[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

[Daily Orthodox Readings and Saints]

Scripture Readings and Saints for Tue Jan 22 2008

----------------------------------------------------
------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
----------------------------------------------------


-----------------------------
                                      
Hebrews 9:8-10,15-23  (Epistle)
8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of
All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still
standing.
9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and
sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service
perfect in regard to the conscience-
10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly
ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by
means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the
first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of
the eternal inheritance.
16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the
death of the testator.
17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no
power at all while the testator lives.
18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.
19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according
to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet
wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the
people,
20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded
you."
21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all
the vessels of the ministry.
22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood,
and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the
heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2


-----------------------------
                                      
Mark 8:22-26  (Gospel)
22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and
begged Him to touch him.
23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.
And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked
him if he saw anything.
24 And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."
25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And
he was restored and saw everyone clearly.
26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the
town, nor tell anyone in the town."
Scripture Reading 2 of 2



----------------------------------------------------
------ SAINTS/FEASTS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
----------------------------------------------------


Apostle Timothy of the Seventy
The Holy Apostle Timothy was from the Lycaonian city of Lystra in Asia
Minor. St Timothy was converted to Christ in the year 52 by the holy
Apostle Paul (June 29). When the Apostles Paul and Barnabas first
visited the cities of Lycaonia, St Paul healed one crippled from
birth. Many of the inhabitants of Lystra then believed in Christ, and
among them was the future St Timothy, his mother Eunice and
grandmother Loida (Lois) (Acts 14:6-12; 2 Tim. 1:5).
The seed of faith, planted in St Timothy's soul by the Apostle Paul,
brought forth abundant fruit. He became St Paul's disciple, and later
his constant companion and co-worker in the preaching of the Gospel.
The Apostle Paul loved St Timothy and in his Epistles called him his
beloved son, remembering his devotion and fidelity with gratitude.
He wrote to Timothy: "You have followed my teaching, way of life,
purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, and patience" (2 Tim. 3:10-11).
The Apostle Paul appointed St Timothy as Bishop of Ephesus, where the
saint remained for fifteen years. Finally, when St Paul was in prison
and awaiting martyrdom, summoned his faithful friend, St Timothy, for
a last farewell (2 Tim. 4:9).
St Timothy ended his life as a martyr. The pagans of Ephesus
celebrated a festival in honor of their idols, and used to carry them
through the city, accompanied by impious ceremonies and songs. St
Timothy, zealous for the glory of God, attempted to halt the
procession and reason with the spiritually blind idol-worshipping
people, by preaching the true faith in Christ.
The pagans angrily fell upon the holy apostle, they beat him, dragged
him along the ground, and finally, they stoned him. St Timothy's
martyrdom occurred in the year 93.
In the fourth century the holy relics of St Timothy were transferred
to Constantinople and placed in the church of the Holy Apostles near
the tombs of St Andrew (November 30) and St Luke (October 18). The
Church honors St Timothy as one of the Apostles of the Seventy.
In Russian practice, the back of a priest's cross is often inscribed
with St Paul's words to St Timothy: "Be an example to the believers in
speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity" (1 Tim. 4:12).
_________________________________________________________________
Monkmartyr Anastasius the Persian
The Monk Martyr Anastasius the Persian was the son of a Persian
sorcerer named Bavi. As a pagan, he had the name Magundates and served
in the armies of the Persian emperor Chozroes II, who in 614 ravaged
the city of Jerusalem and carried away the Life-Creating Cross of the
Lord to Persia.
Great miracles occurred from the Cross of the Lord, and the Persians
were astonished. The heart of young Magundates was inflamed with the
desire to learn more about this sacred object. Asking everyone about
the Holy Cross, the youth learned that upon it the Lord Himself was
crucified for the salvation of mankind. He became acquainted with the
truths of the Christian Faith in the city of Chalcedon, where the army
of Chozroes was for a certain while. He was baptized with the name
Anastasius, and then became a monk and spent seven years in one of the
Jerusalem monasteries, living an ascetical life.
Reading the Lives of the holy martyrs, St Anastasius was inspired with
the desire to imitate them. A mysterious dream, which he had on Great
and Holy Saturday, the day before the Resurrection of Christ, urged
him to do this.
Having fallen asleep after his daily tasks, he beheld a radiant man
giving him a golden chalice filled with wine, who said to him, "Take
this and drink." Draining the chalice, he felt an ineffable delight.
St Anastasius then realized that this vision was his call to
martyrdom.
He went secretly from the monastery to Palestinian Caesarea. There he
was arrested for being a Christian, and was brought to trial. The
governor tried in every way to force St Anastasius to renounce Christ,
threatening him with tortures and death, and promising him earthly
honors and blessings. The saint, however, remained unyielding. Then
they subjected him to torture: they beat him with rods, they lacerated
his knees, they hung him up by the hands and tied a heavy stone to his
feet, they exhausted him with confinement, and then wore him down with
heavy work in the stone quarry with other prisoners.
Finally, the governor summoned St Anastasius and promised him his
freedom if he would only say, "I am not a Christian." The holy martyr
replied, "I will never deny my Lord before you or anyone else, neither
openly nor even while asleep. No one can compel me to do this while I
am in my right mind." Then by order of the emperor Chozroes, St
Anastasius was strangled, then beheaded. After the death of Chozroes,
the relics of the Monk Martyr Anastasius were transferred to
Palestine, to the Anastasius monastery.
_________________________________________________________________
Monkmartyr Anastasius the Deacon of the Kiev Near Caves
The Monk Martyr Anastasius, Deacon of the Kiev Caves, lived an
ascetical life in the Near Caves. The hieromonk Athanasius the Sooty
calls him brother of St Titus the Presbyter (February 27). In the
manuscripts of the saints he is called a deacon. In the Service to the
Synaxis of the Fathers of the Near Caves, it says that the Monk Martyr
Anastasius possessed such steadfastness in God, that he received
everything he asked for. His memory is celebrated also on September 28
and on the second Sunday of Great Lent.
_________________________________________________________________
Venerable Macarius of Zhabyn the Wonderworker
Saint Macarius of Zhabyn, Wonderworker of Belev, was born in the year
1539. In his early years he was tonsured with the name Onuphrius, and
in the year 1585 he founded Zhabyn's Monastery of the Entry of the
Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple near the River Oka, not far from
the city of Belev. In 1615 the monastery was completely destroyed by
Polish soldiers under the command of Lisovski. Returning to the
charred remains, the monk began to restore the monastery. He again
gathered the brethren, and in place of the wooden church a stone
church was built in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into
the Temple (November 21), with a bell-tower at the gates.
The saint spent his life in austere monastic struggles, suffering
cold, heat, hunger and thirst, as the monastery accounts relate. He
often went deep into the forest, where he prayed to God in solitude.
Once, when he was following a path in the forest, he heard a faint
moaning. He looked around and saw a weary Polish man reclining against
a tree trunk, with his sabre beside him. He had strayed from his
regiment and had become lost in the forest. In a barely audible voice
this enemy, who might have been one of the destroyers of the
monastery, asked for a drink of water. Love and sympathy surged up
within the monk. With a prayer to the Lord, he plunged his staff into
the ground. At once, a fresh spring of water gushed forth, and he gave
the dying man a drink.
When both the external and internal life of the monastery had been
restored, St Onuphrius withdrew from the general monastic life, and
having entrusted the guidance of the brethren to one of his disciples,
he took the schema with the name Macarius. For the place of his
solitude, he choose a spot along the upper tributary of the River
Zhabynka. About one verst separated the mouth of the tributary and the
banks of the River Oka.
The ascetical struggles of St Macarius were concealed not only from
the world, but also from his beloved brethren. He died in 1623 at the
age of eighty-four, at the hour when the roosters start to crow. He
was buried opposite the gates of the monastery on January 22, the
commemoration of St Timothy, where a church was later built and named
for him.
The Iconographic Originals has preserved a description of St Macarius
in his last years: he had gray hair with a small beard, and over his
monastic riassa he wore the schema. Veneration of St Macarius was
established at the end of the seventeenth century, or the beginning of
the eighteenth. According to Tradition, his relics remained uncovered,
but by 1721 they were interred in a crypt.
In the eighteenth century the monastery became deserted. The memory of
his deeds and miracles was so completely forgotten, that when the
incorrupt relics of the monastery's founder were uncovered during the
construction of the church of St Nicholas in 1816, a general panikhida
was served over them. The restoration of the liturgical commemoration
of St Macarius of Belev is credited to Igumen Jonah, who was born on
January 22 (the Feast of St Macarius), and who began his own monastic
journey at the Optina monastery not far from the Zhabyn monastery.
In 1875 Igumen Jonah became head of the Zhabyn monastery. His request
to re-establish the Feast of St Macarius was strengthened by the
petition of the people of Belev, who through the centuries had
preserved their faith in the saint. On January 22, 1888, the annual
commemoration of St Macarius of Zhabyn was resumed.
In 1889, a church dedicated to St Macarius was built at his tomb.
Igumen Jonah, who lived at the monastery and actually participated in
the construction, decided that in addition to the building project,
the holy relics of St Macarius would also be uncovered. When
everything was on the point of readiness, St Macarius appeared to the
participants and sternly warned them that they should not proceed with
their intention, or they would be punished. The memory of this
appearance was reverently preserved among the monks of the monastery.
St Macarius of Zhabynsk is also commemorated on September 22.
_________________________________________________________________
Martyr Manuel the Bishop in Bulgaria
This holy martyr of Christ was one of 377 Christians who were captured
in Thrace by the Bulgars, and who were slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
Martyr George the Bishop in Bulgaria
This holy martyr of Christ was one of 377 Christians who were captured
in Thrace by the Bulgars, and who were slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
Martyr Peter the Bishop in Bulgaria
This holy martyr of Christ was one of 377 Christians who were captured
in Thrace by the Bulgars, and who were slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
Martyr Leontius the Bishop in Bulgaria
This holy martyr of Christ was one of 377 Christians who were captured
in Thrace by the Bulgars, and who were slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
Martyr Sionius the Presbyter in Bulgaria
This holy martyr of Christ was one of 377 Christians who were captured
in Thrace by the Bulgars, and who were slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
Martyr Gabriel the Presbyter in Bulgaria
This holy martyr of Christ was one of 377 Christians who were captured
in Thrace by the Bulgars, and who were slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
Martyr John the Presbyter in Bulgaria
This holy martyr of Christ was one of 377 Christians who were captured
in Thrace by the Bulgars, and who were slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
Martyr Leontius the Presbyter in Bulgaria
This holy martyr of Christ was one of 377 Christians who were captured
in Thrace by the Bulgars, and who were slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
Martyr Parodus the Presbyter in Bulgaria
This holy martyr of Christ was one of 377 Christians who were captured
in Thrace by the Bulgars, and who were slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
377 Martyred Companions in Bulgaria
These 377 Christians were captured in Thrace by the Bulgars, and were
slain in various ways.
_________________________________________________________________
St Brihtwald of Wilton
Saint Brihtwald (Berhtwald) was the last Bishop of Ramsbury,
Wiltshire. After his death, the See was transferred to Old Sarum.
Originally a monk of Glastonbury, he was renowned for his visions and
prophecies. St Brihtwald died in 1045 and was buried in Glastonbury
Abbey.
_________________________________________________________________
St Euthymius
No information available at this time.
_________________________________________________________________