Daily Orthodox - December 1st, 2024
Today is the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost.
Fasting Obligations
- OCA, GOARCH, Antioch: Fish, wine, and oil permitted.
Today, we commemorate...
1. The Holy Prophet Nahum
Nahum was born of the tribe of Simeon in a place called Elkosh on the far side of the Jordan. He lived about seven hundred years before Christ and prophesied the destruction of Nineveh about two hundred years after the Prophet Jonah. Because of Jonah's preaching, the Ninevites had repented, and God had spared them and not destroyed them. In time, however, they forgot God's mercy and again became corrupt. The Prophet Nahum prophesied their destruction, and since there was no repentance, God did not spare them. The entire city was destroyed by earthquake, flood and fire, so that its location is no longer known. St. Nahum lived for forty-five years and entered into rest in the Lord, leaving us a small book of his true prophecies.
2. St. Philaret the Almsgiver, of Amnia in Asia Minor (797)
Philaret was from the village of Amnia in Paphlagonia. Early in life, Philaret was a very wealthy man, but by distributing abundant alms to the poor he himself became extremely poor. However, he was not afraid of poverty, and, not heeding the complaints of his wife and children, he continued his charitable works with hope in God, Who said: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7). Once, while he was plowing in the field, a man came to him and complained that one of his oxen had died in the harness and that he was unable to plow with only one ox. Philaret then unharnessed one of his oxen and gave it to him. He even gave his remaining horse to a man who was summoned to go to war. He gave away the calf of his last cow, and when he saw how the cow pined for her missing calf, and the calf for the cow, he called the man and gave him the cow too. And thus the aged Philaret was left without food in an empty house. But he prayed to God and placed his hope in Him. And God did not abandon the righteous one to be put to shame in his hope. At that time the Empress Irene reigned with her young son, Constantine. According to the custom of that time, the empress sent men throughout the whole empire to seek the best and most distinguished maiden to whom she could wed her son, the emperor. By God's providence, these men happened to stay overnight in Philaret's house, and they saw his most beautiful and modest granddaughter Maria, the daughter of his daughter Hypatia, and took her to Constantinople. The emperor was well pleased with her, married her, and moved Philaret and all his family to the capital, giving him great honors and riches. Philaret did not become proud as a result of this unexpected good fortune, but, thankful to God, he continued to perform good works even more than he had before, and thus he continued until his death. At the age of ninety he summoned his children, blessed them, and instructed them to cleave to God and to God's law, and with his clairvoyant spirit he prophesied to all of them how they would live out this life, as once had Jacob. After that he went to the Rodolfia Monastery and gave up his soul to God. At his death his face shone like the sun, and after his death an unusual, sweet fragrance came forth from his body and miracles took place at his relics. This righteous man entered into rest in the year 797. His wife, Theosevia, and all his children and grandchildren lived a God-pleasing life and reposed in the Lord.
3. Martyr Ananias of Persia
4. St. Eligius, bishop of Noyon (Neth.) (660)
5. St. Botolph, abbot and confessor, of Ikanhoe, England (680)
6. St. Anthony the New, monk, of Kios in Bithynia (865)
7. St. Theoclites, bishop of Sparta (870)
8. New Hieromartyr Innocent, archbishop of Kharkov and Akhtyra (1937)
9. (Greek cal.: St. Onesimus, archbishop of Ephesus. Sts. Ananias and Solochonus, archbishops of Ephesus)
For more information on today's saints or commemorations not provided, see https://www.oca.org/saints/lives (Slavic) and/or https://www.goarch.org/chapel (Greek).
Reflection
Reflections are added when it includes additional stories from the life of a saint commemorated today.
Virtue is like a thirst. When a man begins to drink of it, he becomes more thirsty and seeks to drink of it all the more. He who begins to exercise the virtue of compassion knows no measure and acknowledges no limit. St. Philaret was no less generous when he was impoverished than when he was wealthy. When his granddaughter became empress, he became a rich man once again, but no less generous. One day, he told his wife and children to prepare the best feast that they could and said: "Let us invite our King and Lord, with all His noblemen, to come to the feast." Everyone thought that the old man was thinking of inviting to dinner his son-in-law, the emperor, and they all worked as hard as they could and prepared the feast. Meanwhile, Philaret went around the streets and gathered all the needy, the beggars, the blind, the outcasts, the lame and the infirm, and brought them to the feast. Placing them at the table, he ordered his wife and sons to serve at the table. After the feast was completed, he put a gold coin in the hand of each guest and dismissed them. Then everyone understood that by "the King" he meant the Lord Christ Himself, and by "the noblemen" he meant beggars and those in need. He also said that one need not look at the money that one gives to beggars, but rather one should mix up the monkey in one's pocket and give only what the hand removes from the pocket. The hand will draw out whatever God's providence ordains.
Daily Scriptures
Slavic
- Epistle: Ephesians 2:4-10
<4> But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, <5> even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), <6> and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, <7> that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. <8> For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, <9> not of works, lest anyone should boast. <10> For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
- Gospel: Luke 18:18-27
<18> Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" <19> So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. <20> You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,' ‘Do not murder,' ‘Do not steal,' ‘Do not bear false witness,' ‘Honor your father and your mother.' " <21> And he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth." <22> So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." <23> But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. <24> And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! <25> For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." <26> And those who heard it said, "Who then can be saved?" <27> But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."
Greek
- Epistle: [same as Slavic]
- Gospel: Luke 18:35-43
<35> Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. <36> And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. <37> So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. <38> And he cried out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" <39> Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" <40> So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, <41> saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." <42> Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well." <43> And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.