Orthodox Calendar

Dec. 10, 2013
Tuesday of the 25th week after Pentecost

Nativity Fast — Wine and Oil are Allowed

Commemorations

Scripture Readings

2 Thessalonians 1.10-2.2 (Epistle)

10when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

11To this end we also pray always for you that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith with power, 12that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you 2not to be quickly shaken in your mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us, saying that the day of Christ has already come.

Luke 19.45-48 (Gospel)

45He entered into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”

47He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests, the scribes, and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him. 48They couldn’t find what they might do, for all the people hung on to every word that he said.

Commemorations

Greatmartyr Jacob of Persia

“This Saint was from the city of Bythlaba and was of noble birth; he was the closest and most honoured friend of Isdiger (or Yazdegerd) I, King of Persia (reigned 399-420). Though a Christian from his youth, James renounced Christ because he was allured by the King’s friendship and flatteries. When his mother and his wife learned of this, they declared to him by letter that they would have nothing more to do with him, since he had preferred a glory that is temporal to the love of Christ. Wounded in soul by these words and coming to himself, the Saint wept over his error, and repudiated the worship of the idols. Therefore, becoming exceedingly wroth, the King — this was Bahram (or Varahran) V (reigned 421-438), Isdiger’s son and successor — condemned him to a most bitter death, the likes of which not even a brute beast was ever condemned to: that is, his body was dismembered at every joint of his arms and legs. And so, when he had been cut asunder limb by limb to his very hips and shoulders, the courageous Martyr was finally beheaded, in the year 421.” (Great Horologion)