Thursday, 17 December 2026

Holy Prophet Daniel and Three Holy Youths

Thursday of the 29th week after Pentecost

249 days after Pascha · Tone 3 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · Nativity Fast (Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Holy prophet Daniel

The Holy Prophet Daniel, of the royal tribe of Judah, was carried away as a youth into Babylonian captivity around 600 BC during the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah. With his three companions Ananias, Azarias and Misael, he was chosen for service in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar and was given the Chaldean name Belshazzar. Refusing to defile himself with food and drink from the royal table, he was nourished only on vegetables and water, and excelled in wisdom and the interpretation of dreams. He revealed to Nebuchadnezzar the meaning of his dream of the great image, foretelling the succession of kingdoms and the eternal kingdom of God. Under King Belshazzar he interpreted the writing on the wall, and under Darius the Mede he was cast into a den of lions, but was preserved unharmed by an angel. He was granted prophetic visions of the four beasts, of the Ancient of Days, and of the seventy weeks announcing the coming of the Messiah. He survived into great old age and reposed in captivity, leaving behind the prophetic book that bears his name.

Saint Dionysius of Zakynthos, archbishop of Aegina

1622

Saint Dionysius was born in 1547 on the island of Zakynthos to noble and pious parents, Mocius and Paulina Sigouros. From childhood he was drawn to prayer and the reading of Scripture, and following the death of his parents he was tonsured a monk at the monastery of the Strophades, taking the name Daniel. He was later ordained priest and elected archbishop of Aegina in 1577, where he laboured for the Christian people who suffered under Ottoman rule. Wearied by the cares of the episcopate, he resigned his see and retired to the Strophades, then to a hermitage on Zakynthos. He is best remembered for an act of mercy when he gave shelter to a man who confessed to him that he had killed the saint's own brother; rather than seek vengeance, Dionysius forgave him and helped him escape his pursuers. He reposed in 1622, and his incorrupt relics, which work many miracles, are preserved on Zakynthos.

The three holy youths Ananias, Azarias and Misael

Their wonderful story is told in the Book of Daniel, in which the coming of Christ is prophesied and prefigured in several places. Large portions of the book are missing from the protestant Bible: make every effort to obtain and read the full version. The Prayer and Song of the Three Youths in the Furnace have become the Seventh and Eighth of the Old Testament Odes of the Matins Canon; the Odes are sung in full only in monasteries during Lent. The Three Youths’ sojourn in the fiery furnace is prominent in Orthodox hymns and devotions, for their passage through the flames unharmed is a type of the holy Virgin’s incorrupt birth-giving: receiving the divine Fire within her womb, she was not consumed but remained ever-virgin.

According to the Synaxarion, Daniel reposed in peace at the age of eighty, two years after the return of the Hebrew people from their captivity in Babylon. The Three Youths also reposed in peace. But St Cyril of Alexandria writes that all of them met a martyr’s end, by beheading.

According to tradition these four were among the righteous dead who rose at Christ’s Crucifixion and were seen by many (Matthew ch. 27).

The Three Holy Youths were named, in Hebrew, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael; the names given above are Greek renderings of the Hebrew names. Their captors also gave them Babylonian names, by which they are also called: Shadrach, Abed-nego, and Meshak, respectively. Daniel was given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar.

Our Holy Father Dionysius the New of Zakinthos

1624

He was born to pious and wealthy parents on the island of Zakinthos. Early in life he renounced his wealth and worldly honors to enter monastic life. His virtue became so well known that he was appointed Archbishop of Aegina, where he served for many years. In time, in order to retire to a life of solitude and struggle, he resigned and returned to his homeland where he entered a monastery in the mountains. Here he received the grace of performing miracles, and worked many healing and saving wonders among the people of Zakinthos. A story from the Synaxarion reveals his character as one truly united to Christ: “He excelled above all in love of neighbour and in meekness. One day the murderer of the Saint’s own brother, fleeing the law and the members of his victim’s family, arrived at the monastery and begged Dionysius for asylum, little knowing to whom he was speaking. On gathering the reason for his flight and that his own brother was the victim, the man of God resisted with all his strength his natural grief and the temptation to avenge the crime. Imitating Christ, who pardoned his enemies and prayed for his persecutors, he received the fugitive with compassion, comforted him, exhorted him to repent and hid him in an out-of-the-way cell. When his pursuing kinsmen reached the monastery with the dreadful news, the Saint did not reveal that he knew it already, but did his best with words of peace to allay the wrath of his relatives and their desire for vengeance. As soon as they moved off, he let out the murderer (who was amazed and terror-struck before such superhuman goodness) and having provided him with victuals and money for his journey, he sent him away to work freely at the salvation of his soul.” The holy bishop reposed in 1622 after a long and painful illness. He has continued to work signs and miracles and to appear from time to time to the people of Zakinthos, who venerate him as their protector and patron.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Hebrews — Hebrews 7.1-6

¹For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; ²To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; ³Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. ⁴Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. ⁵And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: ⁶But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 9.10-16

¹⁰And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.

¹¹And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? ¹²And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. ¹³But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.

¹⁴And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. ¹⁵And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. ¹⁶And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?