Orthodox Calendar

Friday, January 22, 2044
Friday of the 31st week after Pentecost

Fast — Wine and Oil are Allowed — Abstain from meat, fish, dairy, and eggs

Scripture Readings

Commemorations

Scripture Readings

James 2.1-13 (Epistle)

1My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. 2For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, 3and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” 4haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts? 7Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

8However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. 9But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom. 13For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

2 Timothy 1.3-8 (Epistle, St. Timothy)

3I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my memory of you in my petitions, night and day 4longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy; 5having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, in you also.

6For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. 8Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God,

Mark 9.33-41 (Gospel)

33He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?”

34But they were silent, for they had disputed with one another on the way about who was the greatest.

35He sat down and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.” 36He took a little child and set him in the middle of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, doesn’t receive me, but him who sent me.”

38John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.”

39But Jesus said, “Don’t forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name and be able quickly to speak evil of me. 40For whoever is not against us is on our side. 41For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name because you are Christ’s, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.

Matthew 10.32-33, 37-38, 19.27-30 (Gospel, St. Timothy)

32Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. 33But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. 37He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. 38He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me.

27Then Peter answered, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

28Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life. 30But many will be last who are first, and first who are last.

Commemorations

Apostle Timothy of the Seventy

This is the Apostle to whom two of St Paul’s Epistles are addressed. He was from Lystra in Lycaonia, born to a pagan Greek father and a Jewish mother. His mother, whose name was Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, brought him up in piety and love of the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul converted the two women during his first missionary visit to Lystra; returning seven years later, he found Timothy full of zeal for Christ, and baptized him. Timothy became his closest disciple: in his epistles, St Paul calls calls him “my dearly beloved son.” So that Timothy would be able to preach the Gospel in the synagogues, St Paul personally circumcised him.

The Apostle Paul consecrated Timothy as the first bishop of Ephesus. As such, he became a disciple and exarch of St John the Evangelist, who supervised all the churches in Asia. In AD 97, he attempted to oppose the celebration of a festival to Artemis; the pagans, enraged, mobbed him and beat him to death. He was buried near the tomb of St John. In 356 his precious relics were translated (along with those of Sts Andrew and Luke) to Constantinople and enshrined in the Church of the Holy Apostles. In 1204 they were stolen by the Latin Crusaders when they pillaged the city.

Holy Martyr Anastasius of Persia (628)

He was a Persian, the son of a Magus, a soldier in the Persian army under Chosroes II, who at that time was making inroads into the Christian Empire. His Persian name was Magundat. Chosroes captured Jerusalem in 614, and carried away the Precious Cross as a trophy. Magundat heard of this, and of all the miracles worked by the Cross; and he wondered why the ruins of an instrument of torture were so revered by the Christians. Seeking out Christian elders to answer his questions, he learned of the Incarnation, life, Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Christ, and with joy embraced the Christian Faith as Truth. He was baptized by St Modestus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and given the name of Anastasius. At the same time, he took monastic vows. For a time he lived in a monastery in Jerusalem, but then went forth, found some Persian Magi at Caesarea, and chastised them for embracing delusions. Since he was in Persian territory (as he well knew), he was taken to the Persian governor, interrogated, imprisoned, and finally taken with other captives to Persia. There, despite many severe tortures, he refused to return to his former error, and was hanged by one hand, strangled, then beheaded.