Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Heroes/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: the Advent of the Nativity
Lucia, Saint and Martyr
Saint Lucy (283-304), also known as Saint Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. Her feast day in the West is 13 December; with a name derived from lux, lucis "light", she is the patron saint of those who are blind. Saint Lucy is one of the very few saints celebrated by members of the Lutheran Church among the Scandinavian peoples, who take part in Saint Lucy's Day celebrations that retain many elements of Germanic paganism. Saint Lucy is one of seven women, aside from the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. Hagiography tells us that Lucy was a Christian during the Diocletian persecution. She consecrated her virginity to God, [3] refused to marry a pagan, and had her dowry distributed to the poor. Her would-be husband denounced her as a Christian to the governor of Syracuse, Sicily. Miraculously unable to move her or burn her, the guards took out her eyes with a fork. In another version, Lucy's would-be husband admired her eyes, so she tore them out and gave them to him, saying, "Now let me live to God".
The oldest record of her story comes from the fifth-century accounts of saints' lives. [3] By the 6th century, her story was widespread, so that she appears in the Sacramentary of Pope Gregory I. [4] At the opening of the 8th century Aldhelm included a brief account of her life among the virgins praised in De laude virginitatis, and in the following century the Venerable Bede included her in his Martyrology. [5] In medieval accounts, Saint Lucy's eyes are gouged out prior to her execution. In art, her eyes sometimes appear on a tray that she is holding.
Until 1861 relics of Saint Lucy were venerated in a church dedicated to her in Venice; after its demolition, they were transferred to the church of San Geremia.
The Roman Catholic calendar of saints formerly had a commemoration of Saints Lucy and Geminianus on 16 September. This was removed in 1969, as a duplication of the feast of her dies natalis on 13 December and because the Geminianus in question, mentioned in the Passio of Saint Lucy, seems to be a merely fictitious figure, [2] unrelated to the Geminianus whose feast is on 31 January.
Saint Lucy, by Domenico Beccafumi, 1521, a High Renaissance recasting of a Gothic iconic image (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)
Virgin and Martyr
Born trad. ca 283 AD [1]
Syracuse
Died trad. 304 AD
Syracuse
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Churches
Anglican Communion
Lutheran Church
Canonized Pre-Congregation
Major shrine San Geremia, Venice
Feast 13 December
16 September (duplicate feast in pre-1970 General Roman Calendar) [2]
Attributes cord; eyes; eyes on a dish; lamp; swords; woman hitched to a yoke of oxen; woman in the company of Saint Agatha, Saint Agnes of Rome, Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, and Saint Thecla; woman kneeling before the tomb of Saint Agatha
Patronage blind; martyrs; Perugia, Italy; Mtarfa, Malta; epidemics; salesmen, Syracuse, Italy, throat infections, writers
1. Life
Lucy's Latin name Lucia shares a root (luc-) with the Latin word for light, . "In 'Lucy' is said, the way of light" Jacobus de Voragine stated at the beginning of his vita of the Blessed Virgin Lucy, in Legenda Aurea, the most widely-read version of the Lucy legend in the Middle Ages.
Eutychia and Lucy at the Tomb of Saint Agatha, by Jacobello del Fiore
Because people wanted to shed light on Lucy's bravery and fortitude, legends grew up, reported in the acta that are associated with her name. All the details are conventional ones also associated with other female martyrs of the early 4th century. [6] Her Roman father died when she was young, leaving her and her mother without a protecting guardian. Her mother, Eutychia, had suffered four years with dysentery but Lucy had heard the renown of Saint Agatha, the patroness of Catania, "and when they were at a Mass, one read a gospel that made mention of a woman who was healed of the dysentery by touching of the hem of the coat of Jesus Christ," which, according to the Legenda Aurea, convinced her mother to pray together at Saint Agatha's tomb. They stayed up all night praying, until they fell asleep, exhausted. Saint Agatha appeared in a vision to Lucy and said, "Soon you shall be the glory of Syracuse, as I am of Catania." At that instant Eutychia was cured.
Eutychia had arranged a marriage for Lucy with a pagan bridegroom, but Lucy urged that the dowry be spent on alms so that she might retain her virginity. Euthychia suggested that the sums would make a good bequest, but Lucy countered, "...whatever you give away at death for the Lord's sake you give because you cannot take it with you. Give now to the true Savior, while you are healthy, whatever you intended to give away at your death." [7] News that the patrimony and jewels were being distributed came to the ears of Lucy's betrothed, who heard from a chattering nurse that Lucy had found a nobler Bridegroom.
Her rejected pagan bridegroom denounced Lucy as a Christian to the magistrate Paschasius, who ordered her to burn a sacrifice to the emperor's image. Lucy replied that she had given all that she had: "I offer to Him myself, let Him do with His offering as it pleases Him." Sentenced to be defiled in a brothel, Lucy asserted:
“ No one's body is polluted so as to endanger the soul if it has not pleased the mind. If you were to lift my hand to your idol and so make me offer against my will, I would still be guiltless in the sight of the true God, who judges according to the will and knows all things. If now, against my will, you cause me to be polluted, a twofold purity will be gloriously imputed to me. You cannot bend my will to your purpose; whatever you do to my body, that cannot happen to me. [7] ”
The Christian tradition states that when the guards came to take her away they found her so filled with the Holy Spirit that she was as stiff and heavy as a mountain; they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen. Even after implanting a dagger through her throat she prophesied against her persecutor. Unfounded, and absent in the many narratives and traditions, at least until the 15th century, is the story of Lucia tortured by eye-gouging. The emblem of the eyes on the cup, or plate, must be linked simply to popular devotion to her, as protector of sight, because of her name, Lucia (from the latin word "lux" which means "light"). [8] [9] In paintings St. Lucy is frequently shown holding her eyes on a golden plate.
1. 1. Legend
Statue of St. Lucy at Saint Leonard of Port Maurice Church in the North End of Boston
Jacobus de Voragine did not include the episode of Lucy's passion that has been most vivid to her devotés ever since the Middle Ages: having her eyes torn out. It should be noted that another account dates this loss of eyes to before her martyrdom, claiming that in response to a suitor who admired her beautiful eyes, "she cut them out and sent them to him, asking to be left in peace thereafter." [10] Lucy was represented in Gothic art holding a dish with two eyes on it (illustration above). The legend concludes with God restoring Lucy's eyes.
Dante also mentions Lucia in Inferno Canto II as the messenger "of all cruelty the foe" sent to Beatrice from "The blessed Dame" (Divine Mercy), to rouse Beatrice to send Virgil to Dante's aid. She has instructed Virgil to guide Dante through Hell and Purgatory. Lucia is only referenced indirectly in Virgil's discourse within the narrative and doesn't appear. According to Robert Harrison, Professor in Italian Literature at Stanford University and Rachel Jacoff, Professor of Italian Studies at Wellesley, Lucia's appearance in this intermediary role is to reinforce the scene in which Virgil attempts to fortify Dante's courage to begin the journey through the Inferno.
Lucy may also be seen as a figure of Illuminating Grace or Mercy or even Justice. [11] Nonetheless Dante obviously regarded Lucia with great reverence, placing her opposite Adam within the Mystic Rose in Canto XXXII of the Paradiso.
In Mark Musa's translation of Dante's Purgatorio, it is noted that Lucy was admired by an undesirable suitor for her beautiful eyes. To stay chaste she plucked out her own eyes, a great sacrifice for which God gave her a pair of even more beautiful eyes. It is said in Sweden that to vividly celebrate St. Lucy's Day will help him/her live the long winter days with enough light.
Lucy's name also played a large part in naming Lucy as a patron saint of the blind and those with eye-trouble. She was the patroness of Syracuse in Sicily, Italy.
1. 2. Relics
Sigebert (1030-1112), a monk of Gembloux, in his sermo de Sancta Lucia, chronicled that her body lay undisturbed in Sicily for 400 years, before Faroald II, Duke of Spoleto, captured the island and transferred the body to Corfinium in the Abruzzo, Italy. From there it was removed by the Emperor Otho I in 972 to Metz and deposited in the church of St. Vincent. It was from this shrine that an arm of the saint was taken to the monastery of Luitburg in the Diocese of Speyer - an incident celebrated by Sigebert himself in verse.
The subsequent history of the relics is not clear. On their capture of Constantinople in 1204, the French found some relics attributed to Saint Lucy in the city, and Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice, secured them for the monastery of St. George at Venice. In 1513 the Venetians presented to Louis XII of France the saint's head, which he deposited in the cathedral church of Bourges. Another account, however, states that the head was brought to Bourges from Rome where it had been transferred during the time when the relics rested in Corfinium. The remainder of the relics remain in Venice: they were transferred to the church of San Geremia when the church of Santa Lucia was demolished in the 19th century to make way for the new railway terminus. A century later, on 7 November 1981, thieves stole all her bones, except her head. Police recovered them five weeks later, on her feast day. Other parts of the corpse have found their way to Rome, Naples, Verona, Lisbon, Milan, as well as Germany and France. [12]
Lucia procession in Sweden.
1. 3. Popular celebration
Main article: Saint Lucy's Day
Her brief day was commonly thought to be the shortest day of the year, as can be seen in John Donne's poem, "A Nocturnal upon St. Lucie's Day, being the shortest day" (1627). The poem begins with: "'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's," and expresses, in a mourning piece, the withdrawal of the world-spirit into sterility and darkness, where "The world's whole sap is sunk." [1].
This timing, and her name meaning light, is a factor in the particular devotion to St. Lucy in Scandinavian countries, where young girls dress as the saint in honor of the feast. A special devotion to St. Lucy is present in the Italian regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, in the North of the country, and Sicily, in the South.
2. List of dedications to St. Lucy
This list is incomplete; you can help by .
•St. Lucy's Church (New York City) (parish established 1900, present church built 1915)
•St. Lucy's Church, Newark, New Jersey
•Church of St. Lucy, Santa Luċija, Gozo, Kerċem, Malta
•Saint Lucie County, FL
•St. Lucy's National Shrine at Micoud, Saint Lucia, West Indies
3. Depictions in popular culture
•In the "Kennedy and Heidi" episode of The Sopranos, Christopher Moltisanti's father-in-law (Al Lombardo) derisively refers to Christopher's mother (Joanne) as Syracuse Lucy because of her histrionic displays of grief after learning her son has died.
•In the video game Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, Fuuka Yamagishi's Persona is named Lucia, which is of the Priestess Arcana. Lucia is depicted as a beautiful woman with her eyes covered by multiple strips of gauze, and a large glass sphere composes her lower body. True to her legacy as the 'light-bringer', Lucia is a support Persona that can analyze enemies as well as detect the presence of others.
•The video game Dante's Inferno, there is a pack of downloadable content titled "Trials of St. Lucia"; in this DLC, players can take control of an angelic version of St. Lucia, described as Dante's guardian angel, who has the same abilities and scythe-type weapon as Dante.
4. See also
•Paraskevi, a female, eastern saint frequently displayed with eyes on a plate.
5. References
1.Traditional dates as given in Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Lucy, Saint".
2.^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 139
3.^ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09414a.htm
4.Noted by Blunt 1885.
5.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09414a.htm; supplementing the fourteenth-century synthesis of legendary material in Legenda Aurea, Sigebert of Gembloux's mid-eleventh century passio, written to support a local cult of Lucy at Metz, is edited by Tino Licht, Acta Sanctae Luciae (Universitätsverlag Winter) 2007 along with a historicizing tractate and a sermon.
6."We know nothing of St. Lucy, as the sole authority for her story is her fabulous 'Acts', a Christian romance similar to the 'Acts' of other virgin martyrs", wrote John Henry Blunt (The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, [London] 1885:176), adding "though probably based on facts".
7.^ "Ælfric's Lives of Saints". (Walter W. Skeat, ed., Early English Text Society, original series, vols. 76, 82, 94, 114 [London, 1881-1900], revised; as found at the University of Virginia's Old English resource pages). Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070609060732/http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/aelfric/lucy.html. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
8.Tessa Paul. 'The Illustrated World Encyclopedia of Saints.'
9.Alban Butler. 'Lives of the Saints'
10.""St. Lucy's Day" article". At the "School of the Seasons" website. http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/lucy.html. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
11.See David H. Higgins' commentary in Dante, The Divine Comedy, trans. C.H. Sisson. NY: Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN 019920960X. P. 506.
12."Santa Lucia of the gondoliers brought home to Sicily", 17 December 2004.
Scriptural Readings:
ELCA Readings:
Monday, December 13, 2010
Psalm 42
Psalm 42
1As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?
3My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
4These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
5Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help
6and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me.
8By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
9I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?”
10As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
11Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
Isaiah 29:17-24
Isaiah 29:17-24
17Shall not Lebanon in a very little while become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest? 18On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. 19The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. 20For the tyrant shall be no more, and the scoffer shall cease to be; all those alert to do evil shall be cut off— 21those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit, who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate, and without grounds deny justice to the one in the right. 22Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: No longer shall Jacob be ashamed, no longer shall his face grow pale. 23For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.
Acts 5:12-16
Acts 5:12-16
12Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, 15so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. 16A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.
LCMS Readings:
December 13th, 2010
Monday of Gaudete (Advent 3)
Lucia, Martyr
Read today's Higher Things Daily Reflection
December 13, 2010 - Monday of the Third Week of Advent
Today's Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11
Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 29:15-30:14; Revelation 1:1-20
"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" Says your God. (Isaiah 40:1)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. “Comfort” is a word you often hear meaning something that feels nice or makes you feel better. There are “Comfort Hotels” and “comfort food.” There's even liquor with the name “Southern Comfort” as if it will make things better. But none of the “creature comforts” of this world can still the restlessness we have, because of the fallen creation in which we live. None of the comforts of the world can calm us when our lives are in turmoil from boy or girl troubles, fighting parents, dying family members, or friends who turn against us. Where's the comfort then?
Isaiah preached, and later John the Baptist later preached, comfort to God's people. This comfort wasn't some feel-good remedy. It was the true comfort that the Lord would not be paying them back for their sins. Imagine if you had to answer for every thought, word and deed you have which is against the Lord and against others. No comfort there! No comfort in the Law which condemns you for neither loving God nor loving your neighbor!
But Christ has come. As John preaches, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When preachers preach true comfort, they are preaching Jesus. Jesus, who takes away your sins. Jesus, by whose blood the Lord isn't going to call you to account for your transgressions and iniquities. Jesus, who has risen from the dead to conquer sin, death, the devil and hell.
True comfort isn't whether your friends stick by you or whether the doctors say your grandma will get better or whether you get some help in that tough class. True comfort is found in the pouring on of water and the Word, the Lord has made you His own. True comfort is known when your pastor has declared your sins can't keep you from God. True “comfort food” is not Rocky-Road ice cream, but the Body and Blood of Christ, which gives you forgiveness, life and salvation.
“Comfort my people!” says God. So Jesus comes and does exactly that—comforts us with His saving life, death and resurrection. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
“Comfort, comfort ye My people, Speak ye peace,” thus saith our God; “Comfort those who sit in darkness, Mourning 'neath their sorrows' load. Speak ye to Jerusalem Of the peace that waits for them; Tell her that her sins I cover And her warfare now is over.” (LSB 347:1)
Questions or comments regarding the Reflections may be sent to the Rev. Mark Buetow, Reflectons Editor, reflections@higherthings.org.
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Collect
Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
First Reading: Is. 29:15-30:14
15Ah,(A) you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel,
whose deeds are(B) in the dark,
and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?" 16(C) You turn things upside down!Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,that the thing made should say of its maker,
"He did not make me";or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
"He has no understanding"?
17Is it not yet a very little while
(D) until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? 18In that day(E) the deaf shall hear
(F) the words of a book,and out of their gloom and darkness
(G) the eyes of the blind shall see. 19(H) The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. 20For the ruthless shall come to nothing
and(I) the scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, 21who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and(J) lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea(K) turn aside him who is in the right.
22Therefore thus says the LORD,(L) who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
"Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale. 23For when he sees his children,
(M) the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;(N) they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24And those(O) who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction."
Do Not Go Down to Egypt
1"Ah,(P) stubborn children," declares the LORD,(Q) "who carry out a plan, but not mine,and who make(R) an alliance,[a] but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin; 2(S) who set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my direction,to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 3(T) Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. 4For though his officials are at(U) Zoan
and(V) his envoys reach(W) Hanes, 5everyone comes to shame
through(X) a people that cannot profit them,that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace."
6An(Y) oracle on(Z) the beasts of(AA) the Negeb.
Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the lion,
the adder and the(AB) flying fiery serpent,they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them. 7Egypt’s(AC) help is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her
(AD) "Rahab who sits still."
A Rebellious People
8And now, go,(AE) write it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.[b] 9(AF) For they are a rebellious people,
lying children,children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the LORD; 10(AG) who say to(AH) the seers, "Do not see,"
and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right;speak to us(AI) smooth things,
prophesy illusions, 11leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel." 12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,"Because you despise this word
and trust in(AJ) oppression and perverseness
and rely on them, 13therefore this iniquity shall be to you
(AK) like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; 14and its breaking is(AL) like that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlesslythat among its fragments not a shard is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern."
Footnotes:Isaiah 30:1 Hebrew who weave a web Isaiah 30:8 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever
Cross references:Isaiah 29:15 : Isaiah 30:1 Isaiah 29:15 : Ezek 8:12 Isaiah 29:16 : Isaiah 10:15 Isaiah 29:17 : Psalm 107:33, 35 Isaiah 29:18 : Isaiah 32:3; 35:5; Matt 11:5 Isaiah 29:18 : Isaiah 29:12 Isaiah 29:18 : Isaiah 35:5; Matt 11:5 Isaiah 29:19 : Isaiah 61:1; Isaiah 14:32; Zeph 3:12; Matt 5:3 Isaiah 29:20 : Isaiah 28:14, 22 Isaiah 29:21 : Amos 5:10; Psalm 127:5 Isaiah 29:21 : Amos 5:12 Isaiah 29:22 : Isaiah 51:2 Isaiah 29:23 : Isaiah 19:25; 60:21; Psalm 100:3 Isaiah 29:23 : Isaiah 8:13 Isaiah 29:24 : Isaiah 28:7 Isaiah 30:1 : Isaiah 1:2, 4 Isaiah 30:1 : Isaiah 29:15 Isaiah 30:1 : Isaiah 25:7 Isaiah 30:2 : Isaiah 31:1; 36:6 Isaiah 30:3 : Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 20:5 Isaiah 30:4 : Isaiah 19:11 Isaiah 30:4 : Ezek 17:15 Isaiah 30:4 : Jer 43:7 Isaiah 30:5 : Isaiah 30:7; Jer 2:36 Isaiah 30:6 : Isaiah 13:1 Isaiah 30:6 : Isaiah 51:9; Psalm 68:30 Isaiah 30:6 : Acts 8:26 Isaiah 30:6 : Deut 8:15 Isaiah 30:7 : Isaiah 36:6 Isaiah 30:7 : Isaiah 51:9 Isaiah 30:8 : Hab 2:2 Isaiah 30:9 : Isaiah 30:1 Isaiah 30:10 : Amos 2:12; Amos 7:12, 13 Isaiah 30:10 : 1 Sam 9:9 Isaiah 30:10 : 1 Kgs 22:13; Jer 28:1-11; Ezek 13:8-16 Isaiah 30:12 : Isaiah 5:8, 20 Isaiah 30:13 : Psalm 62:3 Isaiah 30:14 : Psalm 2:9
Second Reading: Rev. 1:1-20
Prologue
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God(A) gave him(B) to show to his servants[a] the things that must soon take place.(C) He made it known by sending his angel to his servant[b] John, 2(D) who bore witness to the word of God and to(E) the testimony of Jesus Christ, even(F) to all that he saw. 3(G) Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it,(H) for the time is near.
Greeting to the Seven Churches
4John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from(I) him(J) who is and(K) who was and who is to come, and from(L) the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ(M) the faithful witness,(N) the firstborn of the dead, and(O) the ruler of kings on earth.
To(P) him who loves us and(Q) has freed us from our sins by his blood 6and made us(R) a kingdom,(S) priests to(T) his God and Father, to him be(U) glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7Behold,(V) he is coming with the clouds, and(W) every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail[c] on account of him. Even so. Amen.
8(X) "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God,(Y) "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
Vision of the Son of Man
9I, John, your brother and(Z) partner in(AA) the tribulation and(AB) the kingdom and(AC) the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos(AD) on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10(AE) I was in the Spirit(AF) on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice(AG) like a trumpet 11saying, (AH) "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."
12Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw(AI) seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands(AJ) one like(AK) a son of man,(AL) clothed with a long robe and(AM) with a golden sash around his chest. 14(AN) The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow.(AO) His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15(AP) his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and(AQ) his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16(AR) In his right hand he held seven stars,(AS) from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and(AT) his face was like the sun shining(AU) in full strength.
17(AV) When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But(AW) he laid his right hand on me,(AX) saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18and the living one.(AY) I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and(AZ) I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19(BA) Write therefore(BB) the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and(BC) the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and(BD) the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Footnotes:Revelation 1:1 Greek bondservants Revelation 1:1 Greek bondservant Revelation 1:7 Or mourn
Cross references:Revelation 1:1 : John 17:7, 8; John 8:26; 14:10 Revelation 1:1 : Revelation 22:6 Revelation 1:1 : Revelation 22:16 Revelation 1:2 : John 19:35 Revelation 1:2 : Revelation 6:9; 12:17; 19:10; 1 Cor 1:6 Revelation 1:2 : Revelation 1:11, 19 Revelation 1:3 : Revelation 22:7; Luke 11:28; John 8:51; 1 John 2:3 Revelation 1:3 : Revelation 22:10; 1 John 2:18; Rom 13:11 Revelation 1:4 : Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8; Heb 13:8 Revelation 1:4 : Exodus 3:14 (Gk) Revelation 1:4 : John 1:1 Revelation 1:4 : Revelation 3:1; 4:5; 5:6 Revelation 1:5 : Revelation 3:14; John 18:37; 1 Tim 6:13; Revelation 2:13; Psalm 89:37; Isa 55:4 Revelation 1:5 : Col 1:18; Psalm 89:27; Acts 26:23; 1 Cor 15:20 Revelation 1:5 : Revelation 17:14; 19:16; Psalm 89:27 Revelation 1:5 : John 13:34; 15:9 Revelation 1:5 : 1 Pet 1:18, 19 Revelation 1:6 : Revelation 5:10; 20:6; 1 Pet 2:9 Revelation 1:6 : Rom 15:6 Revelation 1:6 : Rom 11:36 Revelation 1:6 : 1 Pet 4:11 Revelation 1:7 : Dan 7:13; Matt 16:27 Revelation 1:7 : Zech 12:10; John 19:37 Revelation 1:8 : Revelation 21:6; 22:13; Isa 41:4; 43:10; 44:6 Revelation 1:8 : Revelation 1:4 Revelation 1:9 : Phil 4:14 Revelation 1:9 : John 16:33 Revelation 1:9 : 2 Tim 2:12 Revelation 1:9 : Revelation 3:10 Revelation 1:9 : Revelation 1:2 Revelation 1:10 : Revelation 4:2; Revelation 17:3; 21:10; 1 Kgs 18:12; Ezek 3:12; Matt 22:43; 2 Cor 12:2 Revelation 1:10 : Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2 Revelation 1:10 : Revelation 4:1 Revelation 1:11 : Revelation 1:2, 19 Revelation 1:12 : Revelation 1:20; Revelation 2:1; Exodus 25:37; 2 Chr 4:20; Zech 4:2; Revelation 11:4 Revelation 1:13 : Dan 7:13 Revelation 1:13 : Revelation 14:14; Dan 10:16 Revelation 1:13 : Dan 10:5 Revelation 1:13 : Revelation 15:6 Revelation 1:14 : Dan 7:9 Revelation 1:14 : Revelation 2:18; 19:12; Dan 10:6 Revelation 1:15 : Ezek 1:7; Dan 10:6 Revelation 1:15 : Revelation 14:2; 19:6; Ezek 43:2 Revelation 1:16 : Revelation 1:20; Revelation 2:1; 3:1 Revelation 1:16 : Revelation 19:15; Revelation 2:12, 16; Isa 49:2; Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12 Revelation 1:16 : Matt 17:2 Revelation 1:16 : Judg 5:31 Revelation 1:17 : Dan 8:17, 18; 10:9, 10, 15; Luke 24:37; John 21:12 Revelation 1:17 : Matt 17:7 Revelation 1:17 : Revelation 2:8; 22:13; Isa 41:4; 44:6; 48:12 Revelation 1:18 : Rom 6:9; 14:9 Revelation 1:18 : Revelation 9:1; 20:1 Revelation 1:19 : Revelation 1:2, 11 Revelation 1:19 : Revelation 1:12-16 Revelation 1:20 : Revelation 1:12 Revelation 1:20 : Matt 5:14, 15
Monday Father Reading
"'To him who overcomes I will give of the hidden Manna,' that is, of the invisible Bread which came down from heaven. For He was made man in order that man might eat the Bread of Angels." [St. Primasius of Africa. "Commentary on Revelation 2." 6th Century]
All Scripture Readings: English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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