Nativity Fast: no meat, fish, dairy, eggs, wine, or oil.Your priest can tell you how to keep the fast.
Tone
Tone 5This week’s Resurrection hymns are sung in the fifth of the Church’s eight tones.
The readings
Traditional: the King James Version (1611) for the New Testament. Underlined words are explained in Words of Prayer.
Modern: the World English Bible for the New Testament. Your choice is remembered on this device.
Epistle
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Traditional
1Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; 3Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; 4Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. 5For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
Modern
1Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2We always give thanks to God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers, 3remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father. 4We know, brothers loved by God, that you are chosen, 5and that our Good News came to you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we showed ourselves to be among you for your sake.
Gospel
Luke 17:20-25
Traditional
20And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 22And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. 23And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. 24For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. 25But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
Modern
20Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation; 21neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.” 22He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23They will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go away or follow after them, 24for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under the sky, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
MartyrA saint who was killed for bearing witness to Christ. All martyrs →
These four Christians belong to the first generation of the Church. Paul’s letter names Philemon, Apphia and Archippus, and asks that Onesimus, an enslaved man, be welcomed as a beloved brother. Their lives bring the Gospel into the relationships of an ordinary household. Their remembrance asks us to take Christian brotherhood seriously in how we treat one another.
How they died Tradition remembers all four as martyrs: Archippus is said to have been stoned, while accounts differ about how Philemon, Apphia and Onesimus were killed.
Also remembered today: St Michael, Prince of Tver; Kallistos Xanthopoulos, Patriarch of Constantinople; Holy Martyrs Cecilia, Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus, at Rome (3rd c.); Holy Prince and Passion-Bearer Peter Yaropolk (1086).
Calendar: Orthocal, following the Revised Julian (New) Calendar of the Orthodox Church in America. Parishes on the Old Calendar keep each day 13 days later. Check your own parish calendar.
