Services at St. Andrew

Sunday 12/11
11^th Sunday of Luke +Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy of SJC @9:30am

Memorials

A One Year Memorial Service will be held for the repose of the soul of +George Γεωργίου Prassinos, beloved father of Anna and Maria and brother of Byron Prassinos

An Annual Memorial Service for the repose of the soul +Ekaterini Αικατερίνης & +Demetrios Δημητρίου Rotsides, parents of Zacharias, Stelios, Nicos(+), Eleni, Maria, Andreas, Petros, Panayiota, Irene. As well +Demetrios Δημητρίου Rotsides, Andreas Ανδρέα and +Mary Μαρίας Boyadjis, also beloved family members.

A Trisagion Service will be held for the repose of +Margaret Μαργαρίτας Prassionos, beloved mother of Anna and Maria Prassinos.

Friends and relatives are invited to join the family downstairs for refreshments in honor of their loved ones blessed memory.

Annual Christmas Pageant : Students of Religious Education and Hellenic Afternoon Schools will present a Christmas Pageantafter Services

Monday12/12
+Saint Spyridon the Wonderworker of Trymithous +Orthros @8am Divine Liturgy @9am

Thursday 12/15 +Saint Eleutherios the Hieromartyr
+Orthros @8am Divine Liturgy @9am

Participation in services is also available via livestream - go to: Home | St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church (orthodoxws.com) and choose LIVESTREAM on the Menu bar

Prayers/Liturgy can always be found at: https://www.agesinitiatives.com/dcs/public/dcs/dcs.html

Online Giving System: Website: https://www.standrewgonj.org/ and choose PayPal / online WeShare | Consider making your donations using our New Abundant App

Announcements

GOC Ecclesiastical Calendar 2023 are ready. Plese stop by the office and pick up your Calendar

Parish Council Elections next Sunday Decembner 18th 1:30-1:30 /see candidate bios downstairs

The Hellenic Book Fair on Thursday Dec 15th @4:30-7:30pm at Saint Andrew main entrance hall. sponsored by the Saint Andrew PTA and the Hellenic Book Club of NYC.

Generational Caregiving: Join us on Dec 18 at 12pm in room 101 for our next session of Generational Caregiving. Our guest speaker is Andi Knoble, who will be talking about recognizing the difference between normal aging and dementia. We will also be answering your questions on how to provide care for people with cognitive impairments and how to know when you can no longer go it alone. We will help you find the resources you need as well.

NJ Conservatory presents Handel's Messiah: NJ Conservatory Symphonic Chorus accompanied by its Baroque Orchestra performs at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 246 Woodport Rd., Sparta, NJ | Sunday, December 18, 2022 at 4:00PM. |Edwin Foster, Director. | Call 973-402-2004 for tickets. Prices: $45, $40, $35. | Student discount 30%. No children under 8 years old.

Greek Cypriot community: A Cypriot American graduate student at Seton Hall University is working on her thesis proposal. She is interested in putting together an oral history of the Greek Cypriot community in the United States, specifically of those who immigrated in the late 70s/early 80s after the Turkish occupation of 1974. She is looking to connect with Greek Cypriots in the U.S. and was hoping our parish may be able to provide her with some leads of individuals who would be willing to share their immigration stories. Please contact Diana at Diana.Minakakis@shu.edu

SUNDAY COFFEE Hour is hosted by the Saint Andrew PTA

Bagels are donated by Jimmy Psaras of ALFA BAGELS on Route 10 in Randolph, NJ
Coffee is donated by Aristotle Leontopoulos of Coffee Associates in Edgewater, NJ
Coffee Hour ON Sunday: 12/18 DOP, 12/25 Christmas

Knitting & Pillow Ministry: Will meet on the following Wednesdays to knit blankets and scarves as well as sew and stuff pillows. Join us on 12/14 | Let us know if you can join us or just come pick up some yarn to knit at home.

Fr. John's Message

Lord’s Voice

ANSWERS OF HOLINESS

“The days are evil.” (Eph. 5:16) The ascertainment of the Apostle Paul remains true in our time. The days are evil because people remain “unwise”, “imprudent” and “prodigal”. We people make our time be evil. The devil may contribute, from whom we ask God to safeguard us, every time we say the Lord’s Prayer. Our culture and atmosphere then contribute to what our character seeks. We get drunk with the wine of pleasure, and we forget the joy that the Holy Spirit gives. We remain on what’s temporal, and we are indifferent to what is eternal, whether we consider that we believe in God or not.

The one who is wise in God

“People are “unwise”. Wise is not the educated person or the one who is experienced in life. It is he who seeks God with all his being. It is he who tries to discover and to live the meaning of time and of existence, mainly its continuation after death, through the resurrection. It is he who behind each thing, sees God’s providence. God’s love both in the pleasant and in the sad things, especially in the latter ones. Wise is he who makes a beginning of love both towards God as well as to his neighbor. He fights on the path of holiness, because with this manner, God communicates with each one of us. Inside the Church, and not through our individual will.

The wise people of this world, when they don’t believe, when, in other words, they don’t entrust themselves to the love of God and His Person, they are revealed to be unwise. Even if they don’t realize it, the meaning of time resembles Sisyphus, they ancient hero who was carrying a rock to a mountain peak, and just when he believed that he had fulfilled his mission, the rock would again roll down and he had to start out again from the beginning. Thus do the “unwise sages” of this world resemble also. They invest in knowledge, in progress, in academics, in achievements, mainly in the “ego”, they ascertain, however, that all these things are so vain, that even if they enjoy the victories, the glories, their discoveries, they must set out from the beginning, because all these things are finite and change. Mainly, they don’t give meaning to the end of this life, and they don’t help for everything to be a new beginning, not of agony, but of joy and love, because in carrying the rock, we are not on our own, since God exists.

Investing in matter

“Imprudent” are people without chastity. It is not only moral corruption that possesses us. That we want to do whatever justifies us. It is also that we are investing in matter. That we do not see the truth who is Christ, and we think that whatever we are building with our own certainties, are enough. It is not only our instability on account of our thirst for pleasure. That we don’t have a free personality, but, often, we are led here and there, from our wants. It is also the fact that if we write off God from our life, or we cast Him aside, then seemingly our “ego” is liberated, however the sin that accompanies this freedom of ours traps and destroys us. Because it gives birth to an unconscious insult within us, that we are gods on our own. That we are right in everything. That the others ought to see life as we see it. Matter and rights make us forget the boundaries of life. We fight to be what we want, but we forget that without God we will always be missing something.

The estate that we forget

People are “imprudent”. We write off the ethos and virtue from our life. The rules and the boundaries. The knowledge that our own self is not self-sufficient. We proceed as if we will be living forever. Far from the home of God-the father, which is the Church. Altering the content of the estate that we were entrusted with. Changing the love for Him and for our neighbor into love only for our ego. The freedom from evil into the glory of the passions. Our mind, from a blessing for us to observe the world and to glorify God for the beauty of life, into an instrument of rebellion against God, and His rejection. The conscience, from the voice of God within us, into a silencing of what is good, and handing ourselves to our will. I exist for me. The others are my servants. Sin is a right and committing it, pleasure. Whoever wants to limit us, doesn’t know what is good for us.

“The days are evil”. The Saints, like Saint Spyridon who is honored today, give us the answer of consolation. With the presence of Christ in our heart we will become “children of light”. The road again passes through the Church.

Fr. Th. M

Daily Calendar

Tuesday 12/13

@6:30pm Philoptochos and DOP Annual Christmas Dinner at Forte’s in Randolph

Wednesday 12/14

@7:00-8:30pm GOYA Basketball /gym

Thursday 12/15
@4:30pm Hellenic Afternoon School Classes

Greek Dance ●Group 1 @6:30pm ●Group 2 @7:15pm ● GROUP 3 /GOYA @8:00pm

@4-7pm Hellenic Book Fair at St Andrew social hall

@6:30pm GOYA Monthly Meeting

Friday 12/16

@7pm GOYA Movie

TOYS FOR TOTS deadline to donate NEW unwrapped Toys

Sunday 12/18

Sunday before Nativity @8:15am & Divine Liturgy of SJC @9:30am

Memorial Service : +Lazarus Triantafyllou

Parish Council Elections | Generational Caregiving

Monday 12/19

Tuesday 12/20

Annual Metropolis of New Jersey Christmas Tree Lighting and Open House @6-9pm

Wednesday 12/21

Thursday 12/22

+St. Anastasia the Great Martyr @8am & Divine Liturgy of SJC @9am

Memorial service: +Haralambos Harris

NO Hellenic Afternoon School Classes NO Greek Dance

Friday 12/23
@8:00 am: Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ,- Orthros,Great Hours

Saturday 12/24

@8:00am EVE OF THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST, EUGENIA THE RIGHTEOUS – Orthros, Great Hours, Great Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil the Great

Faith Kitchen DOP /AHEPA hosting

@ 4:30 pm: Christmas Eve Great Vespers

News - Flyers - Registrations - Other

PLEDGE 2023

When filling out your 2023 PLEDGE, we ask that you prayerfully consider your Christian Stewardship Commitment, commensurate with your resources and your gratitude for the bounties and blessings our Lord has bestowed on you.

Stewardship

Where does your pledge fall?

Elections

Parish Council election on Sunday, December 18th, 2022

Christmas Dinner

Philoptochos & Daughters of Penelope Annual Christmas Dinner on Tuesday 12-13-22 @6:30pm at Forte's

Philoptochos card

Friday, Dec. 16, 2022.

Christmas Tree Lighting

invitation from His Eminence, Archbishop Elpidophoros for the Annual Metropolis of New Jersey Christmas Tree Lighting and Open House,...Tuesday, December 20, 2022, from 6:00pm - 9:00pm at the Metropolis Headquarters.

Greek Letters Day

Northern New Jersey Region Greek Letters Celebration - Saturday, January 21, 2023, at SS. Nicholas, Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Roseland, NJ at 5:00pm

Wine & Cheese

Friday Jan 13 @7PM WINE & CHEESE & ART SOCIAL HALL OF SA

YAL BASH

1-6-23 @7:30PM | Liberty House Restaurant and Events, 76 Audrey Zapp Dr, Jersey City, NJ

Holy Trinity

Cookie Walk - Saturday 12-17-22 @10am-2pm

Prayer List

Prayer for a Sick Person:

Heavenly Father, physician of our souls and bodies, who have sent Your only-begotten Son and our Lord Jesus Christ to heal every sickness and infirmity, visit and heal (me) Your servant from all physical and spiritual ailments through the grace of Your Christ. Grant (me) patience in this sickness, strength of body and spirit, and recovery of health. Lord, You have taught us through Your word to pray for each other that we may be healed. I pray that You heal (me) as Your servant and grant (me) the gift of complete health. For You are the source of healing and to You I give glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

Please keep these names in your prayers

Dimitra, Kenneth, Andy, Dutch, Danny, Irene, Pamela, Anita, Maria, Sophia, Ioannis, Maurice, Pat, Bonita, Maria, Deryl, Mary, Elena, Konstantinos, Zenovia, Joanne, Anna, Panayiota, Thomas, Robert, Eleni Leslie, Martin, Christos, Paula, Valerie, David, Barbara, Cesar, Angeliki, Maria, Demetri, Karen, Andrew, Stan, Vasiliki, Marios, Theodore, Fr. Konstantine, Mary, Eftihia, Ioannis, David , Andreas, Robert, Antonis, Susan, Alexandros, Gregory, Sophia, Tara, children and families of Ukraine, Ioanna, Landon, Lueda, Christine, Vasiliki, Anastasia, Aikaterini, Cynthia, Demetrios, Robin, Paraskevi, Theodore, Eleni, Athena, Katerina, Sophia, Eleni, Corinne,

If you would like us to remember you or your loved one in our prayers, please contact the office. 973-584-0388 or send us an email to info@standrewgonj.org

Names will be kept on this list for approximately 3 months. Please resubmit Names if needed. Fr. John will pray for the Names above during the Proskomide “Offering of gifts” during the first part of the Divine Liturgy when our priest prepares the mystical gifts of bread and wine. Please keep these names in your prayers as well.

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Fourth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:1-12

On the first day of the week at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking spices, which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise." And they remembered His words and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the Apostles; but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home wondering at what had happened.

Fourth Orthros Gospel
Κατὰ Λουκᾶν 24:1-12

Τῇ μιᾷ τῶν Σαββάτων, ὄρθρου βαθέος ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα, φέρουσαι ἃ ἡτοίμασαν ἀρώματα, καί τινες σὺν αὐταῖς. Εὗρον δὲ τὸν λίθον ἀποκεκυλισμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου, καὶ εἰσελθοῦσαι οὐχ εὗρον τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ διαπορεῖσθαι αὐτὰς περὶ τούτου, καὶ Ἰδού, δύο ἄνδρες ἐπέστησαν αὐταῖς ἐν ἐσθήσεσιν ἀστραπτούσαις· ἐμφόβων δὲ γενομένων αὐτῶν καὶ κλινουσῶν τὰ πρόσωπον εἰς τὴν γῆν, εἶπον πρὸς αὐτάς· Τί ζητεῖτε τὸν ζῶντα μετὰ τῶν νεκρῶν; οὐκ ἔστιν ᾧδε, ἀλλ' ἠγέρθη. Μνήσθητε ὡς ἐλάλησεν ὑμῖν, ἔτι ὢν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ, λέγων, ὅτι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδοθῆναι εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων ἁμαρτωλῶν, καὶ σταυρωθῆναι, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀναστῆναι. Καὶ ἐμνήσθησαν τῶν ῥημάτων αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὑποστρέψασαι ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου, ἀπήγγειλαν ταῦτα πάντα τοῖς ἕνδεκα καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς λοιποῖς. Ἦσαν δὲ ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ Μαρία καὶ Ἰωάννα καὶ Μαρία Ἰακώβου, καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ σὺν αὐταῖς, αἳ ἔλεγον πρὸς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ταῦτα. Καὶ ἐφάνησαν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ λῆρος τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν, καὶ ἠπίστουν αὐταῖς, ὁ δὲ Πέτρος ἀναστὰς ἔδραμεν ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον, καὶ παρακύψας βλέπει τὰ ὀθόνια κείμενα μόνα, καὶ ἀπῆλθε, πρὸς ἑαυτόν θαυμάζων τὸ γεγονός.

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Mode. Daniel 3.26,27.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers.
Verse: For you are just in all you have done.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians 3:4-11.

Brethren, when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. In these you once walked, when you lived in them. But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.

Προκείμενον. Fourth Mode. Δανιήλ 3.26-27.
Εὐλογητὸς εἶ, Κύριε, ὁ Θεὸς τῶν Πατέρων ἡμῶν.
Στίχ. Ὅτι δίκαιος εἶ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν, οἷς ἐποίησας ἡμῖν.

τὸ Ἀνάγνωσμα Πρὸς Κολοσσαεῖς 3:4-11.

Ἀδελφοί, ὅταν ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῇ, ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν, τότε καὶ ὑμεῖς σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε ἐν δόξῃ. Νεκρώσατε οὖν τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πορνείαν, ἀκαθαρσίαν, πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν, καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρεία, διʼ ἃ ἔρχεται ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας· Ἐν οἷς καὶ ὑμεῖς περιεπατήσατέ ποτε, ὅτε ἐζῆτε ἐν αὐτοῖς. Νυνὶ δὲ ἀπόθεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς τὰ πάντα, ὀργήν, θυμόν, κακίαν, βλασφημίαν, αἰσχρολογίαν ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν· μὴ ψεύδεσθε εἰς ἀλλήλους, ἀπεκδυσάμενοι τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον σὺν ταῖς πράξεσιν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐνδυσάμενοι τὸν νέον, τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν κατʼ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτόν· ὅπου οὐκ ἔνι Ἕλλην καὶ Ἰουδαῖος, περιτομὴ καὶ ἀκροβυστία, βάρβαρος, Σκύθης, δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος· ἀλλὰ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν Χριστός.

Gospel Reading

11th Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 14:16-24

The Lord said this parable: "A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; and at the time of the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for all is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.' And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.' And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.' And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and there is still room.' And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. For many are called, but few are chosen.'"

11th Sunday of Luke
Κατὰ Λουκᾶν 14:16-24

Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος τήν παραβολὴν ταύτην· Ἄνθρωπός τις ἐποίησε δεῖπνον μέγα καὶ ἐκάλεσε πολλούς· καὶ ἀπέστειλε τὸν δοῦλον αὐτοῦ τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ δείπνου εἰπεῖν τοῖς κεκλημένοις· ἔρχεσθε, ὅτι ἤδη ἕτοιμά ἐστι πάντα. καὶ ἤρξαντο ἀπὸ μιᾶς παραιτεῖσθαι πάντες. ὁ πρῶτος εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἀγρὸν ἠγόρασα, καὶ ἔχω ἀνάγκην ἐξελθεῖν καὶ ἰδεῖν αὐτόν· ἐρωτῶ σε, ἔχε με παρῃτημένον. καὶ ἕτερος εἶπε· ζεύγη βοῶν ἠγόρασα πέντε, καὶ πορεύομαι δοκιμάσαι αὐτά· ἐρωτῶ σε, ἔχε με παρῃτημένον. καὶ ἕτερος εἶπε· γυναῖκα ἔγημα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐ δύναμαι ἐλθεῖν. καὶ παραγενόμενος ὁ δοῦλος ἐκεῖνος ἀπήγγειλε τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτοῦ ταῦτα. τότε ὀργισθεὶς ὁ οἰκοδεσπότης εἶπε τῷ δούλῳ αὐτοῦ· ἔξελθε ταχέως εἰς τὰς πλατείας καὶ ῥύμας τῆς πόλεως, καὶ τοὺς πτωχοὺς καὶ ἀναπήρους καὶ χωλοὺς καὶ τυφλοὺς εἰσάγαγε ὧδε. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ δοῦλος· κύριε, γέγονεν ὡς ἐπέταξας, καὶ ἔτι τόπος ἐστί. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ κύριος πρὸς τὸν δοῦλον· ἔξελθε εἰς τὰς ὁδοὺς καὶ φραγμοὺς καὶ ἀνάγκασον εἰσελθεῖν, ἵνα γεμισθῇ ὁ οἶκος μου. λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων τῶν κεκλημένων γεύσεταί μου τοῦ δείπνου. Πολλοί γὰρ εἰσιν κλητοί, ὀλίγοι δέ ἐκλεκτοί.

Saints and Feasts

December 11

Martyrs Acepsius and Aeithalas

December 11

11th Sunday of Luke

On the Sunday that occurs on or immediately after the eleventh of this month, we commemorate Christ's forefathers according to the flesh, both those that came before the Law, and those that lived after the giving of the Law.

Special commemoration is made of the Patriarch Abraham, to whom the promise was first given, when God said to him, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18). This promise was given some two thousand years before Christ, when Abraham was seventy-five years of age. God called him and commanded him to forsake his country, parents, and kinsmen, and to depart to the land of the Canaanites. When he arrived there, God told him, "I will give this land to thy seed" (Gen. 12:7); for this cause, that land was called the "Promised Land," which later became the country of the Hebrew people, and which is also called Palestine by the historians. There, after the passage of twenty-four years, Abraham received God's law concerning circumcision. In the one hundredth year of his life, when Sarah was in her ninetieth year, they became the parents of Isaac. Having lived 175 years altogether, he reposed in peace, a venerable elder full of days.

December 11

Daniel the Stylite of Constantinople

This Saint was from the village of Marutha in the region of Samosata in Mesopotamia. He became a monk at the age of twelve. After visiting Saint Symeon the Stylite (see Sept. 1) and receiving his blessing, he was moved with zeal to follow his marvellous way of life. At the age of forty-two, guided by providence, he came to Anaplus in the environs of Constantinople, in the days of the holy Patriarch Anatolius (see July 3), who was also healed by Saint Daniel of very grave malady and sought to have him live near him. Upon coming to Anaplus, Saint Daniel first lived in the church of the Archangel Michael, but after some nine years, Saint Symeon the Stylite appeared to him in a vision, commanding him to imitate his own ascetical struggle upon a pillar. The remaining thirty-three years of his life he stood for varying periods on three pillars, one after another. He stood immovable in all weather, and once his disciples found him covered with ice after a winter storm. He was a counsellor of emperors; the pious emperor Leo the Great fervently loved him and brought his royal guests to meet him. It was at Saint Daniel's word that the holy relics of Saint Symeon the Stylite were brought to Constantinople from Antioch, and it was in his days that the Emperor Leo had the relics of the Three Holy Children brought from Babylon. Saint Daniel also defended the Church against the error of the Eutychians. Having lived through the reigns of the Emperors Leo, Zeno, and Basiliscus, he reposed in 490, at the age of eighty-four.

December 12

Spyridon the Wonderworker of Trymithous

Spyridon, the God-bearing Father of the Church, the great defender of Corfu and the boast of all the Orthodox, had Cyprus as his homeland. He was simple in manner and humble of heart, and was a shepherd of sheep. When he was joined to a wife, he begat of her a daughter whom they named Irene. After his wife's departure from this life, he was appointed Bishop of Trimythus, and thus he became also a shepherd of rational sheep. When the First Ecumenical Council was assembled in Nicaea, he also was present, and by means of his most simple words stopped the mouths of the Arians who were wise in their own conceit. By the divine grace which dwelt in him, he wrought such great wonders that he received the surname 'Wonderworker." So it is that, having tended his flock piously and in a manner pleasing to God, he reposed in the Lord about the year 350, leaving to his country his sacred relics as a consolation and source of healing for the faithful.

About the middle of the seventh century, because of the incursions made by the barbarians at that time, his sacred relics were taken to Constantinople, where they remained, being honoured by the emperors themselves. But before the fall of Constantinople, which took place on May 29, 1453, a certain priest named George Kalokhairetes, the parish priest of the church where the Saint's sacred relics, as well as those of Saint Theodora the Empress, were kept, took them away on account of the impending peril. Travelling by way of Serbia, he came as far as Arta in Epirus, a region in Western Greece opposite to the isle of Corfu. From there, while the misfortunes of the Christian people were increasing with every day, he passed over to Corfu about the year 1460. The relics of Saint Theodora were given to the people of Corfu; but those of Saint Spyridon remain to this day, according to the rights of inheritance, the most precious treasure of the priest's own descendants, and they continue to be a staff for the faithful in Orthodoxy, and a supernatural wonder for those that behold him; for even after the passage of 1,500 years, they have remained incorrupt, and even the flexibility of his flesh has been preserved. Truly wondrous is God in His Saints! (Ps. 67:3 5)

December 15

Eleutherios the Holy Martyr, Bishop Illyria and his mother Anthia

This Saint had Rome as his homeland. Having been orphaned of his father from childhood, he was taken by his mother Anthia to Anicetus, the Bishop of Rome (some call him Anencletus, or Anacletus), by whom he was instructed in the sacred letters (that is, the divine Scriptures). Though still very young in years, he was made Bishop of Illyricum by reason of his surpassing virtue, and by his teachings he converted many unbelievers to Christ. However, during a most harsh persecution that was raised against the Christians under Hadrian (reigned 117-138), the Saint was arrested by the tyrants. Enduring many torments for Christ, he was finally put to death by two soldiers about the year 126. As for his Christ-loving mother Anthia, while embracing the remains of her son and kissing them with maternal affection, she was also beheaded.

December 18

Sunday before Nativity

On the Sunday that occurs on or immediately after the eighteenth of this month, we celebrate all those who from ages past have been well-pleasing to God, beginning from Adam even unto Joseph the Betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos, according to genealogy, as the Evangelist Luke hath recorded historically (Luke 3:23-38); we also commemorate the Prophets and Prophetesses, and especially the Prophet Daniel and the Holy Three Children.

Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the First Mode

Although the stone was sealed by the Jews, and the soldiers guarded Your most pure body, You arose on the third day, O Savior, giving life to the world. For this reason, the heavenly powers cried out to you, O Giver of Life: Glory to Your resurrection, O Christ! Glory to Your kingdom! Glory to Your dispensation, only Lover of Mankind!

Τοῦ λίθου σφραγισθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ στρατιωτῶν φυλασσόντων τὸ ἄχραντόν σου σῶμα, ἀνέστης τριήμερος Σωτήρ, δωρούμενος τῷ κόσμῳ τὴν ζωήν. Διὰ τοῦτο αἱ Δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐβόων σοι Ζωοδότα· Δόξα τῇ ἀναστάσει σου Χριστέ, δόξα τῇ Βασιλείᾳ σου, δόξα τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ σου, μόνε Φιλάνθρωπε.

Apolytikion for 11th Sun. of Luke in the Second Mode

By faith didst Thou justify the Forefathers, when through them Thou didst betroth Thyself aforetime to the Church from among the nations. The Saints boast in glory that from their seed there is a glorious fruit, even she that bare Thee seedlessly. By their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.

Ἐν πίστει τοὺς Προπάτορας ἐδικαίωσας, τὴν ἐξ Ἐθνῶν δι' αὐτῶν προμνηστευσάμενος Ἐκκλησίαν. Καυχῶνται ἐν δόξῃ οἱ Ἅγιοι, ὄι ἐκ σπέρματος αὐτῶν, ὑπάρχει καρπός εὐκλεής, ἡ ἀσπόρως τεκοῦσά σε. Ταῖς αὐτῶν ἱκεσίαις, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεός, σῶσον τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Third Mode

On this day the Virgin cometh to the cave to give birth to * God the Word ineffably, * Who was before all the ages. * Dance for joy, O earth, on hearing * the gladsome tidings; * with the Angels and the shepherds now glorify Him * Who is willing to be gazed on * as a young Child Who * before the ages is God.

Ἡ Παρθένος σήμερον, τὸν Προαιώνιον Λόγον, ἐν Σπηλαίῳ ἔρχεται, ἀποτεκεῖν ἀπορρήτως. Χόρευε ἡ οἰκουμένη ἀκουτισθεῖσα, δόξασον μετὰ Ἀγγέλων καὶ τῶν Ποιμένων, βουληθέντα ἐποφθῆναι, παιδίον νέον, τὸν πρὸ αἰώνων Θεόν.

Wisdom of the Fathers

What was the nature of the invitation? God the Father has prepared in Christ for the inhabitants of earth those gifts which are bestowed upon the world through Him, even the forgiveness of sins, the cleansing away of all defilement, the communion of the Holy Spirit, the glorious adoption of sons, and the kingdom of the heavens.

St. Cyril of Alexandria

Translation courtesy of "The Orthodox New Testament" Volume 1, 4th Century

Come, O faithful, Let us enjoy the Master's hospitality, The banquet of immortality. In the upper chamber with uplifted minds Let us receive the exalted words of the Word Whom we magnify.

Last Ode of the Compline Canon

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the First Mode

Apolytikion for 11th Sun. of Luke in the Second Mode

Seasonal Kontakion in the Third Mode

Wisdom of the Fathers