Orthodox Calendar

Feb. 10, 2023

No Fast

Commemorations

  • Ven. Ephrem the Syrian
  • Our Holy Father Isaac the Syrian, bishop of Nineveh (7th c.)

Scripture Readings (KJV)

1 John 2.7-17 (Epistle)

7Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. 9He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. 12I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 13I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Mark 14.3-9 (Gospel)

3And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. 4And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? 5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. 6And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. 8She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. 9Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

Commemorations

Our Holy Father Ephraim the Syrian (373)

He is often called “The Harp of the Holy Spirit” for the sublimity of his writings. He was born in Nisibis of Mesopotamia about the year 306. He embraced the Christian faith while young and for this was driven from his home by his father, a pagan priest. He came under the care of St James of Nisibis (January 13), who was one of the bishops at the Council of Nicaea. He took up a strictly ascetical life, renouncing all possessions and denying himself all comforts. It is said that his eyes constantly flowed with tears: tears of compunction for his own sins, or tears of joy as he contemplated the wonders of God’s grace.

He was baptized at the age of twenty and withdrew to the desert, then settled in Edessa. Once, as he was walking to the city, a harlot approached him. Pretending to accept her proposition, he took her to the city’s public square and suggested that they lie together there, in plain view. Horrified, the woman rebuked him, saying ‘Have you no shame?’ The Saint answered, ‘Poor woman, you are afraid of being watched by other people; but why are you not afraid of being seen by God, who sees everything and, on the last day, will judge all our actions and most secret thoughts?’ The woman repented and, with the Saint’s help, embarked upon a new life.

The Saint returned to the desert for a time, then to Nisibis to aid the Persian Christians, persecuted because they were seen as allies of the Romans. When Nisibis finally fell under Persian rule, St Ephraim and his spiritual father St James both settled in Edessa. At that time Edessa was troubled by the gnostic heretic Bardaisan, one of whose devices was to compose attractive hymns, which became popular and enticed many away from the truth. Taking up Bardaisan’s own weapons, St Ephraim composed a number of hymns, beautiful in word and melody, which poetically set forth the true Faith.

Hearing of the sanctity of St Basil the Great, St Ephraim traveled to Cappadocia to meet him. It is recorded that at their first meeting, St Basil greeted him: ‘Art thou the Ephraim who hath beautifully bended his neck and taken upon himself the yoke of the saving Word?’; to which St Ephraim replied, ‘I am Ephraim who hinder myself from traveling the way to heaven.’ After discoursing with the Syrian Saint for some time, St Basil cried out ‘O, if only I had thy sins!’ Basil then ordained St Ephraim to the diaconate. He would have ordained him a priest but St Ephraim, feeling unworthy, refused to be ordained, then and for the rest of his life.

The Saint returned to a life of solitude; but when a famine broke out in Edessa in 372, he came forth to rebuke the wealthy for failing to share their wealth with the poor. Some replied that they knew no one whom they could trust with their goods, so St Ephraim persuaded them to give their alms to him for distribution to the poor. A true deacon, he cared for the sick with his own hands. The following year, he reposed in peace.

St Ephraim was the first to use hymnody and song to express the teaching of the Church, and so might be called the Church’s first hymnographer. His works were probably an inspiration to St Romanos the Melodist, also a Syrian. He is said to have written more than three million lines of verse in Syriac, in addition to many homilies and treatises. Only a fraction of his work has been translated.

A beautiful selection of St Ephraim’s writings can be found in A Spiritual Psalter, a collection edited by St Theophan the Recluse, available in English.

Our Holy Father Isaac the Syrian, bishop of Nineveh (7th c.)

He was born early in the seventh century in the East. His birthplace is unclear: the Great Horologion says that he was born in eastern Arabia (present-day Qatar); the Synaxarion that he was born in Kurdistan. While still young he entered the Lavra of St Matthew with his brother, but after a few years of monastic life, having advanced far in obedience and the practice of prayer, he withdrew into the desert. His reputation for holiness reached the city of Nineveh, where the people prevailed on the hierarchy to consecrate him as their bishop in 670. Reluctantly but obediently, St Isaac took up the duties of shepherd of his flock in Nineveh. After a few months, he was called on to settle a dispute between two of the faithful, but they rejected his counsel and said ‘Leave your Gospel out of this matter!’ The holy bishop said, ‘If they are not prepared to obey Our Lord’s commandments, what need have they of me?’, and retired to live as a hermit in the mountains of Kurdistan. Later, he settled in the monastery of Raban Shapur, where he wrote his Ascetical Homilies and other jewel-like works on the spiritual life. There he reposed in peace.

The fame of St Isaac’ Homilies spread, and about one hundred years after their writing they were translated from Syriac into Greek by two monks in Palestine. In this form they spread throughout the monastic world, becoming a treasured guide to those who seek the fullness of the life of prayer. The Synaxarion says, “The book of Saint Isaac is, with the Ladder of Saint John Climacus, the indispensible guide for every Orthdox soul to journey safely toward God. Hence, not many years ago, a holy spiritual father, Jerome of Egina (d. 1966), recommended begging, if necessary, in order to be able to purchase a copy.” We are blessed to have a good translation of the Ascetical Homilies available in English.

Saint Isaac is a very unusual case of an Orthodox Saint who lived outside the canonical boundaries of the Church: he was a bishop of the “Nestorian” communion, now sometimes called the “Oriental Orthodox.” The purity of his own Orthodox faith is so clearly evident in his writings that the Church has nonetheless recognized his sanctity.