
but the saint remained near the church of St George, and after several
days he was completely well.
News of the youth's exploits reached the local bishop Theodosius, who
ordained him to the diaconate, and later to the holy priesthood,
although the saint was only seventeen years old at the time.
After a certain while St Theodore went to venerate the holy places in
Jerusalem, and there at the Chozeba Lavra near Jordan, he received
monastic tonsure.
When he returned to his native land, he again continued to live near
the church of St George. His grandmother Elpis, his sister Vlatta and
his mother entered a women's monastery on the saint's advice, and his
aunt died in a good confession.
The ascetic life of the young hieromonk attracted to him people
seeking salvation. The saint tonsured the youth Epiphanius, and later
on a pious woman, healed by the saint from her sickness, brought him
her son Philoumenus. Then the virtuous youth John also came to him.
Thus brethren gradually gathered around the monk.
St Theodore continued in his harsh labors. At his request a blacksmith
made him an iron cage without a roof, and so narrow that it was
scarcely possible to stand. In this cage the monk stood in heavy
chains from Holy Pascha until the Nativity of Christ. From the Baptism
of the Lord until Holy Pascha he secluded himself in his cave, from
which he emerged only for church services on Saturdays and Sundays.
Throughout the whole of the forty-day Fast the saint ate only greens,
and bread on Saturdays and Sundays.
Living in such manner, he received from the Lord the power over wild
animals. Bears and wolves came up to him and took food from his hand.
Through the saint's prayers, those afflicted with leprosy were healed,
and demons were cast out from whole districts. In the nearby village
of Magatia, when locusts threatened the crops, people turned to St
Theodore for help. He sent them to church. After Divine Liturgy, which
he served, the villagers returned home and learned that during the
service all the locusts had died.
When the military commander Mauricius was returning to Constantinople
by way of Galatia after a Persian war, the monk predicted that he
would become emperor. The prediction came true, and the emperor
Mauricius (582-602) fulfilled the saint's request: he sent bread to
the monastery each year for the multitude of people being fed there.
The small temple of St George could not accommodate all those who
wanted to pray in it. Then through the efforts of the saint a
beautiful new church was built. During this while the Bishop of
Anastasiopolis happened to die. The people of the city requested
Metropolitan Paul of Ancyra to install St Theodore as their bishop.
So that the saint would not resist, the messengers of the Metropolitan
and the people of Anastasiopolis dragged him out of his cell by force
and carried him into the city.
As bishop, St Theodore toiled much for the welfare of the Church, but
his soul yearned for solitary communion with God. After several years
he went to venerate the holy places in Jerusalem. And there,
concealing his identity, he settled at the Lavra of St Sava, where he
lived in solitude from the Nativity of Christ until Pascha. Then the
Great Martyr George led him to return to Anastasiopolis.
Secret enemies tried to poison the saint, but the Mother of God gave
him three small pieces of grain. The saint ate them and remained
unharmed. St Theodore felt weighed down with the burden of being a
bishop and he asked Patriarch Cyriacus of Constantinople (595-606) for
a release to return to his own monastery and celebrate the services
there.
Theodore's sanctity was so evident that when he celebrated the
Eucharist, the grace of the Holy Spirit appeared as a radiant purple
light, overshadowed the Holy Gifts. One time, when the saint elevated
the discus with the holy Lamb and proclaimed "Holy things are for the
holy," the holy Lamb floated up in the air, and then settled again
upon the discus.
The Orthodox Church venerated St Theodore as a saint, even while he
was still alive.
In one of the cities of Galatia, a terrible event occurred: during a
church procession the wooden crosses being carried began to strike
each other by themselves, with the result that Patriarch Thomas
(607-610, March 21) summoned St Theodore, asking him the meaning of
this terrible portent. Having the gift of foresight, St Theodore
explained that this indicated coming misfortunes for the Church of God
(he was prophetically indicating the future heresy of the
Iconoclasts). In his grief the holy Patriarch Thomas begged the saint
to pray that he would soon die, so that he would not witness the
coming woe.
In the year 610 the holy Patriarch Thomas reposed, having asked the
blessing of St Theodore. St Theodore also departed to the Lord.
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Translation of the relics of the Blessed Vsevolod, in Holy
Baptism Gabriel, the Prince of Pskov
The Transfer of the Relics of Holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel of Pskov
(1834): See February 11.
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Apostle Nathaniel of the Seventy
The Holy Apostles Nathaniel, Luke and Clement of the Seventy: See June
11, October 18 and September 10.
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Apostle and Evangelist Luke of the Seventy
The Holy Apostles Nathaniel, Luke and Clement of the Seventy: See June
11, October 18 and September 10.
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Apostle Clement of the Seventy
The Holy Apostles Nathaniel, Luke and Clement of the Seventy: See June
11, October 18 and September 10.
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Venerable Vitalius of Gaza
Saint Vitalius, a monk of the monastery of St Seridus, arrived in
Alexandria when St John the Merciful (November 12) was wasPatriarch of
Alexandria.
When he was sixty years old, undertook an extraordinary task: he wrote
down from memory the names of all the prostitutes of Alexandria and he
began to pray for them. He worked from morning to evening, earning
twelve copper coins each day. In the evening the saint bought a single
bean, which he ate after sunset. Then he would give the rest of the
money to one of the harlots, whom he visited at night and said, "I beg
you, take this money and do not sin with anyone tonight." Then he
stayed with the harlot in her room. While she slept, the Elder spent
the whole night at prayer, reading the Psalms, and quietly left in the
morning.
He did this each day, visiting all the harlots in turn, and he made
them promise to keep the purpose of his visit secret. The people of
Alexandria, not knowing the truth, became indignant over the the
monk's behavior, and they reviled him. However, he meekly endured
their scorn, and he only asked that they not judge others.
The holy prayers of St Vitalius saved many fallen women. Some of them
went to a monastery, others got married, and others found respectable
work. But they were forbidden to tell anyone the reason why they had
changed their life, and thereby stop the abuse heaped upon St
Vitalius. They were bound by an oath they had made to the saint. When
of the woman began to break her oath and stood up to defend the saint,
she fell into a demonic frenzy. After this, the people of Alexandria
had no doubt concerning the sinfulness of the monk.
Certain of the clergy, scandalized by the behavior of St Vitalius,
reported him to the holy Patriarch John the Merciful. But the
Patriarch did not believe the informers and he said, "Cease to judge,
especially monks. Don't you know what happened at the First Council of
Nicea? Some of the bishops and the clergy brought letters of
denunciation against each other to the emperor St Constantine the
Great (May 21). He commanded that a burning candle be brought, and not
even reading the letters, he burned them and said, "If I had seen with
my own eyes a bishop sinning, or a priest, or a monk, then I would
have veiled such with his garb, so that no one might see his sin."
Thus the wise hierarch shamed the calumniators.
St Vitalius continued on with his difficult exploit: appearing himself
before people under the guise of a sinner and a prodigal, he led the
prodigal to repentance.
One time, emerging from an house of ill repute, the monk encountered a
young man going there -- a prodigal fellow, who with an insult struck
him on the cheek and cried out, that the monk was a disgrace to the
Name of Christ. The monk answered him: "Believe me, that after me,
humble man that I be, thou also shalt receive such a blow on the
cheek, that will have all Alexandria thronging to thine cry".
A certain while afterwards St Vitalius settled into a small cell and
in it at night he died. At that very hour a terrifying demon appeared
before the youth who had struck the saint, and the demon struck the
youth on the cheek and cried out: "Here is a knock from St Vitalius."
The youth went into a demonic madness. In a frenzy he thrashed about
on the ground, tore the clothing from himself and howled so loudly,
that a multitude of people gathered.
When the youth finally came to his senses after several hours, he then
rushed off to the cell of the monk, calling out: "Have mercy on me, O
servant of God, for I have sinned against thee." At the door of the
cell he came fully to his senses and he told those gathered there
about his former encounter with St Vitalius. Then the youth knocked on
the door of the cell, but he received no answer. When they broke in
the door, they then saw, that the monk was dead, on his knees before
an icon. In his hand was a scroll with the words: "Men of Alexandria,
judge not beforehand, til cometh the Lord, the Righteous Judge".
At this moment there came up the demon-possessed woman, punished by
the monk for wanting to violate the secret of his exploit. Having
touched the body of the saint, she was healed and told the people
about everything that had happened with her.
When the women who had been saved by St Vitalius learned about his
death, they gathered together and told everyone about the virtues and
mercy of the saint.
St John the Merciful also rejoiced, in that he had not believed the
calumniators, and that a righteous man had not been condemned. And
then together with the throng of repentant women, converted by St
Vitalius, the holy Patriarch solemnly conveyed his remains throughout
all the city and gave them reverent burial. And from that time many of
the Alexandria people made themselves a promise to judge no one.
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Hieromartyr Sava (Trlajic) of Serbia
No information available at this time.
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Hieromartyr Platon the Newmartyr of Banjaluka
No information available at this time.
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Hieromartyr Platon, Bishop of Banja Luka
No information available at this time.
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