From antiochan.org, rongolini.com, oremus.org and dynamispublications.org:
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: the Fast of the Nativity
Scriptural Readings:
2 Kingdoms 11:1-18, 23-27 (12/15-12/28) Sixth Reading in Kellia: David as a Type of Christ
David as Type of Christ 6 -~Sin and Repentance: 2 Kingdoms 11:1-18, 23-27 SAAS, especially vs. 27: “But what David did was evil in the Lord’s eyes.” Saint Paul cautions: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Rom. 6:12). Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, knew sin’s power and begged us to note that the Apostle “...has not said, let there not be sin, but let it not reign. There is sin in you when you take pleasure; it reigns if you will have consented.” Doubtless, sin reigned in King David, as this sordid chapter from his life reveals, for he consented repeated to sin and became its deplorable captive, from which he hastened to cry in repentance, “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation” (Ps. 50:14).
It is well to include this account as we consider King David as a type of Christ, for these events reveal the limit of all types when compared to prototypes, to the blessed, direct acts of God as He discloses Himself to us. David’s sins expose the limits of created beings or things to re-present or convey the holiness, glory, and majesty of God. He, like all of us, was a man of God, a sinner used of the Lord to remind us that the life in Christ most of all is repentance.
David’s fall began with sight and imagination: “...he saw a woman bathing; and she was very beautiful in appearance” (2 Kg 11:2). King David, however, neither averted his eyes nor quelled the rising of passion in himself. The small, treacherous step he took, from ‘seeing’ Bathsheba bathing to the perception that she ‘was very beautiful’ reveals a kindling of sensuality within him. Saint Gregory of Sinai elaborates on the role that the demons play in inflaming our minds and in arousal of the emotions that progress from mere seeing with the eyes to the generation of images of pleasure: “...the spirits of self-indulgence kindle the soul’s desiring faculty, and they also confuse the intelligence [the nous] and plunge it into darkness.”
Note: there is a captivity that takes place along with the interior progression from the reception of information through the eyes, the ears, or the touch, to the awakening of a desire for that which is contrary to the commandment of the Lord. In Saint Gregory’s words, “...the roving spirits...seek to lay hold of us in order to devour us.” Once passion is awakened, the person is urged into action. David, drawn by the demons, “...sent and asked about the woman” (vs. 3). Behold, a man, a king turned slave who obediently followed the tantalizing of the demons who played on his passions. He ignored every echo of the life-giving commandment of the Lord against adultery! Thus, the spirits gained his reigns and quickly plunged him into darkness.
Note the desperation of a soul sensitive to the word of God as it realized its predicament, when it faced the consequences of its deeds. A callous ruler might have merely laughed at the situation, savored his pleasure, and used the power of the throne to protect himself. King David, to the contrary, frantically sought to use Uriah to hide his sin, but the king’s soldier was nobler than his monarch. Uriah would not enjoy the pleasures of marriage while his fellow soldiers were in the field (vss. 9-13). But David could not quiet his conscience, and so his second sin, like the first, began in his mind with warped thinking, and fond hopes that he could save himself.
The murder of Uriah was easily enough arranged and dispatched by the king’s directive. Joab did not question the order but “...assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men” (vs. 16) and “...Uriah the Hittite died...” (vs. 17). Indeed, “...what David did was evil in the Lord’s eyes” (vs. 27). The Lord knows all our ways and nothing is hidden.
Consequences led David to repentance: “Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I am stuck fast in the mire of the deep, and there is no sure standing” (Ps. 68:1,2).
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of Thy compassions blot out my transgression....cleanse me from my sin. (Ps. 50:1,2)
Hebrews 10:1-18
Hebrews 10:1-18
10Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. 2Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? 3But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. 4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; 6in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
7Then I said, ‘See, God, I have come to do your will, O God’ (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).” 8When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9then he added, “See, I have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. 10And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” 13and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” 14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, 16“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” 17he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Mark 8:30-34
Mark 8:30-3430And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
The Synaxarion:
ecember 15
Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Eleutherios, Bishop of Illyricum (+under Hadrian, 117-138)
Saint Eleutherios was a Roman by birth. Having lost his father in his infancy, his mother Anthia presented him to Cletus, the Bishop of Rome, who taught him the Holy Scriptures. While still young, he was chosen for his eminent virtue and consecrated Bishop of Illyricum, where his preaching converted a great number of pagans to the Christian faith. Under the harsh persecution of Emperor Ailius Hadrian (117-138), he was seized and submitted to all kinds of tortures for Christ. He was finally executed by two soldiers. His pious mother, Anthia, having embraced the body of her son and covering it with motherly kisses, also was beheaded.
Fourth Class Feast.
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