Daily Orthodox - December 2nd, 2024
Today is Monday of the 24th Week after Pentecost.
Fasting Obligations
- OCA: Strict fast.
- GOARCH, Antioch: Fish, wine, and oil permitted.
Today, we commemorate...
1. The Holy Prophet Habakkuk (Avvakum)
Habakkuk was the son of Asaphat from the tribe of Simeon. He prophesied six hundred years before Christ, during the time of King Manasseh, and foretold the destruction of Jerusalem. When Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem, Habakkuk sought refuge in the land of the Ishmaelites. From there he returned to Judea, where he lived as a farmer. One day he was carrying lunch to the workers in the fields, when suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: Go carry the dinner that thou hast into Babylon unto Daniel, who is in the lion's den (Daniel 14:34). But Habakkuk responded: Lord, I never saw Babylon; neither do I know where the den is (Daniel 14:34-35). Then the angel took him by the hair and instantly brought him to Babylon, over an immense distance, to the lion's den, where Daniel had been cast by King Cyrus as a punishment for not worshiping the idols. O Daniel, Daniel, cried Habakkuk, take the dinner which God hath sent thee (Daniel 14:37), and Daniel took it and ate. Then the angel of God again took Habakkuk and carried him back to his field in Judea. Habakkuk also prophesied the liberation of Jerusalem and the time of the coming of Christ. He entered into rest in ripe old age and was buried at Kela. His relics were discovered during the reign of Theodosius the Great.
2. The Holy Martyr Myrope of Chios (251)
Myrope was born in Ephesus of Christian parents. After the death of her father, she moved with her mother to the island of Chios, where she suffered for Christ. The suffeirng of this holy virgin took place soon after the suffering and death of the glorious Martyr Isidore the soldier (May 14). When the torturers had beheaded Isidore, the courageous Myrope secretly took his body, censed it, and honorably buried it in a special place. The villainous prince Numerian heard that the martyr's body had been stolen and wanted to kill the guards. Learning that innocent men would suffer for her good deed, blessed Myrope appeared before the authorities and acknowledged that she had taken the martyr's body and buried it. By order of the prince, the entire body of Christ's holy virgin was severely whipped, and finally she was cast into prison covered with wounds. But the Lord did not leave His martyr comfortless. At midnight a heavenly light illumined the prison, and many angels, with St. Isidore in their midst, appeared to her. "Peace be to you, Myrope," St. Isidore said to her. "Your prayer has reached God, and soon you will be with us and will receive the wreath prepared for you." The holy martyr rejoiced and at that moment surrendered her soul to her God. A sweet fragrance issued from her body, filling the entire prison. One of the guards, seeing all this and sensing the fragrance, believed in Christ, was baptized, and soon received a martyr's death. St. Myrope took up her habitation in eternity in the year 251.
3. Saint Stephen-Uroš V, King of Serbia (1371), and his mother St. Helen (1376), of Serbia
Uroš was the son of Emperor Dušan. He reigned during the difficult time of the collapse of the Serbian kingdom. Meek, devout and gentle, he did not want to subjugate the unrestrained nobles by force, among whom the most violent was Vukašin, who ended the good king's life. The good Uroš suffered a martyr's death on December 2, 1367, at the age of thirty-one. Slain by men, he was glorified by God. His miracle-working relics rested in the Jazak Monastery in Fruška Gora, whence they were translated to Belgrade during the Second World War. They were placed in the Cathedral Church alongside the relics of Prince Lazar and the Despot Stephen Štiljanović. During the reign of this good king, the Monastery of St. Nahum beside Lake Ohrid was built by Grgur, one of Uroš' nobles.
4. The Venerable Athanasius, Recluse of the Monastery of the Kiev Caves
This holy man died after a long life of asceticism and was bathed, clothed and prepared for burial by his brethren. Athanasius lay dead for two days and suddenly came to life. When they came to bury him, they found him sitting up and crying. After that, he closed himself in his cell and lived for twelve more years on bread and water, not speaking a word to anyone. He entered into rest in the Lord in the year 1176.
5. Saint Ise (Jesse), Bishop of Tsilkani in Georgia (6th c.)
Ise was one of the Thirteen Syrian Fathers (May 7). He was a great miracle-worker. By his prayers, he re-routed a distant river to flow close to the city of Tsilkani. His relics rest in a church dedicated to him in Tsilkani in Georgia.
6. Sts. John, Andrew, Heraclemon, and Theophilus, hermits, of Egypt (4th c.)
7. St. Cyril of Philea (1110)
8. St. Athanasius, recluse of the Kiev Caves, whose relics are in the Far Caves (1264)
9. St. Solomon, archbishop of Ephesus
10. St. Ioannicius of Dević (Serbia) (1430)
11. New Hieromartyrs Danax, hieromonk, of Arkhangelskoye (Moscow) and Cosmas, hieromonk of Milyatino (Moscow) (1937)
12. St. Alexei, apostle of Carpatho-Russia (1947)
13. St. Porphyrios, wonderworker, of Kavsokalyvia (1991)
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.
"Who has ever returned from the other world to inform us of it?" Thus the unbelievers ask. One should reply to them: "Repent of your sins if you wish to find out; make yourselves worthy and you will see." St. Habakkuk traveled with an angel. St. Myrope saw a host of angels and among them the martyr, St. Isidore. St. Athanasius of the Kiev Caves was dead to this world for two days and alive only in the other world. Upon the return of his soul to his body, they gathered around him and asked him: "How did you return to life? What did you see? What did you hear?" He would say nothing about it, being totally in horror at that which he had seen in the other world, and would only say: "Save yourselves!" When they pressured him to tell a little more of what he had seen in the other world after death, he replied: "Even if I should tell you, you would not believe me or listen to me." When they urged him yet further, however, he said among other things: "Repent every moment and pray to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His Most-pure Mother." Even in our own time [ed. note: this was written by a 20th-century Serbian, not a modern-day American where kids getting a six-figure book deal for 'seeing heaven' happens], there are cases of those who have temporarily died, and the visions and accounts of those who have returned to life in the body do not contradict but rather complement one another. For example, every person who dies sees one part of that other world that is vast and incomparably larger than this world. Many people, at death, see their long-dead relatives and speak with them. This is almost a common occurrence. In 1926, in the village of Vevčani, Meletije P. was on his deathbed. He spoke with his children, who had died twenty years earlier. When his living relatives said to him, "You're rambling!" he replied, "I am not rambling, but rather I am speaking with them as I am speaking with you, and I see them as I see you."
Daily Scriptures
Slavic and Greek
- Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 2:20-3:8
<20> For you are our glory and joy. <1> Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, <2> and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, <3> that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. <4> For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. <5> For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain. <6> But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you— <7> therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith. <8> For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.
- Gospel: Luke 20:27-44
<27> Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, <28> saying: "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. <29> Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. <30> And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. <31> Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. <32> Last of all the woman died also. <33> Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife." <34> Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. <35> But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; <36> nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. <37> But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' <38> For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him." <39> Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well." <40> But after that they dared not question Him anymore. <41> And He said to them, "How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? <42> Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, <43> Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." ' <44> Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord'; how is He then his Son?"