From The Greek Orthodox Arch-Diocese of America;
Daily Readings:
Saints/Feasts/Fasts to be commemmorated/celbrated: Veteran's Day (U.S.), Remembrance Day (U.K and the Commonwealth), Armistice Day (World War I)
Readings for today:
St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 4:6-15
Luke 12:48-59
Feasts and Saints celebrated today:
Thursday of the 8th Week
Menas of Egypt
Saint Victor and Stephanie
Theodore the Studite
Holy Martyr Vincent
Epistle Reading
The reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 4:6-15
Brethren, it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the
transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every
way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying
in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also
be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being
given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be
manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I
believed, and so I spoke," we too believed, and so we speak, knowing that
He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring
us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that
as grace extends to more and more people it may increase
thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
(C) 2010 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Gospel Reading
The reading is from Luke 12:48-59
The Lord said, "Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be
required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more. I
came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already
kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained
until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace
on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one
house there will be five divided, three against two and two against
three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father,
mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law
against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law."
He also said to the multitudes, "When you see a cloud rising in the
west, you say at once, 'A shower is coming'; and so it happens. And
when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching
heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the
appearance of earth and sky; but why do you not know how to interpret the
present time?
And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with
your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him
on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you
over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you,
you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper."
(C) 2010 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Menas of Egypt
Reading from the Synaxarion:
Saint Menas, who had Egypt as his fatherland, contested in Cotyaeion of
Phrygia in 296 during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian. A soldier
distinguished for his valour in war, he renounced his rank and withdrew to
devote himself to ascetical struggles and prayer in the mountains.
Filled with zeal and more than human courage, he presented himself in
the midst of a pagan festival in Cotyaeion and declared himself to be
a Christian. After terrible torments which he endured with
astonishing courage, he was beheaded. His martyrium in Egypt became a place
of universal pilgrimage; evidence of ancient journeys to his shrine
have been found as far away as Ireland. The glory and refuge of the
Christians of Egypt, he has been revealed to be a worker of great miracles
and a swift defender for all who call on him with faith; besides all
else, he is also invoked for help in finding lost objects.
Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
With great valour of soul, thou didst strive in martyrdom, and having
fought the good fight, O divine Great Martyr Menas, thou from Heaven
hast received the gift of miracles; for God hath shown thee to the
world as a worker of great signs, and He made thee our protector and a
swift help in afflictions and ever-vigilant defence from harm.
Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
As godly-minded athletes and Martyrs who strove for piety, the
Church doth honour and glorify this day the godly contests and travails
of Menas the prizewinner, noble Victor, brave Vincent, and valiant
Stephanie, and lovingly doth cry out and glorify Christ, the Friend of man.
Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Apolytikion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Kontakion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Saint Victor and Stephanie
Reading from the Synaxarion:
Saints Victor and Stephanie contested in Damascus in 160, during the
reign of Antoninus Pius. The pagans arrested Saint Victor as a
Christian and cut off his fingers, put out his eyes, and beheaded him. As
Saint Stephanie, the wife of a certain soldier, and a Christian, saw
Vic-tor's nobility in his sufferings, she loudly cried out to call him
blessed and to say that she saw two crowns prepared, one for him, and one
for herself. She also was taken, and was tied to two palm trees which
had been bowed down; when they were released, she was torn asunder.
Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
As godly-minded athletes and Martyrs who strove for piety, the
Church doth honour and glorify this day the godly contests and travails
of Menas the prizewinner, noble Victor, brave Vincent, and valiant
Stephanie, and lovingly doth cry out and glorify Christ, the Friend of man.
Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Kontakion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Theodore the Studite
Reading from the Synaxarion:
Saint Theodore the Studite was born in Constantinople in 759; his pious
parents were named Photinus and Theoctiste. He assumed the monastic habit
in his youth, at the monastery called Sakkoudion, and became abbot
there in 794. About the year 784 he was ordained deacon, and later
presbyter by the most holy Patriarch Tarasius. On joining the brotherhood
of the Monastery of Studium (which was named after its founder
Studius, a Roman consul), the Saint received the surname "Studite." He
proved to be a fervent zealot for the traditions of the Fathers and
contested even unto death for the sake of his reverence for the holy icons.
He endured three exiles because of his pious zeal. During the third
one, to which he was condemned by the Iconoclast autocrat, Leo the
Armenian, he endured courageously - being beaten and bound and led from one
dark dungeon to another - for seven whole years. Finally he was
recalled from exile by Michael the Stutterer. Receiving thus a small
respite from his labours of long endurance, he reposed in the Lord on
November 11, 826, a Sunday, while his disciples, who stood round about
him, chanted the 118th Psalm. Some say that after receiving the
immaculate Mysteries, he himself began chanting this psalm. And on reaching
the verse, ' I will never forget Thy statutes, for in them hast Thou
quickened me" (Ps. 118:93), he gave up his spirit, having lived for
sixty-seven years. In addition to his other sacred writings, he composed,
with the collaboration of his brother Joseph, almost the whole of the
compunctionate book of the Triodion (see also July 14).
Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
You are a guide of Orthodoxy, a teacher of piety and modesty, a
luminary of the world, the God inspired pride of monastics. O wise
Theodore, you have enlightened everyone by your teachings. You are the harp
of the Spirit. Intercede to Christ our God for the salvation of our
souls.
Kontakion in the Second Tone
Ascetic in truth and equal to the Angel's life, thy life was made bright
with contests and martyric trials; and the holy Angels' companion was
thou, Theodore, blest of God; now together with them, O Saint, thou
ceaselessly prayest Christ in our behalf.
Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Apolytikion courtesy of Narthex Press
Kontakion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Holy Martyr Vincent
Reading from the Synaxarion:
Saint Vincent is the most illustrious of the Martyrs of Spain. Because
of his virtue, he was ordained deacon by Valerius, Bishop of
Saragossa, who, because of his advanced age and an impediment in his speech,
commissioned Vincent to be preacher of the Gospel. In 303, the impious
Emperors Diocletian and Maximian sent Dacian to Spain as governor, with an
edict to persecute the clergy. Saint Vincent was brought with Bishop
Valerius to Valencia; the bishop was sent into exile, but the holy deacon
was tortured on a rack, and after suffering other cruel torments,
gave up his soul into the hands of God on January 22 in the year 304.
Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
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