Saturday, 5 December 2026

Ven. Sabbas the Sanctified

Saturday of the 27th week after Pentecost

237 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Red cross (polyeleos typikon symbol) · Nativity Fast (Fish, Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

★ Venerable Sabbas the Sanctified

439

Saint Sabbas was born in the year 439 in the village of Mutalaska in Cappadocia to pious parents John and Sophia. While still a small child he was left in the care of an uncle while his father served as an officer in Alexandria. Tormented by his uncle's wife, the boy at the age of eight fled to a nearby monastery, where he received tonsure at ten and learned the entire Psalter by heart. At the age of seventeen he travelled to Palestine, where he was received first by Saint Euthymius the Great and then placed under the elder Theoctistus at the cenobitic monastery near Bethlehem. There he laboured for many years in obedience and bodily struggle. After Theoctistus' repose, with the blessing of his elders he withdrew alone into a cave above the Kidron valley, where for five years he lived in solitude five days of each week, returning to the monastery only on Saturday and Sunday. Many disciples gathered around him, and in 483 he founded the Great Lavra, which still stands and bears his name. The Patriarch Sallustius of Jerusalem ordained him priest, and he later became archimandrite of all the cenobitic monasteries of Palestine. Saint Sabbas was a champion of the Council of Chalcedon against the Monophysite heresy, twice journeying to Constantinople on embassies to the Emperors Anastasius and Justinian for the defence of Orthodoxy. He composed the first written rule of the Church Services, the Jerusalem Typicon, which is followed in the Orthodox Church to this day. After a life of more than ninety years filled with miracles, he reposed peacefully at his Lavra on 5 December 532. His incorrupt relics, taken by Latin Crusaders to Venice, were returned by Pope Paul VI to the Lavra in 1965 and rest there still.

Holy Martyr Diogenes

The Holy Martyr Diogenes suffered for his confession of Christ in the early centuries of the Church. Refusing to deny the Saviour and to offer sacrifice to idols, he was seized by the persecutors and condemned to death. Stones were heaped upon him until he gave up his soul to God, and so he received the unfading crown of martyrdom. His memory is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on 5 December, together with that of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified and other holy ones of this day.

Saint Gratus, Bishop of Aosta

Saint Gratus was bishop of Aosta in northern Italy in the fifth century, becoming bishop sometime after 451 and reposing about the year 470. According to the ancient tradition of the Western Alps he laboured tirelessly to root out the remains of paganism and to confirm his flock in the Orthodox faith of the Council of Nicaea. He is celebrated as the heavenly protector of Aosta and its alpine valleys, invoked against thunderstorms, hail, fires and the destruction of crops. Saint Gratus presided over the translation of the relics of Saint Innocent, one of the martyrs of the Theban Legion, to the city. After his blessed repose his own relics were preserved in the church of Saint Lawrence and later transferred to the Collegiate Church of Saint Ursus in Aosta, where some of them rest in a reliquary of gold and silver. Among the Latin saints of the undivided Church his memory is kept by the Orthodox in the West.

Venerable Nectarius the Obedient of the Kiev Caves

Saint Nectarius struggled in the Kiev Caves Monastery in the twelfth century. From his earliest days as a monk he was distinguished by an unquestioning obedience to the elder brethren, fulfilling without hesitation or murmur whatever was asked of him, however small or hard the task. By this virtue, joined to deep humility and unceasing prayer, he attained great purity of heart, and the brethren gave him the name "the Obedient." After a life of hidden ascetic labour he reposed in peace and was buried in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony, where his incorrupt relics rest to this day. He is commemorated on 5 December and also among the synaxis of all the saints of the Near Caves.

St Cosmas the Protos of Mount Athos and his companions

c. 1274

“Determined to impose the union of the Churches accepted under pressure at the Council of Lyon (1274) to secure Papal support for the Byzantine Empire, Michael VIII Palaeologos sent troops to Mount Athos, the stronghold of Orthodoxy and centre of opposition to his policy, with orders to take sanguinary measures against monks who would not recognize the false union. “When the Emperor’s soldiers reached Karyes, the capital of Athos, which was organized as a lavra in those days, they seized the Protos of Athos, who had been an example to all of what a steadfast monk should be. They put him to the sword together with many other fathers there, and in their fury ransacked and fired the Church and monastic buildings, leaving rack and ruin behind them. Emerging from the wild places and thick forests where they had taken refuge, the Orthodox monks buried the holy Martyrs at the entrance to the Church of the Protaton. Through the centuries, generations of monks piously lit the lamp each day above the ‘tomb of the Protos’; but it was not until 5 December 1981 that his relics were solemnly taken from the earth, and that a service was held in his honour in the presence of a great crowd.” (Synaxarion)

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Galatians — Galatians 5.22-6.2

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. ²⁴And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. ²⁵If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

¹Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 12.32-40

³²Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ³⁵Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; ³⁶And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. ³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. ³⁸And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. ³⁹And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. ⁴⁰Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

Vespers

Wisdom of Solomon — Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9

¹But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them.

²In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery,

³And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace.

⁴For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality.

⁵And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself.

⁶As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering.

⁷And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.

⁸They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.

⁹They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect.

Vespers

Wisdom of Solomon — Wisdom of Solomon 5.15-6.3

¹⁵But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High.

¹⁶Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord’s hand: for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he protect them.

¹⁷He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armour, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies.

¹⁸He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet.

¹⁹He shall take holiness for an invincible shield.

²⁰His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise.

²¹Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark.

²²And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them.

²³Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away: thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.

¹Hear therefore, O ye kings, and understand; learn, ye that be judges of the ends of the earth.

²Give ear, ye that rule the people, and glory in the multitude of nations.

³For power is given you of the Lord, and sovereignty from the Highest, who shall try your works, and search out your counsels.

Vespers

Wisdom of Solomon — Wisdom of Solomon 4.7-15

⁷But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest.

⁸For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years.

⁹But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age.

¹⁰He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated.

¹¹Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.

¹²For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind.

¹³He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time:

¹⁴For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked.

¹⁵This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.

Matins Gospel

Luke — Luke 6.17-23

¹⁷And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judæa and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; ¹⁸And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. ¹⁹And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

²⁰And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. ²²Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. ²³Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

Epistle

— St Sabbas

Galatians — Galatians 5.22-6.2

Gospel

— St Sabas

Matthew — Matthew 11.27-30

²⁷All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

²⁸Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.