Monday, 4 January 2027

Forefeast of Theophany

Monday of the 32nd week after Pentecost

267 days after Pascha · Tone 6 · Liturgy · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

Hieromartyr Zosimas

Hieromartyr Zosimas was a holy priest and martyr of the early Church who suffered persecution and death for his unwavering confession of the Christian faith. He endured torment at the hands of pagan persecutors and sealed his witness with the shedding of his blood. The title "hieromartyr" signifies his status as both a priest and a martyr, one who had been ordained to serve the holy liturgy of the Church and yet was called to lay down his life in testimony to Christ. Saint Zosimas stands in the communion of the holy martyrs who "conquered the kingdoms, wrought righteousness, and obtained the promises".

Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Euphemia

Saints Chrysanthus and Euphemia were holy martyrs who suffered for their confession of Christ. According to tradition, they were persecuted during the age of pagan emperors and sealed their faith through martyrdom. Chrysanthus, a young man of noble birth and exceptional learning, was converted to the Christian faith and became fervent in his love of God. His companion Euphemia shared his steadfast devotion and together they endured trials and tribulations for the sake of Christ. Their memory is venerated in the Orthodox Church as a witness to the saving power of faith in the face of suffering.

Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles

The Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles is a feast day established by the Orthodox Church to honour and glorify the seventy disciples whom Jesus Christ Himself chose and commissioned for the work of the Gospel. These seventy apostles are distinct from the Twelve Apostles who remained with Christ constantly. According to the Gospel of Saint Luke, our Lord Jesus Christ chose seventy more disciples and sent them forth two by two before His face into every city and place whither He Himself would come. He commissioned them to announce the coming Kingdom of God and to heal the sick, saying, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest." Following the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Seventy Apostles went forth into all lands, preaching the Gospel to every creature. Some accompanied the Twelve Apostles in their missionary journeys; others became evangelists in their own right. Among them were the holy Evangelists Mark and Luke, the disciple Timothy who was a companion of the Apostle Paul, and Prochorus, a disciple of the holy Evangelist John. Many of the Seventy suffered imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom for Christ's sake. The Church commemorates them collectively on 4 January to indicate the equal honour and dignity of each. The Canon for this synaxis was composed in the ninth century by Saint Joseph the Hymnographer.

Venerable Theoctistus, Abbot of Cucomo in Sicily

800

The Venerable Theoctistus was an abbot and founder of the Cucomo (also known as Coucouma or Coucoumis) Monastery on the island of Sicily. He lived in the second half of the eighth century, during a period of widespread iconoclastic heresy when the Orthodox faith was under severe persecution by iconoclastic emperors in the Byzantine Empire. During this turbulent time, many monks fled the Empire to escape the persecution of those who opposed the veneration of holy icons. The Venerable Theoctistus founded his monastery as a refuge where Greek monks fleeing the iconoclastic persecutions could come to pray undisturbed and preserve the Orthodox tradition and the veneration of sacred icons. As the founder and Igoumen (Abbot) of the Cucomo Monastery, he provided spiritual guidance and stability to the monks who gathered under his leadership. His monastery became a centre of Orthodox monastic life and spiritual witness during a dark period in the Church's history. The Venerable Theoctistus laboured faithfully in his abbatial ministry, guiding his monks in prayer, ascetical practice, and the preservation of Orthodox doctrine and piety. He reposed in the Lord in the year 800, having spent his life in service to God and His Church. The Venerable Theoctistus of Sicily should not be confused with another Venerable Theoctistus of Palestine (commemorated on 3 September), the companion of the great ascetic Saint Euthymios the Great.

The Ethiopian Eunuch of Queen Candace

His baptism by the holy Apostle Philip is told in Acts ch. 8. He was already seeking out the things of God — the story shows him reading the Book of Isaiah, and specifies that he was going to Jerusalem to worship. He returned home (“rejoicing”, say the scriptures) and proclaimed the Gospel of Christ in his native land; the ancient Church of Ethiopia traces its beginnings to his mission. He died a martyr’s death.

Venerable Apollinaria

5th c.

She was a maiden of high rank, the daughter of a magistrate named Anthimus in the city of Rome. Filled with love for Christ, she prevailed on her parents to allow her to travel on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In Jerusalem she dismissed most of her attendants, gave her jewels, fine clothes and money to the poor, and went on to Egypt accompanied only by two trusted servants. Near Alexandria she slipped away from them and fled to a forest, where she lived in ascesis for many years. She then made her way to Sketis, the famous desert monastic colony, and presented herself as a eunuch named Dorotheos. In this guise she was accepted as a monk. Anthimus, having lost his elder daughter, was visited with another grief: his younger daughter was afflicted by a demon. He sent this daughter to Sketis, asking the holy fathers there to aid her by their prayers. They put her under the care of “Dorotheos”, who after days of constant prayer effected the complete cure of her (unknowing) sister. When the girl got back home it was discovered that she was pregnant, and Anthimus angrily ordered that the monk who had cared for her be sent to him. He was astonished to find that “Dorotheos” was his own daughter Apollinaria, whom he had abandoned hope of seeing again. After some days the holy woman returned to Sketis, still keeping her identity secret from her fellow-monks. Only at her death was her true story discovered.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

James — James 2.14-26

¹⁴What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? can that faith save him? ¹⁴What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? ¹⁵If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, ¹⁵If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit? ¹⁶And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? ¹⁷Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. ¹⁷Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. ¹⁸Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. ¹⁸Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith. ¹⁹Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. ¹⁹Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? ²⁰But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? ²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? ²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? ²²Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect; ²²Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? ²³And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. ²³and the scripture was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. ²⁴Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith. ²⁵And in like manner was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way? ²⁵Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? ²⁶For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. ²⁶For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 17.20-25

²⁰And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

²⁰And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God cometh, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: ²¹Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. ²¹neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you. ²²And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.

²²And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. ²³And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. ²³And they shall say to you, Lo, there! Lo, here! go not away, nor follow after them: ²⁴For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. ²⁴for as the lightning, when it lighteneth out of the one part under the heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his day. ²⁵But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. ²⁵But first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.