• συνοδικός • January 7 / December 25 •

συνοδικός

January 7 / December 25
2018/2017（7526）
From December 25 till January 5 is a Fast-free period (Sviatki)
CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!

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● 主降生节 The NATIVITY according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ （纪念我们的主，上帝，救主耶稣基督取肉躯而降生于世）
Η ΓΕΝΝΗΣΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΥΡΙΟΥ ΗΜΩΝ ΙΗΣΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ
上徧顯主榮、下廣降安和、人閒施慈憐云、 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. "Behold, I proclaim unto you glad tidings, – said the Angel to the Bethlehem shepherds, – of great joy, for all mankind. For unto you this day is born the Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this for ye is the sign: ye will find the Infant wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. Then suddenly with the Angel was a multitude of the heavenly hosts, glorifying God and saying: Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good-will to mankind. Those hearing of this were awestruck at the sayings of the shepherds concerning this Child. And the shepherds themselves returned back, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen." (Lk. 2: 10-20)
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• Commemoration of The Righteous Shepherds 牧羊人 in Bethlehem who were watching their flocks and came to see the Lord (1st c.)
Μνήμη τῶν Ποιμένων, ποὺ εἶδαν τὸν Κύριο Ἰησοῦ Χριστὸ
In the stillness of midnight (Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-15), the proclamation of the birth of the Savior of the world was heard by three shepherds watching their flocks by night.
An angel of the Lord (St Cyprian says this was Gabriel) came before them and said: "Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11). The humble shepherds were the first to offer worship to Him Who condescended to assume the form of a humble servant for the salvation of mankind.
• 纪念由东方而来朝拜基督圣婴之贤士 The Adoration of the Magi : MELCHIOR 麦尔希奥尔, CASPAR 喀斯帕尔, and BALTHASAR 瓦尔塔撒尔
Ἡ Προσκύνησις τῶν Μάγων
The Nativity of Christ was revealed to the Magi by a wondrous star. Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Theophylactus, commenting on Saint Matthew’s Gospel, say that this was no ordinary star. Rather, it was "a divine and angelic power that appeared in the form of a star". Saint Demetrius of Rostov says it was a "manifestation of divine energy" (Narrative of the Adoration of the Magi). Entering the house where the Infant lay, the Magi "fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented Him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh" (Mt. 2:11).
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• Martyrs at Nicomedia (303)
• Massacre of Hosiosmartyr hieromonk JONAH 约纳 of Pechenga and Kola (1589) and another 50 Hieromartyrs, and 65 Martyrs in the monastery of St Tryphon of Pechenga, killed by the Swedes (1590): Martyred Brotherhood of St Tryphon Monastery of Pechenga: Hieromartyr GURIAS of Pechenga; Hieromartyr PAKHOMIOS of Pechenga; Hieromartyr JOSEPH of Pechenga; Hosiosmartyrs THEODOSIOS, MAKARIOS, GENNADIJ, ONUFRIJ, PHILOFEJ, ONISIM, IOV, SAMPSON, SERAPION, GEORGE, IUSTIN, SAVVA, SPIRIDON, SAVVATIJ, CYRILL, SIMEON, ALEXANDER, KALLISTRAT, THEOPHIL, AMBROSE, HERMAN, DANIIL, THEOGNOST, MOSES, THEODORITE, VALERIAN, GERASIM, AVRAAMIJ, DOROFEJ, LONGIN, JEFREM, THEODOSIOS, PAISIOS, GREGORY, FILIMON; Martyrs (murdered labours, donuts and piligrims) of Pechenga including NIKIPHOR, EVSEJ, PROKHOR, SAVVA, ANTONY, IOAKIM, KONON, EVSEVIJ, IOANN, OREST, IOANN, ARTEMIOS, JEVGRAF, THEODOR, NIKITA, NIKITA, NIKITA, IGNATIUS, THEODOR, DIMITRIJ, RODION, GAVRIIL, CONSTANTINE, CONSTANTINE, IOANN, LUKA, LEONTIJ, THEODOT, FOMA, GAVRIIL, DEMENTIOS, ARTEMIOS, STEPHAN, ANDREW, PARTHENIOS, NIKIPHOR, ANANIJA, STEPHAN, EMILIAN, PHILIPP, CORNILIOS, IOANN, IOANN, DANIIL, STEPHAN, PHOKA, NIKITA, ARHIPP, GAVRIIL, IOANN, Martyresses AKILINA and EVFIMIJA, and others
Based on the Synodikon of the Solovetsk Monastery in northern Russian about 1500 AD ― the exact date is unknown ― the Priestmonk Jonah was born in the Pomeranian village of Varzuga in Russia's northern Murmansk district. After serving as a parish priest, he entered the Pechenga Monastery, where he became a close disciple of Saint Tryphon. Saint Jonah was martyred in December 1589 ― one year before the beginning of the Russian-Swedish War ― during an attack on the monastery by Swedish-Finnish invaders. Tradition holds that he and his concelebrant, the Priestmonk Herman, were martyred during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, as they were receiving the Eucharist. They, together with 115 monks and laypersons killed during the invasion, were venerated throughout the Novgorod region.
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NEW MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS in the 20th century
• New Hieromartyr archpriest MICHAEL Chel’tsov (1870-1931) day of martyrdom, shoted in St Peterburg of Russia
• New Hieromartyr bishop LEONID (Lavrentij Antoshchenko) (1872-1938) day of martyrdom, shoted after prison in Joshkar-Ola, Marijsk ASSR
• New Hieromartyr LEONIDAS Serebrianikov and MARY Kiianova
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• Venerabless Blessed Abbess ADALSINDIS (also Adalsend, Adalsind or Adalsindis) (715) one of the daughters of Sts Adalbald and Rictrudis, she became a nun at Hamay-les-Marchiennes Convent near Namur and Arras and at Hamage in Flanders (present day France) under her own sister St Eusebia
• ALBURGH (Æthelburh, Alburga) (800/810) sister of St Egbert of Wessex in England and wife of Wulstan of Wiltshire, W., she founded a convent in Wilton near Salisbury, where she became a nun in her widowhood
Abbess and foundress, born a princess in Wessex, England. The sister of King Egbert of Wessex, Alburga displayed piety at an early age. She was married to Wulfstan of Wiltshire as part of a political alliance. She founded Wilton Abbey while married to Wulfstan. Upon his death, Alburga retired to Wilton and became the abbess.
• M ANASTASIA (304) suffered in Sirmium in Dalmatia, her relics were taken to Constantinople and veneration spread to Rome, where a basilica is dedicated to her
• Martyress ANASTASIA the Elder crowned with martyrdom in the persecution of Valerian or Nero
• CONSTANTINE the Jew
• Virgin Martyress EUGENIA (257) in Rome under Valerian, she was buried in the cemetery of Apronian on the Via Latina
• FLOTHILDA Nun at Avesnes (940)
• Great Bishop MAOLÁN void of weakness, of Tullaghmelan, founder of the church of Tullaghmelan

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THE DIVINE KENOSIS
The incarnation of Christ is said to even by a kenosis ("self-emptying"). Astonishing are the words of the Apostle Paul: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he emptied himself, by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death ― even death on a cross" (Philem. 2:6-8).
The kenosis of Christ is not that He was born poor, that He came from a poor family, that He lived as a refugee and was persecuted and suffered in His early life, that He faced the hatred of people, etc. Rather it is mainly because He assumed human nature, indeed with its mortality and sufferings. That the uncreated God received created human nature, and the created was united with the uncreated, this is what is called the kenosis and poverty of Christ.
Without the kenosis there could not be its fulfillment - the deification of humanity. Also, the divine kenosis shows us exactly what is love. Love is a kenosis, a sacrifice, an offering. This is why the more someone is brightened and divinized the more self-emptying they are, and vice versa.
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
From The Feasts of the Lord.

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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.