Orthodox Calendar

Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Tuesday of the 34th week after Pentecost

No Fast

Scripture Readings

Commemorations

Scripture Readings

Hebrews 4.1-13 (Epistle)

1Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest. 2For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn’t profit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith by those who heard. 3For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest;” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day, “God rested on the seventh day from all his works;” 5and in this place again, “They will not enter into my rest.”

6Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter into it, and they to whom the good news was preached before failed to enter in because of disobedience, 7he again defines a certain day, “today”, saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said), “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”

8For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. 9There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. 11Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. 12For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Galatians 5.22-6.2 (Epistle, John the Hut-Dweller)

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

25If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit. 26Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.

1Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted. 2Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Luke 21.12-19 (Gospel)

12But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13It will turn out as a testimony for you. 14Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict. 16You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death. 17You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake. 18And not a hair of your head will perish.

19“By your endurance you will win your lives.

Luke 12.32-40 (Gospel, John the Hut-Dweller)

32“Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. 33Sell what you have and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

35“Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning. 36Be like men watching for their lord when he returns from the wedding feast, that when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him. 37Blessed are those servants whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will dress himself, make them recline, and will come and serve them. 38They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch and finds them so. 39But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 40Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don’t expect him.”

Commemorations

Ven. Paul of Thebes and John Calabytes

He was born in Egypt in the reign of the Emperor Decius. Though his parents left him a large inheritance, he abandoned it and fled into the desert around the year 250 to escape the bloody persecution of Christians raging at that time. After walking for several days, he found an isolated cave with a large palm tree and a spring of fresh water nearby. Settling here in solitude, he gave himself up to constant prayer.

Many years passed. Saint Anthony the Great, having reached the age of ninety (in about the year 342) was tempted by the thought that no one else had ever lived a life so dedicated to God as his. That night, he was told in a dream that there was another hermit in the desert more perfect than himself, who had reached the age of 113 years. Anthony rose, took up his staff, and walked straight into the desert, trusting God to lead him where he should go. He was threatened by various beasts sent by the Devil, but he tamed them with the sign of the Cross, and they showed him the way he should go. Finally a wolf brought him to St Paul’s cave. They embraced as brothers in Christ and spent the night in prayer. The next day Paul confided to Anthony that he was about to die, and that God had brought Anthony thence to give him honorable burial. As he had said, St Paul reposed the next day and, with many tears, St Anthony buried him in a cloak given him by St Athanasius the Great, assisted by two lions who dug out the grave with their paws.

Our Holy Father John Kalyvites (the hut-dweller) (ca. 450)

He was the son of Eutropius, a prominent senator, and Theodora, who lived in Constantinople. At the age of twelve, he secretly fled his home, taking nothing but a Gospel book with him. Entering the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones in the City, he gave himself up with fervor to a life of prayer, self-denial and obedience. For three years he ate only on Sundays after taking communion, and became so thin and haggard that he bore no resemblance to the young nobleman who had entered the monastery.

Tormented by longing to see his parents, but unwilling to give up the ascetic struggle, he left the monastery with his Abbot’s blessing, dressed in beggar’s rags, and took up residence in a poor hut near the gate of his parents’ house. Here he lived, mocked by those who had once been his servants and despised by his own parents, who no longer recognized him.

After three years, Christ appeared to him and told him that his end was drawing near, and that in three days angels would come to take him home. John sent a message to his parents, asking them to visit his hut. In perplexity, they came, and John, showing them the Gospel book that they had given him as a child, revealed to them that he was their son, and that he was about to die. They embraced him, rejoicing at their reunion but weeping for his departure from this life. Immediately, he gave back his soul to God.

The whole City of Constantinople was stirred by the story, and great crowds came to John’s burial service. A church was later built on the site of his hut, and many miracles were wrought there through the Saint’s prayers.

Saint Ita of Kileedy, Ireland (570)

The gentle and motherly St. Ita was descended from the high kings of Tara. From her youth she loved God ardently and shone with the radiance of a soul that loves virtue. Because of her purity of heart she was able to hear the voice of God and communicate it to others. Despite her father’s opposition she embraced the monastic life in her youth. In obedience to the revelation of an angel she went to the people of Ui Conaill in the southwestern part of Ireland. While she was there, the foundation of a convent was laid. It soon grew into a monastic school for the education of boys, quickly becoming known for its high level of learning and moral purity. The most famous of her many students was St. Brendan of Clonfert (May 16). She went to the other world in great holiness to dwell forever with the risen Lord in the year 570.

—from the 2003 Saint Herman Calendar