• συνοδικός • January 6 / December 24 •

συνοδικός

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January 6 / December 24 2018/2017（7526）
Nativity (St Philip's) Fast
Eve of the Nativity of Christ (Sochelnik)
Παραμονὴ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ Γεννήσεως

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From the church hymns of this day:
"Behold the time of our salvation approaches, O Cave, prepare; the Virgin draws near to give birth". "Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos, who of the Holy Spirit has borne Life to the world for the deliverance of all"; "the choir of angels honors you with hymns, O radiant Mother who has not known wedlock, and rejoicing it dances at your birth giving, O All Pure One; rejoice, Hope of the Orthodox, rejoice, Advocate of those who sing to you". "The Lord now draws nigh and comes, the expectation of the nations and the salvation of the world: O City of Bethlehem, prepare the cave, and you shepherds with the magi make haste". "He comes to shine the light without evening on those who before were in darkness and peril". "Rejoice all the earth, behold, Christ draws nigh being born in Bethlehem: O sea, be glad, O assembly of prophets, dance for joy, seeing today the realization of your words, and all you righteous, rejoice!" "Christ in strange wise comes to His own; let us become strangers to sin, and let us receive Him who dwells in the souls of the meek".
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• 40 VMM at Antioch under Decius (250)
• Venerable Martyress Nun EUGENIA 艾弗格尼亚 of Rome who dressed in men’s attire as the monk Eugene; her father 父 Hieromartyr Bishop PHILIP 腓力 the Eparch of all Egypt; together with MM PROTUS (also Protas) 普若托; POMPEIUS; HYACINTH (also Hyacinthus or Jacinth) 雅金托; BASILLA (also Vasilla, Vassila or Basila) 瓦西拉; and CLAUDIA 克劳迪亚; at Alexandria (262)
Ἡ Ἁγία Εὐγενία ἡ Ὁσιομάρτυς
Ὁ Ἅγιος Φίλιππος ὁ Μάρτυρας
Οἱ Ἅγιοι Πρώτα καὶ Ὑάκινθος οἱ Μάρτυρες
Ἡ Ἁγία Βασίλα ἡ Μάρτυς
• MM SOSSIUS and THEOKLEIOS under Maximian (305-311)
Οἱ Ἅγιοι Σόσσιος καὶ Θεόκλειος οἱ Μάρτυρες
• Martyrs LUCIAN, METROBIUS, PAUL, ZENOBIUS, THEOTIMUS and DRUSUS in Tripoli in North Africa
• EUSUZIAS and AGATHA
• Righteous Virgins THRASILLA and EMILIANA aunts of Dt Gregory the Great, sisters to his father Gordian
Precious in the sight of God is the death of his saints.
Thrasilla and Emiliana, renouncing the vanities of the world on the same day, started together in the glorious course to perfection, and were still more united by the fervour of their hearts and the bands of holy charity, than by blood. They lived in their father’s house as retired as in a monastery, far removed from the conversation of men; and, exciting one another to virtue by discourse and example, soon made a considerable progress in a spiritual life. They were so disengaged from the world, so careful in mortifying their senses, and maintaining a strict union of their souls with God, that they seemed to have forgotten their bodies, and arose above all considerations of earthly things. The two happy sisters, who persevered in the paths of eternal life, enjoyed the sweetness of divine peace and love, and the comfort and joy of fervour and devotion; and were called to receive the recompence of their fidelity before the fall of Gordiana. St Gregory tells us that Thrasilla was favoured one night with a vision of her uncle St Felix, pope, who showed her a seat prepared for her in heaven, saying, "Come; I will receive you into this habitation of light." She fell sick of a fever the next day. When in her agony, with her eyes fixed on heaven, she cried out to those who were present: "Depart! make room! Jesus is coming!" Soon after these words she breathed out her pious soul into the hands of God on the 24th of December. The skin of her knees was found to be hardened, like the hide of a camel, by her continual prayer. A few days after, she appeared to her sister Emiliana, and invited her to celebrate with her the epiphany in eternal bliss. Emiliana fell sick, and died on the 8th of January.
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NEW MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS in the 20th century
• Hosiosmartyr INNOKENTIJ Beda of Poltava, archmandrite of Voronezh (1881-1928) day of death in Solovki KZ of special assignments, graved at monastery cemetery near Church of St Onuphry the Great
• New Hieromartyr SERGIUS Mechev, presbiter, archpriest of Moscow (1892-1941/1942) shoted in Jaroslavl’, in prison of Jaroslavl’ UNKVD 6.1.1942 or 6.11.1941. Funeral service on December 29, 1950 celebrated in the Cross Church of the Bishop's House in Tashkent by Archimandrite fr. Boris Holchev. The Resolution Prayer was read by Vladika Gury Egorov
• Martyrs Protopresbyter MICHAEL Shafaniv, and Presbytera SOFIA (1918)
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• Venerabless ADELA (also Addula, Adula, Adola or Addula) (735) Princess, W., daughter of Dagobert II, King of the Franks. In her widowhood she founded and became the 1st Abbess of Ladyminster at Palatiolum (now Pfalzel) near Diocese of Trèves (or Trier) in Germany // JAN 3 //
• Martyr ACHAICUS by sword
Ὁ Ἅγιος Ἀχαϊκὸς ὁ Μάρτυρας
• New Martyr ACHMED (Ahmet) 阿赫麦德 the Calligrapher (or Architect) (1682) at Constantinople // MAY 3 //
Ὁ Ἅγιος Ἀχμὲδ ὁ Νεομάρτυρας
• Venerable AGAPIOS the Younger (1812)
Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἀγάπιος ὁ νεώτερος
• Venerable ALBERIC (Albert) (989) a monk at Gladbach in Germany
• Martyr ANTHONY of Qoraishite (Quraishit, an Arab tribe) in Raqqa, relative of Harun-al-Rashid (799) • Venerable ANTIOCHUS (Antiochus Strategos, Antiochos Sabbaitis) 安提奥赫 Pandektos, disciple of St Sava the Sanctified (635) monk in Palestine
Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἀντίοχος
The Abbot Eustathios asked his friend Antiochus to compile an abridgment of Holy Scripture for their use, and also a short account of the martyrdom of the forty-four monks of the Lavra of Saint Savvas. In compliance with this request he wrote a work known as Pandects of the Holy Scriptures in 130 chapters. It is a collection of moral sentences, drawn from Scripture and from early ecclesiastical writers. He also wrote an "Exomologesis" or Confession prayer, in which he relates the miseries that had befallen Jerusalem since the Persian invasion, and begs for divine mercy to heal the Holy City's many ills. It is from the name of book that he became known as "Pandektos;" the word "pandects" being translated as "digest." This work was translated into modern Greek by Saint Nektarios of Aegina.
• Venerable APHRODISIUS 阿弗若迪西 monk of Palestine (6th century)
Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἀφροδίσιος
• Venerable BITEMION (Bitimionus, Vitimionus, Vitimios) 维提弥奥诺 monk in the Scetish desert of Egypt (4-5th c.)
Ὁ Ὅσιος Βιτιμίων
• BRUNO (1050) a holy man at the monastery of Ottobeuren in Bavaria in Germany
• CARANUS (Caran) (7th c.) of the east of Scotland
• Martyr CASTULUS beheaded under Lycinius (307-323)
Ὁ Ἅγιος Καστοῦλος ὁ Μάρτυρας
• CUMMÉIN the Death-Pale distinguished for his ascetic piety, of Ireland
• DELPHINUS (404) Bishop of Bordeaux in France. He is helped convert St Paulinus of Nola and was an untiring opponent of Priscillianism
• Sainted HANNO Bishop of Worms (978)
• Hieromartyr GREGORY of Spoleto priest martyred in Spoleto in Italy under Maximinian Herculeus
• Venerabless Abbess IRMINA of Trier (710) Princess, Abs. at Monastery of Oehren, Diocese of Trèves (or Trier) in Germany // JAN 3 //
Given in marriage at the age of 15. Her betrothed died on her wedding day. She then persuaded her father, Dagobert II, to build for her the convent of Oehren near Trier in Germany. She also built the monastery of Echternach for St Willibrord (698). She reposed at the monastery of Weissenburg.
• MOCHUA of Timahoe (654-657) son of Lonan
• Venerable NICHOLAS 尼科拉 the Commander, a Slav of Balkan ancestry, schemamonk (809) lived a long life of asceticism and became so perfect that he became a great clairvoyant and God-pleaser
Ὁ Ὅσιος Νικόλαος «ὁ ἀπὸ στρατιωτῶν»
• VENERANDUS (423) born of a senatorial family in Clermont in Auvergne in France, he became bishop there (385-423)
• Venerable Father disciple of St Sava the Sanctified

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PRAYER TO OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST By Monk Antiochus Pandektos
And grant to us, Master, as we depart for sleep, rest of body and soul, and preserve us from the gloomy slumber of sin, and from every dark and nocturnal pleasure. Arrest the drives of passion, extinguish the burning arrows of the Evil One which insidiously fly in our direction; suppress the rebellions of our flesh, and calm our every earthly and material thought. And grant to us, O God, an alert mind, prudent thinking, a sober heart, light sleep free of any satanic fantasy. Awaken us at the time of prayer rooted in Your commandments and having unbroken within us the remembrance of Your ordinances. Grant that we may sing Your glory through the night by praising and blessing and glorifying Your Most Honorable and Majestic Name, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

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In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
愿上帝怜恤我罪人
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
for the sake of the prayers
of Thy most pure Mother,
our holy and God-bearing fathers and all the saints, have mercy on us.
Amen.
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Blessed be God.