From antiochan.org, dynamispublications.org, rongolini.com and biblegateway.com:
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: Veneration of the Precious Chain of the Holy and Renowned Apostle Peter.
Scriptural Readings:
Saint Matthew 22:1-14 (1/16-1/29) Gospel for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Your Choice: Saint Matthew 22:1-14, especially vss. 3, 4: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.” In this parable, the Lord Jesus wants us to know that answering the invitation of God the Father is our choice. We choose our priorities freely. God does not necessarily ask us to change careers, abandon our families, become monastics, nor leave all and be secluded from the world. He is offering us an invitation to His Son’s Wedding Feast, ‘the’ wedding feast of all wedding feasts - the marriage Banquet of the Lamb. The invitation is not complex. Saint John Chrysostom puts his finger directly on what is at stake by examining the things that lead people to refuse God’s invitation - being busy with ‘the farm,’ or ‘the business’ (vs. 5) or (to draw on Saint Luke’s version of the parable) with the pressing problems of property, a new yoke of oxen, or the demands of marriage and family life (Lk. 14:18-20). These excuses are not offered by lazy people, by the ‘laid back,’ or by those on vacation. Indeed not: as Saint John says, “...these things surely are of want of leisure.” The alternatives are the real pressures of this life. But priorities are at issue. In Saint John’s words “...when spiritual things call us, there is no press of business that has the power of necessity.”
For any who think seriously about commitment to Christ as King and God, be aware that when the Lord’s invitation arrives, the moment has come for facing up to the focus of one’s life in the present existence. Do we accept the invitation from God or not? In one sense, whatever comes from God is like any other RSVP. We have the choice to decline the request or to be present. However, I hasten to suggest three things to consider before choosing. First, see what is expected of those who do attend. What is entailed by ‘arriving’ at God’s ‘Premier Wedding Feast’ (vss. 2,3)? Second, what is at stake if we choose not to make the effort to attend (vss. 3-8)? Third, what happens if we accept, but come on our own terms (vss. 11-14)?
To come to the Wedding feast of God for His Son means to meet the Lord Himself. The image might sound appealing, for, as the Psalmist says, “My soul thirsted for God, the mighty, the living; when shall I come, and appear before the face of God?” (Ps. 41:2). But there is another side to coming up against God as the Apostle suggests: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb . 10:31). When Simon Peter confronted even a portion of the depth in Christ, his response was notable: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Lk. 5:8). The King in the parable speaks of not being “worthy” (Mt. 22:8). Personally, I tremble, “for I know mine iniquity, and my sin is ever before me” (Ps. 50:3). Let us tread softly, prayerfully.
Suppose we choose not to come? The Lord introduces the reality of a downward moral spiral that operates among those who decide not to accept the King’s invitation. To ‘make light’ of God’s offer seems not too bad (Mt. 22:5), but how easily it leads to attacking those who urge coming before God and appearing in His presence (vs. 6)! Hitler “...deliberately eschewed the family and friendly amenities, and saw great institutions like the church not as immutable limiting factors, but as antiquated nuisances to be rendered impotent or destroyed.” The parable reveals prophetically exactly where such moral decline ends when refusing God’s invitation.
Certainly we do not come before God on our terms, as the experience of the man without a wedding garment shows - “...he was speechless” (vs. 12). There is promise in the choice to appear before God, but only when we come on His terms, humbly. From the beginning of His ministry Christ our God tells us the conditions: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 4:17). Our Lord never wavered from this demand, but He does forgive (Lk. 23:34).
At Thy mystical Supper, O Son of God, receive me today as a communicant!
Colossians 3:4-11
Colossians 3:4-11 (King James Version)
4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Luke 17:12-19
Luke 17:12-19 (King James Version)
12And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
13And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
17And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
19And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
The Synaxarion:
January 16
Veneration of the Precious Chain of the Holy and Renowned Apostle Peter.
According to the tradition of the Eastern Church, today we celebrate the veneration of the chain by which the leader of the Apostles was bound when he was thrown into prison by the Tetrarch Herod for Jesus Christ's name, as related in Acts 12:6. This chain was transferred to Constantinople in 437 by Empress Eudocia, the wife of Theodosius the Younger, and placed in the chapel of the Holy Apostle Peter, which is found within the Great Church.
In Rome, a small church of the Holy Apostles was built and ornamented by Pope Saint Sixtus III (432-440) on Esquiline Hill, at the expense of Eudoxia the Younger, the wife of Valentinian III, around the beginning of the Fifth century. For a long time the chains which bound the Apostle Saint Peter in the times of Nero were in this church. About the sixth century this church was called as now, the Church of the Chains of the Holy and Renowned Apostle Peter (Saint Peter in Chains).
Fourth Class Feast. Typika and Beatitudes, or the Antiphons. Troparia: of Saint Peter, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Feast of the Encounter of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Epistle and Gospel from the Menologion. Kinonikon of the Apostles.
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