14And Abram having heard that Lot his nephew had been taken captive, numbered his own home-born servants three hundred and eighteen, and pursued after them to Dan.
15And he came upon them by night, he and his servants, and he struck them and pursued them as far as Choba, which is on the left of Damascus.
16And he recovered all the cavalry of Sodom, and he recovered Lot his nephew, and all his possessions, and the women and the people.
17And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after he returned from the slaughter of Chodollogomor, and the kings with him, to the valley of Saby; this was the plain of the kings.
18And Melchisedec king of Salem brought forth loaves and wine, and he was the priest of the most high God.
19And he blessed Abram, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, who made heaven and earth,
20and blessed be the most high God who delivered your enemies into your power. And Abram gave him the tithe of all.
Deuteronomy 1.8-11, 15-17 (Vespers)
8Behold, God has delivered the land before you; go in and inherit the land, which I swore to your fathers, Abraam, and Isaac, and Jacob, to give it to them and to their seed after them.
9And I spoke to you at that time, saying, I shall not be able by myself to bear you.
10The Lord your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you⌃ are today as the stars of heaven for multitude.
11The Lord God of your fathers add to you a thousand-fold more than you are, and bless you as he has spoken to you.
15So I took of you wise and understanding and prudent men, and I set them to rule over you as rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, and officers to your judges.
16And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear causes between your brethren, and judge rightly between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
17You shall not have respect to persons in judgment, you shall judge small and great equally; you shall not shrink from before the person of a man, for the judgment is God's; and whatever matter shall be too hard for you, you⌃ shall bring it to me, and I will hear it.
Deuteronomy 10.14-21 (Vespers)
14Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth and all things that are in it.
15Only the Lord chose your fathers to love them, and he chose out their seed after them, even you, beyond all nations, as at this day.
16Therefore you⌃ shall circumcise the hardness of your heart, and you⌃ shall not harden your neck.
17For the Lord your God, he is God of gods, and the Lord of lords, the great, and strong, and terrible God, who does not accept persons, nor will he by any means accept a bribe:
18executing judgment for the stranger and orphan and widow, and he loves the stranger to give him food and raiment.
19And you⌃ shall love the stranger; for you⌃ were strangers in the land of Egypt.
20You shall fear the Lord your God, and serve him, and shall cleave to him, and shall swear by his name.
21He is your boast, and he is your God, who has wrought in the midst of you these great and glorious things, which your eyes have seen.
John 20.1-10
(7th Matins Gospel)
1Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
2Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!”
3Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb.
4They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
5Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he didn’t enter in.
6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,
7and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
8So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.
9For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
10So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
Hebrews 11.9-10, 17-23, 32-40
(Epistle, Sunday before Nativity)
9By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
10For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
17By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his only born son,
18to whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,”
19concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.
21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
23By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
32What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets—
33who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee.
35Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
36Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
37They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated—
38of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
39These all, having been commended for their faith, didn’t receive the promise,
40God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
Matthew 1.1-25
(Gospel, Sunday before Nativity)
1The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers.
3Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram.
4Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon.
5Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.
6Jesse became the father of King David. David the king became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife.
7Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa.
8Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah.
9Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah.
10Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah.
11Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel.
13Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor.
14Azor became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud.
15Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob.
16Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.
18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
19Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.
20But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21She shall give birth to a son. You shall name him Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
22Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
23“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel,” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”
24Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;
25and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.
Commemorations
Holy Ten Martyrs of Crete
All ten suffered for Christ together on Crete during the reign of the Emperor Decius. They were tormented and humiliated for thirty days, but bore their trials with such serenity that the Governor feared that others would be converted to the Faith, so had all of them beheaded.
Our Venerable Father Paul, Archbishop of Neocaesarea (4th c.)
This holy bishop was so revered that he was summoned by the Emperor Licinius himself, who attempted to turn him from the Faith. When this failed, the Emperor ordered that molten metal be poured on the bishop’s hands, which left them paralyzed and horribly disfigured. Years went by, Christianity was legalized by Constantine the Great and, when the Council of Nicaea was summoned, St Paul was among those bishops who were called to attend. Many of the bishops who attended bore in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus (Gal. 6:17): noses, ears or eyes lost, scars and burns from their trials for Christ. At the Council, the Emperor Constantine knelt before St Paul and kissed his hands as holy relics, saying ‘I will never tire of kissing these hands which have lost their life for the sake of my Christ.’ After the Council, the holy bishop served in Neocaesarea for several more years, then reposed in peace.
Our Holy Father Nahum of Ochrid, Wonderworker and Enlightener of the Slavs (ca. 900)
He was a disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius (May 11), and traveled with them on their missionary journey to the Slavs. With them and their other companions, he endured many trials, including several imprisonments at the hands of the Latin Franks, who were seeking to seize control of the region of Moravia in order to impose the Latin language and to spread the heresy of the filioque. For a time their troubles were relieved by Pope Hadrian II, who supported the mission and made St Methodius Archbishop of Pannonia, with jurisdiction over the Eastern European Slav lands. But when St Methodius died, St Nahum and his companions were imprisoned once more, then sent into exile, where they finally found shelter in the Orthodox Kingdom of Bulgaria. There they were able to continue their work of evangelization in the Slavonic language. Saint Nahum founded the Monastery that bears his name on the shore of Lake Ochrid. After his repose his relics were brought there for burial, and are venerated there today.