From byzcath.org, rongolini.com, biblegateway.com:
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: the Seventh Day of the Feast of the Nativity
Scriptural Readings:
Friday, of the 30th Week after Pentecost
Hebrews 11:8,11-16
Hebrews 11:8; Hebrews 11:11-16 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Hebrews 11:8
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8By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
King James Version (KJV)
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Hebrews 11:11-16
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11Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
12Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
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Mark 9:33-41
Mark 9:33-41 (King James Version)
33And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
34But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.
35And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
36And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
37Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.
38And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
39But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
40For he that is not against us is on our part.
41For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
The Synaxarion:
December 31
Closing Day of the Feast of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ
Memory of the Venerable Melania the Roman (There were two to bear this name: Melania the Elder who died in 410, and her daughter, Melania the Younger, who died in 439)
Two patricians in Rome bore the name of Melania. The first, called Melania the Elder, the granddaughter of Markellin the Consular and spouse of Valerius Maximus, the Prefect of Rome under Julian the Apostate, was born in Spain. A widow at twenty-two years of age, she conceived the lively desire to consecrate herself to God. She entrusted her son Publicola to a tutor, sold the greater part of her immense properties and she embarked for Alexandria, where she distributed her riches to the poor and to the monasteries. She went to visit the Desert Fathers in Nitria, conversed with them at great length for six months, visited all the holy anchorites of the desert and educated herself from them. She built a monastery in Jerusalem around 375, where she withdrew for twenty-seven years in the company of about fifty consecrated virgins. Nearby her was the famous writer Rufin, a native of Aquileia, Italy, who, honored later by priestly ordination, had at the same time as Saint Melania, the pious thought to construct a hospice in Jerusalem to receive bishops, priests, monks, and virgins who came on pilgrimage to the Holy Places. Adorned with high education and very well mannered, her son Publicola attained high dignities in the Empire, not to speak of the happy marriage which he had contracted.
Saint Melania the Younger whom we commemorate today was the daughter of Publicola. She was born in Rome around 383. With her husband Pinian, she embarked for Africa around 409, where the two spouses spent seven years. Then in 416, in company with Albina, the mother of Pinian, they went to Jerusalem. Albina having died in 431, Saint Melania shut herself up in a small cell on the Mount of Olives. She erected there a monastery which contained about ninety virgins whom the Saint directed, but so humbly that she was like the servant of all. She approached the Holy Mysteries daily. After the death of Pinian, she founded a monastery for men, to assure the liturgical offices according to the Roman rite in the Church of the Ascension. She died in peace on December 31, 439.
Far from Rome at the time these holy persons survived the barbarian invasion of 410 which sacked and devastated the whole city, not even sparing the bronze statues of the forum. While the unhappy inhabitants of Rome were all captives, they alone, being consecrated to God on the exhortations of Melania, escaped the frightful catastrophe.
All is said as on the Feast of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, itself. However, the Epistle and Gospel are from the present period. Hirmos from the Second Canon of the Feast (see it on December 26).
In occurrence with a Saturday, the Epistle and Gospel are from the Saturday before Theophany.
In occurrence with a Sunday: Typika and Beatitudes or Antiphons of the Feast with, at the Second Antiphon, the response of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Isodikon of the Feast, but the response is from the Resurrection. Troparia: of the Resurrection; of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ; of Saint Joseph; and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Trisagion. Epistle and Gospel of the Sunday before Theophany. Hirmos from the Second Canon of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. After Communion, the Troparion of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
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