From antiochan.org, dynamispublications.org, biblegateway.com:
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord According to the Flesh, St. Basil the Great
Scriptural Readings:
Saint Luke 10:19-21 (1/1-1/14) Gospel for Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week after Pentecost
Cause To Rejoice: Saint Luke 10:19-21, especially vs. 20: “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Having our names ‘written in heaven’ is a joy to contemplate, yet if any of us persist in sin, the Lord may reluctantly blot out the name of any or all of us from the Book of Life forever; but for now our names are written in heaven. Glory to Jesus Christ!
The Church declares that her sacred acts on earth are recorded in the heavenly realms and reverberate back to earth with force in our daily lives, forming one interactive movement within the Holy Mysteries. With the Lord’s assurance, the Church prays believing that what she asks, God our Father answers on earth for the sake of His Only-Begotten Son (Jn. 16:23-27).
For example, immediately following the Anaphora of the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom - the great Eucharistic Prayer - we specifically are encouraged to pray “for the precious Gifts which have been spread forth and sanctified...that our God Who loveth mankind, receiving them upon His holy, most heavenly and ideal altar as a savor of spiritual sweetness, will send down upon us in return His divine grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit....”
The Gifts referred to in this prayer are the Eucharistic Bread and the Cup of the Lord sanctified by the Holy Spirit - Christ’s own immaculate Body and Precious Blood. The prayer asks that God would accept or receive these as our offering upon His Altar in Heaven (Rev. 8:3), and in return that He would send down upon us His grace by the Holy Spirit. We present the bread and wine of our life and labor to God as an offering of our selves, of all that we are and all that we have as His stewards. Our human action asks for and anticipates a Divine response.
This same theo-logic applies in private prayer. Hence we say, “Great art Thou, O Lord, and marvelous are Thy works....” And we continue asking that each one who is baptized “...may be transformed; that he may put away from him the old man...and that he may be clothed upon with the new man.” Our expectation leads us to have great confidence in Baptism, Chrismation, and Communion - in the Mystery of Christ. Be aware, Beloved, that each of us is “...a reason-endowed sheep in the holy flock of...Christ, an honorable member of...the Church, a child of the light, and an heir of...the Kingdom.” Yes, now, in this present age, in whatever state of life you find yourself, this is our heritage in Christ. Your name is written in heaven. This is the truth our Lord Christ teaches in the present reading (vs. 20). We look heavenward with confidence.
Still, we have no reason to take our ‘registration’ in the Book of Life as a matter of pride, as some achievement of ours, presuming that God owes us something. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9). Our names are recorded as God’s pure act of lovingkindness, and Great Mercy. Take caution: one’s name is written ‘to be’ permanent, and remains so until God assesses our entire life. At present “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Now we have work to do, Beloved, but do not be discouraged for there is much hope for us.
The Lord extends “...authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy...” (Lk. 10:19); for He would have us be victors in this life and forever. Thus, Saint Theophan teaches, “Ask for God’s help...with warm and humble prayers; for this is His gift....then stand daringly before the Almighty God in firm belief that in His great loving kindness He will grant you this.” This is what our Lord says, “...nothing shall by any means hurt you” (vs.19), nothing can or shall separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:38,39).
In Thy tender lovingkindness, O my Christ, assist Thy servant to be a child of the Light.
Luke 2:20-21, 40-52 (1/1-1/14) Gospel: Circumcision in the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus Is Savior: Saint Luke 2:20-21, 40-52, especially vs. 21: “His Name was called Jesus, the Name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.” Shepherds tending flocks near Bethlehem were told by an angel, “...there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior” (Lk. 2:11). Their hearts stirred at the news. They heard and saw the hosts of heaven praising God Who extends His peace to mankind. Quickly, the shepherds went into Bethlehem to see the wonder. Each detail they saw echoed the angels’ hymn. Yes, a Savior! The Lord Jesus is born to us, among us, that we might be saved from ourselves. A Savior is born in a city with royal heritage. Joyous, they returned to their flocks in the pastures on the hills beyond Bethlehem.
Are we surprised that as they went they also glorified and praised God? “All the things that they had heard and seen [in Bethlehem, were] as it was told them” (Lk. 2:20). The Child was in a manger, a feeding trough. He was wrapped in swaddling cloths. The shepherds shared what was reported by His mother, Mary, and Joseph her betrothed: an Angel told them to call Him Jesus, ‘Savior,’ the name given to Him at His Circumcision (cf. Lk. 1:31 and Mt. 1:25).
Beloved, do not miss the Evangelist’s point, for next he reports that on the eighth day, the Child was given the Hebrew name that means ‘Savior.’ He was called ‘Yeshua,’ or in Greek, ‘Iesus.’
The Apostles want to share what they learned as disciples of the Lord Jesus: His birth was no random event, but God fulfilling His purpose from Eternity. The Bethlehem shepherds learned this truth at the time of His birth (Lk. 2:11). Saint Luke would have us understand that God the Lord came humbly as a man to save His creation gone astray, to salvage the race that He had formed in His own image. The Evangelist weaves this message all through his Gospel.
Our God often intervenes for our poor, corrupted human race. Anciently, He chose one People to announce salvation to all nations, and He saved them repeatedly. He freed them “...from the hand of the Egyptians...” when they were slaves (Ex. 14:30). The Prophet Moses told them that God advances with you “...to fight with you against your enemies, to save you” (Dt. 20:4). Their neighbors learned the truth that “Our God is the God of salvation, and the pathways leading forth from death are those of the Lord’s Lord” (Ps. 67:21). “He saved them for His Name's sake, that He might make known His mighty power” (Ps. 105:9).
God, you see, has a greater plan. He is in the process of saving all nations by taking away the reproach of death from everyone on the earth (cf.: Is. 25:7, 8). First, therefore, He made Israel alert to His coming salvation. They learned to say, “A horse is prepared for the day of war: but help is from the Lord” (Pr. 21:30). God revealed that, in days to come, “...I will raise up for David...a King [Who] shall reign and He will understand, and bring about judgment and righteousness on the earth” (Jer. 23:5). This King for all nations, born in David’s lineage is the Lord Jesus, the child that caught the shepherds’ hearts in Bethlehem (Lk. 2:15).
“And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom...” (Lk. 2:40), for the grace of God was upon Him. Joseph, His Mother, and the teachers in the Temple were amazed at His wisdom. His understanding and knowledge of spiritual truth astonished all, even when He was a young lad (Lk. 2:46,47). The Seed of salvation Who came forth from the Virgin's womb is the Savior of the world. As He matured, Christ Jesus fulfilled the Name given Him before His conception (Lk. 2:21). “...glory to Thine ineffable condescension, O Word!”
Eternal God, as Thou didst give Thine Incarnate Son the holy Name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation, implant also in our hearts the love of Him Who is the Savior of the World.
Colossians 2:8-12
Colossians 2:8-12 (King James Version)
8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
11In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Luke 2:20-21, 40-52
Luke 2:20-21; Luke 2:40-52 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Luke 2:20-21
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20And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
21And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
King James Version (KJV)
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Luke 2:40-52
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40And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
41Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
45And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
48And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
50And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
51And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
52And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
King James Version (KJV)
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The Synaxarion:
January 1
The Circumcision according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ
Memory of our Father among the Saints, Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia (ca. 330-379)
The Mosaic Law prescribed that when a woman brought a male child into the world, he had to be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. Our Lord submitted to the circumcision prescribed by the Law on this day, which is the eighth day after His birth, and received, according to the announcement of the angel, the name which is above all names, "Jesus" or Savior. In celebrating the name day of the Lord today, we begin the new year at the same time under the sign of the Incarnation.
Saint Basil the Great belonged, through his father also named Basil, to the province of Pontus, and through his Emmelia, to the province of Pontus, and through his mother Emmelia, to Cappadocia. He was born in Caesarea in Cappadocia around 329-330. He studied in Caesarea, then in Constantinople under the famous rhetor Libanius, and finally in Athens, where he became a close friend of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. Shortly after his return to Caesarea which occurred about 356, he retired in solitude to the outskirts of Neocaesarea, where his mother and his sister Macrina already led the monastic life. It is at that time he composed his ascetical writings. He was ordained a priest by Eusebius, Archbishop of Caesarea, and at the death of the latter was elected in 370 to succeed him and rule the Church of Christ. He governed it for eight years, during which time he proved himself a witness of the truth in the face of heresy and full of courage before the threats of the Arian Emperor Valens. He died on January 1, in the year 379. The wisdom and the learning which fill his works, his Philokalia (extracts from the works of Origen), his Treatise on the Holy Spirit, his theological work against the Arian Eunomius, his ascetical writings, his monastic rules, his commentaries on Sacred Scripture, the panegyrics which he made of many saints, his correspondence, and finally the splendor and the force of his words, have won for him rightly the epitaphs of "Revealer of Heaven," and of the "Great."
Third Class Feast. Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, whatever be the day. Antiphons. Isodikon of the Circumcision. Troparia: of the Circumcision, of Saint Basil the Great, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Circumcision. Epistle of Saint Basil and Gospel of the Circumcision. Kinonikon of the Sunday. After Communion, Troparion of the Circumcision. Dismissal proper to the feast: "...who on the eighth day, has deigned to be circumcised for our salvation..."
In occurrence with a Saturday, the same order is followed. The Epistle and Gospel of Saturday before Theophany should be read on Monday, January 3.
In occurrence with a Sunday: Antiphons. In the Isodikon: ordinary verse, response of the feast. Troparia: of the Resurrection, of the Circumcision, of Saint Basil the Great, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Circumcision. Epistle of Saint Basil the Great, Gospel of the Circumcision (Epistle and Gospel of the Sunday before Theophany can be read the next day, on Monday). Kinonikon of the Sunday. After Communion, Troparion of the Circumcision.
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