From antiochan.org, rongolini.com, biblegateway.com and dynamispublications.org:
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: the Fast of the Nativity
Scriptural Readings:
Exodus 24:6-14 (12/22-1/4) Third Reading in Kellia: Moses as a Type of Christ
Foreshadows III ~ Sealing the Covenant: Exodus 24:6-14 SAAS, especially vs. 8: “This is the blood of the Covenant of the Lord made with you according to all these words.” Salesmen are trained to ‘close’ each deal with the buyer’s signature on a contract. In high, solemn moments, people and nations agree in common ventures, unite in helpful organizations, marry, adopt, or pledge allegiance one to another. Holy Scripture records a number of different agreements between human beings, but only a few covenants between God and men. The principal Divine-human covenants to which Scripture attests are the ancient one ratified in the life-time of the Prophet Moses (circa 1500 BC), called the Old Covenant, and The New Covenant, one sealed between the God-man, Jesus Christ, and those united to Him.
The present reading is the account in the Old Testament book of Exodus concerning the initial sealing of the Old Covenant. This reading allows us to examine the essential elements of all Divine-human covenants: sealing in blood, Divine Self-revelation, a communion meal, and commandments for living. As we approach the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ, here is a passage to enrich our joy with the Church as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.
The Child, Christ Whose birth we are preparing to worship, is He Who says to you and me as His faithful ones, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood” (1 Cor. 11:25). The reading speaks of the blood used to seal the Old Covenant, being thrown or sprinkled upon the People (vs. 8). That blood was taken from oxen sacrificed as peace offerings to the Lord (Ex. 24:5). In the rite of ratifying the Old Covenant, Moses caught the blood of these animals in basins. First, he sprinkled half of it on the altar where animals were wholly offered up to God as “whole burnt offerings” - that is, they were completely consumed by fire. Then, his second action was to throw the other half on the People, declaring to them as he did, “Behold the blood of the Covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words” (Ex. 24:8).
Why blood? Isn’t this a little grizzly? God’s reasons for sealing His covenants with His People in blood are stated in the Book of Leviticus: “For the life of all flesh is in its blood, and I give it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for its blood makes atonement for the soul” (Lv. 17:11). The critical difference between the Old and New Covenants lies in the blood offered. In the New Covenant it is not animal blood, but “My Blood” which is “shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins,” as the Priest recites during the Divine Liturgy.
In both covenants, God revealed Himself to the leaders of the People with whom He made the covenant. In the Exodus account, the leadership “...went up...and they saw the place where the God of Israel stood” (Ex. 24:9,10). The wonder of the Nativity lies in God’s emptying of His heavenly majesty, gloriously enthroned with “...work of sapphire stone...” under His feet (vs. 10). Our God comes as a defenseless infant wrapped in cloths and laid in a feeding trough.
The Old Covenant and the New Covenant both were completed with a Communion meal: “...they saw the place of God, and ate and drank” (vs. 11). And we “...enjoy the banquet of the Lord, an immortal table...receiving with uplifted minds exalted words from the Word.”
Finally, note that the Lord laid down laws and commandments for the instruction of His People (vs. 12) in establishing both of His great Covenants. The Lord Jesus is very explicit concerning what He expects of us: that each takes up his cross (Mt. 16:24), that you and I love one another as He loved us (Jn. 13:34), and that we disciple all nations (Mt. 28:19).
O Lord, Who didst appear by Thine own will as a new born child and was smitten for the sake of mankind and was not wroth, deliver our lives from corruption and save us!
James 1:1-18
James 1:1-18 (King James Version)
James 1
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
9Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
10But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
11For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
12Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
13Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16Do not err, my beloved brethren.
17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
18Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Mark 10:11-16
Mark 10:11-16 (King James Version)
11And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
12And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
13And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
14But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
15Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
16And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
The Synaxarion:
December 22
Third Pre-festive Day of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
Memory of the holy Great martyr Anastasia the Healer (end of the Third century).
A virgin of Roman extraction, with remarkable beauty, rich and virtuous, Saint Anastasia was the daughter of Pretexastus and Phaustia who instructed her in the Christian faith. She was married to a profligate and ungodly young man, named Publius Patricius. Becoming a widow soon after, she went in secret to the dwellings of the poor and the prisons of the martyrs, and procured requisites for all, cleaning their wounds, loosening their chains, and caring for their infirmities. She was also surnamed Pharmacolytria-the Healer. Upon being discovered, the Saint was seized by the servants of Diocletian, and after many tortures, her martyrdom was ended by fire around 290.
Fifth Class Feast.
Troparia: of the Pre-festive Period of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, of Saint Anastasia, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Pre-festive Period of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ (December 20).
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