Monday, 29 December 2025

Monday of the 30th week after Pentecost

253 days after Pascha · Tone 4 · Liturgy · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

Holy Innocents of Bethlehem slain by Herod

When the wise men from the East had come to Jerusalem seeking the new-born King of the Jews and had departed by another way, King Herod, perceiving that he had been mocked of the Magi, was exceedingly wroth. Resolved to destroy the Christ Child whose birth he feared as a rival to his throne, he sent forth and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem and all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

Tradition, following the synaxarion of Constantinople and the chant of the holy hymnographers, numbers these children at fourteen thousand. The infants, slaughtered by the sword in their mothers' arms, became the first martyrs to shed their blood for Christ, though they had not yet been able to confess Him with their lips. The Church honours them as a "harvest of first-fruits" offered to God before the harvest of His apostles and saints, and sees in them the fulfilment of the prophecy of Jeremiah: "In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."

Among the slain Christian tradition counts also the small son of the priest Zachariah, who, when Zachariah refused to reveal where his son John, the future Forerunner, was hidden, was put to death between the temple and the altar. The Holy Family, warned by an angel, fled into Egypt and so escaped the slaughter, until the death of Herod brought them back into the Holy Land.

Saint Benjamin of Nitria

Saint Benjamin was an ascetic of the Egyptian desert, dwelling in the celebrated monastic settlement of Nitria during the late fourth and early fifth centuries. From his youth he gave himself to fasting, prayer and the eradication of the passions, and through long struggle he received from God the gift of healing. Multitudes flocked to him from far and near, and he laid his hands on the sick and they were made whole. In the last year of his life he was afflicted with a great and painful dropsy, which swelled his body to many times its natural size, so that he could neither walk nor lie at ease. Yet even in this condition he continued to heal others by laying his hands upon them, and his face was filled with peace. He used to say to those who came to comfort him, "Pray rather that the inner man may have no need of healing." So he reposed in peace around the year 392, glorified by God as a great wonderworker of the desert.

Saint Thaddeus the Confessor of the Studite Monastery

Saint Thaddeus was a Scythian by birth, taken captive in his youth and sold as a slave to the family of the noble Theodore the Studite. Recognising his piety, Theodore baptized him and afterwards received him into the great Monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople, where Thaddeus became a fervent disciple of his master and a zealous defender of the holy icons. When the iconoclast persecution flared again under the emperor Leo V the Armenian (813 to 820), Thaddeus was arrested with other monks of the Studite community and pressed to trample upon a holy icon laid before him on the ground. Refusing with horror to commit such an act, he was beaten with cudgels until his body was a single wound, and then dragged by the legs through the streets of the city and thrown out beyond the walls. There he lay for three days, still alive, before he gave up his soul to God around the year 818. His confession is commemorated each year on this day, together with the other saints who suffered for the veneration of icons.

Venerable Marcellus, Abbot of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones

He was born to a wealthy family in Syria at the beginning of the fifth century. Early in life he saw the futility of worldly things, gave away all of his wealth, and went to Ephesus, where he earned his living as a scribe. There he was schooled in the virtues by his fellow-worker Promotus, a slave who distributed most of his earnings to the poor; after the day’s work was done, Promotus would take Marcellus to pray all night in the churches and monasteries.

Marcellus heard of the Saint Alexander the Unsleeping (February 25), who had settled near Constantinople with about thirty disciples, who made it their discipline to send up prayer and praise to God at every hour of the day and night. The monastery aroused the resentment of some more worldly monasteries, and the brethren were forced to flee to Bithynia. It was there that Marcellus joined them and took the monastic habit.

After the death of St Alexander and his successor, Marcellus was elected Abbot of the monastery against his will. Under his direction the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones became a beacon of sanctity, with monks flocking to it from every corner of the Empire. The practice of never-ceasing service to God spread throughout the Empire, in both the West and the East. The monks were divided into three companies according to the language they spoke: Greek, Latin, or Syriac; each company took its turn celebrating the services in its particular language, and thus every hour of the day was given over to God’s glory. The monastery not only grew but give birth to others: The famed Studion Monastery in Constantinople was founded by monks from Marcellus’ monastery.

Saint Marcellus took part in the Council of Chalcedon, defending Orthodoxy against the Monophysite heresy both at the Council and in the years that followed. His generosity and contempt for worldly wealth were known to all: anyone who came to the monastery in need received alms, but God always replenished the funds so that more could be given. When Marcellus inherited his family’s fortune upon his brother’s death, he kept none of it either for himself or even for his monastery, but distributed it to poorer communities and to the needy.

Saint Marcellus reposed in peace around 484, having lived the ascetical life for some sixty years.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Hebrews — Hebrews 8.7-13

⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second. ⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. ⁸For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; ⁸For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: ⁹Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt; For they continued not in my covenant, And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. ⁹Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. ¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, And on their heart also will I write them: And I will be to them a God, And they shall be to me a people: ¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: ¹¹And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen, And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For all shall know me, From the least to the greatest of them. ¹¹And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. ¹²For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And their sins will I remember no more. ¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

¹³In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away. ¹³In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 10.46-52

⁴⁶And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimæus, the son of Timæus, sat by the highway side begging.

⁴⁶And they come to Jericho: and as he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timæus, Bartimæus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side. ⁴⁷And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. ⁴⁷And when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. ⁴⁸And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. ⁴⁸And many rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. ⁴⁹And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. ⁴⁹And Jesus stood still, and said, Call ye him. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good cheer: rise, he calleth thee. ⁵⁰And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. ⁵⁰And he, casting away his garment, sprang up, and came to Jesus. ⁵¹And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. ⁵¹And Jesus answered him, and said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man said unto him, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. ⁵²And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. ⁵²And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And straightway he received his sight, and followed him in the way.